As implied by the title of this review, this Avengers #1 is just like starting over, in more ways than one. Writer Brian Michael Bendis is again confronted with characters he has been clumsy with, has misunderstood, and mishandled characterization-wise. He’s so much better off writing his pet characters like Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and Jessica Jones – which is why his New Avengers worked so well, and this new series has the same creakiness of his first arc, “Dis-Assembled.”

Let’s start at the beginning, with the cover. Know this up front, I am not a fan of artist John Romita Jr. Yes, I know, he’s done some well-loved and respected work, but he’s just never turned my crank. A bit cartoonish and inconsistent would be my evaluation. He’s not a bad artist, he’s just not my cup of tea. I will however strive to be impartial and fair. If you all recall, I wasn’t fond of Leinil Yu at first either, but now think he was one of the major success factors, and my favorite part of New Avengers.

The cover is badly constructed in my opinion. And I’m not talking about that it’s crowded. Nor am I talking about how some characters are standing, and others flying at them from behind at what would assume is quite a speed. And I’m not talking about Spider-Man webbing Thor’s hammer for transportation. The exact physics of that one bothers me. What bugs me most about the cover is that I passed it three times in the comic shop and did not know it was Avengers #1.

The logo is buried at the bottom, and shunted slightly to the right to allow for the UPC box. Its color blends and renders it nearly invisible. More prominent is the “The Heroic Age” banner at the top of the cover. And with so many books coming out this week with that phrase in the title, I had assumed this was The Heroic Age #1. Where was Avengers #1? I really wonder how many sales Marvel lost on this one.

I think, if it were not for the manufactured hype of Avengers Day, a lot of folks might have missed this issue altogether. And speaking of hype, did anyone else check out the “exclusive limited edition print” free with your copy of the issue? Most disappointing. It was just a fold-out of some of the “I am an Avenger” ads with a UPC box dominating one section. Nice, Marvel. I wonder what will happen next Avengers Day? Maybe you’ll raise prices.

This is the start of “The Heroic Age” which should imply a, pardon the pun, brighter day, ahem, that we have had of late. “Dark Reign” is over and the good guys are in charge and things are brighter and better now. Honestly, I’m not holding my breath, but I’m happier in this atmosphere. Most notable change so far, other than the new line-up(s) of the Avengers – this title is now rated A, as opposed to the more mature T+. Maybe JR Jr.’s art is more appropriate.

The first two pages are set up for this “Next Avengers” story arc, and don’t really exemplify that new rating much. A beaten Immortus, looking rather disturbing without his helmet, threatens the lives of his assumed conquerors, young versions of the Avengers – as we find out later – their possible children, and they strike him down. We don’t see anything really, but the dialogue is powerful and divining of the characters. Nice one, Bendis, see, you don’t have to swear.

And then we begin, picking up from the forced ending of Siege, Steve Rogers is in charge and he’s picking his new Avengers teams. Pages four and five is a grid displaying close-ups of twenty-six possible Avengers – with Wonder Man notably separated, to assure us that he’s the holdout, and possible adversary for this arc. It feels like the A rating might be a dumbing down to Bendis at this point, but I’m willing to wait and see.

The grid of Avengers displays, for me, and in Bendis, a gross misinterpretation of these characters. Spider-Man spouts his first “Really?” of the issue and cements his annoying place as BMB’s voice in the story. Beast has to say his catchphrase. Mockingbird makes a joke, or possibly Bendis just pokes the West Coast Avengers fans with a stick. Hank Pym must of course display gratefulness because we all know Bendis doesn’t believe he should be here. His pet characters, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, are dead on, as always.

The problem arises with the Young Avengers – and it makes me wonder if he has ever read even a page of that brilliant series. Would the second Hawkeye really say “O.M.G.”? Would the new Vision respond like that? Speed and Hulking are equally bad. It’s like he’s trying, painfully, to emulate kidspeak, and failing miserably. But where Bendis really fails with these characters is Wiccan’s response – “Uh, I may have to ask my mom.” Is this supposed to be some kind of sick joke? Bendis does know the Scarlet Witch is his mom, right??

The next two pages are the lead-in to the Wonder Man subplot. Wonder Man underwent a change during “Dark Reign” under the pen of writer Frank Tieri, and it’s one I really don’t agree with. During DR, he joined the Lethal Legion, and essentially became a super-villain. His new mindset is presented well here as he feels that all the recent events are the fault of the Avengers, and that they should not assemble again. Solicitations for the cover of Avengers #2 show he will be opposing our heroes. I’m not happy with Simon as a baddie, but it should be noted that he has been a lackey of Kang before, and Kang is our big bad in this first arc. If Bendis remembers that fact, it might be worth it.

At this point a note on the art, JR Jr. draws Wonder Man as huge, too big in my opinion. He almost dwarfs Steve Rogers. Now, I know that Captain America is not an over-muscled body-builder, but it does seem a bit weird when later in the issue Bucky America also seems bigger than him. Again, consistency. Also notable, I don’t think the logos on page eight work all that well either. Frank Cho did it well in Mighty Avengers but it doesn’t work here in my opinion, and seriously, Spider-Woman has had better logos than the one used.

There is a design problem on that same page that bugs the heck out of me that is not JR Jr.’s fault. Let me be the not the first, and definitely not the last, to say that I hate that piece of Asgardian rumble on top of Avengers Tower. The initial design of Avengers Tower is distinctive, unique and in my opinion, quite cool. I hated the extra shadow tower that Sentry’s home added to it, and I dislike this thing just as much. Why not repair the rumble so it at least looks complete if we must have it?

One more thing for page eight – when is Jarvis going to call Spider-Man out on all those webs? I understand that they eventually dissolve, but surely they must be driving old Jarv crazy in very short order. It’s a scene I’d like to see, and might even be in Bendis’ wheelhouse. Just a matter of time.

Character interplay follows, most of it pointless in my opinion. Hawkeye and Spidey state the obvious, twice. What Wolverine and Spider-Woman talk about is merely the conversation people have when they don’t want to talk about what they really want to talk about. I wanted more and deeper there. Steve Rogers and Tony Stark prattle on far too long about their relationship when it could have been done and over in one panel – and aren’t we getting a much too long mini-series covering this anyway? The conversation that shined, and I wanted so much more of – was Bucky and Thor – that was priceless, and could have expanded to the point of a solid friendship – because they have met, more than once.

And then Kang the Conqueror shows up to the party. Kang is my all-time favorite Avengers foe, and he is probably only second as their archenemy to Ultron, and Ultron only gets that edge because he’s ‘family.’ Kang is an enemy whose very name should make the Avengers, old or new, tremble with fear. The world should tremble as well. Kang is even more than one Avengers foe: he’s also Rama-Tut, he’s Scarlet Centurion, he’s Immortus, he might even be Reed Richards’ dad, Dr. Doom’s descendent, or Tony Stark – he may even be the Justice League’s enemy, the Lord of Time…

Number one, he’s beaten the Avengers before, more than once, even conquered the earth, more than once, most recently back in the Kurt Busiek era. Two, he is the master of time – he has traveled through time so much that he has created numerous divergent versions of himself – he has traveled through time so much that the only constants he knows are himself, and his undying hatred of the Avengers. On at least two occasions he has even re-formed the team himself so he would still have an enemy to engage.

Here’s a tip to all you newbies out there as to how truly powerful and dangerous Kang is. He can nearly destroy the Avengers, with them only barely managing to drive him off, and then travel back to his own time, recuperate, reorganize, get his nails done, amass a new army, new weapons, new plans – and return to attack the Avengers five minutes after he left them! That is badass. No, correction, Kang is badass.

When Kang shows on page twelve, it is one of JR Jr.’s better moments; I would have preferred more detail to the costume and of course I have always hated that intermittent cape, but it’s still a great image. It’s followed by action, which I will happily admit is one of the artist’s hallmarks. The problem with that is Bendis has a lot of trouble doing action; he’s far better at talking heads. Hopefully Junior will be able to turn the writer in the right direction.

While it bothered me that Kang felt he had to introduce himself to the Avengers of all people, but loved that Thor rushed him immediately. In-joke for old Avengers fans, isn’t rushing Kang carelessly Hawkeye’s job? :-) And what happened to Kang’s force-field? That’s his first and foremost weapon. He would definitely have had it on when invading Avengers headquarters, wouldn’t you think?

Too much, and too much silly dialogue, is made of Kang’s possession of a doomsday device Iron Man hasn’t built yet. This is what Kang does, and this is not a team of rookies here. Thor, Iron Man, Steve Rogers, Hawkeye and even Spider-Man have experience with this dangerous individual – they know what to expect, and should be on their highest guard. Even Spider-Man might be scared enough to stall his incessant remarks.

I like the reintroduction, but not the design of the old Avengers skycycles. I don’t like Spidey’s trick of webbing Iron Man’s back for transport purposes just as he does on the cover. I also didn’t like that Steve calls Bucky Bucky – doesn’t he call him James now that he’s an adult? The ‘time terrorist’ exchange between Rogers and Kang is a nice one. And to Spider-Man’s question “Do I ever find true love?” I have the answer. Yes, but Joe Quesada will ruin it for you. Moreso than the Green Goblin did back on the George Washington Bridge. Yep, I’m still bitter, and still boycotting Amazing Spider-Man.

The fact aside that Kang has deceived the Avengers more times than I have expressed my distaste for “One More Day,” and that they should decisively not believe him, Kang spins a tale of the future to lead them into the “Next Avengers” story arc. In his monologue, Kang says Ultron comes back and lays waste to the Avengers and the earth, then the children destroy Ultron and now like the beginning of Back to the Future Part II, the Avengers must go to the future and stop their children. I found it interesting that Kang says a page before there’s not a weapon in all of time he couldn’t get his hands on, yet he could not defeat Ultron. Question number one from the Avengers should be – then how did their children stop him?

Again, besides the fact the Avengers should not believe Kang’s fairy tale, the conversation turns to the problem that they don’t have a time machine. They don’t? Didn’t they used to have Doctor Doom’s time machine in the Mansion’s basement? You mean to tell me that none of the resident scientists ever took a look at it? Not Tony Stark or Hank Pym, not the Black Panther or the Beast? And hasn’t Tony Stark himself built a time machine or two? Can’t Thor open a gateway in time with his hammer? Let’s be clear here – time travel is nothing new to the Avengers. And I hate that it looks like they are going to turn to the X-Men for help…

The big reveal at the end indicates Kang is fibbing but also suggests that the real enemy is the Maestro, the Hulk’s alternate future self. The Maestro goes back to the Peter David era of the Hulk, a future story in which the Hulk, now a brutal, intelligent, older version of himself under this new name has taken over after a nuclear war destroyed every hero and villain on Earth as well as devastating the planet. This will be an interesting confrontation – depending on what interpretation Bendis brings to the character. Of course, if Kang is under the Maestro’s thumb as it appears, it will be less satisfying in my book.

There were also a couple bonus features in this issue. The “I Am An Avenger” pages were an interesting publicity stunt, and a nice way to get your picture in a comic book. And it was nice that the Marvel pros took the pics on the page crease, but I feel bad for the folks stuck behind the logo. Did anyone see themselves or their friends in there? Way to go, Avengers!

The Oral History of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes text feature by Bendis is something I have been dreading since I first heard of it. In my opinion it gives the writer too much opportunity for retcons. And based on certain instances where he’s done flashbacks, Bendis can only do damage with a project like this. It was a nice read, although in need of a good edit, but it was not as bad as I thought it might be. BMB did diminish the roles and importance of both Henry Pym and the Wasp, and also contradicted Joe Casey’s current mini-series Avengers: The Origin. That last point is troublesome – why retell the origin here when it’s already being done elsewhere?

My final judgment on the art by John Romita Jr. is that it’s not as bad as it could be. Klaus Janson’s inks and Dean White’s colors definitely help. I dislike little things like the size of Spider-Woman’s forehead, and big things like consistency of characters’ appearances, but for the most part I like it here. Hopefully there will be more action so JR Jr. can shine. I look forward to it.

All that said, I give the newest Avengers #1 four stars out of a possible five. Yep, despite my nitpicking it apart, this could have been a lot worse, but I enjoyed it. I worry about Bendis’ version of Kang and am troubled by the threat of the purple ionic Wonder Man next issue – and yet, I can’t wait. Until then, Avengers Assemble, and let the heroic age begin!

	Glenn Walker
	Glenn has been a fan of Marvel Comics' Avengers since the early 1970s, when their current adventures were chronicled by Steve Englehart and their early exploits by Stan Lee in classic reprints featured in Marvel Triple Action. He has persevered through many incarnations of the team and he still loves the Avengers to this day.