Avengers #14 Review

"> June 23, 2011 Marvel Comments Off Tweet

An Avenger falls in with the wrong crowd.  Avenger Tower just plain falls.  Another Avenger falls…  Eventually.

Avengers #14

This story can be summed up fairly quickly.  This is all about the Thing becoming one of the Serpents avatars (Angir: Breaker of Souls) and committing a pretty awful affront to the Avengers, and how the Red Hulk truly became a trusted and worthy member of the team.  After the Thing puts the whammy on Yancy Street, the Red Hulk arrives to take him on.  The two exchange heavy blows.  Eventually, Angir/Thing, breaks free long enough to whip his hammer through Avengers Tower.  The tower comes crashing down.  The Red Hulk tries to catch the falling building but is unable to.  One last attack on Angir sends Red Hulk flying.  Not sure if he is definitely dead or not, no one has seen him since.

Brian Michael Bendis infuses much more action into this issue of Avengers, but there’s still a major problem with this issue, and it has nothing to do with John Romita, Jr. returning to the book.  This is an arc that is having a huge identity crisis.  This is a tough time for the team, and they are using the Oral History of the Avengers as a way to discuss it.  We see the big battle between two fo the toughest Avengers out there with one possessed in a way to do some really bad stuff and the other proving his mettle and truly taking one for the team.

In principle, this could work well.  Dealing with a very tough loss in a really bad situation and seeing it in motion isn’t a bad way to write a story.  In fact, it’s been done a lot throughout several mediums.  The Oral History stuff has been received well…  When it’s in the back of the issues and written out, not played out in the comic proper.  The possible end of the Red Hulk has an emotional weight to it.  However, when put together, both the conversation and the emotional impact of the action undermines each other.  I would have much rather seen the oral history stuff as it’s own book that can blatantly tell us how the tone and the structure of the book will be.  That way, Avengers would be freed to tell the stories of particular characters’ struggles with the events.  While this ultimately would have appeared to be a knock off of how Secret Avengers is handling the tie-ins, it would have worked to have all the Avengers titles go this way (or at least the three main books, excluding Avengers Academy).  This set up is awkward and contrived.

I’m just leaving it at that for this review.  I don’t need to go into my disappointment with the art because, honestly, it’s not as big of a problem as the story itself.

A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATINGProsConsI like the Red Hulk. I really do. I like his heroic actions in this book and I like seeing him throw down with the Thing. I honestly love how he's been used in this series.Art (there, I said it). Bigger problem was the way this arc has been put together mixing in the static Oral History stuff and cutting back on the more dynamic action stuff. Rating50%

All Fear Itself reviews:

Fear Itself: #1 | #2 | #3 |

Fear Itself: The Home Front: #1 | #2 | #3

Fear Itself: Spider-Man: #1 | #2 |

Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt: #1 | #2 |

Journey Into Mystery: #622 | #623 | #624 |

Invincible Iron Man: #503 | #504 | #505 |

Avengers: #13 | #14 |

Secret Avengers: #13 | #14 |

Avengers Academy: #15 |

For more visit our Fear Itself tag @ acomicbookblog.com/tag/fear-itself

Tags: Avengers Avengers Reviews Brian Michael Bendis Fear Itself John Romita Jr.

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