Saturday, March 28, 2009

The Mighty Avengers #23

Maybe I'm suffering from "Avengers Overload."

Whatever the cause, I'm struggling to work up interest in the newest version of The Mighty Avengers.

Perhaps it's because this title is overshadowed by the New Avengers and the Dark Avengers. Perhaps it's because there's never a real sense of menace from a villain who's threatening to destroy the Earth. Perhaps it's because the characters involved seem like they were assembled at random.

The team includes Hank Pym, who is (disturbingly) going by the name The Wasp. There's the Hulk, who seems to be in "dumb" mode right now. There's Iron Man, taking time off from being on the run in his own title, and who has apparently reverted (for this issue only!) to his Civil War persona (which is to say, he's a complete jerk). There's U.S. Agent (the poor man's Captain America), Stature (the poor woman's Giant-Man), Hercules (the poor man's Thor), The Vision and Jocasta (because you can't have too many artificial life forms), Scarlet Witch (in ghostly, less crazy form) and Amadeus Cho (the smart man's Rick Jones).

This issue wraps up the team's battle with Cthon, the chaos god. The story's solution is pretty chaotic, too - and terribly convenient and improbable. Writer Dan Slott has a lot of characters to move around and introduce, but he seems awfully determined to make them all unlikeable.

But to his credit, the comic features a clever twist in the final page.

The art by Khoi Pham is fine, but it seems awfully flat - probably because there are virtually no backgrounds in evidence.

Again, the big problem is probably that the Avengers are terribly overexposed right now. As a fan, I believe it's better to have one really good comic than flood the market with spin-offs.

Expect this one to be grounded soon.

Grade: C+

No comments: