Saturday, August 20, 2011

Avengers #16

It seems that the series most affected by an "Event" is the one that struggles the most with what to do while the event is running its course.

That seems to be the problem with The Avengers, as this issue is given over to a side-story that makes little sense and doesn't accomplish anything - unless you count "stalling for time."

Brian Bendis' story doesn't make sense because it's sandwiched in between two key moments in the Fear Itself series. We saw a key character get killed in one issue of the mini-series, and the next issue we saw Captain America's reaction to it.

This issue shows us that Cap took time in between those moments to fly to Europe with three key female SHIELD agents to try to track down the Red Skull's daughter Sin - but wasn't she always at the head of the invading army that's been smashing cities since the first issue of Fear Itself?

What follows is several pages of all-out action, and artist John Romita Jr. has fun putting the heroes through their paces.

But that's all there is to it - by the end, everything is back where it started, There's some solid artwork, a few clever lines - and a story that seems to be unnecessary.

Hopefully, once Fear Itself has run its course, this comic can go back to telling stories that matter.

Grade: C+

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