Friday, January 20, 2012

The Avengers #21

One of the things that makes Marvel's comics interesting is the fact that, sometimes, the good guys lose. (It's usually just temporary, of course.)

That's exactly what's going on in The Avengers. The latest version of the team has been outflanked by Norman Osborn and his allies (which include Hydra, AIM and H.A.M.M.E.R. (still no definition for the abbreviation - it's been, what, three years? My guess: Hydra, AIM Master Many Exotic Resources. I didn't say it was a good guess).

The Avengers have done the tried and true "split up into teams and try to solve the mystery," but Osborn is taking advantage by throwing everything he has - including some surprisingly powerful agents wielding familiar abilities - against the heroes.

From all appearances, it doesn't go well for the good guys.

Brian Bendis is pulling out all the stops to put the Avengers in a bad corner - and it's going to be interesting to see how they get out of it. As always, great dialogue and some good character moments.

The art is by Renato Guedes (I thought Daniel Acuna was the regular artist on this story?), and it feels rushed somehow. There's some strong work here, but there are also panels with weak anatomy and others where I'm not sure what happened.

Much as I'm tired of Osborn, the story has me hooked so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing the big comeback by our team... or a really surprising ending.

Grade: B

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