Tuesday, August 4, 2009

New Avengers #55

Sometimes Bendis does his thing very well. Having Bucky-Cap infuriated by the New Avengers messing up his home is genius. That's the type of idea that Bendis does so well. Not surprisingly, that's the best part of the issue. I like thinking that the dirty house is all Bucky can think about all issue long.

That said, I HATE that Bendis had Hawkeye talk about trying to kill Norman Osborn. Hawkeye was always the Avenger against killing, from Solo Avengers to West Coast Avengers to Busiek's time on the title. Bendis made this heroic character into a one-note foil for Spidey. Spidey came off great here, wanting to rise above the evil ways of Osborn, wanting everyone to just try harder to be more heroic. The problem is that Hawkeye should be acting that same way. The argument just doesn't work coming from Hawkeye. There is just no way Spidey should be poking fun at Hawkeye for being crazy and unreasonable. Let's all remember that Hawkeye split up the West Coast Avengers when Mockingbird let her attempted rapist fall off a cliff. This is a guy who's against killing! I'm a bit disappointed in Tom Brevoort for letting Hawk get dragged through the mud just to make Spidey look better.

The main thrust of this storyline seems to be that the Hood's flunkies, on their own initiative, have created a power dampener to use on the New Avengers. I like the idea since it is a relatively classic conflict that doesn't overly rely on the Dark Reign status quo. This could be any villainous gang taking on the Avengers and robbing them of their powers. Now why a power dampener would make Hawkeye projectile vomit? That I can't answer, but I'm sure it will be dealt with (suuure it will).

Stuart Immonen comes aboard as regular penciller this issue, so of course everything looks great. He raises the grade just with his art.

I realize I'm just another fanboy lost in the past and whining about how things used to be in old comics. I realize that. I'm just disappointed when I read some comics that embrace their history so effectively (like Thunderbolts or Nova) and then I see one of my favorite characters totally morphed into something silly here in New Avengers.

Average

3 comments:

Artillery MKV said...

Well, Hawkeye DID get a lot darker during the Secret Invasion and it's follow-up. I's actually hope that this interaction with Spidey is setting Hawkeye up for a series of introspective issues that'll return him to being a heroic hero again.

As to the dampener causing vomiting: I'm guessing part of Hawkeye's pawer is, essentially, a super sense of balance. Losing that suddenly would doubtless cause a lot of nausea, and showing that without the vomiting is not so easy in a comic . . ..

Martin Gray said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Martin Gray said...

That makes sense, Artie (may I call you Artie?), though I hate the idea that Clint has a minor mutie skill. He's just skilled, I say, skilled!

I've not read this book, quel surprise, but nice one for standing up for Clint - you're spot on, he's no killer.

August 18, 2009 5:55 AM