SPOILERS!I'm impressed. The first issue of this event book really offered no new information. Almost everything that happened had been clued or flat out revealed in solicits and interviews. Not so in issue 2. Bendis packed this issue with high quality action. There are a few moments where we see a merged Avengers team (made up of the Secret Warriors, New Avengers, and Young Avengers) form up to go help out Thor. I would have liked to see some Mighty Avengers there, especially since Jarvis makes an appearance as the posse sets out with Nick Fury to give Thor a hand against the Dark Avengers and the Initiative.
The strongest parts of the issue involve actual fighting, sort of a rarity for a Bendis comic. Ares and Balder are having a knockdown brawl when Heimdall and Balder convince Ares that he's been had. Ares realizes Osborn has played him for a fool and sets off for a dramatic confrontation with a great line of dialogue: " And I told you what I would do, Osborn! I told you true! I'm going to pull off your head, armor and all." And he delivers that last line with a period, not an exclamation point. That's a statement, not a boast or threat! Awesome.
Unfortunately, Ares never gets the chance. The Sentry is full on evil now, and following Osborn's every whim. And Bendis shows us just how powerful the Sentry is when he tears Ares in half in a gruesome panel filled with tubular intestines and gore. (Hey kids, comics!) The Sentry doesn't say a peep. He just takes care of business. I suppose I'm ok with Superman being evil in the Marvel U, but he's going to need a new costume. On the Ares note, it is too bad, because he's awesome, but I'm confident he can fight his way out of Hades or whatever and make a big comeback. This is the right kind of death for an event book; a returnable one. Now where's the Wasp?
Oliver Coipel does a great job. Sentry looks so distant, he has no reaction to his murder of Ares. The bigger guys look the best, Thor and Ares looked awesome, while Coipel's kid-faces look a little odder. That closing page is great too. I'm not a fan of repeated images on the same page, but to close with Osborn's Iron Patriot armor as Cap's shield comes spinning in at him? It makes me anxious to read the next issue.
Good
4 comments:
"This is the right kind of death for an event book; a returnable one. Now where's the Wasp?"
If I remember correctly she was last seen in Incredible Hercules 129, ironically also slated to "die" this month.
Please spell B-A-L-D-E-R correctly. I was going to read the review but then I saw that, continued reading until it came up again and stopped.
Well Anon, it's your loss.
Fine review Tim, especially nice point re: Heimdall's statement.
Er, Heimdell? Isn't Baldur with a 'u' nice'n'Norse?
Hah! Yeah, I was spelling it the Norse way, not the Marvel way. I'll fix. Don't know that spelling it that way invalidates my post, but Anon is welcome to his opinion.
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