Avengers #5

Somewhere in those pages of fractured time, where the Avengers are yelling out one or two random sentences before a location jump, I lost interest so much that I put this comic down. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement, and while I have to give Bendis credit for having an "Avengers-level plot (that is, big action and high stakes), I'm really not riveted by anything happening here. Sure, when Ultron shows up on the last page, my interest is piqued, but overall, seeing three or four pages of pink time-nonsense followed by three or four pages that we saw two issues ago? Not doing it for me.


I will say Bendis delivers some nice scenes of Thor dropping the hammer on Galactus. In fact, while Thor has no relevance to the time-plot, I do like seeing the thunder god deal with such top-level threats. Hawkeye was too whiny, but that's pretty normal for Bendis. Maria Hill shouldn't be lecturing Hawk on how to be an Avenger.


John Romita JR is a bit uneven this month, he's got more perspective problems than he usually does. He can still bring his A-game when he has to; the new Ultron looks great. That Thor/Galactus panel was nicely set up too.



As for the Avengers timeline everyone is talking about, here's my take.

· Booster did it first.
· We know Black Panther gets to NY soon.
· I'm pleased the Avengers Academy traitor should hit soon.
· Chaos = the Chaos War limited.
· Three = the upcoming FF storyline.
· Can I hope "Throwbacks" means everyone is wearing old costumes?
· I'm excited to see Iron Lad return, mostly for that nice red & silver armor.
· Five Lights is that X-story about the new mutants, right?
· Ultron War sounds like a crossover.
· Schism is probably Civil War II, or is that too obvious?

Average