Avengers #34

Well, after many years of Bendis’ Avengers comics, I have to give him credit that he’s put everything back in on the shelf for the next writer. I mean seriously, I can’t think of much lasting harm that he’s done to the franchise. That takes a lot for me to say, because I’m certainly one of the online complainers that he talks about in the closing letter at the end of this comic. I still maintain that the Avengers rarely solved their own problems, spent too much time eating dinner and sitting around, and that in general, everyone talked too much. The pacing often dragged, and villains didn’t act like themselves. But Wasp, Wonder Man, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man, and the Vision are all back, so as a whole, the ride wasn’t so bad after all. 

In fact, I appreciate that Bendis chooses to go out on a high note. This isn’t a classic Avengers villain by any stretch, but Bendis makes sure to give his jam artists a nice, dynamic conflict to show off the Avengers’ powers. And the line-up on display in these pages includes a lot of mainstays like Cap, Thor, and Wasp, but also Bendis’ pets that are now entrenched as Avengers. Cage, Iron Fist, and Spider-Woman are all present and accounted for, punching and kicking with the rest. 

I especially enjoyed the closing pages, with the Avengers hosting a party to welcome back the Wasp to the land of the living. That seems like a party that should happen in comics more often. It is great seeing Wonder Man and Scarlet Witch reconnecting out in the crowd too. Bendis even manages to give the next writer a nice set-up; Tony Stark wants to get bigger. 

Bendis has another thing right in his closing address. He got to work with some fantastic artists. Stuart Immonen, Walt Simonson, Mike Deodato, Brandon Peterson, Terry Dodson, Frank Cho, I mean the list goes on and on. Seeing so many of them show up in this jam issue makes for a nice send-off. It also drives home just how successful Bendis’ run was. He got a LOT of top-tier talent on this book. 

So again, while Bendis’ Avengers wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, as I look over my long boxes, I own an awful lot of Bendis’ Avengers titles that I enjoyed enough to keep buying. Definitely more hits than misses. And heck, I’m following him to X-Men, so he’ll keep getting my dollars too! 

Good