Post by thew40 on Sept 21, 2007 8:04:56 GMT -5
Over at the Uncanny X-Periment (http://uncannyxperiment.blogspot.com/), I've come to "Avengers Disassembled." For those of you not in the know, over at the Uncanny X-Periment, I overview/review various X-Men titles and blog about them. Here now is my "Avengers Disassembled" review:
There’s a lot of controversy in regards to “Disassembled,” and despite it being an Avengers story, the ramifications it has in the X-Universe are quite important to the mythos. So, saying that, we’re going to take a look at the good and the bad of this story.
First of all, the positive. In terms of style, it’s usual Bendis, which people generally love or hate. Beyond that, the script is pretty strong. There’s great work in terms of pacing and structure. Nice and subtle reliance on facial expressions here, which adds to the unfolding drama. I like that the Scarlet Witch was the culprit. I like that she was the one responsible – but not because she’s evil, but because she’s unwell.
Now, that being said . . .
Wanda here is presented as nothing more than a plot device. She basically goes crazy and blows up the Avengers because she feels like it. It’s silly. There’s no subtly, no real reason. From what I understand (though I’m not 100% sure because I don’t have the issue), the whole “babies are a secret” thing is a continuity problem because apparently, she already knew about them. And just a few choice words from Jan unravels her completely? It just doesn’t work. It’s like going from Point A to Point E in one leap. Sure, you get there, but you skip a lot of points on the way.
The Avengers themselves are portrayed as fairly unprofessional. This really comes across during a scene in front of the hospital. No one talks like that and it’s all really far fetched, even for a Bendis book. Now, certain characters shine through, like Cap and even Hawkeye, but for the most part, the book fails itself in regards to characterization.
I have to really ask this of Marvel: was this story necessary? Now, I like “New Avengers” and “Mighty Avengers” and a lot of what came after this, but was “Disassembled” really a story that had to be told like this? The Avengers betrayed? Not original. The betrayal tearing the team apart? Doesn’t seem likely. Never had before. Tony Stark out of money? Ugh.
See, the whole story just kinda sucks. It’s depressing. And overly so. I can certainly handle the death of Ant-Man. The “death” of the Vision feels . . . wrong. And Hawkeye’s was laughable. The whole Ant-Man/Jack Of Harts thing was enough to drive home the emotional point. The others were too much.
Finch’s art is mediocre with spurts of good and bad. I’m actually a big fan of Finch, as he can really churn out great works of detail and scope. There’s one particular shot of Doctor Strange during his battle with Scarlet Witch that is just awesome. That being said, the scene where all of the Avengers are assembled is very generic, with everyone looking like everyone else.
Overall, “Disassembled” gets more things wrong than it gets right. It should have been developed more and there should have been a stronger effort to not alienate older fans, who are rightly pissed off by this story. Bendis tore down the house so he could rebuild it; but he did so in a way that just wasn’t quite right.
~W~
There’s a lot of controversy in regards to “Disassembled,” and despite it being an Avengers story, the ramifications it has in the X-Universe are quite important to the mythos. So, saying that, we’re going to take a look at the good and the bad of this story.
First of all, the positive. In terms of style, it’s usual Bendis, which people generally love or hate. Beyond that, the script is pretty strong. There’s great work in terms of pacing and structure. Nice and subtle reliance on facial expressions here, which adds to the unfolding drama. I like that the Scarlet Witch was the culprit. I like that she was the one responsible – but not because she’s evil, but because she’s unwell.
Now, that being said . . .
Wanda here is presented as nothing more than a plot device. She basically goes crazy and blows up the Avengers because she feels like it. It’s silly. There’s no subtly, no real reason. From what I understand (though I’m not 100% sure because I don’t have the issue), the whole “babies are a secret” thing is a continuity problem because apparently, she already knew about them. And just a few choice words from Jan unravels her completely? It just doesn’t work. It’s like going from Point A to Point E in one leap. Sure, you get there, but you skip a lot of points on the way.
The Avengers themselves are portrayed as fairly unprofessional. This really comes across during a scene in front of the hospital. No one talks like that and it’s all really far fetched, even for a Bendis book. Now, certain characters shine through, like Cap and even Hawkeye, but for the most part, the book fails itself in regards to characterization.
I have to really ask this of Marvel: was this story necessary? Now, I like “New Avengers” and “Mighty Avengers” and a lot of what came after this, but was “Disassembled” really a story that had to be told like this? The Avengers betrayed? Not original. The betrayal tearing the team apart? Doesn’t seem likely. Never had before. Tony Stark out of money? Ugh.
See, the whole story just kinda sucks. It’s depressing. And overly so. I can certainly handle the death of Ant-Man. The “death” of the Vision feels . . . wrong. And Hawkeye’s was laughable. The whole Ant-Man/Jack Of Harts thing was enough to drive home the emotional point. The others were too much.
Finch’s art is mediocre with spurts of good and bad. I’m actually a big fan of Finch, as he can really churn out great works of detail and scope. There’s one particular shot of Doctor Strange during his battle with Scarlet Witch that is just awesome. That being said, the scene where all of the Avengers are assembled is very generic, with everyone looking like everyone else.
Overall, “Disassembled” gets more things wrong than it gets right. It should have been developed more and there should have been a stronger effort to not alienate older fans, who are rightly pissed off by this story. Bendis tore down the house so he could rebuild it; but he did so in a way that just wasn’t quite right.
~W~