Post by goldenfist on May 22, 2008 7:54:16 GMT -5
Ign.com review's Mighty Avengers #14.
What the hell? This week's Mighty Avengers knocks Brian Michael Bendis's train of near-flawless Secret Invasion tie-ins way, way off the rails. I'm talking, trainwreck on Christmas Eve. Alright, I'm probably exaggerating, it's just that the last two issues of this series were the only two I could say I genuinely enjoyed qualifier-free. This one, well, let's just say it's not up to those standards. I don't know what the implications of this issue are (or even what happened in 85% of it) but it probably isn't good. For us as readers, I mean.
After two wonderful Fury-centric issues, Bendis shifts gears and focuses on, erm... the Sentry. Apparently the Skrulls have worked out a specific plan just for him and this issue sheds some light on the details and execution of it. Understand this before you go into Mighty #14: it requires that you care an awful lot about the Sentry and are in command of a working knowledge of the character's more garbled qualities. That is to say, it's not enough that you be able to pick him out of an Avengers lineup, or know that he throws people into the sun about as often as you check your MySpace, or have pieced together that he's a few clowns short of a circus. The majority of the issue is nigh impenetrable unless you're familiar with his backstory and the main players in his life. To say this is aimed at Sentry fans is an understatement. I suspect everyone else's eyes will probably roll, especially if, like me, you were spoiled by the great Howling Commandos plot last issue. There are some tiny nuggets of enjoyment to be harvested if you're interested in the whole Skrull conspiracy that started the New Avengers, but it's absolutely not the focus here, unfortunately.
Now, in fairness, I understand the point of this issue. The Sentry is positioned as the single most overpowered character in the Marvel Universe, armed with the ability to basically thwart the Skrulls' invasion with a sneeze (a sneeze with the power of a million exploding suns!!). Naturally, it's in their best interest to take him off the board. The problem, then, is that as far as I'm concerned, Secret Invasion #2 took care of that. There's more than enough subtext in the Vision/Sentry sequence of that issue to render Mighty #14 superfluous. Really, there's not much left to say about it, and that sentiment is written all over this issue. It's one of those books that, for me, leaves a void (ha. ha.) where a memory of it should be. When I think back, I know I read it, but so little really happened that I just can't grasp more than one key point about the whole thing.
The inexplicable attention to him (and strange "twist" ending) leads me to believe that the Sentry is destined to play a bigger role in the event later, but him being a superpowered deus ex machina is rarely satisfying in the way writers seem to think it is. Truthfully, the issue does carry a sense of existing a vehicle to get the character into position for a larger concept down the road (especially because it's not the first time we've seen that flashback sequence in the pages of an Avengers book), I'm just not convinced by Mighty #14 that it's going to be especially interesting. It's become increasingly apparent to me that the Sentry works best in small doses and is not a strong enough concept to support a worthwhile story on his own. This issue doesn't hurt my argument.
Review Score: 5.0 Meh(I don't like it when someone who reviews
a book and say's Meh cause Meh is not even a word)
What the hell? This week's Mighty Avengers knocks Brian Michael Bendis's train of near-flawless Secret Invasion tie-ins way, way off the rails. I'm talking, trainwreck on Christmas Eve. Alright, I'm probably exaggerating, it's just that the last two issues of this series were the only two I could say I genuinely enjoyed qualifier-free. This one, well, let's just say it's not up to those standards. I don't know what the implications of this issue are (or even what happened in 85% of it) but it probably isn't good. For us as readers, I mean.
After two wonderful Fury-centric issues, Bendis shifts gears and focuses on, erm... the Sentry. Apparently the Skrulls have worked out a specific plan just for him and this issue sheds some light on the details and execution of it. Understand this before you go into Mighty #14: it requires that you care an awful lot about the Sentry and are in command of a working knowledge of the character's more garbled qualities. That is to say, it's not enough that you be able to pick him out of an Avengers lineup, or know that he throws people into the sun about as often as you check your MySpace, or have pieced together that he's a few clowns short of a circus. The majority of the issue is nigh impenetrable unless you're familiar with his backstory and the main players in his life. To say this is aimed at Sentry fans is an understatement. I suspect everyone else's eyes will probably roll, especially if, like me, you were spoiled by the great Howling Commandos plot last issue. There are some tiny nuggets of enjoyment to be harvested if you're interested in the whole Skrull conspiracy that started the New Avengers, but it's absolutely not the focus here, unfortunately.
Now, in fairness, I understand the point of this issue. The Sentry is positioned as the single most overpowered character in the Marvel Universe, armed with the ability to basically thwart the Skrulls' invasion with a sneeze (a sneeze with the power of a million exploding suns!!). Naturally, it's in their best interest to take him off the board. The problem, then, is that as far as I'm concerned, Secret Invasion #2 took care of that. There's more than enough subtext in the Vision/Sentry sequence of that issue to render Mighty #14 superfluous. Really, there's not much left to say about it, and that sentiment is written all over this issue. It's one of those books that, for me, leaves a void (ha. ha.) where a memory of it should be. When I think back, I know I read it, but so little really happened that I just can't grasp more than one key point about the whole thing.
The inexplicable attention to him (and strange "twist" ending) leads me to believe that the Sentry is destined to play a bigger role in the event later, but him being a superpowered deus ex machina is rarely satisfying in the way writers seem to think it is. Truthfully, the issue does carry a sense of existing a vehicle to get the character into position for a larger concept down the road (especially because it's not the first time we've seen that flashback sequence in the pages of an Avengers book), I'm just not convinced by Mighty #14 that it's going to be especially interesting. It's become increasingly apparent to me that the Sentry works best in small doses and is not a strong enough concept to support a worthwhile story on his own. This issue doesn't hurt my argument.
Review Score: 5.0 Meh(I don't like it when someone who reviews
a book and say's Meh cause Meh is not even a word)
