I'm so conflicted

[daned]

Man. I really don't want to buy MA to register my protest at Bendis's mistreatment of The Avengers. But...

I bought all the episodes of The Crossing in the hopes that it would not suck if I saw all the pieces of the tale.

I bought all the Force Works despite the writer killing the most interesting character issue one and having some of the worst art since Ghost Rider 2099. And at least I was eventually rewarded by some good writing and art - just before it was cancelled.

Hell, I even bought 4 issues of Avengers Reborn - 3 more than any of my mates.

So I'm likely to buy this one - just in case.

What about you?

[Doctor Bong]

I understand what your saying, Daned: like you, I stayed with them through "The Crossing" (which I loathed...) & Force Works, and the beginning of Heroes Reborn (but I couldn't stick with that one, due both to Liefield's art & the fact that those were plainly not THE Avengers);
however, for me, CW was the straw that broke the camel's back... Avengers Disassembled & House of M prepared the way to this, but it was CW that really did it for me...
I agree wiht those "grumpy old men" who feel that Bendis & Co. have accomplished what many mediocre & bad writers before were unable to achive: to rape & destroy what I see as the Avengers true identity, and that to undo most of the damage caused to the MU will be pretty nigh impposible.
Until such time as Bendis is off the Avengers book & related projects (& preferably until Quesada's no longer Marvel's EIC as well) I no longer will give my hard-earned dollars to Marvel.

[sph683]

I'll be buying it.

I hate to sink more of my hard-earned money on Bendis, but there is always a (small) possibility that the book will be good.

I'm either an eternal optimist, or a glutton for punishment, I don't know which.

[Doctor Bong]

As much as the Heroes Reborn Avengers were not THE Avengers, I truly feel they were still a lot closer to them than the caricature which Bendis writes... unfortunately, all things, all eras must come to an end & it seems like the days when the readers like you & me, who know & care about the (in our eyes) true Avengers are a force to be taken into consideration economically are gone...
So perhaps the suggestion that we should stick to the old material is, after all, a well meaning, compassionate piece of advice.

[spiderwasp]

I will be buying the book. I try to go in to things with as much optimism as I can, even though it sure is difficult. I've continued to buy NA all along, in hopes that it will get better, and in truth, it has. It's not up to par yet, but some of the more recent issues have been halfway decent (Not the highest praise, I know, but I'm trying.) Yes, I fear that MA will have more of Bendis writing out of character and having very little happening in each issue, but there is a chance that he will handle this differently. If I go in, convinced I won't like it, I won't. If I go in looking for the positives and convinced that there's a chance, maybe I will.
I just hope we don't see a scene that goes like this:

Wasp - So, do you want to be an Avenger?
Ares - An Avenger?
Wasp - An Avenger.
Ares - Do I want to be an Avenger?
Wasp- Yes, an Avenger.
Ares - Oy vay! I could be an Avenger.
Wasp - Is that a yes?
Ares - Do you want it to be a yes?
Wasp - I want what I want.
Ares - I'm going an Avenger. Are you going to be the leader?
Wasp - Leader schmeader. Where's Jarvis? I need a margarita.

If this scene is there, I'm out.

[uberwolf]

spiderwasp said:

Wasp - So, do you want to be an Avenger?
Ares - An Avenger?
Wasp - An Avenger.
Ares - Do I want to be an Avenger?
Wasp- Yes, an Avenger.
Ares - Oy vay! I could be an Avenger.
Wasp - Is that a yes?
Ares - Do you want it to be a yes?
Wasp - I want what I want.
Ares - I'm going an Avenger. Are you going to be the leader?
Wasp - Leader schmeader. Where's Jarvis? I need a margarita.

If this scene is there, I'm out.

Eh heh heh, you know, if this scene was in the book I'd buy it just to see Ares say " Oy vay, I could be an Avenger"

Oy, I miss my exclamation point key

[fatbob]

I have no hope whatsoever that MA will be any better than NA but I probably will buy the first few issues just to see if Bendis! does anything that is so different from the drivel we have had to put up with on NA.

[Bored Yesterday]

I'm not reading it for 2 reasons --
One is the Bendis factor -- for 3 bucks I expect something to happen in a comic book. The other reason is that I'm afraid of seeing a militarization of the Avengers after Civil War -- kind of taking on the model from the Ultimates, and I don't dig that too much.

[dlw66]

fatbob says it for me. I know redstatecap hates the completists, and sadly I am more one than not. I'll probably give it a try. But bored makes the great point that for $3 you ought to at least enjoy yourself for a few minutes.

A quarter used to get me endless hours of reading, re-reading, drawing, etc. Sigh....

[Tana Nile]

I'll give it a try, but I'm not really all that interested in the line-up.

The inclusion of Ares is also driving me nuts. I didn't read his recent series, so I suppose on one hand I am speaking from ignorance; but the Ares I remember was a villain!! He was there way back when Hercules first joined the Avengers, teaming with the Enchantress to trick Hercules into killing the Avengers. We saw him again right after the Kree-Skrull War, this time calling himself the Warhawk and causing bloody riots. Ares was a thorn in both hercules and Thor's sides. So what changed?

I am curious who will be a part of New Avengers. I have dropped that book for the meantime, but might give it another chance if an interesting roster is used.

[uberwolf]

There was an Ares series? What ever for? What happened? A Bendis book?

[The Night Phantom]

uberwolf said:

There was an Ares series? What ever for? What happened? A Bendis book?

Last year there was a five-issue Ares limited series written by Michael Avon Oeming that seemed to come out of nowhere. In it, Ares has been residing on Earth and raising a son, Alexander, who becomes a pawn in a conflict between Olympus and the conquering Japanese god of evil.

[thew40]

daned said:

Man. I really don't want to buy MA to register my protest at Bendis's mistreatment of The Avengers. But...

I bought all the episodes of The Crossing in the hopes that it would not suck if I saw all the pieces of the tale.

I bought all the Force Works despite the writer killing the most interesting character issue one and having some of the worst art since Ghost Rider 2099. And at least I was eventually rewarded by some good writing and art - just before it was cancelled.

Hell, I even bought 4 issues of Avengers Reborn - 3 more than any of my mates.

So I'm likely to buy this one - just in case.

What about you?

I'll be buying because I've enjoying "New Avengers" thus far. I can understand the reluctance on a lot of people's part, however.

You could wait until it comes out in trade, go to your local bookstore, and take a look at it there. I've found that Bendis' stories work better when read as a whole. That may help.

Or you could buy the first issue and let that decide if you want it.

I'm personally hoping Bendis writes this less like "Powers" and "Secret War" and more towards "Ultimate Spider-Man," which isn't as dark. "Ultimate Spider-Man" is a lot more fun.

~W~

[dlw66]

I would concur with your comment on USM. I often find it laugh-out-loud funny. I am behind in my reading of that title by a couple of tpbs, so my comments may not apply to the past several arcs of the book.

Still don't like what he did to Gwen, though .

[thew40]

dlw66 said:

Still don't like what he did to Gwen, though .

Agreed. Though I understand why he did it, it wasn't the way I wanted it to happen.

If at all.

~W~

[daned]

"You could wait until it comes out in trade, go to your local bookstore, and take a look at it there. I've found that Bendis' stories work better when read as a whole. That may help."

True, and I have borrowed my mate's USM and you're right. However, I pay $5.80 for a comic once a month, I want a story, or at least a significant chapter. I don't want a repetition of that issue where a SHIELD agent thinks about contacting the Avengers for the whole friggin' issue. And I sure don't want to shell out 30 odd dollars for a story to make sense due to the 'subtlety' involved.

I do like Bendis generally, but I loathe what he does with the Avengers.

[daned]

btw, if this has been read 189 times (as of writing) why have only 13 of you lazy ^%&% voted? Click a button!

[spiderwasp]

daned said:

btw, if this has been read 189 times (as of writing) why have only 13 of you lazy ^%&% voted? Click a button!

Although I'm sure many people have visited without voting, the number of times read also reflects the 13 of us that have voted checking back and reading the posts or looking at how the vote is going. I'm not disagreeing that a lot of people have read but not voted, but it's probably not as bad as it looks. It is odd that people don't though, since this topic is pretty cut and dried. Sometimes I choose not to vote in polls I read because I am either too undecided or have no opinion, but in this one, you either will buy it or you won't. It's not a particulary tough question.

[iastagehand]

I will give it a shot. I am one of the few non-Bendis haters here. If it sucks, so be it. I will read about it here ad-nauseum if it does. Here's to hoping it will be OK. The art looks cool by the way

[daned]

iastagehand said:

I am one of the few non-Bendis haters here.

Can you please explain to me, or at least link to a post where it's explained, why you like NA? Often I can see what people get out of things I don't particularly like (like Country music) but NA has me beat. Truly.

And I really want to know, especially since the crap Sentry all whine issue was the best selling comic of a couple months ago. Marvel (and Bendis) aren't going to change any time soon with those kind of sales.

What am I missing?

[Shiryu]

In Italy it will probably come in the same book as NA, so I won't have choice. I think I would try it anyway though, you never know, it might be ok.

[thew40]

daned said:

"You could wait until it comes out in trade, go to your local bookstore, and take a look at it there. I've found that Bendis' stories work better when read as a whole. That may help."

True, and I have borrowed my mate's USM and you're right. However, I pay $5.80 for a comic once a month, I want a story, or at least a significant chapter.

Where do you pay $5.80 for a comic? In the US, it's $2.99

And I sure don't want to shell out 30 odd dollars for a story to make sense due to the 'subtlety' involved.

Well, you could just read it in the bookstore before you buy. And usually, the trades are about the same price you'd pay if you bought the single issues.

~W~

[daned]

thew40 said:

Where do you pay $5.80 for a comic? In the US, it's $2.99

Australia. Now here I think I'm obliged to say something like "Down Under" or "G'day mate"

[thew40]

daned said:

thew40 said:

Where do you pay $5.80 for a comic? In the US, it's $2.99

Australia. Now here I think I'm obliged to say something like "Down Under" or "G'day mate"

Ooooh! Okay, that makes a little more sense. Sorry.

~W~

[steed]

I voted No I loathe Bendis, but that's not quite the truth. I'll wait to see it on the stands and read what you guys say before I buy it. I haven't been too excited by the previews, but I'll at least look at it.

I'm not too wild about Ares being on the team, but not because he was a villian. It's a long standing tradition in the Avengers to make villians Avengers. Hawk, Wanda, Pietro, the Swordman are all examples. I just don't think it's believable that Ares would suddenly change and want to be an Avenger.

[daned]

There's a fancy word critics and English teachers use to describe situations like this: verisimilitude. The appearance of reality. That is, no matter how far removed from reality a story is it must still be logical.

Granted, I never read the mini series, but Ares has been a bastard for millennia. He's now a hero? And the Avengers (who have gone toe to toe with him time and again) are going to accept him in their ranks?

I can't buy that. (Though, d**n them - I will buy the ^&%&^$ comic!)

[uberwolf]

daned said:

Granted, I never read the mini series, but Ares has been a bastard for millennia. He's now a hero? And the Avengers (who have gone toe to toe with him time and again) are going to accept him in their ranks?

Don't worry it'll all make sense. The Bends will cleverly tell you why it had to happen.... five years from now.

[imperiusrex]

No. And I feel fully justified in not reading it because I can't stand bendis' writing style.
If I don't like Law and Order, the chances I'm going to like Law and Order: SVU are fairly slim. The producer is the same, the writing staff is shared, the scripts are made by the same people, the casting is done by the same people and the network is going to want a show similar enough to not turn off those who are enjoying the previous edition, so they're going to share much of the same traits.
It's just good business sense and marvel should try to duplicate that success if they want to make similar sales.
I don't like it, but can't say I blame them...

[Nutcase65]

It's sort of like crack,.. I don't want to get further into it but I,..have,..no,..choice,.. must,..give,..Bendis,..money,..

[uberwolf]

nutcase65 said:

It's sort of like crack,.. I don't want to get further into it but I,..have,..no,..choice,.. must,..give,..Bendis,..money,..

Fight it nutty, fight it! If you have to give someone money, give it to me!