Post by goldenfist on Jan 29, 2009 0:44:39 GMT -5
Here's IGN's review of Avengers The Initiative #21.
Last issue, I questioned what Avengers: The Initiative's role would be after Secret Invasion essentially took an axe to it. The elephant in the room for the title is what it's supposed to busy itself with now that Norman Osborn is in charge of things and, more to the point, now that about four other titles are currently chronicling that story. Judging from issue #21, it seems poised to be the dumping ground for all the dropped or forgotten plotlines in the Marvel Universe, a prospect that's equal parts good and bad.
On one hand, it's a fair enough idea. Take threads and characters that may not have been strong enough to support their own series and weave them all together into a workable whole, banking on the strength of their combined audiences to be enough to keep the title afloat. Things with some story left to tell but no home to call their own like The Order, Omega Flight, She-Hulk, and other such Marvel Universe oddities could find a shared place to reach their logical progressions alongside Initiative mainstays like Gauntlet, Baron Von Blitzschlag, and the Shadow Initiative. Even in this issue, discarded concepts like Ragnarok (lovingly known to most of fandom as Civil War's "Clor"), Tigra, and the New Warriors pop up in a mishmash of craziness that somehow manages to work in conjunction. There's a particularly nice scene that deals with the predicament of both Ultra Girl and Moonstone currently wearing identical costumes. There's pretty much no other book on the stands where you could do that sort of thing besides here. In theory, this book is now what the recent Marvel Comics Presents revival probably should have been.
The other side of the coin, however, is that the title struggles with a sense of identity. Being sewn together of disparate story elements nobody else wanted to deal with means the overall tone of the book is similar to a C-list landfill. It's also undeniable that a book called Avengers: The Initiative is going to have a hard time living up to that mandate when nobody besides a select few people at Marvel are sure what it really means in light of "Dark Reign." While the story in this issue is pleasant and competent enough and hits the right comedic beats, it's really not more than gussied-up wheel-spinning while the characters wait for something real to push against. This disarrayed state is fine for the time being, but it won't sustain the title for very long. A new directive and mission statement for the title is desperately needed.
Humberto Ramos turns up on art duties, and he's sure to cause the usual complaints that seem to crop up around his issues. He's an artist that excels when things get crazy, so predictably the action sequences with Ragnarok come off fairly nicely. The art suffers a bit, though, when Ramos is required to do static stuff like depict characters standing around looking worried.
It's fitting that the title of this storyline is "Avengers: The Initiative Disassembled," because the book is largely in a disassembled state. There's no momentum and the tone is undeniably bleak. That doesn't mean it's a bad issue, but the title should get in the beginning stages of sorting itself out sooner rather than later.
Review Score: 7.3 Decent
Last issue, I questioned what Avengers: The Initiative's role would be after Secret Invasion essentially took an axe to it. The elephant in the room for the title is what it's supposed to busy itself with now that Norman Osborn is in charge of things and, more to the point, now that about four other titles are currently chronicling that story. Judging from issue #21, it seems poised to be the dumping ground for all the dropped or forgotten plotlines in the Marvel Universe, a prospect that's equal parts good and bad.
On one hand, it's a fair enough idea. Take threads and characters that may not have been strong enough to support their own series and weave them all together into a workable whole, banking on the strength of their combined audiences to be enough to keep the title afloat. Things with some story left to tell but no home to call their own like The Order, Omega Flight, She-Hulk, and other such Marvel Universe oddities could find a shared place to reach their logical progressions alongside Initiative mainstays like Gauntlet, Baron Von Blitzschlag, and the Shadow Initiative. Even in this issue, discarded concepts like Ragnarok (lovingly known to most of fandom as Civil War's "Clor"), Tigra, and the New Warriors pop up in a mishmash of craziness that somehow manages to work in conjunction. There's a particularly nice scene that deals with the predicament of both Ultra Girl and Moonstone currently wearing identical costumes. There's pretty much no other book on the stands where you could do that sort of thing besides here. In theory, this book is now what the recent Marvel Comics Presents revival probably should have been.
The other side of the coin, however, is that the title struggles with a sense of identity. Being sewn together of disparate story elements nobody else wanted to deal with means the overall tone of the book is similar to a C-list landfill. It's also undeniable that a book called Avengers: The Initiative is going to have a hard time living up to that mandate when nobody besides a select few people at Marvel are sure what it really means in light of "Dark Reign." While the story in this issue is pleasant and competent enough and hits the right comedic beats, it's really not more than gussied-up wheel-spinning while the characters wait for something real to push against. This disarrayed state is fine for the time being, but it won't sustain the title for very long. A new directive and mission statement for the title is desperately needed.
Humberto Ramos turns up on art duties, and he's sure to cause the usual complaints that seem to crop up around his issues. He's an artist that excels when things get crazy, so predictably the action sequences with Ragnarok come off fairly nicely. The art suffers a bit, though, when Ramos is required to do static stuff like depict characters standing around looking worried.
It's fitting that the title of this storyline is "Avengers: The Initiative Disassembled," because the book is largely in a disassembled state. There's no momentum and the tone is undeniably bleak. That doesn't mean it's a bad issue, but the title should get in the beginning stages of sorting itself out sooner rather than later.
Review Score: 7.3 Decent