snap judgments no, really, there are some comics you really should read

How the Mighty Have Fallen

I think I should just stick with the comics.

And on that subject!

I have some crow to eat: right now, I feel I am able to say that I really like the New Avengers. And I mean that, no trickery or sneakiness or anything. I like that book. It's not perfect, but within the issues post-Civil War I have seen more focus in a team book than I thought Bendis was able to do. I know he's not very good at writing team books and he said as much at the start, which is a very brave thing to say (just not execute for 25 issues, wasting time and money). With this underground team, there seems to be some actual avenging going on as they clean up Echo, band together in the face of the Registration Act and try and protect themselves and their own.  Heck, I now know more about the legality of the act and how the judicial system would handle something like this from two pages with Danny Rand's lawyer than from the Civil War entire.

So.... what in God's name is going on with the Mighty Avengers?

Now, I know some fellow blogarians are perfectly cool with the last couple issues. Some recognize Bendis's style for what it is and forgive a lot of the shortcoming based on the fact that "It's Bendis, he just likes to talk a lot in his books and I know it's going to get better".

Screw that.

This book was billed as a "back to basics" style Avengers book, with the heroes and the fighting and the villainy, right? Wizard promised me a "lighter, fresher narrative style and a faster pace that scoots the title's action along like a roller coaster bonanza". It took them the entirety of issue #2 to figure out that the semi-naked chick was Ultron. I'm not exactly holding on to my hat here. Ms. Marvel takes the time to step a few yards away with her team to debate retreat, which not only makes her look weak but... kind of stupid. It's not as if a super powerful robot skimped on being able to hear.

Why are they here?  In this brave new world of registration, the Avengers are redundant and serve the sole purpose of stroking Tony Stark's ego.  He wanted them, he got them.  Aren't there supposed to be fifty other hero teams out there?  Shouldn't they be competent and able to take on anything the Avengers would be flying around for?  Now, if it was a matter of 'well, the Fifty States Initiative needs some time to get on their feet', then okay.   But as poorly as this team has been performing, at a threat they have handled countless times, it's not making much sense.

And is it me, or did another book this week actually refer to the Stark sanctioned team as 'Mighty'?

All you need to know:  skip this one.  I'll let you know if anything cool happens.