Customer Reviews

Mighty Avengers, Vol. 2: Venom Bomb

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Is there a skrull in the house? The post civil war conspiracy continues...Brian Michael Bendis continues his tremendous run on Tony Stark's new assemblage of heroes and is reunited with artist Mark Bagley. The Mighty Avengers are in fact, a pretty old combo of occasional heroes who graced the covers over 20 years ago: Ms Marvel; Black Widow: Wasp; Wonder Man and Spider Woman - joined by relative newbies: the enigmatic Sentry and Ares the God of War . The difference now is that the world around them is a lot deadlier, while the heroes themselves have become a lot spunkier. Throw in Doctor Doom, a Venom Bomb, Morganna Le Fay and we have a really juicy story going. The Avengers are always at their best when they (a) have internal conflicts and (b) have world domination issues to deal with. Both needs are addressed here, as the new (yet old) generation of Avengers become more and more interesting. What will happen next? Highly entertaining.

MA is a very different book to anything we've seen featuring the Avengers since Avengers Disassembled, it's a bit fun and light-hearted, even to the point of being a bit silly [mostly in a good way]. Purists will bemoan Dr Doom's Bendisy dialogue but they're missing the point.

The retro stipple-coloured section set in the past is proof of this series' less serious approach, and although well done, I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the last time Bendis used that trick in Powers Vol. 6: Sellouts. Having said that, the Ironman/Dr Doom banter in this section is probably my favorite part of this trade: "A lot more people hate you than me".

Mark Bagley turns out some of the best art of his career. Much stronger than his work on Ultimate Spidey and much better suited to a book such as this. He handles both superhero action and empathic eyes with absolute skill.

The annoying thought bubbles are back, but thankfully are slightly less annoying than last time.

This trade is well worth a read, as long as you're not a Bendis hater or someone who likes their Avengers to be serious or angsty.

Venom Bomb, the second storyarc of Brian Michael Bendis' Mighty Avengers series, begins with former New Avenger Spider-Woman defecting over to Tony "Iron Man" Stark's pro-registration Avengers team, bringing the body of the Skrull-Elektra in tow. Before Tony can decide what to do about this secret invasion (no pun intended...no, nevermind, there was), a symbiote virus attack is launched on New York City, and Doctor Doom appears to be the culprit. What follows are battles aplenty and some well-handled time travel elements that pay delightful homage to the format of classic Marvel comics, which will coax a grin out of even the most jaded of fanboys. Bendis once again overdoes it with the thought bubbles, but there is something about Venom Bomb that is just plain fun. Bendis' longtime Ultimate Spider-Man partner Mark Bagley provides the artwork here, and does a great job as well. All that, and with more hints to what's coming in Secret Invasion, Venom Bomb is a fun ride that finds Mighty Avengers improving on the ground laid by it's freshman arc, The Ultron Initiative, and wonderfully sets the stage for the cataclysmic events to follow.

This second Mighty Avengers volume collects issues #7-11 of Marvel's series from the creative team behind nearly a decade of Ultimate Spider-Man, writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley. Against the backdrop of a looming Skrull invasion, a Latverian satellite drops a virus on New York City that symbiotically turns thousands into Venom and Carnage-like monsters, and Tony Stark/Iron Man leads his Avengers team to Doctor Doom in search of justice. Bendis gives Doom some terrible lines, like this one to Ms. Marvel: "so shut your cow-mouth or I'll remove your face by hand before I stop your whore's heart". A time travel sequence offers a clever vintage 1970s layout complete with one-line teasers at the page bottoms, but this adds little to the already mundane plot. I enjoyed both the story and artwork in Volume 1 much better.

Ok so you get symbiotes invading the city with Bendis's great cast and dialogue, then a confrontation with doom that results in something quite clever when they travel back in time. Plus what happens with doom connects to the later dark avengers confrontation with him. I was surprised by the quality of the second entry. Such a strong comic. Great team, action, plot, dialogue, and bagley's artwork as usual owns. I was worried after the first volume, but I guess its just Cho and Bendis don't have good chemistry, since in vol 2 Bendis and Bagley's prior collaboration (longest in comic book ) creates a foundation that produced this incredibly solid entry. I hope the rest of the series is good...too bad bagley didn't illustrate it.

Very basically: great cameos, adventure, excitement, drama, action and art. A must for any fan of the Marvel bigs and the Avengers storyline.

While the x titles keep repeating the same story over & over again. The avengers have come up with a great new team & new storyline.

This second collection of the 'registered' Avengers takes place post-Civil War and pre-Secret Invasion. While the art, by Frank Cho, is unbeatable, the series seems to amble, with no clear direction in mind. General consensus, I think, is that Mr. Cho's slow work pace kept the book behind and unable to keep up with ongoing Marvel Universe continuity. Still, it's beautiful - particularly his women.
Writer Bendis' use of thought balloons is unique to this title and characterization is spot on.

All in all, two excellent creators still trying to find their way.