Without a doubt, Brian Michael Bendis’ Avengers was the one comic I was most excited about coming out of Siege. As much as I enjoyed New Avengers, it felt fundamentally different than Avengers book of old. As much as I wish someone other than Bendis was writing it, I was okay with the choice so long as he had the right mood to the stories. Luckily for me, when it was announced that his first arc would be a time travel arc involving Kang the Conqueror, it seemed as though I’d gotten my wish. Unfortunately, looking at issue three, it doesn’t seem to be going as well as I’d hoped.I was never completely sold on the roster for this main Avengers team. I was really excited to have Iron Man and Thor back and many of the other members really work; I’ve even really grown to accept and like Spider-Man as a member of the team. However, I still feel that both Wolverine and Spider-Woman have no place here and would really prefer that they stick to either New Avengers or other books entirely. I can get past these two as members for a good story and good use of them, but this hasn’t quite happened yet. So far, the story has quickly become a mess that seems to be going nowhere fast. This issue especially slowed things to a crawl as the entire issue is devoted to a fight scene with a future Apocalypse and his Four Horseman. This whole fight basically ends up as an excuse for Iron Man to scan Apocalypse for information I thought they already had. I should say, however, that the fight was fun and I was never bored with the issue, so it has that going for it.
Sadly, I also couldn’t really like many of the characters in it. Spider-Woman continues to have effectively no presence or relevance and most of the characters still talk like their Spider-Man. I know many people have brought this up, but not everyone needs to have jokey quips in every line of their dialogue; it just becomes annoying and Bendis seems to be relying on this more and more. That and Maria Hill just continues to annoy me more and more. That being said, I did actually really like Spidey in this issue and Thor was written very well too. I’m also really starting to like Noh-Varr as he has a more unique voice and personality, even if I’m still not sold on his new costume or name.
Although the plot for this issue felt like it went nowhere, it was at least still fun. Easily the biggest disservice to Avengers #3 is John Romita Jr.s art. It’s no secret that I strongly dislike Romita’s artwork. His characters always feel flat, almost as though they were cut from paper, and his art just looked rushed all the time. It’s really bad that I questioned who three of his Horsemen even were at various points in the book. Romita also draws one of the least impressive Thors I have ever seen in my life and his Iron Man is utterly awful. Even his Spider-Man, the one character I traditionally enjoy his artwork with, didn’t look right to me in this issue. Credit where credit it is due, though, in that Romita does have a great attention to detail and certainly fills in his backgrounds with various objects.
Avengers could still become the flagship Avengers book I want it to be. The plot could still be a lot of fun if Bendis will just allow it to move forward. I really do want to see this book succeed and I will continue to follow at least this arc in hopes that it does. Sadly, I don’t think there’s anything that could be done for me about art short of replacing Romita, but I tolerate if Bendis can really push things forward in a fun, exciting way. Overall: 6.4/10
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