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Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Pencilled by John Romita jr
I've been a long time fan of the Avengers franchise ever since reading New Avengers: Breakout back in the day. That's about the time when Bendis had firmly claimed the Avengers as his own. He'd shaken the whole team to its core with Disassembled and remade it in a similar fashion to the Justice League by having all major heroes. We finally saw Wolverine and Spider man, two of Marvels heavy hitters and franchises in themselves.
Well after the events of Siege, where we saw Asgard destroyed, the Sentry going a little bit Russell Crowe and Norman Osborn well and truly being given the smack down. Marvel decided it was time for another reboot (sigh)
I'll admit right off the bat I was a little unsure of John Romita Jr being the artist for the main Avengers title. His art can be really hit and miss. Sometimes it can look absolutely amazing other times... well there's probably four year olds that can do better. So skeptical as i was, I decided to have a look (I couldn't not pick it up anyway, I'm too loyal to the Avengers). I have to say I liked it a lot. What we have here is a return to the Avengers of old. Bendis has finally dropped his love affair with the ridiculous villain the Hood and we've got the Avengers doing what they do best and that's saving the world!
We see the return of Kang and Ultron in this story. We've got a great team composed of Captain America (Bucky), Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye (finally rid of the ridiculous Ronin persona), Spider-man (Also on New Avengers), Wolverine (Also on New Avengers & X-men) Spider-woman and Protector (formerly Marvel Boy). Its a good dynamic and they all seem to fit together well. On top of this all Steve Rogers aka Captain America is now the new Nick Fury. Everything is shiny and new and it doesn't feel so dark anymore. Which to me is good. It was about time they bought the Avengers back into the light.
My only complaint is the foreshadowing of Wonderman being the next hero to go crazy. I don't think its necessary to always have a hero going crazy and the rest of the team to handle it. The Scarlet Witch was good, the Sentry was very good although I was a little sad with the way they mistreated that character, but Wonderman...c'mon! who gives a #@#$ about Wonderman, and a good villain he does not make.
Basically its a time travel story with Kang coming back in time to petition the Avengers for their aid in a force so powerful not even he....well Kang has always been talked up a lot, he's not really that scary but anyway I digress. Kang reveals to the Avengers that their kids have in fact completely screwed up the time stream, and the universe will implode unless the damage is undone...the usual sort of thing for the Avengers.
Personally I hate time travel, its so confusing and almost never makes sense, but Bendis somehow pulls a very credible and quite easy time travel story together. His dialogue as always is witty, and its a well put together tales. I'd give this 4 and a half stars out of 5.
