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By Colin Andersen
June 16, 2011 - 13:33
Wow, I have to say I was really impressed with this issue. Honestly, I’ve been enjoying the main story of Marvel’s current summer event book Fear Itself, but have been less impressed with some of the tie-in books and that extended to Avengers first tie-in issue last month. Luckily, the events of Fear itself #3 allow for some really great months in #14 that marks what I would call the best issue of this volume of Avengers yet.
Most, if not all, of what makes this issue great is Brian Michael Bendis’ writing. As far as comic book writers go, Bendis can be extremely hit-or-miss, especially as of late as noted in my review of New Avengers #13 last week. Luckily, this issue knocks it out of the park and that is largely due to the pathos that Bendis manages to write into the story. Most of this issue is made of the talking heads (a strong suit of Bendis’) of various Avengers discussing their
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Maybe for the first time, Bendis shows the reader just how devastating, both physically and emotionally, these Worthy can be. Unlike most of the other Worthy, The Thing is a good guy through and through and the Avengers are all close friends to him. Bendis gets this just right by making it abundantly clear how affected and saddened these heroes (read: people) by seeing their friend rampage so out of control, especially once he does something that I won’t spoil here that should hopefully have some sort of lasting effect on the Avengers post-Fear Itself so long as it isn’t instantly fixed. The Thing’s tale intersects with the story of the Red Hulk, as the Avengers put it, proving himself as a real Avenger. I have to admit that I have come to really enjoy the Red Hulk as a character and Avengers #14 shows just how much he has changed since his first appearance. It is a strong showing on his part and on the part of the Avengers’ as they reflect on the events.
Unfortunately, I cannot praise the art as highly as the story. I’ve made my opinions on artist John Romita Jr. clear before and it is not changed much here, though it is somewhat better than normal. His characters still look incredibly stiff and flat and this makes for some very bland looking art. It takes a very good artist to be able to make panels upon panels of nothing but talking heads look visually exciting and Romita fails at that. He does a poor job of conveying the emotions that dialogues make abundantly clear that the characters are feeling and they make these parts almost boring. His action scenes don’t fare much better as they look awkward at best and his blows carry little weight with them, a fact he tries to make up for with exaggerated violence that looks out of place; Red Hulk versus The Thing should have been epic, but instead looks like an odd dance when many of the punches don’t even seem to connect. However, I do have to give credit for his depiction of the destruction in New York everything does look sufficiently destroyed as it should and you really get a sense of the level of carnage in the streets as buildings collapse. It’s a shame the rest of the issue couldn’t look that good.
Regardless of how you feel about the art in Avengers #14, as some out there may very well love it, you should definitely check out this issue. It really gives off the sense of despair and loss and event book should but rarely does and, for those that feel like they never understood why he was so big, it shows Brian Michael Bendis at his best. Even if you don’t care about Fear Itself, any superhero reader should not pass up this issue, even if the art drops the book down a few notches at times.
Rating: 8 /10
