Comic News And Reviews

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Stuart Immonen (pencils), Wade von Grawbadger (inks), Laura Martin & Rain Beredo (colors), and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: A mystically roided up Wolverine takes on Agamotto for the fate of the universe.

What’s Good: This arc has bothered in a way; Bendis seems so intent on convincing us of the scale and stakes of this conflict but, perhaps due to the facelessness of the bad guys, I never quite bought into it.  Last month’s issue promised a mystic battle of epic proportions, yet again, but this time, we get an issue that truly delivers on that.  New Avengers #6 is just as big in scope and action as it promises to be.

The duel between Wolverine and Agamotto is well done, with Agamotto taking on various forms from the Marvel Universe and Wolverine’s past.  It feels explosive and, well, powerful and in that sense, it does what it’s meant to.  What really helps out the duel, however, is how Bendis emphasizes the Avengers team and keeps it from being just “Wolverine vs. Agamotto.”  By watching the battle, showing concern, and giving support, the battle with Agamotto instead feels like a team effort by friends and, as such, it becomes a lot easier to root for Wolverine and emotionally invest in the battle itself.  It’s one of those situations where Bendis is really able to highlight the chemistry this team has.

The conclusion of the conflict will no doubt be a source of some controversy, but the event itself is well done.  Bendis delivers on his promise of a major character death and, all told, it’s done in good taste.  The character goes out in truly heroic fashion and it feels appropriately important and massive in scale.  Better still, it leaves behind a new and very compelling villain.  It also leads to an excellent final page where Daimon Hellstrom wonderfully sums up who the New Avengers are and what makes them unique as a team.

The real star this month, however, is Stuart Immonen.  His action scenes are as exciting as ever and his characters are, as always, very likable.  What’s really awesome though is how he alters his style when depicting Wolverine’s duel, which is rendered in a really awesome, almost painted feel.

What’s Not So Good: Yeah, that character death.  As I say, the event itself is a blast to read and it’s all very tastefully done, but it’s hard not to be miffed at just who gets killed.

I’ll try my best not to give it away, but it’s a character that had so much potential.  Worse still, Marvel, Bendis in particular, ironically enough, have done so much to build the character up over the last year or so that killing the character off now seems almost like a betrayal.  Perhaps this will be a short absence for the Avenger, which would admittedly be a bit more acceptable, but right now, it feels as though Marvel didn’t know what to do with the guy/girl, so just pushed him/her off the table.

I also found Ben’s dialogue to be a little off this month.  Ben has a very distinctive voice, so much so that Bendis can’t get away with having him say throwaway lines that sound exactly like any other character.  He may be able to get away with that now and then with some of the other Avengers, but not Ben.

Conclusion: Mixed feelings about that death aside, this is a fun issue that provides a strong finish to an at times uneven arc.

Grade: B

-Alex Evans

Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Spider-Man, Marvel Comics, Iron Fist, Danny Rand, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Brian Bendis, Stuart Immonen, New Avengers, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel, Peter Parker, The Thing, Brian Michael Bendis, Mockingbird, Comic Book Reviews, Marvel Universe, Dr. Strange, Weekly Comic Book Review, comic reviews, Ben Grimm, Alex Evans, Victoria Hand, Eye of Agamotto, Dr. Voodoo, Heroic Age, Bobbi Morse, Daimon Hellstrom, Marvel mystic, Avengers Mansion, Agamotto, New Avengers #6, New Avengers #6 review

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Although it's a bit "inside baseball" and will presumably have no impact whatsoever on the content of the films, Marvel fans may be interested to know that parent company Walt Disney has arranged to market and distribute "The Avengers" and "Iron Man 3" movies itself, transferring control from Paramount Pictures for the price of $115 million, approximately what the Viacom company would have made via its previous deal with Marvel Studios.

Deadline reports that while Paramount will lose the prestige of counting the highly successful Marvel films among its yearly take, the fact that Marvel Studios/Disney kept over 90% of that revenue always made Paramount's achievement a little bittersweet. With the "Star Trek," "G.I. Joe," "Jackass," and "Transformers" franchises all going strong, Paramount is in a good position to let the Marvel properties go home to Disney. Sweetening the deal, Paramount will make 8% on "The Avengers" and 9% on "Iron Man 3," just for being solid bros.

Paramount CEO Brad Grey:

Five years ago, when Paramount and Marvel made our initial deal, both our businesses were in very different places. We are grateful for the partnership we have had with the terrific Marvel team over these years and proud of the work we have done together. Today, this new agreement is the right deal for Paramount, for Marvel and for Disney.

Paramount will still manage the distribution and marketing of "Thor" and "Captain America: The First Avenger" in 2011. No word on whether Disney will pursue its wayward Marvel film properties like X-Men and Spider-Man, which are locked down at 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures, respectively, and not under Marvel Studios control or financing. With "X-Men: First Class" in production, a "Wolverine 2" announcement coming soon and the rebooting of the Spider-Man franchise underway, such a move would seem very unlikely.

[Via Deadline]

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Nov 3rd 2010 By: Caleb Goellner

Movies: Robert "Iron Man" Downey Jr. has read The Avengers movie script and says its going to be fantastic. Well, once he fixes it. [MTV Splash Page]

Charity: A group of men that includes several Dark Horse Comics employees is participating in Movember, a November-long mustache growing contest to raise money to fight men's cancer. Check the link to learn more. [Movember Comics Network]

Parody: Did you vote yesterday? Frank Miller very likely did. After he drew a "Krypto-Facist" gag, anyway. [The Beat]

Gaming: Gina Torres discusses her role as the voice of Wonder Woman in Sony's upcoming DC Universe Online. She was a great Super Woman in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. [DCUO] Toys: Customizer DaMan crafts a mean Killraven. [Toy Cutter] Art: Grant Morrison discusses bringing his Knight, Squire and other new characters into Batman and Robin. [The Source] Bricks: Dark Horse's The Mask gets blocky as one of Jordan "Sir Nadroj" Schwartz's Lego Cubedudes. [Super Punch]
Animation: Disney XD teases the debut of Captain America in tonight's episode of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. [Marvel] Art: In the approximated words of Chris Sims, "Kamandi. Is. Awesome, you guys!" [io9]

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Christos Gage (writer), Mike McKone (penciller)

The Story: The revolving spotlight falls on Reptil this issue as Humberto is made Class Leader of the Academy, making a childhood dream of his come true.  But what happens when Reptil realizes that his dreams have been ruined by the secrets and lies that permeate not only the Academy’s mission statement but also the motivations and actions of his classmates?

What’s Good: “Reptil is lame.”  That was my first thought when I was done reading the special Avengers: The Initiative one-shot that introduced the character a couple of years ago.  A kid that can shape shift parts of his body into dinosaur parts kind of sounds interesting on paper maybe, but the execution did nothing for me.  When I saw that he was going to be on the roster of the Academy team, I’m pretty sure I rolled my eyes.  This issue has changed my opinion immensely.  I still think the dinosaur powers thing, even with the upgrade of going “full Dinosaur”, is sort of blah.  However, Gage has managed to make me completely disregard that aspect of the character by centering on Reptil’s inner workings.

You’d think that the characters who are morally questionable would easily be the more intriguing, but positioning Reptil as the good kid trying to hold it all together, despite knowing that the people around him are doing bad things, has proven that assumption wrong.  Gage establishes the character’s motivations smartly, making it his dream since childhood to be an Avenger.  This not only adds an interesting layer to his place here, but it also gives his motivations about keeping the team together an added dimension.  He desperately doesn’t want to lose this good thing.  It’s an easily understood emotion that any reader can understand and makes the character that much more relatable.  Kudos, Gage. You made me like Reptil.  Who’d have thought?

I was also pleased to get a scene focusing on Finesse and Quicksilver’s secret pact.  It’s an element of the title’s plot that has made me happy since it was introduced in issue #2, and I’m eager to see where it goes.  Humberto’s cathartic talk with Jessica Jones was also a nice surprise.  Gage shows that he’s not only bringing characters from the other Avengers titles in just for the gratuitous cameo, but for reasons that are story appropriate.  That makes the unexpected guest appearances that much more enjoyable.

What’s Not So Good: Reptil turns into a dinosaur.  Still think that’s lame, sorry.

Conclusion: Another month, another Avengers Academy issue better than the last one. No surprises here.

Grade: A

-Joe Lopez

Filed under: Marvel Comics Tagged: | Christos Gage, Mike McKone, Weekly Comic Book Review, comic book reviewsw, Avengers Academy #6, Avengers Academy #6 review

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