Avengers #2

Avengers #2: Writer: BENDIS! Pencils: John Romita Jr.

Review: This comic gets started with the Avengers searching out Noh-Varr, the former Marvel Boy and current Protector, hoping that he'd be able to use his advanced Kree technology to help them see into the future to ascertain if Kang was telling them the truth last issue. Noh-Varr agrees to help, and after a while he creates a device that can look into all possible futures. The Avengers watch the many images, and spot the one they were looking for, the future Kang warned them about where their children ended up murdering Kang's future self, Immortus. After the team watches Immortus die, the timestream begins to break apart, and Noh-Varr's machine ends up being destroyed. The fact that the timestream seemed “broken” severely concerns Iron Man, who explains to the team that if time was damaged, not only would the future be affected, but the past and present would as well. Before Noh-Varr can construct something to allow the team to enter the timestream to repair it, they are attacked by Wonder Man(!?!). Wonder Man shouts that the Avengers shouldn't have reassembled, and that the Avengers would only wind up causing more trouble then they stopped. Wonder Man beats the team up for a bit until Noh-Varr blasts him with some sort of Kree weaponry, which causes Wonder Man to retreat, but not before he threatens the team one final time. Still reeling from Wonder Man's betrayal, an alternative version of Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen(!!!)appear thanks to the fractured timestream, ending this issue.

What I Thought: Wow, this comic was Fan-freaking-tastic! This storyline is TOP-NOTCH, and the return of Noh-Varr, a favorite character of mine, was like the icing on the cake. So it's all good then? Not so fast my friends! I'd have EASILY given this comic a 10 out of 10, but Bendis's(that's right, I am officially UN-capitalizing his name, he's earned my respect again!!!)horrid dialogue really hurt my enjoyment of this comic. There were just pages and pages of unnecessary dialogue here... Where a simple yes or no answer would have sufficed, Bendis would fill scenes with TONS of unneeded wordage. For example, in one scene, Maria Hill was talking to Bucky about Kang. She asks Bucky if he knew who Kang was, and Bucky says no. Now a normal writer would have probably done something like this, Maria: “Have you read the intel reports on Kang yet?” Bucky: “No.” Maria: Explains who Kang is and what he's done to the Avengers in the past. Simple and concise. Instead Maria rambles about how she thinks Kang is setting a trap for the team, how Kang is crazy, and then they suddenly start to talk about how Tony Stark loves to make plans... I mean really!? Imagine being the significant other of Bendis and asking him what he wanted for dinner!?! Bendis: “I-I think I'd like one of those things... The thing with the skin on it. What's it called... The thing with the-the skin. Um... Not one of those little fishy guys, the skin thing... You know the thing! It-it has two legs and wings! I think-I think it's called a chickie? No wait! A-A chicken!!! That's what I want to have for dinner! A chicken... Or-or maybe one of those other things...” Okay, that went on for WAY too long, but I think I made my point! Just say you want the DAMN chicken!!! Not EVERY conversation needs to be an epic. If Bendis could only reel in his inane babble, I think this storyline might actually go down as one of my favorite Avengers stories in a LONG time...

Score: 9 out of 10. Like I said, if not for the dialogue, this comic was an easy 10 out of 10...Blah blah blah...