Avengers Solo #5

Okay, two more reviews tonight, and then we'll finish out the week with the final two comics in my new comic pile tomorrow... You know, it's really seemed like the reviews this week took WAY longer to get through than usual... I don't know if that was because the books I read this week were sub-par or if it was because I've been tired due to work... Whatever it is, I've been pretty let down by most of the books I've read this week, and after looking at the comic books left in front of me, all I feel is a sense of dread...

Avengers Solo #5(of 5):

Summary: Okay, I'm going to be 100% honest with everybody right here... I have NO idea what happened in this comic book... Seriously, usually I can at least string together a few sentences about a comic book(even one that I hated) describing the actual story. But I literally don't know what happened in this comic. Plain and simple. Let's just say that Hawkeye beat the bad guys(he did, I understood that much), and the Avengers Academy kids were being tested in the back-up feature and leave it at that.

Thoughts: Wow, this was seriously terrible... It is a rare occasion indeed when I can't give a review for a comic book, but this was one of those times. I mean I've been really down on the main story in this mini since it began, but I could at least understand some of it. But this issue? Forget it. My brain was just NOT understanding this story at all. If you are a fan of Hawkeye, as I am, this mini-series was a serious kick to the gut...

Score: 1 out of 10.

This page was literally the ONLY thing I liked about this entire comic book!

Avengers: Solo #4

Okay, this should be interesting. On one hand, I love Hawkeye. On the other hand, this mini-series, the Hawkeye story in particular, has been VERY lackluster. Here's hoping things pick up as we get closer to the conclusion of this one.

Avengers: Solo #4(of 5):

Summary: Ugh. This comic was so bad I don't even know how to go about reviewing it! Here's my best shot... Hawkeye rescues Trace and the doctor who experimented on Trace from some bad guys. The doctor claims he was forced to experiment on Trace and the other women, but nobody really trusts the doctor. The doctor does give Trace and Hawkeye the location of the bad guys, so Hawkeye, Trace, and another random character(I haven't the foggiest who they are) head to the location. Hawkeye plans on sneaking in, but is confronted by Iron Man who demands to know what Hawkeye was up to. The back-up story(which was WAAAAAY better) sees Striker and Finesse(my two favorite Avengers Academy cadets) battling against Alkhema. The two Avengers-in-training manage to remove one of Alkhema's arms, but unfortunately, the angry robot continues it's attack.

Thoughts: You know, I wish they'd just drop the Hawkeye feature and give the next issue fully over to the Avengers Academy back-up story... And I say that as just about the biggest Hawkeye fan you'll ever find! The Hawkeye story was nearly incomprehensible. Plain and simple. The Avengers Academy back-up was good, but since it was only 5 pages(actually four because one page was a splash), it really couldn't save this comic for me. Ah well. Hopefully the next issue will magically make sense or something. I don't know...

Score: 3 out of 10.

See, I hated the main story so much I posted a page from the back-up story!

Avengers: Solo #3

Next comic in line for a rushed review, Avengers: Solo... Man am I behind with my reviewing so far this week...

Avengers: Solo #3(of 5):

What Happened: Trace reveals to Hawkeye that she(as well as several other women) had been operated on by some clandestine organization that wanted the women to give birth to little super-soldiers. The person supposedly running this organization? Captain America. It goes without saying that Hawkeye doesn't believe his role model would do something like that, and tries to convince Trace of that fact, but Trace insists that the people running the clinic were followers of Cap. Because of that, Trace implores Hawkeye not to involve any other Avengers in the investigation into what was really happening, and Hawkeye agrees to that. Hawkeye manages to trick Chance into giving him some information on who was running the organization that experimented on Trace and her friends, and upon leaving the prison Chance was being housed in, Hawkeye is attacked by some freaks sent out from the mysterious organization. Trace comes in to assist Hawkeye, as was the plan, but she decides to go against Hawkeye's plan by allowing herself to get captured, figuring Hawkeye could now follow her back to the organization's headquarters. Hawkeye is annoyed by Trace's recklessness, but has no choice but to follow. The back-up story dealt with Pym, Striker and Finesse of the Avengers Academy being attacked by a bunch of robotic dopplegangers of the original West Coast Avengers. The trio manage to shut down the robots, but before they can celebrate, Pym is knocked out and the two Academy cadets are confronted by Alkhema(!!).

The Good: The back-up story was, once again, the best thing about this issue. Adding Alkhema to the equation simply made a great story that much greater! The main story had lots of Hawkeye, so that's good, right?

The Bad: I'm just not into the main story here at all... An evil organization has conducted experiments on some women with the hope being that the women would one day get pregnant and have super-powered kids? The fact that the story actually makes you think that MAYBE Cap WAS behind this organization was flat out bizarre! The scene with Cap and Hawkeye was obviously meant to make us suspect that Cap was possibly up to no good, but come on, who's gonna buy that?!

The Verdict: Just like the first two issues of this mini, this one had a mediocre lead story that was saved by a great back-up feature. Honestly, if not for that fact that Hawkeye was the star of the main story, I'm not sure I'd have bothered reading this one until sometime early next week. I'll mainly be picking up the next issue simply for the back-up story and to read Hawkeye's dialogue, because I just don't see myself ever getting into the main story here.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.The only way this could have been better was if there was a robot Pym there in that awful red jumpsuit Pym used to wear...

Avengers: Solo #2

Ah, here's a comic book I've been looking forward to! The second issue of Avengers Solo, starring Hawkeye!! How awesome is that? Eh, it's awesome to me. Let's get into it.

Avengers: Solo #2(of 5):

Summary: Same as last issue, we have two stories here, the main story about Hawkeye, the back-up deals with the Avengers Academy, so it's all good! Or at least kind of good... Hawkeye manages to escape the Trapster(and really, if he lost to Paste Pot Pete he should quit being a hero then and there...) and rushes to the aid of Trace's allies, who were being hounded by some mercenaries. Hawkeye manages to save Trace's friends, but one of them, a doctor, decides to tag along with Hawkeye for some reason. Hawkeye eventually finds Trace and the mercs fighting it out in the streets, and tells the doctor to get back to the rest of her friends. Hawkeye finds the woman who was coordinating the mercs and busts her equipment, which leaves the mercs confused and disoriented. With that, Hawkeye and Trace take off and leave the tracer the mercs had put on Trace in a park, which Hawkeye figured would lead all the mercs to one spot where he could mop them up at his leisure. This issue ends with Trace removing her helmet, revealing that she was actually Marcia Guzman, and claiming that the man responsible for the mercs and all the trouble was Captain America... The second story starts off with Pym, Striker and Finesse escaping their damaged Quinjet before it exploded, only to be confronted by 6 armed guards. Pym and his charges easily take 5 of the men down and wait until the sixth runs back to his base and enters the passkey to open the base, at which time they take him out and enter. The trio sneak around and find a locked door, which opens to reveal what appears to be robotic copies of the West Coast Avengers(!!). This one ends with the robots activating.

Thoughts: Okay... Now, I've never made any bones about how much I love Hawkeye... He's easily one of my favorite fictional characters, and was the main reason I brought the Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 video game. So to state the obvious, I like Hawkeye. A lot. Unfortunately, I really, really didn't like his story in this comic. I have no idea what's going on, who's who, or why I should care. Quite frankly, if Hawkeye wasn't in it I probably would have skipped right to the back-up story, which was WAY better. The back-up story was only 5 pages long, so I can't really base too much of the score on it... Let's see, for a score I'm going to give the Hawkeye story a 4 1/2 and I'll add 1 1/2 for the 5 page back-up tale, bringing us to a...

Score: 6 out of 10.Oh Paste Pot Pete... When will you learn...

Avengers: Solo #1

Ah, this should be interesting... When I was first getting back into Marvel after taking a few years away from comic books I started hunting for cheap back issues. Naturally I went to eBay, and I was able to purchase the entire Solo Avengers run for an insanely low price(I think I paid something like 40 cents an issue). After reading that run I had become a HUGE Hawkeye fan, and began to ravenously buy tons of Avengers comics, both old and new. So when I heard Marvel was doing an Avengers Solo series, AND it was going to star Hawkeye, I was psyched! And now the first issue is finally out. Needless to say, this comic was thisclose to being my Pick of the week, so here's hoping it's good...

Avengers: Solo #1(of 5):

Summary: Just like the old Solo Avengers books, we've got two stories here. A Hawkeye one and an Avengers Academy one, thus proving that Marvel does indeed love me! Obviously I'll start with the first story... While on patrol Hawkeye runs across a guy in armor warning a guy in a suit not to involve himself in something. Hawkeye, being Hawkeye, goes after the guy in the armor(Trace) but ends up losing him in a blinding flash. As for the other guy(Tuli), at first he is reluctant to receive aid from Hawkeye, but ultimately hands Hawkeye a file containing information on the disappearance of his sister(Marcia Guzman), before asking Hawkeye to meet him in a hotel later on where he'd be able to tell him more. Needless to say, Hawkeye arrives at the hotel room and discovers Tuli dead. After meeting with the cops to tell them everything he knew, Hawkeye leaves the building via his sky-cycle and is jumped by Chance, some wacky assassin with a gambling obsession. While Hawkeye is battling Chance, Trace arrives on the scene and goes after Chance for presumably killing the Tuli. Hawkeye goes after Trace, since he wasn't sure what his role in this was, but Trace manages to ditch Hawkeye again. Hawkeye winds up taking Chance down, but can't get any good information out of the assassin. After studying the files given to him by the late Tuli, Hawkeye heads to a modeling agency and winds up learning about some sort of weird experiment that Marcia was involved in. The head of the agency gives Hawkeye a name and location, and he meets a woman who knows Marcia. The woman tells Hawkeye that her and Marcia were hiding from somebody, but that she didn't want to tell him too much more in public. With that, she tells Hawkeye to meet up with her later(again?), after she cleared meeting with him with her friends, including Trace. That night, Hawkeye begins to head to the location he was directed to go and is jumped by the Trapster(!). And now the second story... Having learned of the disappearance of a scientist he used to work with, Pym and two of his Academy students(Striker and Finesse), head to the scientist's last known location. As they closed in, Pym could see 6 armed guards on the premises, as well as the fact that the underground portion of the scientist's lab had been expanded. Pym goes to put the plane in stealth mode, but some kind of interference occurs and the plane crashes, ending this one.

Thoughts: The Hawkeye story was a bit on the confusing side, but it starred Hawkeye and much like those old Avengers Solo comics, had him facing off against uber-lame villains like the Trapster(Pot Paste Pete!!!) and Chance. So while the story wasn't fantastic, the Hawkeye fan in me was pleased. The second story, while shorter, was much better. I love the Avengers Academy characters, and the story here made sense. So for a back-up tale, I couldn't ask for much more. For a score, I'll give the Hawkeye story a 7 1/2, and add an extra 1 for the great Academy story, bringing this issue's final score to a...

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Hawkeye vs frigging Pot Paste Pete!?! Yes, please!