Secret Invasion: Mighty Avengers #15 Review

The Secret Invasion tie-in issues continue to be strong reads. I get much more excited for the newest issue of New Avengers and Mighty Avengers than I do the newest issue of Secret Invasion itself. Mighty Avengers #15 deals with one of Marvel’s whipping boys, Hank Pym. I did not like that Bendis continued to pile on more misery on Pym’s character by revealing him to be a Skrull. Still, I am sure that Mighty Avengers #15 should be an entertaining read. Let’s go ahead and do this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Brain Michael Bendis
Pencils: John Romita, Jr.
Inks: Klaus Janson & Tom Palmer

Art Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Henry Pym giving a lecture at a university in England. One of the young hotties in the class starts to flirt a bit with Pym. (My Skrull alert just went off. There is no doubt that this student is a Skrull.)

We cut to later that night with Hank in front of his computer working. Janet comes home drunk as a skunk after a night out being a ho, I mean, attending parties and trying to further her fashion design career. Janet tries starting a fight with Hank, but Hank refuses to participate and simply asks Janet to go to bed since she is drunk.

We cut to the following morning and see that Janet has packed up all her stuff and left. Janet leaves a simple note behind that says “Bye.” Hank comments how classy Janet is.

We hop forward to Hank in bed with the pretty blonde from the lecture he gave the other day. After they finish having sex, the blonde proceeds to ask Hank all sorts of questions about Janet. The student then tells Hank that the Avengers have re-formed. Hank checks out an internet newsite to read the article himself.

The girl comments that this means Hank will probably be headed back for the States. Hank replies that his life as an Avenger is over. That he is staying in England. Hank is a little hurt that nobody called him to join this newest version of the Avengers. Hank asks the girl if she wants to go to dinner tonight. The girl readily agrees and says that she has a billion questions for Hank. (I told you she was a Skrull.)

We shift to dinner with the girl asking Hank a million questions about his life and his career with the Avengers. We slide to them back at Hank’s place and talking about the Kree-Skrull war. Hank starts ripping on Skrulls and calling them lying, cheating weasels. The girl asks if Hank is worried about the Skrulls attacking once again. Hank replies that he isn’t since they always beat the Skrulls.

The girl replies that Hank is arrogant. The girl predictably gets all Skrully and attacks Hank. Hank barely puts up a fight and dies like a bitch. (Great. Hank really has always gotten the short end of the stick considering how the other original Avengers are treated.)

The Skrull then undergoes the process of transforming completely into Hank Pym.

We cut to two months ago with Ultron attacking the Mighty Avengers. We see Pym helping SHIELD and the Mighty Avengers figure up a way to defeat Ultron. We slide to Pym meeting with the other Skrull spies. Pym says that the information they had on Tony Stark is outdated. Pym says that Stark has gone organic with the Extremis virus.

Pym says that this Stark Tech has a weakness that Ultron found and penetrated. That this Stark Tech is now what is used on all SHIELD bases and the Avengers Tower. Pym says that the Skrulls can now exploit this weak spot. Pym says that it is time to summon the Skrull armada. Pym then says that he is going to go put the proverbial cherry on top.

We cut Hank meeting with Janet and giving her a new serum that allows her to shrink to wasp size and to grow to giant size as well. Hank says that with the Initiative and the new world that it might be nice to have that option of powers. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Mighty Avengers #15 was a rather ordinary read. This was actually a relatively boring issue. Especially compared to the previous Secret Invasion tie-in issues which were excellent reads.

Bendis does give us some nice dialogue that is remarkably free from your typical Bendis speak. Bendis surprised me by delivering a rather sympathetic Hank Pym. Usually, most writers, Bendis included, make Hank look like a jerk. Instead, Bendis makes Janet look like the total jerk for a change. It was nice for Hank to not be the bad guy for once when it comes to that relationship.

I always thought that Pym was a character with so much potential and that all he needed was the right writer to come along who actually cared about Hank’s character. Bendis shows us flashes of how interesting Pym can be. I dig how Bendis has Pym emphatically state that his life as an Avengers is behind him, but at the same time shows how hurt Hank is that he was not contacted and asked to be a part of the New Avengers. Bendis gets across the fact to the reader that even though Pym is a founding member of the Avengers that he is often ignored, overlooked and rarely gets the respect that he is due.

I enjoyed the one page with Pym meeting with the other Skrull spies. Bendis does a nice job showing how the Skrulls finally figured out why their data on Tony Stark was useless. This scene also explains how the Skrulls were able to gain knowledge of the weak spot in Tony’s new Stark Tech and then were able to use that against our heroes in the events in Secret Invasion #1.

I found the artwork by John Romita, Jr., Klaus Janson and Tom Palmer to be slightly better than average. I will admit that I am not crazy about this style of artwork. It is a bit too rough looking for my taste.

The Bad: Mighty Avengers #15 is a bit of a dull and plodding read. This was a slow issue and not much intriguing happened. Actually, this issue felt like pure filler. We really didn’t learn anything particularly important or new. I don’t have much to say about Mighty Avengers #15 because nothing really happened in this issue.

Much of Mighty Avengers #15 was fluff. Bendis burns 12 pages with Hank giving his lecture, fighting with Jan and courting the student. We then get 3 pages of the Skrull fighting Hank. Then we get 2 pages with the Skrull assuming Hank’s form. That brings us to 17 pages into the story with the reader getting absolutely no new information concerning Secret Invasion that would be considered even remotely interesting.

And the scenes with the blonde student were boring. We all new that the student was a Skrull the minute she made her appearance. So, that took out the excitement of how Hank was going to get replaced by the Skrull.

We then get the one page flashback scene during the Ultron story arc. And then the one page scene with Hank revealing the flaws of the Stark Tech to the other Skrulls. Then the one page scene with Hank giving Jan her new serum.

All in all, we get only about one page that contained any new information that is of interest to the reader and that is the page where Pym talks to the other Skrulls and we learn how they are able to attack Tony’s new tech. I had to slog my way through this dry and uneventful issue for basically one page worth of payoff.

I cannot say that I’m thrilled that Hank got killed off. I guess we don’t know for sure if Hank is dead, but it sure seemed like it. I feel bad for Hank’s character. I have always thought he was an intriguing character with lots of potential. It seems that people forget that Hank is one of the original Avengers. Historically speaking, Henry Pym is an important character. Unfortunately, Hank has continually gotten the short end of the stick. Maybe it is better than Hank is killed off since it appears that no one knows how to properly handle his character.

Overall: Mighty Avengers #15 was a slightly better than average read. This was certainly one of the weaker Secret Invasion tie-in issues that I have read. And this issue bordered on being a simple time waster. And that is totally understandable as Secret Invasion itself is sure to be taking up plenty of Bendis’ time and efforts. Still, I would not recommend wasting your hard earned money on Mighty Avengers #15. There is nothing that happens in this issue that will add to your experience over on Secret Invasion itself.