The Revolution enjoyed Mighty Avengers #1. I certainly thought it was a much better read than what we are getting over on New Avengers. Part of that is that I enjoy Cho’s artwork more than Yu’s art. The other part is that I love the roster of Might Avengers as compared to the collection of pet character that Bendis has assembled on the New Avengers. I’m confident that Mighty Avengers #2 will be another solid read with the appearance of this new Ultron. Let’s hit this review.
Creative Team
Writer: Brain Michael Bendis
Artist: Frank Cho
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: We begin with a flashback scene of Iron Man and Ms. Marvel approaching Wonder Man with the offer of joining the newest incarnation of the Avengers. With Wonder Man’s acting career going nowhere and Wonder Man’s fond memories of doing good with the Avengers, Wondy agrees to join the Mighty Avengers.
We cut back to the present with the Mighty Avengers squaring off with the new Ultron. The new Ultron refers to Ms. Marvel as Captain Carol Danvers. Ms. Marvel is surprised that Ultron knows who she is. Wasp then makes the comment that Ultron looks exactly like the Wasp.
Mole Man asks Ultron if she is responsible for what has happened to his underground kingdom. Ultron says yes. Mole Man then tells his subterranean creatures to attack Ultron.
We shift back to another flashback scene with Sentry having breakfast with his wife, Lindy. Lindy asks Bob how he is doing. Bob comments that he should be out in the world helping people. That there are tons of things going on every second of the day that the Sentry could be doing something about. Lindy points out that Bob is talking about the Sentry like it’s another person and not Bob. Lindy says that Bob agreed not to do that anymore.
Iron Man and Ms. Marvel then pay Bob a visit. Iron Man asks Bob to join the Avengers. Lindy gets up from the table and storms out of the room. Iron Man thinks how this is exactly why he will never get married. Ms. Marvel then tells Bob that he scares her. Bob admits that he scares himself.
Ms. Marvel comments how Bob is more powerful than all of the Avengers. But, she needs to know if she can count on him to know when he isn’t going to be able to keep it together. That if he feels it all coming apart inside of his head that she needs Bob to tell them. Even if it is the heat of battle.
We cut back to the present with Ultron kicking butt on Mole Man’s creatures. Ares and Sentry attack Ultron. Ultron easily takes down both men with several bolts of lightning. Ultron then uses energy waves to melt the Mole Man’s creatures. Mole Man quickly retreats with his remaining creatures.
Ares asks Ms. Marvel to let him kill Ultron. Ms. Marvel tells the Avengers to stand down. Ms. Marvel then introduces herself to Ultron. We see a sniper scope trained on Ultron’s head. Black Widow is about to pull the trigger when Ultron turns and looks at Black Widow. Black Widow then backs off the trigger.
We then flashback to Black Widow kicking ass on a bunch of SHIELD troops during a training session. Iron Man and Ms. Marvel enter the room and Iron Man offers Black Widow a spot on the New Avengers.
Ares is chomping at the bit to attack Ultron. Wonder Man and Sentry hold Ares back. Ultron comments how she likes Thor better than Ares. That makes Ares snap and he breaks free from Wonder Man and Sentry and attacks Ultron. Ultron blocks Ares attack and then blasts him with lightning several times and takes Ares down.
Sentry asks Ultron where is Iron Man. Ultron comments that it is clear that non of them understand what is happening to them now. Ms. Marcel then tells the Avengers to retreat. As they retreat, Wasp stares at Ultron.
We flashback to the Wasp at her fashion design studio. Ms. Marvel and Iron Man arrive and offer Wasp a spot on the Avengers.
We hop back to the present. Wasp tells Ms. Marvel that she is going to go talk to Ultron. Wasp says that there is a connection between her and Ultron. Wasp walks over to Ultron and calls him Tony. Ultron says she is not Tony. Wasp calls it Iron Man. Ultron responds that it is not Iron Man. Wasp asks why Ultron looks exactly like her. Ultron responds because it loves her.
Wasp walks back to the rest of the Avengers and asks if they know where Hank Pym is. Wasp says that Ultron is back and it’s destroying the world. Ant if killed Tony Stark to do it.
Comments
The Good: Might Avengers #2 was a slightly better than average read. Bendis does a nice job with the dialogue in this issue. Once again, Bendis employs the ever scarce old comic book technique known as thought balloons. I know that these thought balloons are something that readers are either going to hate or love. There is no in between. At this point, I still love them.
The thought balloons offer the reader immediate insight into a character’s thoughts while a running dialogue is taking place. I dig being able to read the immediate thoughts of each character and how it may or may not differ from what they are thinking. It also gives the reader a nice feel of how the various characters view each other.
Of course, if Bendis keeps up the thought balloon technique in the same heavy use that we have gotten in the first two issues it may begin to lose its charm. I think if it is used sparingly then it can be an effective literary tool. However, used to the great extant that Bendis has done in the past two issues tends to break the natural flow of the dialogue.
Bendis also serves up enough action in Mighty Avengers #2 in order to prevent it from being a terribly dull and boring issue. On an issue that fails to advance any plotlines, the writer had better at least provide the reader with some action in order to keep them entertained.
I love how Bendis is handling the Sentry’s character. Bendis does a nice job writing the Sentry. Bendis displays that he gets Sentry’s character and understands what makes him such a unique and interesting character.
What is so compelling about Sentry’s character is that his Achilles’ heel is himself. It is his fractured and unstable mind. That physically, Sentry has no weaknesses. It is cool that a character who is so immensely powerful and unstoppable is his own greatest enemy. That the Sentry’s unstable mind is what causes his downfall in a serious fight.
Bendis understands the Sentry’s fractured mind and does a great job giving the reader an insight into Bob’s mental instability during his conversation with his wife, Lindy. I dig that Ms. Marvel made a point of making sure Bob would let the team know if he was about to lose it even if they are in the middle of a battle.
The Sentry is a scary character. And even he knows how dangerous he can be. The Sentry is a walking time-bomb and one complex character. Sentry’s addition to this team is going to provide plenty of drama.
Bendis also does a great job handling Ms. Marvel’s character. Ms. Marvel is a character that has never interested me. However, Bendis is getting me to like her character more and more. It is nice to see Ms. Marvel developing her own unique personality and starting to prove herself to be an A-List character after languishing in the B-List category for so long.
Having Ms. Marvel as team leader also increases my interest in her character. The best part of her being team leader is that she is so unsure of herself. Her constant second guessing of her own actions spices up the story. It isn’t always as interesting to have a team leader who constantly knows exactly the right thing to do no matter the situation.
Of course, it is cool that despite her own lack of confidence in being leader, Ms. Marvel keeps it completely internalized and shows the other Avengers the face of a fearless leader. Seeing Ms. Marvel get into Ares’ face shows that she may not feel ready to lead the Avengers, but she sure as hell isn’t going to let her teammates know that.
I absolutely love this new Ultron. You just know that Bendis has something insane in store for us with this new version of Ultron. I’m glad that Bendis gave this version of Ultron a serious power boost. When you have a team of powerhouses like Wonder Man, Sentry, Ares and Iron Man, it is imperative that the villain be more than capable of posing a genuine threat.
The fact that this new Ultron looks exactly like Wasp is a neat twist. And considering that Henry Pym is the father of Ultron it should come of no surprise that there might be a connection between Wasp and Ultron. I am extremely anxious to learn more about this new Ultron and the connection Ultron has with Wasp.
I also am curious what happened to Iron Man, if Iron Man has any connection to this new Ultron and how in the world the Avengers are going to save Iron Man. And I’m actually glad that Bendis conveniently took Iron Man out of the story in the very first issue. It is of no surprise since Bendis just doesn’t like Iron Man’s character. Plus, Bendis sucks at writing Tony Stark so I don’t mind not having Iron Man in this story.
Cho’s artwork rocks. I love his style and he delivers one fantastic looking comic book. For my taste, Cho’s art is the polar opposite of the abysmal artwork that Yu delivers on New Avengers. Cho makes the Mighty Avengers a treat to read and really carries this slow issue.
The Bad: Mighty Avengers #2 was a slow issue. If it wasn’t for the little bit of action that we got I might have fallen asleep while reading this issue. This is a re-occurring problem with Bendis on the Avengers. Prior to the Civil War storyline, Bendis meandered around with no direction at all over on New Avengers.
Well, this is what Bendis is doing once again here with Mighty Avengers #2. It is the second issue of a new title and we have pretty much done nothing. Bendis gives us a plodding story in this issue. Bendis was still giving us flashbacks to each individual member receiving their invitation to join in this second issue. C’mon, we should be beyond that point.
Plus, to make matters worse the scenes with Wonder Man, Wasp and Black Widow accepting the membership offers were totally uninteresting, completely useless and added nothing to the characters or the story. Only the scene involving the Sentry accepting his invitation was useful in that it gave a nice insight into Sentry’s character.
New titles have to get off to a fast start in order to be successful. Of course, Might Avengers will sell well just because the words “Avengers” and “Bendis” are on the cover regardless if the story progresses or not. Bendis has already slammed Mighty Avengers into neutral and it is only the second issue. Nothing happens in this issue at all.
We get Ultron killing some of Mole Man’s creatures. We get Ultron smacking down Ares not once but twice. And that is about it. We don’t know anything more about Ultron or what she is up to with this issue. Bendis failed to give the reader any new information in Mighty Avengers #2. Bendis leaves the reader pretty much exactly were he left the reader at the end of Mighty Avengers #1. There was absolutely no progression at all with this story arc.
Bendis has always struggled maintaining his focus when handling a team title. I am very impressed with how Bendis handles solo titles. He is able to take his time and do some intense character work on the main protagonist. However, on a team title, Bendis seems unable to know how to juggle the characters and how to advance the storyline at a proper pace.
I really hope that Henry Pym isn’t behind the creation or action of this new Ultron. Pym has been beaten up enough in the past. There is no need to continue dog piling onto this character.
Overall: Mighty Avengers #2 was a slightly better than average read. Bendis really needs to pick up the pace and get this story moving. Mighty Avengers #2 definitely did not deliver the excitement that I was expecting after a very strong debut issue and a great hook ending.