(no subject)

[dewinged]

-11:38 AM



Okay, I don't feel like reading at my desk today. I'm admittedly still half asleep, my mind wandering despite the fact that I did sleep early last night. My body is probably readjusting, which is going to make things suck for a few days. Well, more than they usually do, I guess. I started musing on comics, a usual, and the state of some books, and I keep drawing some basic conclusions and working out the reasons why.

My thought? I don't like where Avengers is right now, and where it's headed.

Now, to be honest, I started reading the book when it was put back to normal at the end of Heroes Reborn, and it was pretty well-received back then. Busiek had/still has a head for past history, and clarifying things that have gone before while bringing in new things as part of the mythos. For someone who had a vague idea of who a lot of the characters were, he did a good job of making newer readers like myself familiar with the characters, and the art by Perez never fails to please me.

(Of course, putting one of my favorite Marvel characters on that team of reformed Avengers was pretty much a set thing for ensuring my loyalty. You folks know me by now: I've been reading the book at all just waiting for their return.)

But now? Bendis is taking an arc to essentially annihilate everything Busiek built. (And, to give credit, the ones who took over after Busiek. But Geoff Johns' run on Avengers was not nearly as strong as his stuff on JSA and Teen Titans, and Chuck Austen, well, you know how that turned out.)

There's a theory: Do so many people like what Bendis is doing now /because/ it's following Chuck Austen's stuff on the book? I can imagine some mentalities being 'It's not Austen, therefore good.' Not everyone's mind: some might have very good reasons for liking Bendis' 'Chaos" story.

But...with what's coming up, the restructuring of the team, and this story in general, it's just not working for me.

I wish I had online resources available here at my desk to secure some of the details, but I don't, so I'm going to wing it.

I'll start here: I can see what they're trying to do with the Avengers. They're going for an iconic team book with the most recognizable characters in the Marvel Universe, much like the 96-97 revamping of the JLA was a team book of the DC Universe's iconic characters.

The JLA works. At one point, the 'big 7' of the League each had their own book (at least one, some have more), and the JLA was where they united for the world-shaking tasks. Since they each had their own books, such things like characterization and personal advancement were not needed, which is why Grant Morrison succeeded on JLA because he disdains such things as it is. The JLA on his run was the 'cinematic team-up' book, with a number of new faces as time went on, some of which I admit to getting attached to.

The thing is, the JLA 'big 7' were all characters that had been, in one incarnation or another, members or legacies of the Justice League, if they were not the original Founders. JLA #1 had 2 Original Founders (Aquaman, Martian Manhunter), three of their earliest recruits (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman), and 2 that were the new incarnations of two of the other Founders (Green Lantern, Flash). Through countless League incarnations and other media (cartoons, a certain TV show pilot I still haven't seen, for example), the public perceives them as working togethe, as a team.

With this new Avengers lineup...and I can't even lookup what the final roster is from here. But I remember a few things, and I'll try and explain what makes things on the back of my neck itch when I ponder this as a team.

1) Spider-Man. Do not get me wrong. While I don't read the Spider-books (because I know my monetary limits. q.v. Superman, Batman), I always liked him. The movies proved it to an extent that Spider-Man is just cool, and the core concept is an ordinary guy with superpowers. At least, it was. I mean, I can certainly relate to a teenage geek who got bitten by a radioactive spider and didn't get radiation sickness, no longer had to wear thick glasses so he could see more than 2 inches in front of his face, and invented his own adhesive substance and projection devices for that stuff, at all of 15-16 years old. Yeah, lots of ordinary guys can totally understand what that's like.

However, Peter Parker is older now, and deals with more ordinary-people issues, like his troubles in his marriage to his SUPERMODEL ACTRESS WIFE. I mean, I can so totally relate to having a SUPERMODEL ACTRESS WIFE. All my friends talk about is the troubles they have in thair marriage to their SUPERMODEL ACTRESS WIVES. Yeah, way to relate to the common man there, Marvel. (Note: This paragraph was paraphrased from a pose I saw somewhere else. Sadly, I do not remember where, or whom, but I want to give them proper credit, and make perfectly clear I do NOT take credit for this paragraph. It was something I heard and repeated, and not my own.)

But, okay, I still like Spider-Man, but the whole thing is that while he can do team-ups, he is still an outcast, and a loner in a lot of ways. I know he's a reservist Avenger, but I can't see him going toe-to-toe with Kang full-time.

2) Sentry. Who? What?

3) Spider-Woman. I'm not even sure if this Spider-Woman is Jessica Drew or Julia Carpenter. And hey, wasn't there another one besides those two? But, aside from being named after a Marvel Hero and adding two extra letters, there's nothing that seems to edge towards the 'Iconic' motif that Marvel and Bendis are going for.

4) Luke Cage/Power Man. Iconic? Uh...well, Iconic characters aren't suddenly pulled out of the ass-end of Comic Limbo after how many years?

5) Wolverine. Honestly? I was always neutral on Logan. Never hated him, never thought he was the best thing since sliced bread either. He's just...there.

And he's just here in the Avengers now, too. Matter of fact, he's EVERYWHERE! Okay, granted, Wolverine is probably one of, if not the most recognized, hero in the MU right now. And I can kinda see the marketing thing, but I think he's on every team, and guest-starring in the ones he's not on. Enough, already! I want someone to explain how he can be everywhere at once and not be cloned.

Wait...I read the recent Uncanny. Don't mention clones and Wolverine, please...

Anyway, the whole point is that with the League, you can have a team like that and it seems right. Here, with the Avengers, even is the base concept of the planet's mightiest heroes is the same, it really seems like Marvel's trying to put the square peg in the round hole.

Okay, going off the rant mode.

Comments

[paleltlspider.livejournal.com]

Don't even get me started on all this.

But, all I can say is 'Sentry'???? Holy crap. He was like the April Fools Joke of the marvel universe and now they want to use him? Its horrifying.

I feel silly saying 'Bendis has gone too far' and shaking my fist, but that's what I'm doing.

Oh, and I think that Spider-Woman is Jessica Drew, as she's shown up in Alias once or twice and Bendis, as we know, adores Jessica ... Alias girl, (of course now I forget her name) so anything related to her gets in there. That's why Luke Cage is in there. Jessica Alias Girl is having his baby.

I'm sick of Bendis. I wish he would work on Ultimate Spidey and Powers and that's it.

I'm much more impressed by Oeming, who wrapped up Thor nicely.

Poor we marvel fans. We suffer so greatly. :(

[elsewhere7.livejournal.com]

See, I didn't mind Powers. It's nifty stuff. But his mainstream superhero stuff is too...dismissive/snarky/mean-spirited, though Millar overdoes him in the mean-spirited stuff. I'm not sure he's the guy for Avengers.

And I thought Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman lost her powers, but I have a lot of holes in my Marvel Knowledge.

I'll just hide from it behind my copies of issues of Astonishing X. :)

[paleltlspider.livejournal.com]

Exactly. See, I've been loving Uncanny only because of the 'walk on roles' that Claremont is so good at. He's starting to get super-horrible at writing, but he's so good at bringing back characters that you've been wondering about (Meggan, Cap'n Britain, Viper! just to talk about the latest arc!)

And Astonishing is great. It has that cool/hip/interesting feeling that the Xmen had back in the day when you couldn't wait for the next issue to come out. Like the early days of New Mutants or Gen X.

But, as for SW... I don't know. It didn't seem as if she had powers in Alias, but she was investigating things with Jessica Alias. Jessica Jones, I think her name is.

I think they should have made a sex and the city sort of book with all these Bendis-loved characters instead. Jessica Alias, Jessica Drew, blah blah, and blah blah. ;)

[razorsedge74.livejournal.com]

'Sentry' was a character Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee created claiming he was an old Marvel hero that appeared two or three times before the FF first appeared and was forgotten. Think a Marvel version of Superman. Thing is, Sentry had to be forgotten in his miniseries (even by himself) because if he remembers who he is, his evil self, the Vortex, comes out of his mind and can destroy the universe. Jenkins is apparently cool with Sentry on the Avengers, so I can't wait for the explanation for this.

Spider-Woman is Jessica Drew. Bendis says that was the only cool version of that character.

Iron Man and Captain America are still sticking around.

My prediction: after the UN disowns the Avengers, Nick Fury makes them part of SHIELD. Cap, Spidey, Logan, and Luke are all seen as members of the Bendis-penned Secret War going on right now where Fury gathers a group of heroes for a covert mission.

And I'm wondering where Daredevil is. Bendis uses him all the time, but DD is a character he can work with pretty well.

[elsewhere7.livejournal.com]

I thought the Secret War-whatever thing was an Ultimate book? I might be wrong, though.

I thought DD was on the squad. Yeah, he just screams 'I wanna be on a team.'

And Sentry...wow, how little sense does that make?

[razorsedge74.livejournal.com]

Nope. It's "real" world continuity. Granted, it must be a quarterly or something given I've only seen two issues, but what do I know?

I like Bendis, but so far the Avengers just isn't his book. He should stick to more of the crime story/Ultimate Spider-Man type of stuff he's good at.

[elsewhere7.livejournal.com]

*nods* Dunno Ultimate Spidey, myself, but as I said, Powers was good stuff.

[razorsedge74.livejournal.com]

I dig his Ultimate Spidey, his Daredevil, his Alias, and his Powers. "The Pulse" I can take or leave so far. The Avengers just stinks.

[elsewhere7.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Speaking of Spidey, what is JMS doing that's got fans all riled. I'm only half-hearing stuff.

[angelophile.livejournal.com]

Pissing all poor old Gwen Stacy. Basically the storyline goes that Gwen had a tryst with Norman Osborne while she was dating Pete, she got pregnant, had kids and then was killed by Normie. Now, because of Norman's f***ed genes the kids have grown hyper quickly and are now fully grown and gunning for Spiderman because they think that he both killed their mom and is their dad.

While the plot of having Gwen and Stacy as shag bunnies is bad enough, the idea they spawned rapidly aging clone ninja kids who are out to kill Spidey is probably the worst idea ever.

I'm witholding judgement on Avengers. The Chaos story I'm enjoying so far, probably because I'm not a regular Avengers reader. The New Avengers thing looks awful at first glance, but since all we've seen so far are hints, it's hard to tell where it'll end up.

I'll probably pick up a couple of issues to see where it goes, but Bendis isn't too hot on team books anyway.

[razorsedge74.livejournal.com]

Well, I haven't read the issue in question, but it seems Gwen Stacy had twins by Norman Osbourne just before she died.

I'm all for that. I'm tired of "saintly Gwen" stories.

[angelophile.livejournal.com]

It's a bad idea, but it could have been handled well.

Instead we get rapidly aging twins with a vendetta. Oh, did I mention they're ninjas as well? They're ninjas as well.

[razorsedge74.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can do without rapidly aging ninjas, but here's my take.

Whenever a Spider-writer gets stuck, they bring up the ghost of Gwen Stacy, usually referring to how perfect a girlfriend she was and how much Peter, despite having a great wife in MJ, can't get over it. The most egregious example was perhaps Alex Ross' Universe X, where we see in Peter Parker's fantasy life he married Gwen, MJ married Harry Osbourne, and they all lived happily ever after, shattering the feelings of Peter's reallife daughter May, who had MJ for a mother.

This is just so...wrong to me. The constant idea that MJ was Peter's Silver Medal...and she's still married to him? I realize Gwen's death was a seminal moment in the life of Peter/Spider-Man. I realize you just don't forget your first love. But I hope after this is over it's a good, long time before we see another Gwen story. She's dead, Peter married MJ, let's get over it. The Batman books aren't constantly bringing up Bruce Wayne's many ex-girlfriends, many of whom were quite popular at the time they were romantically involved with Bruce, so they shouldn't do the same with Peter.

[angelophile.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree, the Gwen Stacy angle has been done o death and while it's an important part of Pete's life, I also dislike the fact that lazy writers throw it into the mix every time they have nothing new to add.

I guee it's the rapidly aging twins and all the hokum that comes with the story more than knocking Gwen off her pedestal.

[razorsedge74.livejournal.com]

Admittedly, that could be handled better, and why does Gwen's daughter wear the exact same black hairband? Sheesh. And it'll be awhile before I see the issue in question where MJ tells she knew Gwen and Norman did the horizontal hokey-pokey, but despite how bad it may sound, I'm gonna give it a chance when it's over, because I think generally speaking JMS writes a fine story.

And even if he doesn't, well, we all have our misfires.

[foomf.livejournal.com]

There is a badge in City of Heroes called 'Around the Bendis' that you get for being in an obscure, ugly part of the lake in Perez Park, the place where the monster bosses spawn most frequently.

[razorsedge74.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, Everett Lake. Probably named for Namor creator BilL Everett. I prefer the Gaiman woods, myself.