The Mighty Avengers #1-6 "The Initiative" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Xurk]

My apologies if there was already a talkback for this title, but I did some searching and couldn't find one, so here are the first two issues so far:

THE MIGHTY AVENGERS #1

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http://images.comicbookresources.com/solicits/marvelcomics/200703/sm/MIGHTAVN001_cov.jpg (http://images.comicbookresources.com/solicits/marvelcomics/200703/MIGHTAVN001_cov.jpg)

WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis
PENCILS: Frank Cho

THE STORY: The wait is over!! The Mighty Avengers assemble!! Gathered together to be the greatest Avengers team ever, but who picked them?? And why?? And which A-list Avengers villain returns, revamped and reloaded for the ultimate revenge. Big super hero adventures every month from the multi-award winning team of Bendis and Cho.

THE MIGHTY AVENGERS #2

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http://images.comicbookresources.com/solicits/marvelcomics/200704/sm/MIGHTAVN002.jpg (http://images.comicbookresources.com/solicits/marvelcomics/200704/MIGHTAVN002.jpg)

WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis
PENCILS: Frank Cho

THE STORY: ULTRON IS BACK and, yes, now he's a she. What?? Ultron's a girl?? It’s Ultron as only Frank Cho can bring it. And the Mighty Avengers haven't had a moment to get to know each other before they are thrown into one of the most epic adventures in the history of the Avengers.

Your thoughts so far? Any comments?

[Xurk]

Okay, this book is actually pretty fun, and with that, I mean the interaction between characters is entertaining to read - and I like seeing the thought bubbles be re-introduced, they've been gone too long, they add some humor to some scenes, but Bendis really is overdoing it with them... they're everywhere!
I don't understand why the thought bubbles are only being used in this title though, in the other Bendis books I haven't seen them, so maybe this title is being used to experiment with their popularity?

The ending to #1 was pretty weird, though by the end of #2 it looks like we're dealing with Ultron and the perverse mind of Hank Pym perhaps? Though I thought I read something online about this strange villain actually being a symbiote :confused: [which might seem pleasible after reading #1, but by #2 it's obvious this is Ultron].
Whenever someone gets zapped, is that Ultron retrieving data from that person or something? That's what it seemed like, but my Avengers history only goes so far as New Avengers #1.

I liked the characterization of several of the team members in these issues, it makes it feel just a little bit more like a team book than it would otherwise. So Bendis should keep that up. Though I'd like him to chronologically tell the story - seeing as he's not doing that on both NA as MA, making that two stories to follow each month which jump back and forth all throughout the issues...

[spidl]

I am really digging this book. I thought Bendis use of the thought balloons in issue 2 was better than 1. I guess I just laughed at the jokes more. He would be better off using them sparingly. I do like the thought computer things he used in this issue. The artwork is outstanding. The scene with Wonder Man and his agent was really funny.

[Xurk]

Well, I for one, can't wait to see Tigra in this book :p

MIGHTY AVENGERS #3

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http://www.marvel.com/comics/onsale/covers/0507/MIGHTAVN003_SM.jpg (http://www.marvel.com/comics/onsale/covers/0507/MIGHTAVN003.jpg)

WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis
PENCILS: Frank Cho

THE STORY: Mighty Avengers versus the next gen Ultron! Ultron has taken over everything by taking over Iron Man! And now she has to face the Sentry unleashed! A battle of the titans Avengers style! Plus, Tigra guest stars. Yes, Tigra. Frank Cho drawing Tigra!! Did you hear us? FRANK CHO DRAWING TIGRA!! Which Avenger is Tigra dating? Prrrrr!!

Thoughts? What are your comments?

[Ed Liu]

Plus, Tigra guest stars. Yes, Tigra. Frank Cho drawing Tigra!! Did you hear us? FRANK CHO DRAWING TIGRA!! Which Avenger is Tigra dating? Prrrrr!!

And they wonder why girls and women don't read superhero comics.

-- Ed

[Wonderwall]

Gotta say, that is a very sexy Tigra..but seeing the Sentry smack in the middle makes me roll my eyes. I hate the Sentry, I wish someone could kill him off..alas thats never gonna happen.

[wonderfly]

And they wonder why girls and women don't read superhero comics.

-- Ed

I actually did consider making it my Pick of the Week going off of that text alone...it's such an absurd way to get people to pick up an issue, you just have to join in the fun:

IT'S THE GREATEST EVENT IN MARVEL COMICS HISTORY: FRANK CHO DRAWS TIGRA!!! :p

[En Sabah Nur]

I actually did consider making it my Pick of the Week going off of that text alone...it's such an absurd way to get people to pick up an issue, you just have to join in the fun:

IT'S THE GREATEST EVENT IN MARVEL COMICS HISTORY: FRANK CHO DRAWS TIGRA!!! :pWell Frank is an amazing artist. And he can draw boobs like nobody else. :sweat: I have the Shanna the She-Devil mini drawn by Frank Chaw. The art is amazing even though the story is just ok. When ever I see Frank Chaw as an artist on Marvel books, I tend to pick it up.

[spidl]

The Tigra/Hank Pym scene was laugh out loud funny. I did not enjoy this issue as much as last, but it was still a good read. I like that Black Widow took to leadership like she should. She is an ex-chairmen of the Avengers, and it makes Ms. Marvel's leadership questioning make sense. She is on a team of heavy hitters and leaders. I hope he will evolve her character so that she can step beyond it though.

[wonderfly]

spidl is right, this was enjoyable, just not as enjoyable as the last issue. I don't believe for one second that Tony Stark is dead, (because "Fallen Son" and the current arc in "New Avengers" have to occur after this story arc), so that kinda killed the climax of this issue for me...

Also, I wish someone would figure out what to do with Hank and Jan...over in the pages of Slott's "Avengers: Initiative" title, Hank's trying to contact Jan, still longing for her...Here, he's moved on. Either break them up permanently, or get them back together permanently, (which I thought they were)! This just seemed like Bendis ignoring what's going on in other books and just doing his own thing...

[Xurk]

spidl is right, this was enjoyable, just not as enjoyable as the last issue. I don't believe for one second that Tony Stark is dead, (because "Fallen Son" and the current arc in "New Avengers" have to occur after this story arc), so that kinda killed the climax of this issue for me...
Asides from that, I don't buy them killing him off in a) the first arc of the Mighty Avengers and b) straight after turning him into the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. before they even did anything cool with that fact.

It's refreshing to see Tony's team actually fighting bad guys in this book, instead of pursuing goog guys, like they're doing in almost every other Marvel book on the stands at the moment!
The thought bubbles were toned down a bit this issue, making them actually funny almost each time they were used, good development there.

As for Tigra... I admit, she looked good, for the whole two pages she appeared on!! It is pretty funny though, hyping this issue on her appearance and having her in an... interesting position on the cover, only to just briefly cameo her :p

[Xurk]

MIGHTY AVENGERS #4

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http://www.marvel.com/comics/onsale/covers/0607/MightyAveng_SM.jpg (http://www.marvel.com/comics/onsale/covers/0607/MightyAveng.jpg)

WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis
PENCILS: Frank Cho

THE STORY: Ultron has taken over the world!! The Black Widow has taken over S.H.I.E.L.D.! The Sentry's life is changed FOREVER! And the rest of the Avengers are faced with the power of the new Iron Man unleashed!!

Thoughts? What are your comments?

[I.R Joey]

And they wonder why girls and women don't read superhero comics.

-- Ed

Agreed, Frank Cho is a great artist and draftsman but I really wish he'd tone it down in his drawngs of women.

Other than that I've been enjoying the series, the use of thought bubbles has been great.

[wonderfly]

I just want to point out that Mighty Avengers #4, which was scheduled to come out on June 20th, is now out today. Any comments on it?

[En Sabah Nur]

I just want to point out that Mighty Avengers #4, which was scheduled to come out on June 20th, is now out today. Any comments on it?the time inconsistencies keep on coming. Forget the time inconsistency between New Avengers and Mighty Avengers, how about Iron Man 20 where he is captured and held prisoner. So if WWH is happening, when is Ultron attacking? And in that case, Spider-Man and Cage are beaten by the Warbound, so how can they be in a plane crash?:yawn:

[Xurk]

The inconsistencies with the rest of what's going on in the Marvel Universe at the moment is slightly jarring, taking away a portion of the excitement and tension, but I'm still enjoying the arc asides from that :)

Do you think they've really killed off the Sentry's wife here? Sure, she's not an important character, but killing off [characters treated as] A-list superhero's
wives isn't something you see happen a lot in comics.
Ares was really the coolest bad-ass in this issue, from riding an Iron Man to using an Iron Man's legs to fire pulse blasts - yeah :D

[spidl]

The death was kind of throw away so I hope it was just a trick to get Sentry. There isn't much of a time inconsistency. I would guess all of these events take place shortly after Civil War 7 and before the New Avengers current arc started. The problem is since it takes so long to get these stories told that it kills some of the tension of these books. We already know how it ends since they all show up later on. This really should have been done by issue three.

[I.R Joey]

This was a so-so issue. Thankfully less of Cho's trademark "cheesecake" than the past two issues. He really does show off his story telling abilities here. One thing dragged this down for me though and I'm with Wonderfly on this one. What is going with Hank and Jan?

*In the main Civil War series they're rarely, if ever, seen out of one another's company. I was under the impression that they were back together, or at least working on something very closely.

*In the Slott/Caselli Avengers series Hank is trying to get in contact with her to reconcile or at least apologize.

*In issue 1 and 3 of Mighty Avengers she's not taking his calls, and he's hooking up with Tigra.

Now she's met up with him again and they seem to have a descent working relationship. She even seems to be flirting with him calling him "sweetie."

I think I'm just as confused as poor Tony an Carol on this one.

Anyone know what's going on?

[spidl]

This was a so-so issue. Thankfully less of Cho's trademark "cheesecake" than the past two issues. He really does show off his story telling abilities here. One thing dragged this down for me though and I'm with Wonderfly on this one. What is going with Hank and Jan?


Now she's met up with him again and they seem to have a descent working relationship. She even seems to be flirting with him calling him "sweetie."

I think I'm just as confused as poor Tony an Carol on this one.

Anyone know what's going on?


I did not take the "sweetie" as a flirting thing. I thought she was kind making fun of him. The Wasp is a natural flirt so the dialogue isn't really that out of step. I would agree it would be helpful if they either kept them apart or together. Slott's Initiative story takes place after this so maybe he is apologizing for the Tigra thing. I personally love the cheesecake on the book. It provides a nice contrast to the drab boring style on New Avengers.

[I.R Joey]

I did not take the "sweetie" as a flirting thing. I thought she was kind making fun of him. The Wasp is a natural flirt so the dialogue isn't really that out of step. I would agree it would be helpful if they either kept them apart or together. Slott's Initiative story takes place after this so maybe he is apologizing for the Tigra thing. I personally love the cheesecake on the book. It provides a nice contrast to the drab boring style on New Avengers.

Well it's not Cho's technique that I'm talking about. I really enjoy his very clean, crisp linework and excellent visual story telling sense. Honestly I think he's up there as far as good draftsman working in comics today. It's just that I find his potrayal of women to be somewhat...how should I put this...over the top sometimes. Some other posters mentioned it earlier on.

And actually I think this story actually happens before Slott's Avegers. In issue 2 of that series the Mighty Avengers teams is seen fighting together against Hydra.

As for the Wasp, yup she's a big flirt that's definately apart of her charecter. But it just seems weird to me that she'd be acting like that around a person she wouldn't even take a call from earlier that day.

[En Sabah Nur]

This was a so-so issue. Thankfully less of Cho's trademark "cheesecake" than the past two issues. He really does show off his story telling abilities here. One thing dragged this down for me though and I'm with Wonderfly on this one. What is going with Hank and Jan?

*In the main Civil War series they're rarely, if ever, seen out of one another's company. I was under the impression that they were back together, or at least working on something very closely.

*In the Slott/Caselli Avengers series Hank is trying to get in contact with her to reconcile or at least apologize.

*In issue 1 and 3 of Mighty Avengers she's not taking his calls, and he's hooking up with Tigra.

Now she's met up with him again and they seem to have a descent working relationship. She even seems to be flirting with him calling him "sweetie."

I think I'm just as confused as poor Tony an Carol on this one.

Anyone know what's going on?As Iron Man said" I have stopped trying to figure out the Pyms long ago"

[spidl]

Well it's not Cho's technique that I'm talking how should I put this...over the top sometimes. Some other posters mentioned it earlier on.

And actually I think this story actually happens before Slott's Avegers. In issue 2 of that series the Mighty Avengers teams is seen fighting together against Hydra.


I was saying that the Slott story took place after this. I personally love the over the top look Cho uses.

[Xurk]

MIGHTY AVENGERS #5

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http://www.marvel.com/comics/onsale/covers/0707/MightyAveng_SM.jpg (http://www.marvel.com/comics/onsale/covers/0707/MightyAveng.jpg)

WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis
PENCILS: Frank Cho

THE STORY: Iron Man has been destroyed, the Sentry's wife is murdered, nuclear missiles are being launched around the world and the one man with the plan to stop the new and improved Ultron...is a God of War who's been an Avenger a total of five minutes.

Thoughts? What are your thoughts?

[Xurk]

This story arc continues to be an exciting read, even though it feels like a story that happened in the past, as this title is behind the rest of the Marvel Universe, which isn't being helped by the fact that each issue gets delayed for a month lately... But still, this is how an Avengers story should be!

Ares continues to be cool, normally I don't go for such characters, but to me he has a Clive Owen in Closer vibe coming from him and I thought Owen was great in that movie, so that explains it ;)
I guess Sentry's wife really is dead, nothing I was expecting. It's a shame she didn't get more characterization before this happened, I can only remember her being in Sentry's arc over in New Avengers about two years ago.

I'm looking forward to the [long overdue!!] conclusion of the first arc of Mighty Avengers :)

[wonderfly]

Yeah, I didn't expect them to really kill the Sentry's wife...I wonder how the Sentry's creator, (Paul Jenkins) feels about that? It's times like these that I feel like Brian Michael Bendis has too much power over there at Marvel...

If Tony Stark really is inside that female metal body, then he's got to be taking a beating in there, (especially going by how the Sentry bashed her head in a few times).

[spidl]

Yeah, I didn't expect them to really kill the Sentry's wife...I wonder how the Sentry's creator, (Paul Jenkins) feels about that? It's times like these that I feel like Brian Michael Bendis has too much power over there at Marvel...

If Tony Stark really is inside that female metal body, then he's got to be taking a beating in there, (especially going by how the Sentry bashed her head in a few times).

I agree. Marvel has given him way too much leeway, and there is no way he should be writing two Avenger's titles at once. That being said I did enjoy this issue and Mighty Avengers as a whole. The artwork is light years ahead of what is going on in New Avengers. The story arc, even delayed, is more interesting than what is going on in the other title.

[Xurk]

Finally, the conclusion to the first arc of this title, it took almost a full year!

MIGHTY AVENGERS #6

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http://www.marvel.com/comics/onsale/covers/1007/MAVEN006_SM.jpg (http://www.marvel.com/comics/onsale/covers/1007/MAVEN006.jpg)

WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis
PENCILS: Frank Cho

THE STORY: The shocking conclusion to the Ultron terror as the Avengers reassemble and go on the offensive. It’s now or never for an Ultron butt-kicking. How on Earth will Tony Stark survive this??? And how does this connect to the startling Skrull infestation that may have taken over the Marvel Universe? The next big clue to the truth is HERE!!

Thoughts? What are your comments?

[Xurk]

Ares kicks butt.

It's a miracle Tony is still alive, after having Sentry partially rip off Ultron's head a couple of times :sweat: I did like the bit where Tony was checking to see if all his male organs were still in place, after being told he was turned into a girl :D

So Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man are dating huh. But what's this about them both being as strong as Sentry? I sincerely doubt they both have "the power of a thousand exploding suns" within... and I didn't see them standing any chance when pitted against Hulk in WWH compared to Sentry's fight there, so Wonder Man saying this makes no sense at all.
As for Sentry, what the...!? He *touched* his wife and she came back to life?? Was she ever really dead or is Sentry just getting [even] crazier? If what he said here is true, he could be the best retcon-machine Marvel has ever had ;)
I still find it a bit cheap though, even though I didn't agree with killing of Sentry's wife, I disagree even more with just "bringing her back" at the conclusion of this story arc. Bad Bendis.

That final splash page was great; finally, this title is going to be in the same timeframe as the rest of the MU!

All in all, this first story arc was pretty solid I guess, if the next arc can come out with an issue each month instead of every two / two and a half months, it could be even more enjoyable.