Boobs and Monsters

The Mighty Avengers #2

After what I thought was a great start, this series stumbles quite a bit in the second issue.

I've come across a fair number of Brian Michael Bendis haters in London comic stores lately, and I've made 10 ranks in Defending Bendis as a result. But he does attempt a bit much here, and it's not entirely successful.

To be fair, I liked the fact that this new corporate ass-kissing brand of the Avengers got right into a battle in the first issue. None of this six issues of wandering around forming a team a la Meltzer's Justice League. Unfortunately, Bendis stills the need to show us how this team came together. So while the Avengers are facing off against a buck naked Ultron--who has chosen to simulate the nudity of the Wasp, with coy coverings of silvery metal keeping everything PG, and thus satisfying geek dreams that have been puttering around in sticky subconsciousnesses since the Sixties--Bendis breaks the narrative tension to show how us again how the newest batch came to work for Tony Stark. I mean, frankly, who cares? People like the Wasp, Wonder Man, and Black Widow join at least three superhero teams by Tuesday of any given week. Why is this any different?

So we get to see that, for the most part, the team was assembled about an hour before they fight Ultron. Okay, we get that. They're unprepared. But they shouldn't be--everyone here outside of Ares knows how superteams work. But no--they're supposed to be as green as baby poo. And they're facing Ultron. Who has a nice rack and curves to die for.

Speaking of which, the nudie Ultron seemed a bit of overkill. I understand Frank Cho likes to draw strong beautiful women. I adore his work on Liberty Meadows, and I hope he keeps drawing strong Amazonian women for at least a thousand more years. But since we already have Ms. Marvel in tight spandex, Widow in leather, and Wasp in her Costume of The Week (also tight), we really didn't need a centrefold Ultron. It just seemed like overkill.

As well, Bendis has Ultron kill the Mole Man's creatures. It comes off oddly. If we're to assume this is to show how powerful Ultron is, fine. But Bendis has Mole Man crying like a father losing his children. So, are we to laugh that this poor bastard is losing the equivalent of his housepets, or are we to feel horrified at his loss? It changes the tone of what up to that point is just a basic Super Hero Stand Off. It makes it uncomfortable--both because either Bendis finds the Mole Man's loss funny, or there's a level of horror here that has no place with coy depictions of cheesecake nude breasts and bottoms.

And then there's the thought balloons. Bendis has brought this back--and seems to have no idea how to use them. They used to be used to depict the inner thoughts of characters, adding to the story, giving the reader a closer bond with the character in question. Bendis uses them as almost subconscious mutterings. The worst was Ares macking on a teammate, thinking he'd like to bed her. Ummm...no guy thinks like that. They think 'nice rack', or 'nice ass', or just ponder in silence. No one I've ever met actually looks at an attractive woman and wastes time formulating an entire sentence.

All in all, The Mighty Avengers #2 is nice to look at, but like a sorority girl at her first kegger, is a bit unfocused and sloppy.