Avengers Disassembled Part 2
Summary
The team is in disarray, some members are left dead and even more are critically wounded. This issue tones down the action to clarify what happened in the previous issue and possible reasons for why. With the beginnings of distrust and blame slowly creeping into the Avengers’ minds, is this team beyond repair?
What I liked
Trying to add some clarification: This entire issue is a massive debate about what the hell is actually happening?! It gives a couple of possible explanations, but you get the feeling that this is just filler to keep the reader focused until the real villain reveals themselves (remember, we had that shady conversation at the end of the previous issue). Regardless of this, the fact that The Avengers themselves have acknowledged that the situation is incomprehensible, makes this messy story a bit more focused. Okay, I don’t understand what is going on, but neither do they!
Alcoholism: I like the idea of Tony being an ex-alcoholic still having lasting effects on the team. Even though those days are long gone, we still see the team finding it hard to back him up when he claimed he hadn’t drunk before going off the rails. (However, why he couldn’t have done a blood toxicity test after the incident, I do not know!)
What I didn’t like
Some bizarre dialogue: I know I’m harping on about dialogue a lot, but these “quirky” and “realistic” conversations seem to be pushing the boundaries of classic comicbook dialogue too far and becoming really strange. With lines like “He did seem shaky and sweaty. He’s not a shaky-sweaty guy” and “Just making sure there wasn’t something I could do for... ...her here.”(believe me, this lines seem even weirder in context) it makes you wonder if Bendis just can’t be bothered to put the effort in, so just comes out with quirky nonsense and then calls it “realistic dialogue”.
Cap’ is under a truck: Okay, tiny point here. But at one point a truck gets flipped on top of Captain America, and Iron Man and Hawkeye have a really blasé conversation whilst getting him out, which may as well read “oh hey, Cap’ is under a truck!” “T’cha?” “T’cha...” I suppose this is a part of a bigger problem I have with this issue: the pace slows every now and then. Actually, that’s a good idea for a bullet point...
The Pace: ...the Pace slows every now and then. I suppose this links in with the bizarre dialogue, but every now and then, someone will say something or do something that slows the pace to a standstill. For example, in an early scene Iron Man is basically getting told he is fired and that the Avengers are of no use to the government anymore and then the whole moment is spoilt with Iron Man practically saying “okay, well I gotta go now, bye!”
Hank Pym: Is he a nice guy who is misunderstood? Or is he a genuine jerk that we are meant to care about anyways? I am not sure. We have a scene that is meant to be “moving”, I suppose, where Hank is at Janet’s bedside confessing that he never wanted to end up being the person who created Ultron and that it is his fault their lives are so screwed up. And yes, this would be a really emotional scene...if he hadn’t prefaced it with a long explanation for why he resents her! This selfish attitude given to Hank Pym really doesn’t help me empathise with him at all.
Verdict
Oh yes I do like a good bitch about comics. This issue is all about assessing the damage done in the previous issue, and that’s about it; in other words it doesn’t do anything that special. That doesn’t mean this issue isn’t worth reading however, as it did address a few problems I had with the previous issue—namely: the amount of confusion and lack of focus. Even though the plot still lacks direction, at least most of the story threads are being consolidated.
As a closing point, I realise how much I go on about the writing in this arc and I want to clarify: it isn’t bad, not by any means. Bendis has a certain writing style that is above and beyond most conventional comicbook writers, but, like most things which are different; it is easy to discuss their shortcomings.
4/10 – It does its job and helps give the story some focus
