The Avengers take on the Hulk, who has been empowered by an Asgardian Hammer; that's never good.
The Good
I really liked the storyline of this issue, but not its execution (see below). Seeing some of the Avengers who don't get as much attention in the limelight made me appreciate Bendis' writing, and the characters as a whole. Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel and The Protector really shine, here, and that's saying something when you're facing the Hulk.
The Bad
I wasn't a big fan of the "talking head" nature of this issue. There was a lot of dialog for what could have been explained with actions, or even captions. Instead of juxtaposing the commentary beside what was actually going on, they kind of chose to alternate; they waste a lot of space with just having heads speaking to the "interviewer."
Bendis references events from the first New Avengers series, which was printed in 2006. For readers not keeping track, you're asking them to go back almost six years to figure out what people are referencing. Bendis has always thrown Spider-Woman into the forefront of things whenever he can, and choosing to go back to that older story again just seemed a bit grating. I'm not complaining that Spider-Woman was featured in this issue: in fact, I felt that this was a great story for her character. However, harkening back to a time when she was the forefront of a lot of Avengers issues just brought back a bad taste in my mouth.
The art style in this issue tended to make people look really... doughy? Is that a word? Can I use that to describe an art style?
Anyways, Hawkeye looked like he'd been eating too many doughnuts, and some others just looked... off.
The Verdict
For a Fear Itself tie-in, this isn't that bad of an issue. It managed to make some of the Avengers' background members look like champs, and really, that's a sign of good writing. However, I can't help thinking that some of those interview pages could've been used for something a bit more constructive: more action, more character development... more anything!
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