Review: Avengers Assemble #1

(Reader Warning: You MUST read Avengers #24 BEFORE you read this book! Unless, you haven’t been reading the Avengers books before this one!) 

The Marvel machine has began rolling yet again, and with The Avengers movie looming in the distance, did anyone believe they were not going to try to milk it for all its worth? We will be continually berated with Avengers-centric books for the next few months, and this book is just the tip of the iceberg! Since Bendis will be leaving his other two Avengers books after A vs. X, I guess Marvel couldn’t trust anyone else with their most precious baby, and gave him an all new series to forge into the future. But was it really worth creating a whole new series just to revolve around the characters in The Avengers movie? That’s debatable.

Was the story good? Sure. It was a very, “We love the Avengers and everything they do!” story. The publicly ostracized team from The Avengers and New Avengers no longer exists. They are media darlings yet again, the public loves them and the camaraderie between team members is at its highest. The team ups are fun and witty with an overwhelming feeling of classic Avengers stories, and you can’t help but feel the excitement come right off the page! The battle scenes are explosive and Bagley’s art is at the pinnacle of his talent! And together, Bendis and Bagley, have actually made the Zodiac come off as total bad asses! That is no small feet, my friends!

But does the great art and fun story really warrant a whole new series? No! Especially since this story has nothing to do with the current stories that are going on in any of the Avengers books or their off-shoots! “Dead” Thor is back in all his glory, the public outrage against the team has been squashed and everything seems to be as right as rain. This book should have come out in two weeks! At least that way the solo books and the other Avengers titles could have wrapped up their current storylines and this one would have made more sense. But we all know “time is money,” and Disney needs to see a little more green on the table from their acquisition!

All in all, this book is fun! And if you have never read an Avengers story before but wanted to check them out — this is the perfect book to do so! You will get all the excitement you have been waiting for wrapped up in a nice little package! But if you have been a long time Avengers fan, shelling out another four bucks to see a story that is a complete deviation from the current storylines — it might not be worth it. I, personally, thought it was a nice change of pace from the darker stories currently going on, but the break from continuity was quite irksome! Especially since I read this issue before Avengers #24! But let’s face it folks, this is just another money grab by Marvel and it doesn’t really matter what us fans think! They will give us what we want as long as they tell us what we want! Nuff‘ said!

For another take, read M.E. Byron Brewer’s review of “Avengers Assemble” #1!