Hank Pym and the Avengers mourn the death of the Janet Van Dyne, the heroine known as the Wasp. Ex Husband Hank Pym who had been away seemingly for years and replaced by a Skrull impostor, must deal with all of the pain that of his absence and the loss of his lifelong love. Will he make it back or will he break down and blame Tony Stark for all his misery?
I wasn’t sure if I should be picking this series after the dismal end of Secret Invasion. There were no redeeming values to that series. However, Bendis proves that he’s better at writing stories about emotions and the inner struggles of characters, than crafting deadly epics spanning worlds and planets. So in this issue we get a traditional tear jerker fodder, but without the tears coming from this reader’s eyelids. I can’t blame Bendis for that one. It’s mostly to due with being tired of reading some comic books where you know exactly where the writer wants to take you.
Here, we have Hank Pym blaming Tony Stark for the destruction of the original Avengers. Hulk is out. Captain America is out. The Wasp is out. It’s only a matter of time before the surviving three, Hank Pym, Tony Stark, as Iron Man and Thor also fall only to have the classic team revived and brought back to its illustrious glory days in a few years, in some future Marvel Comics company-wide crossover. I can just feel it. Thus, everything Bendis has done with the Avengers, deconstructing them in his story, Avengers Disassembled, House of M, Civil War and everything that occurred next all the way to the Secret Invasion. That’s how it went several times in the Avengers’ history. A writer would destroy everything only to put it all back. The only difference is that it didn’t take half a decade to happen.
I like the use of multiple artists to tell the story. I particularly liked the flashback to the early Avengers when they had just found Captain America’s body frozen in ice. But before we can witness Wanda Maximoff putting all the broken parts together again in two year’s time, we’ll have to go through another annoying companywide crossover trying to pitch us Black Reign. I’m not buying.
Thunderbolts #137
New creative team brings worry about this series' future quality.
Spider-Woman #2
The series still works, even without voice-overs!
Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural #1
The new Sorcerer Supreme, chosen to defend our reality is attacked by Doctor Doom in order to save our reality from...the new Sorcerer Supreme?!
Thor #603
Donald Blake and Thor help Sif establish a secret identity while Loki and Dr. Doom exchange “gifts”…
Spider-Woman #1
One of Marvel’s most sultry, sassy, and super powered heroines gets a new monthly series.
Old Man Logan: How the Best Went Bad
Last year Mark Millar began the best Wolverine story in a decade...and this year he completed a story that was just as bad as a thousand others.
The Amazing Spider-man #605
This issue is about love, or Peter Parker’s lack of. Just as the cover implies, it’s about all the people in Parker’s life and their “it’s complicated” love lives
Dark Wolverine #78
Daken, the Dark Wolverine has been witnessed killing innocent bystanders and Norman Osborn is trying to fix the mess
Captain America Reborn #3 of 5
While Captain America relives his days on ice and his fight against the Skrulls during the Kree / Skrull war, the Falcon rescues the current Captain America
The Amazing Spider-man #604
The Chameleon is on the loose about to explode a nuclear device in the middle of New York City