Writer: Brian Bendis
Art: David Finch and Danny Miki
Publisher: Marvel
Plot: Cap was keeping his eyes open during the fight to stop the prison breakout, and he saw something he liked. Tony, however, is still depressive.
What’s interesting: How can this be? While I still think Bendis has no clue about who Tony Stark is on a basic level (whither the creative genius, the man of 1000 solutions to any problem, the brilliant Forge of the Avengers?), I could just eat up his Steve Rogers on a stick. This tall, blonde drink of water is as nice as could be, tough when he has to be, fair in all ways, forgiving and full of infectious enthusiasm. I feel exactly about him like Jessica Jones does, when she beams as he enters her apartment, and looks on approvingly when he makes a compelling job offer to her lover.
Cap is on a recruitment drive this issue, and once he convinces the dour Tony, it’s pretty much a done deal as he rounds up the rest of the team (sans the Sentry, but, hey, there’s a bigger story there I’m sure). Even when it’s not, I love how Steve just optimistically assumes what he wants to here. The trademark Bendis comic timing is actually funny again.
While I don’t know if ending the Avengers unbalanced America, as Cap says, it certainly would have unbalanced the Marvel universe had it truly been final. And this team remains an intriguing new take on the concept. I couldn’t be happier about the reasons for Cage’s decision to join. He’s got something to prove (we don’t know what yet), and he wants to make his daughter proud. That shows that the Avengers still means something, even to the writer who destroyed them.
Less interesting: Three issues in, and already the one potential traitor is the sole female on the team. I don’t like this sense of Cap sheltering and protecting Jessica, as if she’s just a big screw-up on her own. While I understand the conflicted feelings over that last page where she conspires (finally, a plot is emerging!) this ain’t New Thunderbolts, and I don’t really need a mole on the team myself. And stop making Tony a pouty playboy; we’ve already got that in Ultimates. And for God’s sake can we please stop recounting Wanda’s meltdown on every summary page like it’s something to crow about? I’m continuing to give Bendis rope on this series, hoping neither of us trips up.
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