For those of you who are unaware, earlier this year Marvel rebooted some of their key franchises, under the banner ‘The Heroic Age.’ This is a new era for Marvel following the Dark Reign arc that saw key characters die and many go underground. From a marketing perspective, you can see why they did it. Now we are a good few issues into most runs - The Avengers, Secret Avengers, New Avengers...etc.The list goes on. I made the ‘sensible’ decision to be selective on what I bought. On the basis of the creative teams and characters involved, I opted to read The Avengers (flagship) and Secret Avengers.
Starting with The Avengers, I have to say this - and I know some hardcore comic fans will spit in my general direction - but I am not a massive John Romita Jr fan. I can see why people like it and it does work for this particular comic but there are other artists I enjoy much more. The writing by Bendis has been very good and it does really work as a comicbook. They definitely make a good team and I have enjoyed the first three issues (art aside). I suspect however that after the first arc I may stop collecting it - in an effort to keep my weekly comic shop down. Also, I feel there are only so many directions you can take a team of characters that usually have more important stories running elsewhere.
Now, I love the art in Secret Avengers - Mike Deodato Jr. When I think of Marvel, I guess I tend to imagine this kind of art - it is just nails! I loved Dark Avengers and I could look at Deodato’s art all day long. Brubaker’s writing is pretty good too and I really quite like this book. There are a number of people annoyed that Steve Rogers is no longer Cap America and is now running around looking a lot like a non-ultimate Nick Fury. I have to say, I think it works and gives a well known character new boundaries - that has to be a good thing. So far, this has been cool.
Lets see how the first arcs finish and take it from there. Did Marvel have to reboot the franchise? Im my opinion, probably not to the extent they did. But the Avengers are loved and Marvel know that with the upcoming movie, this could be an awesome bit of marketing As to the Ultimate universe, I’ll write a separate post as to my current thoughts on a number of their comics I have been reading over the summer.
