It's Return of the SHEEPLE! Comic Round-Up Part1
Oh Marvel...I forgot how much you pissed me off...[peers at comic world]
What's this? Inoshi is back to doing comic round ups again? Why yes...yes I am! I specifically waited an extra month in order to have more issues to cover...of course it has nothing to do with being lost in other fandoms >_>
Okay, where in the world to begin [sits back and looks] I know I kind have randomly chirped about a few issues here and there, but I haven't gone into detail really. I think last I even mentioned comics was that Fear Itself ended and the #7.1-3 issues were just coming out. The Fearless was just launching and I was gushing over Spider Island...but because I can't truly recall and I am too lazy to look up my own entries, I thought that a simple recap dating up to what's going on now will do.
So...last time I said I'd wait till the point issues of Fear Itself was released before I gave my final verdict on the event. I'm pretty sure I was waving my pitch fork in the air about how an event that was supposed to put Thor and Cap through their paces pretty much did nothing to them and ended up reigning hell down on Tony's head. WTF?! In fact, looking at where the current comics are flowing...as it stands I think Tony is the only one who is really dealing with the aftermath of the event.
I mean look at Thor...I have no idea what is currently going on his solo (or Journey Into Mystery for that matter) but I'm pretty sure a Celtic Thunder god replaced him and supposedly wiped all memory of his existence away. Well, apparently that doesn't seem the least bit permanent or even relevant seeing how in the Avengers, Thor is mentioned by name AND his evil clone from Civil War (Clor) just showed up in New Avengers...but more on that later.
Meanwhile, Bucky apparently didn't die and is doing his own thing now...and Paris isn't dead any more...so there we go? I'll admit that #7.3, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...though part of me wonders if anything will ever come of Tony seeing part "of the universe" so to speak...but probably not. Other then that, F.I. really was nothing more then a launch point for Fraction's other works. We have no clue why Tony chose the select Avengers to be part of the Fearless other then a good chunk of them are now in the Defenders...and the whole drinking spiel was to do Demon in a Bottle 2.0. If you look at any current interviews for the next event (A.vsX.) they don't even mention F.I. and keep going back to Dark Reign as a reference point - HA! [shakes head] But anyways...so okay, we are moving past that and heading to where we are now...
Moving pass the event...and what I think is supposed to be the follow up called "Shattered Heroes" but really...nothing truly ties back into F.I. - lucky us...let's take a look at what the Avengers are doing!
If I am getting my chronology right...I think it's supposed to be Fear Itself > Spider Island > new Avengers roster. Does it matter? Sort of....at least if you were following the Avengers story line. Okay, so after the events of Spider Island, but trying to tie back into the event...we essentially have Avengers #19-21. Somewhere in there comes the Avengers/New Avengers Annuals.
If I am reading it right...the annuals come before Fear Itself, but sometime after Children's Crusade? Which is weird since I suppose C.C. is supposed to be after F.I. - that I guess eventually leads into Avengers vs. Xmen. But really, that's all speculation till we get the final issue of C.C. What' important here is Wonder Man. In New Avengers Annual, Simon, apparently goes loco and assembles his anti-Avengers the Revengers to blow up the New Avengers and the Avengers mansion. Bah-BOOM goes the mansion on top of the New Avengers and everyone is KOed...next target the Avengers Tower. No wonder Tony couldn't afford to re-build his tower after F.I. if he had to fix the mansion and parts of his tower after this. I laugh at every time the mansion or tower goes boom...I honestly can't see the government paying for this - insurance must be through the roof.
Now we have Avengers Annual, where the parents er...I mean the main Avenges, mainly Steve, Tony and Thor are ready to crack down on Simon for what he did. What I find interesting here is we have Steve and Thor pretty much ready to shut Simon down (Thor more in favor of punishing him for his deeds) and then you have Tony saying they need to "help" him. It's times like these I just love Bendis...the way he can portray Tony as times just makes me happy. [hugs him] Though there are times I will wave a brick at him as well....
It return of the sheeple people! During the events of both issues, the people of the Marvel universe have once again reverted to their accountability towards metas again. Essentially it boils down to do the Avengers do more harm then good (effectively setting up the seeds for the following Avengers story plot). It's like Civil War 2.0 which doesn't make all that much sense considering the SHRA is technically still in effect and the Avengers (all branches) are a sanctioned team...but more on that later. Finally, at the end of the issue...we get some very slashy moments between Beast and Simon [waggles eyebrows]........who apparently is not Simon? Dun dun duuuuun! Mysterious enemy on the horizon...wonder if that comes before or after Ultron.
Hoping forward again (because I do know what I'm doing), we move forward past F.I. and whatever may be here or there and get the new dawn of the Avengers. What, we are covering that many issues? I think I already talked about Avengers #19 and New Avengers #18, but it's just easier to start at the beginning.
To save on time, I am not going to go over all the issues that lead up to New Avengers #20. So just a quick recap and then we'll center on the new issue. At the start of #16.1, we see the New Avengers sitting around and eating...how long after F.I. is anyone's guess the events in New Avengers takes place before the ones in Avengers. Long story short...the team was supposed to transport Osborn to some other location that wasn't the Raft, and essentially they screwed up. They lost Osborn, who now has a freaking cult of stupid people, aligned with A.I.M. and Hydra. Here come the New Dark Avengers...some who I have no freaking clue who they are, but yeah N.A. fail. They fail even harder when they try to assist Tony, but neglect to listen to him pretty much blowing themselves up. They kind of lose since the baddies goal shift from obtaining the Iron Man armor to get Wolverine's DNA...which they get. Go team!
Spider-Man continues to be hostile with Victoria Hand...asking now that Osborn is back, will she go back to him. She argues that Steve was the one who trusted and vouched for her...and honestly if I was Hand I'd smack Petey with my IPad. Anyways, Osborn and his Dark Avengers go out to "save the day" on a mission that the N.A.s were supposed to handle but got mislead. All clues point to Hand being the culprit...but if I am reading Bendis right...she probably isn't - probably. So now we are at #20 where Luke Cage is beyond pissed and N.A. and Dark Avengers fight. Sheeple are there pretty much saying wtf is the "Avengers" problem that they were the ones to start the fight...but I'll address the illogicality of it all later. N.A. gets whooped badly...(I am sensing a pattern)...and they run. But we're not done...we have Clor to deal with! End issue...
Meanwhile...somewhere in all...Avengers comes into play.
The beginning of #19 (really starting at 18) we see the launch of the new team roster of Avengers. Apparently all we needed was another major event for Steve and Tony to start speaking to each other like the good old days...Kang breaking time and the Infinity Gems debacle wasn't enough before hand. Useful to know...so next time Steve and Tony get a divorce we need to attempt to blow up the earth 3-4 times and all will be forgiven :) lawl. With the new roster we loose Spider-Man and Wolverine (I wish they at least kept Peter). Steve comes back as Cap (effectively booting Hill to just liaison), Tony becomes his second in command...Hawkeye, Red Hulk, Spider Woman, Protector staying on...Storm, Vision and Daisy Johnson ( aka "Quake", the new Director of SHIELD at 14 no less). It almost resembles the MA Avengers doesn't it? As Steve addresses the press, but all does not go well as Osborn walks right up to the stage pretty much stating that he was booted out as head of the Avengers and held against his will without trial.
Deep breath...okay. Obviously, since we the readers are smart, we are already quirking our eyebrows at Osborn going wtf are you doing? However, judging from New Avengers the Sheeple apparently forgot Osborn went nuts and brought about Dark Reign and eventually Siege. But despite all that [waves hand in air] how the !@#$ is it the Avengers' fault that Osborn got held without trial? Which, if I researched right, he wasn't...that's why they were transporting him in the first place...but whatever. The against your will part is...well no sh*t...I assume a lot of prisoners can argue they are "being held against their will." But in all honesty...it kind of doesn't matter what the heck Osborn claims since the President of the United States was the one to boot him out of position and declare his actions against Asgard terrorism. Under the Patriot Act, Osborn has no rights - so that should have shut up both the media and his argument right then and there. Furthermore, the Avengers have no control what happens to those taken into custody...it's not like Osborn was thrown into 42...and it's not like they hold trials over what to do with said prisoners. They aren't the authorities, nor do they have any say what will happen once someone is released from their custody.
The sheer stupidity of it all continues in Avengers #20.
Once again, as intelligent readers, we wait patiently for Steve to retort against Osborn because clearly he has no basis...but we get nothing! The Avengers charge in (ignoring Tony's "wait a moment"...lol) and discover it's a hologram. Holo-Osborn continues to claim he was over thrown in a coup staged by Steve, and was held without trial - yada, yada...the Avengers shut the hologram down. [stares] Ensue attack of the media Sheeple in their questioning about "who gave you the authority, why are you hiding behind the flag, should Avengers be elected" - so on and so forth. [headesk] Again...these are all questions that have freaking good answers! I think I remember just staring stupidly at the page going...say something Steve! [flails] WTF are you doing staying silent? Er...do you need help? Seriously?
Okay, let me give it a whirl. "My authority was granted to me by the Commander and Chief, the President of the United States. Abiding by the current laws of the Super Hero Registration Act, the "Avengers" are sanctioned by the government. I have adhere to the laws that were VOTED upon, and was entrusted by the president to oversee the assembly of these individual heroes as a specialized team to deal with meta human threats. Osborn's claims are false. He was not overthrown from his position but evicted when he refused to follow a direct order from our Commander and Chief and laid the initial siege on Asgard by his own judgement. His actions are thus interpreted as acts of terrorism and is an enemy of the state under the Patriot Act. Furthermore his escape from custody has made him a wanted fugitive of the law and his refusal to turn himself in further incriminates his actions."
Boom - done...see Steve. There is a reason why Tony was partially right about being sanctioned by the government...I mean hello, Civil War...remember wtf that was about?! That's okay because apparently everyone else forgot too! But hey...let's enjoy the crowd of reporters saying pretty much nothing but "Stark" "Rogers" for a panel or two...it's like the Cap/Ironman comm <3 Anyways, we move back to the courtyard where Clint says Osborn is not wrong...which I disagree. A.) Him being held w/o trial (see argument above) and B.) It wasn't under your watch as it was the N.A.s watch...but whenever N.A. screws up the main Avengers have to clean it up.
Steve is pissed (I would be too if Bendis took away my ability to speak and replace the MU with Sheeple again...lol) but at least we get a nice Steve/Tony moment when Tony flies back in. Steve asks if Tony is okay and Tony is like D8< !@#$ no! Well...more subdued. Hmmm [stares] actually I can't believe I didn't notice this...but Tony is flying back to where the Avengers are in the courtyard. He was the only one who wasn't there beforehand, so.....does that mean he was handling the press? It's a possible answer...and where the heck did the N.A. go? I mean they do live at the mansion. Ah well...
So the team splits up...Tony teamed with Protector...which is very fun and interesting tbh. Noh-Varr says he never saw Cap act like that (ie-pissed off beyond belief) and Tony casually says...that he has and Osborn is going to have a shield size dent in his head. XD lol...oh Civil War...Marvel milks it for all it's worth. The issue continues and the Avenger team-ups run into trouble and another Steve/Tony moment. <3 Seriously, good issue for the Steve/Tony love. I laugh because essentially it's Protector that makes the SOS call but Steve calls Tony: "Iron Man this is Captain America. Come in Tony. Tony this is Cap. Come in?" Bolded and everything <3<3<3 Oh and I guess Hill is what Sharon is to Secret Avengers...the driver.
Moving right along is the latest issue...
Ah...what to say about this issue? Essentially the Avengers get their asses handed to them...and they all pretty much get captured. I supposed it'll be up to the New Avengers to save them, but I'd personally call Secret Avengers back-up over the N.A. So....Tony's armor gets taken control of - again. It's interesting to note that Protector states how this is pretty much impossible...but here it is. Is it me, or is this new armor lame? I've seen nothing but problems from it and nothing of the cool things. You'd think Tony would have switched to an older armor by now since it can kick more butt then this useless hunk of junk. [shakes head] Tony is pissed from the bare basics we can see...because he says to the baddies "you better kill me now because I promise you...[gets cut off]"
Everyone else gets captured because Hydra/HAMMER/AIM made combined their own superheroes by meshing everyone's DNA or whatever...so we get Spider-Hulks and Invisible Giant Men and all sorts of things I thought only remained in Ultimate-verse. This whole situation screams a mash-up and remix of Civil War ideas sprinkled with 1610 superhuman weapons race. Actually, a more believable angle for Bendis to take instead of the Sheeple allowing Osborn to walk around, would be to do the Civil War angle 2.0 and have Osborn question why "heroes" should be sanctioned under the government...or in essence, take the anti-registration side.
I mean, I think I get what Bendis is trying to do with Osborn. He is trying to make him the anti-registration side of Civil War 2.0. He is questioning Steve's authority by asking who gave him the power to decided who gets to be a hero or not. Speaking objectively, it's a good theory in concept considering Steve's approach to Civil War was pretty much on the same wave length...and the fact that he and the anti-regs didn't register did made them fugitives of the law. It's amazing to see how so many people on the forums don't even see the parallel because Osborn and everyone around him are "bad guys" and we know their methods and standings aren't good. Still, I have to laugh because I was always pro-registration...although some reworking of the law (whatever it truly was since it kept changing) was needed and the methods needed improvement.
Overall, despite all the ravings I wrote...I'm actually pretty interested in the direction Bendis is taking. Yes, you have to go BEYOND the suspension of disbelief with the Sheeple...but that's how it was during Civil War. In this particular case, Stamford=Fear Itself...except in the tipping favor of the anti-regs side instead of pro. Bendis is doing exactly what I wanted since the Heroic age started...and that was to test and question Steve's position of power. Everything that has happened is on Steve's head...similar to the way everything was on Tony's head. I also like how Bendis did bring in Steve's Civil War persona...to the point he had Protector comment on that. As I said, I think I understand what Bendis is trying to do...which again makes me sort of smirk a little bit for those who kept waving their anti-reg banner at me. But hey...let's see what happens when Steve and Tony are on the same side [grins]
WOWZA this post is long...there will have to be a second post to this round-up because there is still so much more to talk about!
What's this? Inoshi is back to doing comic round ups again? Why yes...yes I am! I specifically waited an extra month in order to have more issues to cover...of course it has nothing to do with being lost in other fandoms >_>
Okay, where in the world to begin [sits back and looks] I know I kind have randomly chirped about a few issues here and there, but I haven't gone into detail really. I think last I even mentioned comics was that Fear Itself ended and the #7.1-3 issues were just coming out. The Fearless was just launching and I was gushing over Spider Island...but because I can't truly recall and I am too lazy to look up my own entries, I thought that a simple recap dating up to what's going on now will do.
So...last time I said I'd wait till the point issues of Fear Itself was released before I gave my final verdict on the event. I'm pretty sure I was waving my pitch fork in the air about how an event that was supposed to put Thor and Cap through their paces pretty much did nothing to them and ended up reigning hell down on Tony's head. WTF?! In fact, looking at where the current comics are flowing...as it stands I think Tony is the only one who is really dealing with the aftermath of the event.
I mean look at Thor...I have no idea what is currently going on his solo (or Journey Into Mystery for that matter) but I'm pretty sure a Celtic Thunder god replaced him and supposedly wiped all memory of his existence away. Well, apparently that doesn't seem the least bit permanent or even relevant seeing how in the Avengers, Thor is mentioned by name AND his evil clone from Civil War (Clor) just showed up in New Avengers...but more on that later.
Meanwhile, Bucky apparently didn't die and is doing his own thing now...and Paris isn't dead any more...so there we go? I'll admit that #7.3, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...though part of me wonders if anything will ever come of Tony seeing part "of the universe" so to speak...but probably not. Other then that, F.I. really was nothing more then a launch point for Fraction's other works. We have no clue why Tony chose the select Avengers to be part of the Fearless other then a good chunk of them are now in the Defenders...and the whole drinking spiel was to do Demon in a Bottle 2.0. If you look at any current interviews for the next event (A.vsX.) they don't even mention F.I. and keep going back to Dark Reign as a reference point - HA! [shakes head] But anyways...so okay, we are moving past that and heading to where we are now...
Moving pass the event...and what I think is supposed to be the follow up called "Shattered Heroes" but really...nothing truly ties back into F.I. - lucky us...let's take a look at what the Avengers are doing!
If I am getting my chronology right...I think it's supposed to be Fear Itself > Spider Island > new Avengers roster. Does it matter? Sort of....at least if you were following the Avengers story line. Okay, so after the events of Spider Island, but trying to tie back into the event...we essentially have Avengers #19-21. Somewhere in there comes the Avengers/New Avengers Annuals.
If I am reading it right...the annuals come before Fear Itself, but sometime after Children's Crusade? Which is weird since I suppose C.C. is supposed to be after F.I. - that I guess eventually leads into Avengers vs. Xmen. But really, that's all speculation till we get the final issue of C.C. What' important here is Wonder Man. In New Avengers Annual, Simon, apparently goes loco and assembles his anti-Avengers the Revengers to blow up the New Avengers and the Avengers mansion. Bah-BOOM goes the mansion on top of the New Avengers and everyone is KOed...next target the Avengers Tower. No wonder Tony couldn't afford to re-build his tower after F.I. if he had to fix the mansion and parts of his tower after this. I laugh at every time the mansion or tower goes boom...I honestly can't see the government paying for this - insurance must be through the roof.
Now we have Avengers Annual, where the parents er...I mean the main Avenges, mainly Steve, Tony and Thor are ready to crack down on Simon for what he did. What I find interesting here is we have Steve and Thor pretty much ready to shut Simon down (Thor more in favor of punishing him for his deeds) and then you have Tony saying they need to "help" him. It's times like these I just love Bendis...the way he can portray Tony as times just makes me happy. [hugs him] Though there are times I will wave a brick at him as well....
It return of the sheeple people! During the events of both issues, the people of the Marvel universe have once again reverted to their accountability towards metas again. Essentially it boils down to do the Avengers do more harm then good (effectively setting up the seeds for the following Avengers story plot). It's like Civil War 2.0 which doesn't make all that much sense considering the SHRA is technically still in effect and the Avengers (all branches) are a sanctioned team...but more on that later. Finally, at the end of the issue...we get some very slashy moments between Beast and Simon [waggles eyebrows]........who apparently is not Simon? Dun dun duuuuun! Mysterious enemy on the horizon...wonder if that comes before or after Ultron.
Hoping forward again (because I do know what I'm doing), we move forward past F.I. and whatever may be here or there and get the new dawn of the Avengers. What, we are covering that many issues? I think I already talked about Avengers #19 and New Avengers #18, but it's just easier to start at the beginning.
To save on time, I am not going to go over all the issues that lead up to New Avengers #20. So just a quick recap and then we'll center on the new issue. At the start of #16.1, we see the New Avengers sitting around and eating...how long after F.I. is anyone's guess the events in New Avengers takes place before the ones in Avengers. Long story short...the team was supposed to transport Osborn to some other location that wasn't the Raft, and essentially they screwed up. They lost Osborn, who now has a freaking cult of stupid people, aligned with A.I.M. and Hydra. Here come the New Dark Avengers...some who I have no freaking clue who they are, but yeah N.A. fail. They fail even harder when they try to assist Tony, but neglect to listen to him pretty much blowing themselves up. They kind of lose since the baddies goal shift from obtaining the Iron Man armor to get Wolverine's DNA...which they get. Go team!
Spider-Man continues to be hostile with Victoria Hand...asking now that Osborn is back, will she go back to him. She argues that Steve was the one who trusted and vouched for her...and honestly if I was Hand I'd smack Petey with my IPad. Anyways, Osborn and his Dark Avengers go out to "save the day" on a mission that the N.A.s were supposed to handle but got mislead. All clues point to Hand being the culprit...but if I am reading Bendis right...she probably isn't - probably. So now we are at #20 where Luke Cage is beyond pissed and N.A. and Dark Avengers fight. Sheeple are there pretty much saying wtf is the "Avengers" problem that they were the ones to start the fight...but I'll address the illogicality of it all later. N.A. gets whooped badly...(I am sensing a pattern)...and they run. But we're not done...we have Clor to deal with! End issue...
Meanwhile...somewhere in all...Avengers comes into play.
The beginning of #19 (really starting at 18) we see the launch of the new team roster of Avengers. Apparently all we needed was another major event for Steve and Tony to start speaking to each other like the good old days...Kang breaking time and the Infinity Gems debacle wasn't enough before hand. Useful to know...so next time Steve and Tony get a divorce we need to attempt to blow up the earth 3-4 times and all will be forgiven :) lawl. With the new roster we loose Spider-Man and Wolverine (I wish they at least kept Peter). Steve comes back as Cap (effectively booting Hill to just liaison), Tony becomes his second in command...Hawkeye, Red Hulk, Spider Woman, Protector staying on...Storm, Vision and Daisy Johnson ( aka "Quake", the new Director of SHIELD at 14 no less). It almost resembles the MA Avengers doesn't it? As Steve addresses the press, but all does not go well as Osborn walks right up to the stage pretty much stating that he was booted out as head of the Avengers and held against his will without trial.
Deep breath...okay. Obviously, since we the readers are smart, we are already quirking our eyebrows at Osborn going wtf are you doing? However, judging from New Avengers the Sheeple apparently forgot Osborn went nuts and brought about Dark Reign and eventually Siege. But despite all that [waves hand in air] how the !@#$ is it the Avengers' fault that Osborn got held without trial? Which, if I researched right, he wasn't...that's why they were transporting him in the first place...but whatever. The against your will part is...well no sh*t...I assume a lot of prisoners can argue they are "being held against their will." But in all honesty...it kind of doesn't matter what the heck Osborn claims since the President of the United States was the one to boot him out of position and declare his actions against Asgard terrorism. Under the Patriot Act, Osborn has no rights - so that should have shut up both the media and his argument right then and there. Furthermore, the Avengers have no control what happens to those taken into custody...it's not like Osborn was thrown into 42...and it's not like they hold trials over what to do with said prisoners. They aren't the authorities, nor do they have any say what will happen once someone is released from their custody.
The sheer stupidity of it all continues in Avengers #20.
Once again, as intelligent readers, we wait patiently for Steve to retort against Osborn because clearly he has no basis...but we get nothing! The Avengers charge in (ignoring Tony's "wait a moment"...lol) and discover it's a hologram. Holo-Osborn continues to claim he was over thrown in a coup staged by Steve, and was held without trial - yada, yada...the Avengers shut the hologram down. [stares] Ensue attack of the media Sheeple in their questioning about "who gave you the authority, why are you hiding behind the flag, should Avengers be elected" - so on and so forth. [headesk] Again...these are all questions that have freaking good answers! I think I remember just staring stupidly at the page going...say something Steve! [flails] WTF are you doing staying silent? Er...do you need help? Seriously?
Okay, let me give it a whirl. "My authority was granted to me by the Commander and Chief, the President of the United States. Abiding by the current laws of the Super Hero Registration Act, the "Avengers" are sanctioned by the government. I have adhere to the laws that were VOTED upon, and was entrusted by the president to oversee the assembly of these individual heroes as a specialized team to deal with meta human threats. Osborn's claims are false. He was not overthrown from his position but evicted when he refused to follow a direct order from our Commander and Chief and laid the initial siege on Asgard by his own judgement. His actions are thus interpreted as acts of terrorism and is an enemy of the state under the Patriot Act. Furthermore his escape from custody has made him a wanted fugitive of the law and his refusal to turn himself in further incriminates his actions."
Boom - done...see Steve. There is a reason why Tony was partially right about being sanctioned by the government...I mean hello, Civil War...remember wtf that was about?! That's okay because apparently everyone else forgot too! But hey...let's enjoy the crowd of reporters saying pretty much nothing but "Stark" "Rogers" for a panel or two...it's like the Cap/Ironman comm <3 Anyways, we move back to the courtyard where Clint says Osborn is not wrong...which I disagree. A.) Him being held w/o trial (see argument above) and B.) It wasn't under your watch as it was the N.A.s watch...but whenever N.A. screws up the main Avengers have to clean it up.
Steve is pissed (I would be too if Bendis took away my ability to speak and replace the MU with Sheeple again...lol) but at least we get a nice Steve/Tony moment when Tony flies back in. Steve asks if Tony is okay and Tony is like D8< !@#$ no! Well...more subdued. Hmmm [stares] actually I can't believe I didn't notice this...but Tony is flying back to where the Avengers are in the courtyard. He was the only one who wasn't there beforehand, so.....does that mean he was handling the press? It's a possible answer...and where the heck did the N.A. go? I mean they do live at the mansion. Ah well...
So the team splits up...Tony teamed with Protector...which is very fun and interesting tbh. Noh-Varr says he never saw Cap act like that (ie-pissed off beyond belief) and Tony casually says...that he has and Osborn is going to have a shield size dent in his head. XD lol...oh Civil War...Marvel milks it for all it's worth. The issue continues and the Avenger team-ups run into trouble and another Steve/Tony moment. <3 Seriously, good issue for the Steve/Tony love. I laugh because essentially it's Protector that makes the SOS call but Steve calls Tony: "Iron Man this is Captain America. Come in Tony. Tony this is Cap. Come in?" Bolded and everything <3<3<3 Oh and I guess Hill is what Sharon is to Secret Avengers...the driver.
Moving right along is the latest issue...
Ah...what to say about this issue? Essentially the Avengers get their asses handed to them...and they all pretty much get captured. I supposed it'll be up to the New Avengers to save them, but I'd personally call Secret Avengers back-up over the N.A. So....Tony's armor gets taken control of - again. It's interesting to note that Protector states how this is pretty much impossible...but here it is. Is it me, or is this new armor lame? I've seen nothing but problems from it and nothing of the cool things. You'd think Tony would have switched to an older armor by now since it can kick more butt then this useless hunk of junk. [shakes head] Tony is pissed from the bare basics we can see...because he says to the baddies "you better kill me now because I promise you...[gets cut off]"
Everyone else gets captured because Hydra/HAMMER/AIM made combined their own superheroes by meshing everyone's DNA or whatever...so we get Spider-Hulks and Invisible Giant Men and all sorts of things I thought only remained in Ultimate-verse. This whole situation screams a mash-up and remix of Civil War ideas sprinkled with 1610 superhuman weapons race. Actually, a more believable angle for Bendis to take instead of the Sheeple allowing Osborn to walk around, would be to do the Civil War angle 2.0 and have Osborn question why "heroes" should be sanctioned under the government...or in essence, take the anti-registration side.
I mean, I think I get what Bendis is trying to do with Osborn. He is trying to make him the anti-registration side of Civil War 2.0. He is questioning Steve's authority by asking who gave him the power to decided who gets to be a hero or not. Speaking objectively, it's a good theory in concept considering Steve's approach to Civil War was pretty much on the same wave length...and the fact that he and the anti-regs didn't register did made them fugitives of the law. It's amazing to see how so many people on the forums don't even see the parallel because Osborn and everyone around him are "bad guys" and we know their methods and standings aren't good. Still, I have to laugh because I was always pro-registration...although some reworking of the law (whatever it truly was since it kept changing) was needed and the methods needed improvement.
Overall, despite all the ravings I wrote...I'm actually pretty interested in the direction Bendis is taking. Yes, you have to go BEYOND the suspension of disbelief with the Sheeple...but that's how it was during Civil War. In this particular case, Stamford=Fear Itself...except in the tipping favor of the anti-regs side instead of pro. Bendis is doing exactly what I wanted since the Heroic age started...and that was to test and question Steve's position of power. Everything that has happened is on Steve's head...similar to the way everything was on Tony's head. I also like how Bendis did bring in Steve's Civil War persona...to the point he had Protector comment on that. As I said, I think I understand what Bendis is trying to do...which again makes me sort of smirk a little bit for those who kept waving their anti-reg banner at me. But hey...let's see what happens when Steve and Tony are on the same side [grins]
WOWZA this post is long...there will have to be a second post to this round-up because there is still so much more to talk about!