The Comic Book Club: Avengers and Legion of Super-Heroes

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DOUGLAS: I’m also surprised to see the “vox pops” gimmick on pp. 4-5: I figured that was a strategy Bendis reserved for Powers. Maybe not. (And doesn’t Tigra get to say anything, after all he put her through…?)

Can anybody who’s more up on Marvel lore than I am identify whose kids exactly the people on pg. 2 are supposed to be?

MIKE: The kids are “The Next Avengers”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Avengers

LEV: Some random impressions from the least comics-fluent club member: I fricking love a good Avengers yarn. They’re such a weird jumble of heroes, they bring out what’s best about the Marvel universe: that syncretic quality that smooshes together Norse myths, science fiction, teen romance, and nuclear-era allegory into one single lumpy continuity. It’s fun watching them try to keep the seams straight.

(More on Techland: Lawsuit Alleges That Heroes’ Final Year Was A Rip-Off)

And this is an… OK Avengers yarn so far. Love the cameo by Wonder Man — I think of him like the Vision and Martian Manhunter: a dude who fricking WON THE LOTTERY powers-wise. Strength, speed, invulnerability, immortality, freaky eyes – will someone please tell me what it is that dude can’t do?

Otherwise the whole ish was just exposition, right? But at least there was some poppy Whedonic dialogue. It’s funny the way the team is divided up into the unironic heroes (like Thor) and the heroes endowed with pop-culture selfawareness, who can do color commentary (Hawkeye: “THAT would be what it’s like to be on the Avengers with Thor”). I’ll admit it, I laughed out loud when Spidey followed up Kang’s huge expository monologue about the fate of the Earth with (beat): “What was the middle part again?”

And Iron Man and Steve “Top Cop” Rogers: JUST MAKE OUT ALREADY PLEASE.

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