Darthphere said:
Excellent post.
Thats my job.
And a fine job of it you do.
In any case, my biggest problem with the storylines of Avengers that drove me away from the comic for a time was the fact that there had gotten to be something of a stale flavor to me. [A magical Imp appears wearing a 'Disassembled Sucks' t-shirt "LIESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"] While I certainly loved the Kang takes over the Earth adventure, it was a sign to me that they'd passed the point where they had anything original to tell with the current lineup. Especially given the fact that no other Marvel title registered Kang's little takeover. The least you could do would be to retcon the thing out of existence.
The biggest problem that had accumlated for me was that the personal feelings of the characters had gotten a little jumbled in the histories of their adventures. Marvel comics thrives when they're telling personal stories about superheroes. Its the formula that made them great and frankly has become the staple in the industry to the potential deterrent of more epic tales of derring doo. The Avenger's 'human element' is always an important part of the storyline and while I doubt Crystal/Black Knight/Sersei has ever been anyone's favorite plotline, it was important.
I just....lost interest, I suppose because it seemed to be business as usual in the mansion. Vision and Wonderman had returned from the grave so many times it was difficult to take any story involving them seriously anymore. Nevermind Jean Grey, its actually difficult to take death seriously in the Avengers comic. The Kang takes over the country arc just reinforced nothing seemed to matter. The mansion would be rebuilt, Cappy would rally the troops, and everything would end up fine.
Now,
Disassembled is crap. It's a series of random events tied together by the lamest of deus es machina. Ultron, the Kree, Osama Bin Quinjet and the Suicide bomber Jack-O-Hearts, Tonycolism, She Hulk all crazy (and then fine). You could literally not write a plot with more elements that have nothing to do with one another from Avenger's history. If we include the story arcs from other Disassembled books there's Tony's girlfriend getting murdered by a business rival and Cap discovering his girlfriend is a robot (that oddly have nothing to do with the plot of Wanda).
However, I don't mind the "idea" of Disassembled in that the Avengers are dealt such a crushing and final defeat that they can't rally back but need a few months to get their heads straightened out. The madness of the Scarlet Witch (if some holes were tied up) might have been enough of itself or an attack of Ultron OR THE KREE (you catch my drift). If nothing else, it worked well in re-establishing the Avengers don't have a bubble around them protecting them.
Rebooting the New Avengers worked for me for reasons that are almost unrelated to the characters themselves. I couldn't care less about Ronin (whom
SHOULD have been Daredevil), Sentry, or Spiderwoman. I admit, Spiderman joining a team was something I liked because it was something new in Spidey history as the closest he's come is the Fantastic Four and unlress he marries Jonny, there's no way he can 'really' fit in. Ditto Jessica Jones' presence because I love her in anything but that's it.
The biggest draw for me was the "new team" smell to begin with. Seeing Captain America seek out the players, introducing the new HQ, and preparing for the first mission. There's a reason "team forming" stories almost always work well. Captain America could have recruited Jessica Jones, Spiderman, Iron Man, Thor, had brother voodoo ressurect Hawkeye and George Harrison's undead corpse and I would have read it just the same.
The real question becomes of course....why did I come back afterwards? I have to admit that it was a number of factors. The premise was a big lure in that I believed that the Avengers would genuinely end up going against SHIELD and the United States government (which was something NEW for the team) plus also the hints of HYDRA. I love HYDRA and I also waited for the promsie presence of hunting down supervillains issue by issue. It seemed like it'd be a "World's greatest Hits" of Marvel supervillain wise and I can't say I'm not dissapointed that it didn't materialize.
(Though I still love the Wrecker fight and its one of the reasons I was kept on---because of the fact that it re-established the team was going to have to WORK for its fights much harder).
I've had my problems with the storylines of course as well. The "Collective" could have been dealt with in an annual honestly and the comics better devoted to hunting down supervillains like it could have been. Also, why the Hell was Magneto re-empowered in a
Avengers comic? It's like Thor coming back in the Fantastic Four! I mean, no one's stupid enough to cross-pollinate like that!
