Buddy, it's the flies and the turd they're buzzing around.
To each their own. I could say the same thing about Slott's Amazing Spider-Man run (save a few issues here and there) but it's all about personal taste in the comic and it's characters.
Dread said:
I won't tell you what not to read. All I say is, that if you buy AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS because you genuinely enjoy them and not because of habit or "importance", then continue to do so. I read the latter for about a year longer than I should have for "importance", and I was miserable. And that was BEFORE it was $3.99. I stayed on USM longer than I should have out of habit, too.
I buy New Avengers because I thoroughly enjoy it no question. I love the characters, the street level feel, and the stories (save the 1959 Avengers flashback story) and I just keep getting more and more excited at the return of Norman and the (or at least "a") Dark Avengers... along with Daredevil joining the team.
Avengers I'm a little less excited about because I don't care as much for the characters or art and I thought the first arc sucked. But the Hood/Red Hulk/Infinity Gems arc was pretty good and I really enjoyed the .1 issue with Ultron's return, preparing for next year's big story. So I'm sticking with this one out of curiousity moreso than like, habit, or importance.
I just tend to find that Bendis's quirks annoy me less than others and I've grown used to overlooking them to see the plot buried within. Sometimes it's worse than others and even I can't get past them (first issue of the Fear Itself tie-in I'm looking at you) but overall I still find I enjoy his Avengers issues.
I will caution that sometimes with some writers, a "wait to see if it gets explained/if _____ gets better" can sometimes last for years.
Trust me, I know. I'm an X-Men fan.
As for SECRET AVENGERS, I'd argue it's been plagued since the launch. Brubaker wanted it to tell a story about Steve Rogers and his pals fighting some new evil cabal. Fine. The dilemma was he over-relied on minion battles, even MORE so than in his solo hero efforts, and he wasted Nova as a guest star. I have no clue why he started the first story on Mars other than an editor wanting him to start off above "street level".
In Brubaker's defense he actually planned on having Nova involved long term. Sadly, he realized too late that the ending of Thanos Imperative negated that idea and Nova only lasted the first arc and had to exit, so we can thank DnA for that failure
The second arc with Shang Chi was more Brubaker's speed, but it ended with a non-conclusion.
The second arc was much better than the first but that non-conclusion absolutely kills me. I'm expecting him to pick up on it in one of his Captain America books but I don't read those so it's just a major dropped plot for me making his run on the book a waste of time. I find that if you ignore Bru's final two issues with John Steele it's a better read and feels more concluded as far as the larger plot goes. Some of the bad guys get away to cause terror another day but the good guys won and we conclude the story that began in the first arc with the resurrection and death of Shang Chi's father.
From there, Spencer only has a 4 issue run, which is barely a drive by. Ellis is reportedly only confirmed for 6, a slightly longer drive-by [....] If Spencer had longer, maybe he could do more. But he's tasked with writing FEAR ITSELF stories that don't matter, and is on too briefly to do anything that matters with the characters.
I think if Spencer were on long term I'd still be buying the book, as I enjoyed his .1 issue and the Beast-centric issue, but with only being around for 4 issues doesn't do it for me. Ellis I might skim and try out but again, with it only being 6 issues and his sketchy track record I'm not sure I'm willing to give him a shot on this title. I might change my mind if I find myself with more buying room and the issues look good or get reviews, but I doubt it.
AVENGERS ACADEMY is still the best Avengers title on the racks for me. Naturally, it sells the poorest. Although to give credit, the fact that it features C-List Avengers like Tigra and Justice as well as a cast of new teenage characters as the focus, and it STILL sells well enough to possibly survive 2 full years, is a credit to it's fans and especially it's creative team.
It was definately an interesting book and I still skim every issue on the day it comes out. What hurts it, for me anyhow, is that there's been a small influx of young hero teams lately and it's just become another book of teenagers. The Young Avengers were followed by 2 to 3 teams/generations in the Initiative, which was then followed by Avengers Academy. Add those to various Initiative state teams, the Runaways, the Young Allies, Young X-Men, and the Generation Hope kids and they just get lost in the mix.
As you and I have said before... they're just creating too man teen or new heroes and have nothing for them to do other than play cannon fodder and cameos in events. It gets to a point when people stop carring. If you're going to have up and coming heroes, DO SOMETHING WITH THEM. Make them imporant in some way other than just being there, and follow up with it. Make me care about these characters. The fading away of the Runaways and the Initiative crew and the misshandling of the Young Avengers makes me not want to get too heavily invested in Avengers Academy because I figure it won't amount to much by this time next year.
I WANT to see them succeed but I don't trust Marvel to handle yet another young team.
At least with the various generations of X-Students they're folded into the larger X-Men fold when their generation fades away. These days Cyclops, Colossus, Cannonball, Chamber, and Anole are all equal in the eyes of the X-Men. The Avengers corner can't say the same.
The 2nd answer is you're not reading Millar's Ultimate Avengers, his last arc is like Ultimates 3 by him pretty much, and Jonathan Hickman will take over Ultimates in August, so yeah check it out.
