Friday, April 1, 2011

The Avengers #11

In reviews of the last few issues of The Avengers I've been complaining about the way The Hood has been built into a cosmic-level threat by his discovery of the Infinity Gems.

Since the character is (more or less) a clever gangster, not a cosmic threat, it seemed almost insulting that he was on a par with characters like Dr. Doom or Thanos.

After reading this issue, I realize that perhaps I should have had a little more faith in writer Brian Bendis.

That's because he addresses the issue head-on. While The Hood is fighting The Avengers for possession of the Gems, The Watcher shows up and provides some much-needed exposition about what The Hood is doing and the unknown consequences he faces by tampering with cosmic forces like this.

All of which makes this issue much easier to take - and that last page surprise doesn't hurt, either.

The art by John Romita, Jr. and Klaus Janson is huge - in fact, almost every page of the story is a full-page splash panel, each one featuring cosmic-level events.

I'm glad to see this story that I had almost given up on suddenly righting itself and upping the ante. I have to admit it - I'm impressed!

Grade: A-

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