Review- FEAR ITSELF: AVENGERS

FEAR ITSELF: AVENGERS (Marvel, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Avengers Nos. 13-17 and New Avengers Nos. 14-16 (cover dates July- November, 2011)

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artists: Chris Bachalo (Avengers 13 and 15), John Romita, Jr. (penciler) and Klaus Janson (inker) (Avengers 14, 16, and 17), and Mike Deodato (NA 14-16)

Bendis. The only thing that got me through the bulk of the dialogue in this book was the knowledge that Bendis' reign of terror is near it's end, as he is finally leaving The Avengers. I survived 8 years of Bush, and I survived 8 years of Bendis. I can take on anything that this world has to throw at me, babe! I will give the man props for one thing, though: he made The Avengers Marvel's top seller for the better part of a decade...even if his dialogue pretty much sucks.

So you get an artist of John Romita, Jr.'s caliber drawing your book and you have him draw talking heads. Only Bendis.

Lots of talking going on here. This is supposed to be some kind of video archive interview, but it comes off as lame reality TV with plenty of bad Bendis dialogue. My blood pressure probably spiked several points reading this crap. The action sequences are decent. I didn't bother to read the Fear Itself mini-series, as I don't care anymore. I got the gist of the core mini, even if I don't know how it started or ended. I guess that I could read a synopsis on the Internet if I were so inclined, but I'm not.

This is basically both teams of Avengers in one big battle royale, not unlike those Avengers and West Coast Avengers crossovers of the '80s. I am nearly numb to Bendis after this latest Avengers marathon.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Typical Marvel Premiere Edition Hardcover, with the same production values, advantages and shortcomings that the format has to offer.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Nice thick coated stock, perfect for this material.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. It's glued, but it's a thin hardcover, so it's no biggie. It's not like it's going to fall apart or anything. I normally lose sleep over books with glued binding, but not with these Premiere Hardcovers.