Ha ha, I actually had a few things to say about this generic Kurt Busiek effort--this review was going to begin "What do I look for in comics, anyway?"--but then it got to be 1:35 in the morning. This is kind of fun and not as allfired self-satisfied and stupid and thinking it's powerful in its stupidity as some productions from the Tom Friedman of the comic world. There are some neat scenes with the Vision and Wonder Man talking about what it means that they have the same brain patterns. I wish it didn't have that weird slippage into the "everybody knows the world is like this and people who don't are just idiots and here is proof" stuff that, say, Jeph Jacques is also known for--call it stacking the moral deck. Examples here are the totally stupid way every single one of the people who advocate an equal opportunity-hiring Avengers behaves; the way New York is getting torn apart by generic baddies and Nova shows up to join the big fight and let us know that the other New Warriors "plus Daredevil and guys like that" are down below "dealing with looters"--first of all, the seams of the story are showing, and your plotting is not clever, Kurt--second and more important, how about, uh, saving lives? Buildings are collapsing and you're worried about looters? My Daredevil cares about people, and Kurt Busiek has left me to wonder whether he was for rounding up all those people after Hurricane Katrina and bludgeoning them and shit. That gross old right-wing punish-lust in the comic community. The most ridic, though, is Warbird's reaction when she has to go into a bar in the call of duty--she's all freaking out because she is an alcoholic, which maybe makes sense until you realize that the bar is serving some sort of crazy otherworldly demon peyote and the whole city they are in has been transformed into a fantasy towerscape with spires and she doesn't even know if she's on Earth anymore, really--like, Busiek's world is one where alcoholics all say "too bad that drink is poisoned, and on fire, and I am being held captive by maniacs who will slowly vivisect me, piece by piece, for every time I wet my whistle, and my mom is already being slowly dissolved in a vat of acid and all I have to do is push that button across the room to save her--because I'm an alcoholic and JUST CAN'T SAY NO." It's insulting and leaves a bad taste. But it's only one moment.


Ha ha, I guess I said everything I wanted to say. Except for what I want out of comics. (It's not the punish-lust.) ( )