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lunchlander's review
3.0
Another hit and miss volume, but more hit than miss. Busiek's missteps include breaking up Scarlet Witch and Vision in favor of a clunky, uninteresting Scarlet Witch/Wonder Man relationship and trying to introduce new villains (good impulse) but introducing a forgettable team based on the Juggernaut, plus more of the underwhelming Triune Understanding.
On the upside, there's also a pretty good crossover with the Thunderbolts, the use of classic (but not overused) villains like Kulan Gath, Count Nefaria and Taskmaster and some gorgeous guest art from Stuart Immonen.
On the upside, there's also a pretty good crossover with the Thunderbolts, the use of classic (but not overused) villains like Kulan Gath, Count Nefaria and Taskmaster and some gorgeous guest art from Stuart Immonen.
ekansthepokemon's review
3.0
this one dragged a little, but the ending arc dealing with count nefaria was cool!
captwinghead's review
1.0
Can Marvel stop torturing Janet van Dyne? Christ *sighs eternally*
Okay, so this was just not good. The last one was okay for the most part but this one just made me aware of how tone deaf white writers can be when trying to tackle issues of race and representation. I'm not sure if this was some Tina Fey, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt shit where the writers read criticisms that their team was too white and tried to combat with something praising themselves? Or if they were trying to be proactive and had good intentions but fell into this trap? Either way, this was just awful.
I'm sure some people hated it because they thought it was SJW bullshit but trust me, even my crowd doesn't want this. This reads as a total "What Not to Do When Discussing Race" handbook.
Where to start:
Okay, so the Triune of Understanding is a very cult like organization that calls itself a church. They've been the nefarious hands behind a lot of the Avengers' bad press and they created a black superhero: Triathlon. When we meet Triathlon, he's very defensive about people criticizing the Triune because they took a chance on him when no one else would. However, he's nice for the most part.
Jump ahead a few months and the Avengers are getting crucified in the press for being anti-church, pro-mutant (from bigots) and having too white of a roster. Thor takes great offense to all of this because "How dare you suggest that the color of one's skin should matter to me?" We follow that ignorant ass interpretation with Iron Man blatantly saying "I don't give a damn about equal representation" and we even have Cap sarcastically saying "Tell the press I made the call because I'm racist" or some shit. *Sighs*
*Sighs*
*Sighs some more*
6 hours later
Look, these guys are my idols. I believe Busiek's run of Iron Man to be the overall best (only Director of Shield comes close) but this makes me question things. What ever gave the impression that Iron Man would say this? I get that it's supposed to reflect white men being ignorant of their own biases but to have Iron Man blatantly say he doesn't give a shit is just... wrong.
Also, Thor expresses the same bullshit arguments against Affirmative Action programs. As if having a roster with more diversity automatically meant all the people of color were chosen because they're people of color. It doesn't! It just means that you were more open to selecting qualified candidates from different backgrounds. To argue differently implies that all the white people are qualified and the people of color just weren't talented enough. The only combat against this bullshit, tired ass belief (that I endured in my university because people assumed I got in because of my race but I was in the top 8% of my HS class so kiss my ass) is Jan's comment of "I know there's no merit to these allegations but maybe we have been selecting only white people".
However, that doesn't super help because they make a point of showing them asking old Avengers of color and they all conveniently can't come back. As though they were trying to say "See, we tried? It's not our fault we only have white people here." Come the fuck on.
Also, all the attempts at being subversive and self aware came across as offensive really quickly. Falcon says "I've had enough of being Earth's Mightiest token". There are signs from protestors saying "Earth Whitiest Heroes". I will admit, one made me chuckle with "Of Color does not mean red plastic". Triathlon has a big chip on his shoulder because the Avengers have dragged his church through the mud and when he joins, Iron Man gives this great spiel about how he doesn't want Triathlon on the team because he doesn't trust him and the fact that he's black shouldn't mean all that gets ignored or something that mentioned his race a lot so Triathlon is just a dick to them. And not everything he says is wrong but they intentionally portray him as an asshole so a white lady, Carol, can tell him to knock it off.
This is fucking bullshit.
Never have a white character tell a black man to be nicer to the white folk. Especially when he had a pretty damn good reason for not liking them. What was the goal of this story?
The biggest offense is that the people asking for greater representation are presented as being just as angry and unjustified in their anger as the anti-mutant bigots and that's a big problem. There is only one panel of one member of the former group saying "Don't lump us in with you, racists" to the anti-mutant crowd but the image remains: both of these groups are perceived as equally "villainous" to the Avengers who are "just trying to do their jobs".
Ugh, so this was just annoying. I enjoyed Jen becoming fast friends with Triathlon and Nefaria was interesting but this is not a recommend.
Don't call it SJW bullshit because even the liberals think this book is full of crap.
Okay, so this was just not good. The last one was okay for the most part but this one just made me aware of how tone deaf white writers can be when trying to tackle issues of race and representation. I'm not sure if this was some Tina Fey, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt shit where the writers read criticisms that their team was too white and tried to combat with something praising themselves? Or if they were trying to be proactive and had good intentions but fell into this trap? Either way, this was just awful.
I'm sure some people hated it because they thought it was SJW bullshit but trust me, even my crowd doesn't want this. This reads as a total "What Not to Do When Discussing Race" handbook.
Where to start:
Okay, so the Triune of Understanding is a very cult like organization that calls itself a church. They've been the nefarious hands behind a lot of the Avengers' bad press and they created a black superhero: Triathlon. When we meet Triathlon, he's very defensive about people criticizing the Triune because they took a chance on him when no one else would. However, he's nice for the most part.
Jump ahead a few months and the Avengers are getting crucified in the press for being anti-church, pro-mutant (from bigots) and having too white of a roster. Thor takes great offense to all of this because "How dare you suggest that the color of one's skin should matter to me?" We follow that ignorant ass interpretation with Iron Man blatantly saying "I don't give a damn about equal representation" and we even have Cap sarcastically saying "Tell the press I made the call because I'm racist" or some shit. *Sighs*
*Sighs*
*Sighs some more*
6 hours later
Look, these guys are my idols. I believe Busiek's run of Iron Man to be the overall best (only Director of Shield comes close) but this makes me question things. What ever gave the impression that Iron Man would say this? I get that it's supposed to reflect white men being ignorant of their own biases but to have Iron Man blatantly say he doesn't give a shit is just... wrong.
Also, Thor expresses the same bullshit arguments against Affirmative Action programs. As if having a roster with more diversity automatically meant all the people of color were chosen because they're people of color. It doesn't! It just means that you were more open to selecting qualified candidates from different backgrounds. To argue differently implies that all the white people are qualified and the people of color just weren't talented enough. The only combat against this bullshit, tired ass belief (that I endured in my university because people assumed I got in because of my race but I was in the top 8% of my HS class so kiss my ass) is Jan's comment of "I know there's no merit to these allegations but maybe we have been selecting only white people".
However, that doesn't super help because they make a point of showing them asking old Avengers of color and they all conveniently can't come back. As though they were trying to say "See, we tried? It's not our fault we only have white people here." Come the fuck on.
Also, all the attempts at being subversive and self aware came across as offensive really quickly. Falcon says "I've had enough of being Earth's Mightiest token". There are signs from protestors saying "Earth Whitiest Heroes". I will admit, one made me chuckle with "Of Color does not mean red plastic". Triathlon has a big chip on his shoulder because the Avengers have dragged his church through the mud and when he joins, Iron Man gives this great spiel about how he doesn't want Triathlon on the team because he doesn't trust him and the fact that he's black shouldn't mean all that gets ignored or something that mentioned his race a lot so Triathlon is just a dick to them. And not everything he says is wrong but they intentionally portray him as an asshole so a white lady, Carol, can tell him to knock it off.
This is fucking bullshit.
Never have a white character tell a black man to be nicer to the white folk. Especially when he had a pretty damn good reason for not liking them. What was the goal of this story?
The biggest offense is that the people asking for greater representation are presented as being just as angry and unjustified in their anger as the anti-mutant bigots and that's a big problem. There is only one panel of one member of the former group saying "Don't lump us in with you, racists" to the anti-mutant crowd but the image remains: both of these groups are perceived as equally "villainous" to the Avengers who are "just trying to do their jobs".
Ugh, so this was just annoying. I enjoyed Jen becoming fast friends with Triathlon and Nefaria was interesting but this is not a recommend.
Don't call it SJW bullshit because even the liberals think this book is full of crap.
kamaria's review
1.0
So this is what happens when an all-white team is given freedom to deal with criticism about having a too-white roster in the Avengers. If you are interested in how badly comics used to deal with race issues, this is a must read but it'll also make you lose faith in humanity.
Protesters asking for representation are lumped in with anti-mutants bigots and it's heavily implied that all of them are planted by the shady Triune to deliver a PR blow to the Avengers. Because obviously no one in their right mind would ever think of criticising Earth's mightiest heroes. The whole arc culminates in Thor (a Nordic god, so no far-right connotations at all...) attacks a journalist for questioning whether the Avengers might be unconsciously biased against superheroes of color, so they have to accept Triathlon among their ranks, ridiculizing affirmative actions. It's really bad. Especially when the Thunderbolts of the same year ([b:Hawkeye & the Thunderbolts, Vol. 2|28016712|Hawkeye & the Thunderbolts, Vol. 2|Fabian Nicieza|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1510854002l/28016712._SY75_.jpg|48027394]) are dealing with the same issues in a much, much better way.
Good things:
- the Hellcat Annual was different both in art style and story (very Archie-like!) and I enjoyed it, especially as a continuation of the Thunderbolts Annual from the same year
- the Count Nefaria crossover event with the Thunderbolts, mainly because of the Thunderbolts
Bad things:
- racism very badly handed
- the return of Yellowjacket after everything Janet went through during Avengers Forever
- Taskmaster and the Triune are not going anywhere, a big reveal is not going to save this arc
- Juggernaut, the Exemplars and the Eighth Day crisis plotline are just boring and blandly written
I did not mind Kulan Gath and Silverclaw's arc, but it felt like filler in the sense that it wasn't written with care or with any consequence in mind. It was merely a fun adventure for the Avengers that doesn't fit with the tone of the rest of the trade, but it was okay.
If the Avengers did not drive the story in the Marvel Universe I would stop reading them. They should be fun and thrilling but they feel like a chore in their best moments and are a constant source of second-hand embarrassment because of how they deal with delicate issues like feminism and racism. I'm really looking forward to not having to read more Busiek's Avengers.
Protesters asking for representation are lumped in with anti-mutants bigots and it's heavily implied that all of them are planted by the shady Triune to deliver a PR blow to the Avengers. Because obviously no one in their right mind would ever think of criticising Earth's mightiest heroes. The whole arc culminates in Thor (a Nordic god, so no far-right connotations at all...) attacks a journalist for questioning whether the Avengers might be unconsciously biased against superheroes of color, so they have to accept Triathlon among their ranks, ridiculizing affirmative actions. It's really bad. Especially when the Thunderbolts of the same year ([b:Hawkeye & the Thunderbolts, Vol. 2|28016712|Hawkeye & the Thunderbolts, Vol. 2|Fabian Nicieza|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1510854002l/28016712._SY75_.jpg|48027394]) are dealing with the same issues in a much, much better way.
Good things:
- the Hellcat Annual was different both in art style and story (very Archie-like!) and I enjoyed it, especially as a continuation of the Thunderbolts Annual from the same year
- the Count Nefaria crossover event with the Thunderbolts, mainly because of the Thunderbolts
Bad things:
- racism very badly handed
- the return of Yellowjacket after everything Janet went through during Avengers Forever
- Taskmaster and the Triune are not going anywhere, a big reveal is not going to save this arc
- Juggernaut, the Exemplars and the Eighth Day crisis plotline are just boring and blandly written
I did not mind Kulan Gath and Silverclaw's arc, but it felt like filler in the sense that it wasn't written with care or with any consequence in mind. It was merely a fun adventure for the Avengers that doesn't fit with the tone of the rest of the trade, but it was okay.
If the Avengers did not drive the story in the Marvel Universe I would stop reading them. They should be fun and thrilling but they feel like a chore in their best moments and are a constant source of second-hand embarrassment because of how they deal with delicate issues like feminism and racism. I'm really looking forward to not having to read more Busiek's Avengers.
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