Broken Frontier

The Mighty Avengers’ baptism of fire continues as, in the midst of their battle with the Mole Man and his monsters, a new version of Ultron is born.

The Mole Man’s attack on the surface world was interrupted last month when Iron Man’s armor suddenly transformed around him into a new female version of Ultron. As the second issue begins both the Avengers and the Mole Man are after revenge for the seeming demise of Tony Stark in the heroes’ case and the destruction of his subterranean home in the villain’s. Interspersed in the main battle scenes are a series of flashbacks detailing how this current team of Avengers was put together.

Ultron is one of those villains with such a unique, inhuman visual that I can only hope this new humanoid version is for the purposes of this story only. There is, admittedly, something chilling about this cold female facade, and its resemblance to the Wasp looks set to tie into the character’s origins, but Ultron is one of those classic Avengers bad guys who really doesn’t need redesigning.

There’s not a lot of substance to this issue beyond the big fight between the Avengers, Mole Man and Ultron. The scenes detailing how the members of this team were recruited are vaguely amusing in places but largely perfunctory. Where Bendis does shine though is in his use of that long abandoned comic book convention of the thought bubble, giving us some terrific insights into the characters’ fears, beliefs and motivations.

Bendis also gives us a very sympathetic Mole Man reminding us of the tragic origins of the Fantastic Four foe. You can almost feel his pain as Ultron slaughters the monsters he thinks of as children. Indeed characterization is largely spot-on throughout, from Ms. Marvel’s anxiety about being a strong team leader to the Sentry’s insecurities about his power. I’m not so sure about his version of the Wasp however. She really hadn’t been this shallow for a couple of decades until Avengers Disassembled and this devolved interpretation of Janet Van Dyne does seem a retrograde step.

Frank Cho’s art effectively runs the gamut from the quieter and more introspective character pieces to the big, brash battles with the creatures from Monster Island. A special mention too, for Jason Keith’s gorgeous coloring job.

There is some real sign here that Mighty Avengers could be the traditional Avengers book that many fans of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have been missing for the last couple of years. On a personal level my main concern is that Civil War’s division of the readership means I don’t find many of the cast of this book to be particularly sympathetic anymore, and in some cases to be no better than the villains they fight. If Bendis can restore my faith in their heroism though, this just may be a book to watch.