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It It Good? Avengers #26 Review

Comic Books

It It Good? Avengers #26 Review

Hickman’s Avengers returns to shelves this week, and this time we get to see what’s up with that alternate-universe Avengers team that had arrived on in the regular Marvel universe. Is it good?


Avengers #26 (Marvel Comics)


It It Good? Avengers #26 Review

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AIM has some new toys to play with called Adaptoids and they want them to get that evil alternate Avengers team back so they can study them. Of course, things don’t always go as they are planned.

It It Good? Avengers #26 Review
Before I approve anything, fix your stupid hat you’re wearing. It’s all floppy looking.

I docked last issue for being decompressed and unfortunately this issue suffers the same fate. There’s just so little that’s going on in this issue that it barely justifies the price tag it has. The issue can be summed up thusly: AIM monologues and creates new toys, said toys try to capture evil Avengers but fail, and regular Avengers figure out where these evil ones go. That’s it and it feels so padded out. Most of the scenes with AIM just involves them having pretentious monologues about their work (ever seen villains wax poetic about what they do? That’s pretty much AIM in a nutshell here) and it feels so cheesy and stilted; no real person talks like this. The whole “capture the Avengers” scene comes across as a very dull, stiff fight scene that barely accomplishes anything outside of setting up last issue’s opening and these new Adaptoids (who stink at their job since they were supposed to capture and not terminate). Nothing is really learned during this time, outside of being introduced to AIM’s material and it doesn’t have anything of interest or value besides that to make the experience engaging.

The only scene that doesn’t feel decompressed and is written rather decently is with the regular Avengers as they try to determine what is going and are talking to S.H.I.E.L.D. about the situation. The dialogue isn’t as boring (there’s actually some emotion and humor to be had!), characters feel like actual people, and its shows the characters being competent and figuring out what’s going on. It’s a shame that the rest of the issue wasn’t written like this or, you know, featured the actual Avengers in it (in about 20 or so pages, the heroes only appeared in three of them).

It It Good? Avengers #26 Review
Oh, save your spiel for your blog.

Salvador Larroca’s artwork is up to the usual standards you’ve come to expect from this title. It works, but it doesn’t have much else to it. Characters are drawn fine (AIM’s helmet/hats look worse than usual), the action is fine but dull, the imagery and sceneries are fine. It’s all just fine. There’s nothing really here to look at ultimately, outside of seeing the Adaptoids’ mash up design of other heroes. This is a series that could really benefit from an artist with an interesting and unique style to give the book a sense of energy and liveliness.

It It Good? Avengers #26 Review
Not draw unwanted attention? Considering the situation, I find that to be impossible.

Is It Good?

Avengers #26 is just another issue of the series, with all the usual trappings of what you would come to expect. Average writing and artwork, boring to pretentious dialogue, decompressed run amok, and a general lack of excitement. It does show signs of what it could be if the story was to move quicker or if more energy and emotion was put in the character and dialogue work, but the series shies away from doing that. Ultimately, this comic is still hard to recommend in its current form.

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