Avengers #s 500-503 – Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Pencils: David Finch, with Olivier Coipel; Inks: Danny Miki
Avengers Finale – Writer: Brian Michael Bendis; Pencils & Inks: Various; Cover: Neal Adams
I haven’t written one of these in a year or so. I used to do a monthly review column, first at Alan Camuto’s Negative Pop website, and then for Steve Tice’s Calliope Comics. But I was doing such detailed, in-depth reviews, that eventually it was no longer enjoyable, since I had established such a daunting standard for myself. In fact, I feel kinda guilty about abruptly jumping ship from the Calliope website without giving Steve much notice. I guess my review burn-out snuck up on me and hit me over the head with a big club. In any case, the experience of trying to do a regular column gave me a great respect and appreciation for gentlemen such as Augie De Blieck Jr and Paul O’Brien, who do this every single week.
Anyway, here I am in the reviewer’s chair once more. I’ve had a lot of mixed thoughts about the recent “Avengers Disassembled” story arc. And apparently so has the rest of fandom. Well, at least the small but vocal portion of fandom regularly found on Internet message boards.
To make a long story short… longtime Avengers member the Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff,, due to her extremely powerful reality-altering powers, loses her sanity and goes mad. Without Wanda’s conscious mind even realizing it, she launches devastating attacks on her teammates. At the end, several Avengers have been killed, several more are hospitalized, their headquarters has been destroyed, and their reputation in the international community has been severely tarnished. Assisted by Doctor Strange, the remaining Avengers seek out the Witch. Strange is finally forced to shut Wanda’s mind down, turning her into a vegetable. Unable to help their fallen, mentally damaged teammate, the Avengers turn Wanda over to her father Magneto, in the hopes that he might be able to find assistance for her.
I have to say, it was very balsy for writer Brian Michael Bendis to do all of this to the Scarlet Witch. She has been with the team for almost three decades, and is often considered one of the iconic members. Wanda is certainly one of my all-time favorite Avengers.
Yet, Bendis’ take on the character is not without precedent. Twice before, Wanda has lost control of her powers, becoming a dangerous menace. On the first occasion, she was possessed by the elder god Chthon (sort of Marvel’s answer to Cthulhu). On the second, after enduring a number of tragedies secretly manipluated by long-time Avengers foe Immortus, and being reunited with her father, she turned into a power-mad, sadistic fiend, one whose actions alarmed even Magneto.
On both these occasions, the Scarlet Witch was fortunately restored to normal before she did any serious, lasting harm to others. But it left Wanda herself wondering at just how stable she truly was. Looking back at the first issue of the Scarlet Witch miniseries published a decade ago, we find Wanda admitting “I’m so afraid. I live in constant dread of another breakdown, another collapse that will make me turn against my friends, turn evil.”
What happens to the Scarlet Witch in “Disassembled” is reminiscent of the classic science fiction film Forbidden Planet, with its “monsters of the id.” In that film, alien technology unleashed the unconscious mind of a scientist. All the hidden irrational resentments, all the suppressed hatreds & jealousies that lurk within every single one of us, were set loose. Given form as an unstoppable energy being, an engine of destruction, the scientist’s unconscious mind savagely struck down anyone who he felt had wronged him. On a conscious level, the scientist himself had no idea that this was occurring, that he was committing these horrible crimes, until the end of the film, when the other characters force him to acknowledge the evidence of his guilt. And when the scientist does finally admit it, he is horrified at what he has unwittingly let loose.
Likewise, I believe that a rational Scarlet Witch would be horrified to learn what actions her unconscious mind perpetrated against her friends & teammates in “Disassembled.” She did not deliberately set out to destroy the Avengers. But nevertheless that is what happened. And, as a self-admitted fan of the character, I am curious to see what happens to Wanda now, to learn how she will react to the events of “Disassembled,” and see where she goes from here. Whatever else happens, the character hopefully won’t be stationary, but will develop in some new direction.
From the aspect of maintaining the pre-established logic of an ongoing fictional universe and building on what has taken place previously, the actions of the Scarlet Witch in “Disassembled,” however shocking they may be, do make sense. But what about the execution of the rest of the story?
Bendis obviously intended for “Disassebled” to be the Worst Day Ever in the history of the Avengers. Indeed, it is referred to as such at least once within the story itself. I can appreciate what Bendis was going for, having one tragedy follow on the heels of another as the story progressed through a single day in issue #s 501-503.
The first chapter begins as the reanimated corpse of Jack-Of-Hearts returns from space and blows up, killing Ant-Man and destroying half of Avengers Mansion. The Vision then crashes a Quinjet into the other half of the Mansion, stumbles out, and explodes, releasing a small army of Ultron robots, who attack the rest of the Avengers. She-Hulk goes berserk during the fight, seriously injuring the Wasp. Meanwhile, some outside force causes Iron Man to become drunk in the middle of his address to the United Nations’ General Assembly, resulting in an international incident.
After running around like headless chickens in #501, aghast at the devastation so far, things hit the fan again for the team in #502, when a fleet of the alien Kree’s spacecraft attack Manhattan. It’s not clear if these were the real Kree summoned by the Scarlet Witch, or doppelgangers conjured up by her. In any case, the assault is only repelled when another longtime Avenger, the archer Hawkeye, apparently sacrifices his life to blow up the Kree mothership.
At this point, Doctor Strange appears, offering up some helpful exposition, revealing to all present the Scarlet Witch’s role in these disasters. Which then leads into the final confrontation with Wanda.
I think Bendis wanted “Disassembled” to be taken seriously by readers. But piling one horrific event on top of the next, especially in #500, ends up rendering parts of the story almost farcical. When violence and destruction becomes so gratuitous and non-stop, it tends to take on a semi-comical tone. Sam Raimi’s film The Evil Dead springs to mind, where scene after scene of over-the-top blood & gore are tossed out at rapid-fire pace, to the point where it becomes obvious that the film is being played at least partly for laughs. Which I think is what unwittingly occurred here. By the end of chapter one, rather than gasping in horror and despair, instead I was shaking my head in a bemused fashion, trying to guess at what other crazy nastiness Bendis had planned for the team in the three issues to come.
I think that the story would have worked better if more of the Scarlet Witch’s attacks had been subtler. This is demonstrated by Iron Man’s drunken breakdown at the United Nations, something that he could not easily blame on an outside force, given his past history of alcoholism. Likewise, look at Captain America and The Falcon #s 5-7, written by Priest. In that three issue “Disassembled” tie-in, we have Cap experiencing extremely realistic hallucinations, and believing he is becoming romantically involved with Wanda. Meanwhile, the Falcon is seen regressing back to the unstable street hustler personality of his teenage years. As with what occurred to Iron Man, those attacks are not only more subtle, but also quite insidious, as they leave the characters uncertain of their own sanity, effectively undermining the team.
I was also disappointed that Doctor Strange was trotted in to serve as a blatant deus ex machina, explaining the whole plot to the Avengers and then single-handedly stopping the Scarlet Witch’s attacks. The Avengers really should have played a more active role at the climax of the story.
At least the writing got back on track with the Avengers Finale one-shot, which served as an effective epilogue to “Disassembled.” Set three months after #503, it allows the characters to reflect on the events of the story with some distance & hindsight, rather than simply tossing them from one disaster to another. I have always felt Bendis is at his best whet it comes to penning character-driven stories, rather than action spectacles. His strengths as a writer definitely come into play in Finale. We see the assembled Avengers reacting to the events that have befallen them, the teammates they have lost, and the ambivalence now felt towards the Scarlet Witch.
The majority of the artwork on “Disassembled” is by penciller David Finch & inker Danny Miki. I have never been overly fond of Finch’s Mark Silvestri-inspired, hyper-detailed, overly cross-hatched stylings. But it works here, giving Avengers #s 500-503 a very dark, gritty look. Finch and Miki establish a foreboding, nightmarish atmosphere through their artwork. The coloring by Frank D’Armata also plays a major role in this.
Two sequences from these issues stand out. In #500, the arrival of the Ultron horde is a menacing. And towards the end of #503, as we see first Captain America and then Magneto holding an insensate Scarlet Witch, the tragedy and sorrow of the two characters is palpable.
A number of different artists contributed to Finale. Each contribution is suffused with a mournful air of meloncholy. There are also several two-page spreads flashing back to various momentous events in the Avengers’ past, as the team recalls better times, reminding themselves that they did do some good over the years.
Marvel got Neal Adams to draw the cover for Finale. Nice to see him illustrate the Avengers once again, considering how rarely he does comic book work nowadays. Not his best work here, but a nice enough job.
Anyway, to sum matters up… some readers were undoubtedly appalled by the events in “Disassembled.” I can understand why. Nevertheless, flawed though the execution was, it is still a shocking and memorable story. In any case, the Avengers will be re-forming with a new line-up (and, of course, a new issue #1) in just a month or so.
Likewise, the deaths that took place in “Disassembled” can be undone by some other creators five or ten years down the road. We never see Ant-Man’s corpse, aside from a charred limb. And that could just as easily have been Jack-Of-Heart’s. Ant-Man could have shrunk down to a subatomic dimension at the very last second. The Vision is an android. He can simply be rebuilt at some point. Hawkeye, considering his demise involved magic, and there was no body, would be extremely easy to bring him back. Just say he was teleported off somewhere by the Witch’s more rational side.
As for the Scarlet Witch, as I said before, I found what Bendis did with her interesting. Very tragic, but still full of potential, depending on where the character is taken from here. And if another writer became convinced that “Disassembled” ruined Wanda’s character, it would be a simple matter of stating that some entity such at Chthon was lurking off-panel, subtly influencing Wanda’s mental disintegration.
So, yeah, “Disassembled” was definitely not the story of the year. But it does set up a number of interesting potential plotlines for the future. What Bendis and other writers do with these, if they can develop them to live up to their potential, will help to determine if this whole “Disassembled” affair was worth it or not.