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 #57 - "World Trust Part 1: New Alliances"
Geoff Johns on board as writer. The plot is a little too epic to start off with right after the Kang War. Loads of cities disappear and the Avengers are given control over the world in the absence of any governments. An interesting premise, and it'll be interesting to see if Johns can pull it off. Dwyer finally produces some decent art. Johns writes the characters well, making them seem more like real people than Busiek ever did. Plus point: the return of She Hulk!
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 #58 - "World Trust Part 2: Assembled"
The Avengers take over the world, at the behest of the surviving nations. Iron Man addresses the EU in a hilarious scene which shows just how much Johns doesn't know about international politics. Namor, the Sub-Mariner rejoins the team after saving a ship from being sucked into a void. She-Hulk starts to lose her colour, and the Scarlet Witch does some weird magical channelling thing. Back in the limbo to which the world's cities have been taken, Wasp and Yellowjacket encounter Scorpio, the mastermind behind the disappearances. Dwyer does a decent job on art, and the writing is okay.
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 #59 - "World Trust Part 3: Friends & Enemies"
Bizarre cosmic balance plot that is really out of place here. Seems like something from bad 70's DC comics. This shouldn't surprise me since Johns writes
JSA, which IS a bad 70's DC comic, or at least reads like one. Lots of strange characterisation that comes out of nowhere, like everyone in the team hating the Black Panther all of a sudden, for no apparent reason. A brilliant use of Doctor Doom, as he turns up to tell the Avengers how to solve the current crisis, which annnoys Iron Man because he wasn't clever enough to think of it. Thor turns up at the end, spouting dreadful dialogue.
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 #60 - "World Trust Part 4: Chaos & Order"
Another one of Dwyer's occasional nicely-designed covers. More sub-DC silliness involving zodiac keys and order and chaos. Thor kicks arse, which is a cliche, but a fun one. The Avengers win and the Order-Chaos entity spouts some pretentious crap which is supposed to sound profound. There's an audacious epilogue where Johns tries to convince the reader that the current storyline isn't a bunch of camp gibberish at all, but the villains just want it to look that way. Of course, this doesn't work. One of the big problems with this storyline is that it had no point. Why did Scorpio steal the world's cities? What does that have to do with splitting the In-Betweener? What is Geoff Johns smoking?
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 #61 - "The Powers That Be!"
Gary Frank, who's usually quite good, does a terrible art job here. His panels are sparse and empty-looking, and his drawing occasionally doesn't match the script. For instance, he'll draw people shouting at each other, when the script suggests that they're just chatting. Utterly bizarre plot progression from the previous story, as the Avengers are made into a sovereign nation, with the mansion as an embassy. If the idea works, I'll be most impressed. More weird characterisation-it's as if a whole bunch of issues are missing. Perhaps this happens every time there's a creative changeover? It happened to X-Force, but that's because it was a completely different comic, but with the same name. No such excuse here. If the reasons for all this stuff happening comes from other comics (as I suspect), shouldn't there be a caption or annotation explaining it for those who don't buy every Marvel comic? There's an awful attempt at a conspiracy plot here, which is about five years too late for the X-Files bandwagon, but is at least a change from the jingoistic propaganda Marvel are publishing elsewhere.
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 #62 - "Broken Hearts"
A (problematic) day in the life of Ant Man and Jack of Hearts. This is actually quite good, being a nice down-to-earth character piece. Which goes to show that Johns can write characters really well (see #57), but has no idea how to write superheroics. Frank's art is on good form here too, and actually matches the script. This would restore my faith in the title if it weren't for the very real possibility that it's all going to return to "normal" next issue, which is a crossover (oh joy-I thought Marvel didn't do crossovers any more?).
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 #63 - "Standoff Part 3 of 3"
Oh dear. THIS is why Marvel don't do crossovers any more. They're crap. Here we get the end of a fight scene between Iron Man and Thor, which for some reason threatens to start World War III. If the run up to this fight was interesting, we don't know about it, because it occurred in other comics. However, given the fact that the entire plot of this storyline is explained in eleven lines of text, I doubt I missed anything. This is one of those "isn't Captain America wise?" issues, as Cap talks IM and Thor down. As per usual, the lecture is pretentious but as per usual, everyone agrees that CA is right. Thor officially leaves The Avengers. There's a nice moment at the end when Iron Man downloads a virus into Doctor Doom's computer (because Doom had a hand in setting up the fight) and Doom isn't bothered at all. Conversely, there's another of those disturbing moments as Johns (through Iron Man) potrays the Russians as evil terrorist types.
Nice art from Alan Davis though.
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 #64 - "Sight Unseen"
Another down-to-earth character piece, and as such, quite a good issue. The Falcon potters about New York, stalking Henry Gyrich and generally being a top bloke. Johns does a good job of making Gyrich sympathetic, even though he's screwing the team over. There's an implication, by the way, that Falcon knows what Gyrich is up to, but why he doesn't tell the team I don't know.
The US government conspiracy plot is advanced, and it is a very strange plot all considered. I'm not sure what Johns is trying to do with all the politics he's putting into this title. I think it's a good angle, but Johns' treatment is horribly confused. Last month, the Russians were the bad guys, a bizarre Cold War-type plot I thought we'd grown out of. This issue, it's the US government who are the bad guys. And don't get me started on Johns' portrayal of the European Union...
Very good art from Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert (?), although there's too much showing off with lots of splash pages of Falcon flying about.
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 #65 - "Red Zone: Part One: Panic Attack"
"Red Zone" begins. I'm dreading a plot twist concerning the "evils" of Communism, but for now we have a highly effective story about some flesh-eating disease in South Dakota. No Avengers for half the book, and then when they do turn up, they don't do any superheroing as such. And it works. That said, The Vision does some cool power displays. The Avengers go into the heart of the disease cloud, much to the US government's displeasure. We find out why they're so antsy next issue...
Olivier Coipel and Andy Lanning do a great job on art for this storyline, although the splash page of the arrival of The Avengers looks a little crap.
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 #66 - "Red Zone: Part Two: Infections"
Lots of opening guff about terrorism, and I groan inwardly at yet another manifestation of America's Current Obsession. Iron Man and Black Panther are at the CDC labs, where everyone (including a random lab technician) gives BP a hard time, YET AGAIN for no apparent reason. Some US government types turn up and BP beats them up. IM and BP argue again, and IM rather blatantly accuses BP of being one of the bad guys. Lots of paranoia and horrifc imagery as the disease causes more deaths. There's a really good bit where Vision realises that if the disease kills everyone he'll be alone in the world. She Hulk falls over; whether it's the disease affecting her, or her weird condition that Johns has been hinting at occasionally, we don't know. Then Cap discovers that the disease was released by the US military. Again the political message is garbled, but nonetheless this is Johns' best superhero (as opposed to character) story so far.
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 #67 - "Red Zone: Part Three: Unclassified"
[Thanks first of all to Paul O'Brien, who in his X-Axis for the 1st of June points out the rather-obvious-in-hindsight anagram that is the name of the "villain" of this story, US Secretary of Defence "Dell Rusk". If it turns out to be accurate, then the political comment in this story becomes not even garbled, but somewhat cheapened. That said, the AIM plot twist cheapens the politicism anyway, but...]
The Avengers find out who's behind the plague, and Iron Man is nice to Black Panther long enough to find out that there's no cure. There's more excellent characterisation for the Vision and some nice work with a Captain America shocked by the actions of his government, which is subsequently negated to a certain extent by the revelation that AIM is behind the plague, and that even though the US commissioned a plague genetically targetted at black people, they're not as bad as AIM, because AIM released it.
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 #68 - "Red Zone: Part Four: The Great Escape"
As a result of the infection, She Hulk turns into her 1980 Savage persona and runs off to find Bruce Banner. A nice twist, even though it misses the point of the She Hulk character somewhat. She trashes the field team before she goes, messing the Vision up quite badly. Warbird moans about responsibility to the Park Ranger, while in Washington DC, Gyrich and Falcon discover Dell Rusk's true identity, only for him to shoot them.
Good stuff again, mostly free of the political fuzziness that has marred the otherwise excellent storyline. That said, Iron Man tells Black Panther that the US Government aren't up to anything on one page, and on the very next page calls them "terrorists". Eh? Oh, and Black Panther would have diplomatic immunity, making his capture and imprisonment by the US Government a little hard to swallow.
The art's good, despite some funny renderings of Warbird and a strangely posed She Hulk splash page. There is a slight problem however, not with the issue itself, but one that this issue highlights...
There's a spreading cloud of infection. The Avengers can't do anything about it. Now I know that they're not on best terms with Thor at the moment, but he was a founding Avenger, which means he is generally a decent bloke, no matter how he's currently being written. Why then, can the team not call him up to whip up a nice storm to blow the infectious cloud into space or contain it or something?
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 #69 - "Red Zone: Part Five: The Great Escape"
The plague-cloud continues to spread as the Red Skull prances about explaining his plan. A bunch of Wakandians (?) turn up with a cure, but won't give it to the US until Black Panther (currently imprisoned by the US) says so. The Avengers teams are reunited, and Captain America goes from South Dakota to Washington DC in about five minutes, just in time to be captured and infected by the Red Skull. Then Iron Man and Black Panther turn up.
Now this isn't half bad. It's still horribly confused and all over the place, but the basic plot is pretty good. The Red Skull's motivation is interesting, as he no longer sees America as an enemy to the Nazi ideal, but as a friend. I'd like to think Geoff Johns is making a shrewd political statement here, but I'd guess it's completely accidental and Captain America will "prove" him wrong next issue with yet another inspirational tirade of bollocks. There's also a nice Tom Clancy-esque side to the plot, with a war brewing between Wakanda and the US, although it, like so many of the plot points in Johns' run so far, seems to come from nowhere (and not in a "gosh how clever" way either). If someone (and this title now has THREE editors working simultaneously) stripped away the crap, or at least tidied it up so it'd make sense, this would be a very good storyline, as there's a decent core to this.
[Yes, this issue's chapter has the same title as last issue's chapter. Those three editors are doing an excellent job!]
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 #70 - "Red Zone: Part Six: The Great Escape [again?]"
Scarlet Witch creates a storm (see #68) to contain the plague cloud, which is handy now it's spread across the entirety of South Dakota. Cap and Iron Man flounder about while Black Panther beats up the Red Skull, then promptly takes a sample of his blood to create an antidote. Finally, George Bush pops into Avengers Mansion for a chat.
That's right. Black Panther, the character everyone (including the random lab technician from #66) has been giving a hard time FOR NO REASON saves the world. Iron Man turns out to be a big enough guy to shake BP's hand for this. After he gets BP to sign a full-disclosure-of-Wakanda's-scientific-knowledge-treaty, of course.
Why are the Wakandians "traitors" to the US if they're citizens of a completely different country? Why, if the Avengers are a sovereign state now does Bush turn up and tell them they served America well? Why is Bush even in this comic? I have a feeling that Johns is struggling to give this title some real world relevance in the face of the critical and sales threat of The Ultimates, but he really can't pull it off. Christmas is coming up-someone buy Geoff Johns a copy of International Politics for Dummies. While you're at it, buy him some back issues of The Avengers, because he clearly has no idea what this title's about.
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 #71 - "Whirlwinds"
Hank Pym and apparently the Ultimate version of Janet Van Dyne go off on a trip to Las Vegas, even though they're both rich and cultured enough to go elsewhere, and even though the rest of the team is at Mount Rushmore trying to clear up the small problem of a deadly bioweapon. They bump into Whirlwind, who rather uncharacteristically for a crimelord, is being rather obvious about dressing up prostitutes as Ms Van Dyne, then killing them. Amazingly, he's not attracted the interest of the local police. Hank proposes to Janet in front of a fake Eiffel Tower, and she turns him down, probably because he's too cheap to take her to the real one. Hank moans about being insecure and weak, even though he's not anymore because that was sorted out in the 2001 Annual, Whirlwind attacks, and Hank saves Janet just before Whirlwind does something nasty to her. Saving the day is just what Hank needs, apparently, to feel good about himself again, again despite what happened in the 2001 Annual. Rubbish.
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 #72 - "The Search For She-Hulk Part 1: 'Hiding'"
My word! Two issues in as many weeks. Good thing Geoff Johns is such a fine writer, or this would seem like an insult!
The team go after She-Hulk, who turned savage and ran off during the Red Zone plot. They find her, and completely mess up an attempt to catch her, just so we can get shots of her and the Scarlet Witch fighting in their underwear. This is an okay start, but then so was the first part of Red Zone. I'm not sure bringing back the Savage She-Hulk is the best idea, as the whole point of She-Hulk is that she's not caught in the Freudian nightmare that characterises the Hulk. She's in full control of her powers, and enjoys them. So yes, it looks like Johns is missing the point again, but we'll see how it pans out. In terms of art, a lot of fuss was made about Scott Kolins, but to me, his art just looks grotesque.
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 #73 - "The Search For She-Hulk Part 2: 'Savage Attack'"
Um. Nothing happens. The She-Hulk plot doesn't progress at all, and so Geoff Johns decides to treat us instead to Jack of Hearts getting shouted at (for no good reason) by Ant Man back in New York. Finally, we cut back to She-Hulk as Hawkeye is gracefully reintroduced to the comic by just sort of turning up (good job Geoff!). What Hawkeye thinks he can do when Iron Man, Captain America and the Scarlet Witch spend the whole issue getting twatted around by Shulkie, I don't know. This is rubbish. Johns doesn't understand the characters, and Scott Kolins can't draw them. Blech.
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 #74 - "The Search For She-Hulk Part 3: 'Sticks And Stones'"
This is essentially a Hawkeye solo issue as Johns ignores the rest of the team in favour of Hawkeye giving an internal monologue as he fights She-Hulk. Perhaps that's a good thing, as Hawkeye does a better job than the rest of the team combined. Then halfway through, out of nowhere, Bruce Banner turns up and tries to talk She-Hulk down. Then Doc Samson's Hulkbusters turn up and Hawkeye decides that a really sensible thing to do is to shoot Banner so he turns into the Hulk, because apparently two Hulks are less dangerous than one. This really is terrible. Some of the writing really has to be seen to be believed, and the art is hideous.
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 #75 - "The Search For She-Hulk Part 4: 'With Friends Like These...'"
The Hulks fight, as Hawkeye and Cap apparently come on to each other. Jack of Hearts flies in and nukes the entire area, in an interesting display of "protecting the innocent". Then Jack does some weird frazzly power thing that apparently cures She-Hulk. In an uncharacteristically immoral move, Captain America not only lets She-Hulk off the hook as regards the damage and injuries she's caused, but proposes they blame it all on her cousin. Quite what Cap intends to do with the town full of witnesses, is not made clear...
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 #76 - "Full House"
Ant-Man's daughter is kidnapped by a creepy man, as the team decide whether to throw She-Hulk or Jack of Hearts off the team. Ant-Man and Jack have another pointless argument then fly off to save Ant-Man's daughter. Jack of Hearts tells Ant-Man it's wrong to kill criminals, then promptly flies off into space with the kidnapper, where he explodes. Apparently, this is what the In-Betweener meant in #60 when he said one of the Avengers would die in the face of a great evil. Of course, the great evil was supposed to be the Zodiac organisation, not a single kidnapper, but we'll quietly forget about that one...
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 #77 - "Lionheart Of Avalon Part 1"
In England, Hawkeye and Cap continue their relationship by discussing whether it's ever right to hit a woman. Meanwhile, a single mother takes her children into a pub for ice cream, just as the Wrecking Crew cause trouble in the area. A strangely underpowered Avengers team (Wasp, Cap, Hawkeye) goes up against them, and usurprisingly loses. This has nice art from Olivier Coipel, but the story is all over the place. There are just too many flaws to list here.
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 #78 - "Lionheart Of Avalon Part 2"
The single mum from last issue uses Cap's shield to protect Cap's prone body from Thunderball, while trading literary quips with the villain. She Hulk turns up towards the end to save the day. The mum is critically injured, so the Avengers take her off to one of their regional HQ's where she dies. The "battle of poetry" is frankly absurd, but on the whole this isn't too bad. I do have to comment on the underpowered Avengers teams that Geoff Johns, and now Chuck Austen, are using. They may be your favourite characters, boys, but it makes no sense for the team to send the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Cap up against the Wrecking Crew. Let's have some internal consistency here...
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