I'm one of those readers who's enjoying the grim storytelling of Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis from DC Comics. I have no problem with darkness enveloping icons of the super-hero genre. But I have to tell you... this is just too much. Bendis goes over the top when he puts these Marvel heroes through the wringer. So much goes wrong so quickly that the story completely loses credibility. Any one of the traumatic events in this issue would have made a strong foundation for a story arc, but all of them at once is ridiculous and depressing at the same time. Finch's art suits the intense and gritty tone of the script, though, so visually, the book is quite strong.
The day starts out on an ordinary enough note. Several members of the core Avengers team are hanging out at their mansion headquarters, shooting the breeze, while across the city, U.S. Secretary of Defense Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man, addresses the United Nations. The Avengers' lives go to hell when a teammate, thought to be deceased, turns up on their doorstep just as Iron Man loses control of himself at the podium at the UN. An attack on Avengers Mansion is followed by another, and then by third -- and this one is at the hands of another Avenger!
Finch's work here reminds me of the dark and sleek linework that Olivier Coipel brought to this series before departing just a few months ago. Finch captures the larger-than-life devastation around which this issue revolves quite well; the art conveys the cataclysmic nature of this turning point in the title team's adventures. The two-page splash featuring the She-Hulk tearing apart a perceived enemy is gut-wrenching; that moment conveys the pain that she and all of the other Avengers must be feeling at that moment.
The dialogue in the opening scene is meant to serve as a light precursor to the carnage to follow, but it's awkward and forced. Bendis tries to write the Avengers as though they're being portrayed by the cast of Friends, and it just doesn't work. Furthermore, the new Captain Britain is seen without her mask, and in the previous storyline, she was meant to be concealing her true identity from most of her teammates.
One tragedy isn't enough for Bendis's Avengers. Instead, he throws four or five major, personal catastrophes at the heroes, and it's just too much to swallow at once. Instead of enjoying at some compelling storytelling, the reader is left feeling that the creators are aiming for pure shock value and little else. Given Bendis's past track record, though, I expect he'll fashion some strong characterization out of the various disasters, but it's not to be found here yet. It's too bad, as what happens to the Vision, the She-Hulk and Iron Man would have made for some fascinating stories on their own.
