Geoff Johns has decided, fairly early on, to tackle that staple of the Avengers writer, the "Old Order Changeth" issue wherein he sets his team roster for the near future. That plays to Johns's strengths on the title so far, namely strong characterization, but it doesn't necessarily make for the most exciting story. Nevertheless, those who read super-hero books for the characterization and interaction should greatly enjoy this issue, which has some really fun moments that play off elements of the previous arc, as well as some promising developments in the Avengers status quo which sets up a strong foundation for future stories.
For me, the book was at its most interesting at the very beginning and the very ending, because that's where Johns introduced some pretty significant changes to the way the team operates and who they operate with. I love the idea of Avengers Embassy, and granting the team more expanded legal rights to operate not only makes sense given their role, it's a nice payoff of the "World Trust" story, which didn't really seem to do enough with the intriguing concept that it started with. And the use of Gyrich in this issue, while almost inconsistent with past portrayals given his change of heart, makes him a pretty interesting supporting character/foil.
Much of the rest of the book is concerned with who will stay and who will go, which is usually good for a discussion between fans but can be deadly dull to read about, as it's the super-hero equivalent of board meetings and procedural stuff. Johns does keep things interesting, with some slightly goofy humor about the Vision and some great dialogue exchanges between Ant-Man and his predecessors, not to mention a great payoff to Namor's actions in previous issues. Overall, though, I'm more interested in what Johns is going to do with the team than who's going to be on it, especially when a lot of my favorite members haven't really been in the book for some time and don't show any signs of returning.
What I had hoped for in this issue, given my dislike of Kieron Dwyer and Rick Remender's work on the book, was some fantastic artwork from Gary Frank. His work is strong enough, but Sibal's inks give him a rougher quality that I don't think fits his style, and some of the artwork does seem overly posed and stiff as well. There's also some real weirdness going on with the teeth this issue, because while Vision's smile is supposed to look awkward and forced, I don't think the same is supposed to be true of Scarlet Witch or the exposed pearly whites of Gyrich, to name two examples. It's not that the artwork isn't good; it's that I've seen Frank do much better.
The Avengers has, at times, been my favorite title and at other times it has been a title that I couldn't care less about. Right now it's between the two extremes, but I really want to like it because I like Johns's writing and I'm glad to see some characters, particularly She-Hulk, Black Panther and Falcon, back in these pages. Johns still seems to be finding his feet on the book, and the rotating artists haven't helped in that regard, but for right now, my plan is to keep reading.
