I like the Avengers, I like Brian Michael Bendis (usually) what I don’t like is the fact that Marvel has decided to continue to saturate their title list with yet another Avengers book, Avengers Assemble. It is not a terrible book, but it is a book that doesn’t bring anything new that we haven’t already seen in any of the current ongoing Avengers titles. Hulk just wants to be left alone but he just happens to be sitting in the path of a convoy of trucks that the bad guys want. Tony Stark makes a joke about having too much money and having to rebuild Avengers Tower. Hawkeye makes crude and unwanted passes at Black Widow and Captain America makes a big speech about freedom.
We’ve seen all of these things before so why even put this book out? Well if you take a look at the top of almost any Marvel book right now you’ll see a quaint little banner for the Avengers movie coming out May 4 this spring. That’s right people, this book is solely meant to showcase the team of characters featured in the Avengers movie. Most of the rosters of the other Avengers titles make sense: Avengers is your classic Avengers roster (Thor, Captain America, Iron Man), New Avengers is your edgier team who broke off during Civil War (Luke Cage, Wolverine, Iron Fist), and Secret Avengers is the black ops of the three (Steve Rogers, Black Widow, Hawkeye). Bendis doesn’t even try to explain a reason as to why these characters decide to form a team when they belong to their own respective Avengers teams already.
I honestly cannot see this book lasting past the movie getting pulled from theaters. While its not the worst comic I’ve ever read, this title has no reason for being, no soul or story that makes me believe it was anything other than a way to promote the Avengers movie. I will not continue to read Avengers Assemble when it comes out next month and it did nothing for me in terms of my decision on whether or not I was going to see the movie, which I assume was the point of the book, because frankly I was going to see it anyways. It looks awesome. This book, not so much.