Review of Avengers #25

First Look Review of Avengers #25

In this issue we inch ever closer to the big fight. There are only a couple of scenes directly related to AvX, and they are drawn superbly but for the most part this is a winding down of the previous story in Avengers #24. Captain America is tired of having to take the blame for failures so he picks a battle he know the Avengers will win. And after a well drawn fight we see a scene that’ll most likely impact the battle that’s already started on Utopia.

Avengers #25

By Brian Michael Bendis and Walter Simonson. Published by Marvel Comics, 2012.

I’m a bit confused why all these titles are listed as being a part of the Avengers vs. X-Men story since they are only peripherally connected at best. Other than a couple of panels at the start of the issue and a ominous interjection by the Kree Supreme Intelligence at the end, there’s little mention of the event at all. I suppose though that Marvel has to tie all the various books together since the teams are all involved in the event.

For the most part we’re looking at Captain America’s troubles in running world security. He just can’t deal with being blamed for the failures when everything doesn’t work out perfectly. So what does he do? He finds a fight that he can win and takes out his frustration on A.I.M. That’s not to say that that organization doesn’t need to be put in it’s place but it does seem like Cap needs to get himself together.

I’m actually wondering if all the pressure he’s been under is one of the precipitating causes for the Avengers fighting the X-Men and perhaps things could have worked out better if Cap wasn’t wound so tight. But then again, he is in charge of the Avengers and the security of the world is his responsibility. I just don’t think he’s been behaving like himself when you consider how much he went outta his way to protect Bucky when everyone wanted to take out the Winter Soldier. I think the whole AvX thing might boil down (outside the Phoenix thing) to what Thor says to Cap…

In all though, the art is great. I really liked the couple of scenes where they hint at the Avengers fighting the mutants at the start of the issue. And the story does bring to a close the previous arc with Norman Osborne and A.I.M. It just doesn’t tie in as much as I expected but then the event is just starting.

You can find first looks at other issues in this title linked in my January Reading List.
I rate this issue a B-.