X-Men # 165, Excalibur # 5-7, Avengers # 500-504, Excalibur # 8-11 (first half)
Over on Genosha, the target and Professor X/Magneto’s groupies are ambushed by pirates looking to take what they can from the island. Hired by Unus and his thugs, they are all then attacked by none other than Dark Beast. Eventually, Dark Beast is overwhelmed and taken into custody.
In NYC, the Avengers are attacked by insane threats. An exploding Jack O’Hearts; a hidden Ultron command within the Vision; Iron Man getting drunk for no reason; She-Hulk, er, Hulks out; the Kree attack. It’s a very devastating attack and brings about the deaths of Hawkeye, the Vision, and Ant-Man. Eventually, with a full load of Avengers and with the help of Doctor Strange, the Avengers discover that it’s the Scarlet Witch behind all this. Turns out she remembered she had kids and went crazy. There’s a confrontation, in which the Scarlet Witch is left comatose afterwards.
Magneto then comes to her rescue and uses a wormhole to take her back to Genosha. As he does this, Callisto, Dark Beast, and Omega Sentinel contend with the Sugar Man over a hidden vault of supplies. Magneto brings the Scarlet Witch to Xavier and practically begs him to help her.
There’s a lot of controversy in regards to “Disassembled,” and despite it being an Avengers story, the ramifications it has in the X-Universe are quite important to the mythos. So, saying that, we’re going to take a good look at the good and the bad of this story, then move on to the Excalibur issues.
First of all, the positive. In terms of style, it’s usual Bendis, which people generally love or hate. Beyond that, the script is pretty strong. There’s great work in terms of pacing and structure. Nice and subtle reliance on facial expressions here, which adds to the unfolding drama. I like that the Scarlet Witch was the culprit. I like that she was the one responsible – but not because she’s evil, but because she’s unwell.
Now, that being said . . .
Wanda here is presented as nothing more than a plot point. She basically goes crazy and blows up the Avengers because she feels like it. It’s silly. There’s no subtly, no real reason. From what I understand (though I’m not 100% sure because I don’t have the issue), the whole “babies are a secret” thing is a continuity problem because apparently, she already knew about them. And just a few choice words from Jan unravels her completely? It just doesn’t work. It’s like going from Point A to Point E in one leap. Sure, you get there, but you skip a lot of points on the way.
The Avengers themselves are portrayed as fairly unprofessional. This really comes across during a scene in front of the hospital. No one talks like that and it’s all really far fetched, even for a Bendis book. Now, certain characters shine through, like Cap and even Hawkeye, but for the most part, the book fails itself in regards to characterization.
I have to really ask this of Marvel: was this story necessary? Now, I like “New Avengers” and “Mighty Avengers” and a lot of what came after this, but was “Disassembled” really a story that had to be told like this? The Avengers betrayed? Not original. The betrayal tearing the team apart? Doesn’t seem likely. Never had before. Tony Stark out of money? Ugh.
See, the whole story just kinda sucks. It’s depressing. And overly so. I can certainly handle the death of Ant-Man. The “death” of the Vision feels . . . wrong. And Hawkeye’s was laughable. The whole Ant-Man/Jack Of Harts thing was enough to drive home the emotional point. The others were too much.
Finch’s art is mediocre with spurts of good and bad. I’m actually a big fan of Finch, as he can really churn out great works of detail and scope. There’s one particular shot of Doctor Strange during his battle with Scarlet Witch that is just awesome. That being said, the scene where all of the Avengers are assembled is very generic, with everyone looking like everyone else.
Overall, “Disassembled” gets more things wrong than it gets right. It should have been developed more and there should have been a stronger effort to not alienate older fans, who are rightly pissed off by this story. Bendis tore down the house so he could rebuild it; but he did so in a way that just wasn’t quite right.
Now, over in “Excalibur” . . .
It’s nothing out of the ordinary, really. I wish we had more time spent on the actual rebuilding of Genosha and getting things down rather than regular ol’ super-heroics. The addition of Dark Beast is an interesting move, but certainly not unwelcome. Same goes for dealing with the Sugar Man (at long last). The pirates and the Trolls were pretty stupid, though.
Strong moments from Xavier and Magneto, I must note. Great characterization . . . however, I find myself shaking my head at certain moments. Half the time, Magneto just doesn’t like Magneto. He’s so limp and blah. I don’t want him batshit crazy, like the Xorn imposter, but let’s make him a little more imposing.
And why not just having Magneto reveal himself to Unus’ gang? Wouldn’t that solve the “we hate each other” problem?
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