At 3.99 this is an insult.
This issue is kind of everything wrong with Brian Bendis' Avengers.
I'm not sure what to start complaining about? Well, for starters, in the true Bendis fashion NOTHING HAPPENS in this issue. Now, I know that might sound like an exaggeration but it's completely true. Do you see that cover of Captain America fighting Gorgon? Nothing remotely close to that happens, in fact Gorgon isn't even in the issue! So, what does happen in the issue? We get the same scene of the Avengers being tied up and spoken down to over and over again. We start with Viper mocking a tied up Captain America. Then we have Viper mocking a caged Spider-Woman. Then we have scientists looking down on a restrained Red Hulk. And between that we have hideous exposition from "the government" and a Barack Obama who has about as bad a memory of continuity than Bendis himself!
We get the same cast favoritism we've come to expect from Bendis, certain team members like Noh-Varr and Storm don't even appear. One wonders if Bendis just added Storm to the cast to score brownie points with X-Men fans considering so far he's had her not appear or appear knocked out. It's a ridiculous notion that a guy who has been allowed to write Avengers for 8 years still can't write an entire team in a book.
As for the story, this story is actually annoying. I don't mean it bugs me when I read it, I mean it actually annoys me. Over and over again it's repeating the same plot point into my head. The same plot point that seems to be the only plot Bendis has done for years. The whole "the Avengers cause more trouble than they're worth". It's not the case that he's re-iterating it subtly, he's actually taking a metaphorical drill to my head and drilling it in. Every other line is something like "Oh, the Avengers cause a lot of damage" or "Norman osborn is, right you Avengers are bad guys".
At 3.99 this is an insult. Not only can you read it in under 2 minutes but you could skip it and not miss any part of the story. In fact, this issue doesn't even have a story. It's just an interlude for you to go out into the foyer for a month.
