Put on your lab coats, get your safety googles on and fire up those Bunsen burners – It’s a battle of scientists, Yo!It’s geeking out over the periodic chart versus who can come with the next cool app.It’s two of the Avengers foremost science guys: Bruce Banner vs. Tony Stark in a battle to see who has to end up walking down the streets of New York City in the buff.Crap happens along the way:But the outcome is never in doubt:(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]Story two has the Black Widow workin...

This? This is why I keep reading comics. Everyone and their mother has recommended DeConnick's run on this title to me, but (and I honestly have no idea why!) I never got around to it. Anyway, I guess that makes me somewhat late to the Science Bros love-fest. Don't make the same mistake Anne did, random stranger! In almost every single review I read here on Goodreads, I saw the word fun, and there's good reason for it. Everything about this volume is just...well, FUN!There isn't anything in th

I’ll just say it: I’m not a fan of Kelly Sue DeConnick’s writing. I tried her Captain Marvel and didn’t like it; Pretty Deadly was full of unrealised potential that divulged into a turgid mess; and one issue of Ghost was enough. So I was REALLY surprised when I picked up her Avengers book and found myself laughing at the banter and enjoying the book. She surprised me in the best possible way and made me want to give her Captain Marvel another shot. Here’s what I’ve noticed about modern superhero...

Third reading comments 2021: I read this during a very emotionally difficult spell in 2018, and it impacted my opinion. Third reading, back to rounding up to 4 stars--I found this quite enjoyable, overall.Second reading comments 2018:Wow, I must've read a lot of things I thought were better than this since I first read this! And there have been more Marvel movies, including two featuring Paul Bettany's interesting portrayal of (the)Vision. It still has its moments, but I wasn't as fond of it ove...

It's books like this that make me glad I'm reading Marvel again. It isn't quite perfection, but it's so incredibly fun. Avengers Assemble seems like it's positioned as the book for people fresh off the Avengers movie who have little experience in comics, and it's great for that. It has most of the ingredients that made Avengers such a great movie, especially a good balance of serious action and humor. The Science Bros story does start off hilariously (a million bonus points to DeConnick for writ...

It's always nice to find an Avengers book you can actually have fun reading. No universe-shattering threat, no big world takeover, no big event crossover... just the Avengers goofing off and fighting bad guys. Kelly Sue DeConnick gives every character in the books at least one good moment to shine, but really excels with characters like Spider-Woman- Jess was 100% my favourite part of this book. Compared to other Avengers books from around this time, like Hickman's big Avengers saga, it's not as...

Kelly Sue DeConnick takes over the run of this series from Brian Michael Bendis, and it is already so much better.There are actually three stories in this volume, the first is the title, wherein Bruce Banner and Tony Stark make a bet over who can find and rescue a fellow scientist first. It's by turns silly and funny and tragic and scary. It feels like the Avengers. I also like the art in this one much better than in volume one. The other Avengers, notably Captains America and Marvel and Spider-...

I wish I could give this ONE HUNDRED STARS but 5 will have to do. OMG I loved it so much. People kept recommending this to me and I kept saying yeah, I'll read it as soon as the library gets it, I'm not made of comic book money. And then people kept sending me scans of like, Bruce Banner eating his sadness ice cream and Spider-Woman making Hulk make her a sandwich, and I was like, yeah, I really need to read this ASAP.And I did and I LOVED IT SO MUCH. Just like really funny superhero banter, whi...

Two stories (one 3 issues, one 2 issues) that are equal parts funny, interesting, and a little heart-breaking. Kelly Sue DeConnick picks up Avengers Assemble and runs away with it, setting down great character interactions and genuine emotional connections that she balances with interesting stories and some strong action. I really appreciate the way she writes Hulk as a fully thinking person who just happens to have the temper of a particularly terrible toddler, and I loved the second arc that g...

This is a fun series. I enjoy these kind of one off stories. Good stuff.

AA, part two . . . bring the popcorn again.While I didn't enjoy quite as much as the initial volume, it was an almost. The first story is a strong, standard full roster adventure and everyone gets their moment - or snappy line of dialogue - or two to shine. A lot of banter (especially between title 'bros' Tony and Bruce), a lot of action, and a lot of fun.The second features the awkward but effective 'trio for trouble' of Black Widow (some brief but nice delving into her character), Hawkeye, and...

I’m really tempted to give this five stars. Not because it’s one of the groundbreaking classics of the comic genre like Watchmen or Dark Knight Returns. It’s not. It’s also not putting a new twist on a familiar hero in brilliant ways like the current run of Hawkeye, and it’s certainly not doing anything wildly original like Saga.What is it then? Just a helluva lot of fun.There’s three stories in this collection. The first and best involves Tony Stark and Bruce Banner trying to settle a debate ov...

All my friends on here seemed to love this, I thought it was just decent fun but nothing special. Tony and Banner make a bet. They split in to two teams, which really is just Hulk and Spider-woman and Tony with Thor. This is basically a fun little trip that turns a lot darker when they discover a hidden secret. The next story is a two part story about Hawkeye and Black Widow. When Black Widow is drawn back into a mission for someone who she'd given a favor chip to long ago, both Clint and Jessic...

Three stories, one being a friendly wager of superheroes on which team can win a manhunt for a missing scientist, one being Natasha's history resurfacing when one of her markers shows up looking to cash in, and the last about Vision coming to terms with his past. I loved Natasha's story, especially seeing at the end which of our characters held one of her remaining markers as she tries to wipe out her ledger, but the art was so bad and objectifying, ugh. Couldn't stand it. The wager story was fu...

Bullet Review:For as disappointing and bleh as Vol 1 was, this one was amazing. DeConnick is my new graphic novel writer crush. The way she handles the characters is just - wow!! And of course, including Carol Danvers, my favorite superheroine, also gets brownie points. Actually, the fact that DeConnick's run included more women than Vol 1 was very encouraging and has even made me more interested in Spiderwoman/Jessica.Good art. Great characters. Fantastic, witty, sarcastic dialogue. Interesting...

4 stars.** Re-read recently. In light of Aaron's current Avengers run, it was nice to go back to a great Avengers run. DeConnick had a much better understanding of what an Avengers comic should be: character moments, a common enemy and a great story. It's refreshing to read an Avengers book where the team fights an enemy: not each other. The first story, the Science Bros story, was a 5 star story. The second story with Widow, Spider-Woman and Hawkeye was a 4 star story and the Vision story was a...

I pretty much always enjoy Kelly Sue DeConnick's writing, and this volume of Avengers Assemble doesn't disappoint on that front. There are three stories, the first one being a delightful three-issue romp in which Tony Stark and Bruce Banner engage in a friendly wager to find a missing colleague first. A more introspective two-issue piece follows in which Black Widow, with the help of Hawkeye and a reluctant Spider-Woman, makes good on a karmic debt she owes to the kin of one of her targets. Fina...

Although it feels a little disconnected -- the TPB is a collection of disparate Avengers stories, rather than any kind of continuous story arc -- this is a great book. It's funny till it's not, serious in the right places, with some great character moments and a great team. Spider-woman and Hulk make a fun pair-up, while I will never get over Captains America and Marvel being friends and drinking kale smoothies for breakfast, or Tony's sweet pep talk for Bruce while he's eating caramel and walnu...

DeConnick creates very believable characters, who are both unique in the way they speak and are genuinely three-dimensional in showing their less-than-admirable side. They just have real personality.The villain in the first arc is even a rounded character, and unite unpredictable. He takes on an air of surprise and curiosity at the proceedings that I have just come to never expect, and yet the malice is still lurking in plain sight.The best part of this is the sense of humour throughout. Not Ben...

I forgot how much I liked this series until I reread it in trade (recent issues have suffered from tie-in-itis). It would be a good place to start for movie fans who want to try out the comics, I think; it is a delightful and unforced fusion of movies and comics. The series is deliberately continuity-light; various groupings of Avengers go on adventures that last two or three issues. This is labeled "Volume 2" of Avengers Assemble, but you should skip Volume 1. It is by a different writer, it ha...