Avengers Assemble: Science Bros (Marvel Now)

This is the second collection of the new “Marvel Now” series, containing issues 9-13 and the annual. The concept of the series was to appeal to fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The characters are modeled more on their film counterparts, but the storylines still remain within the Marvel (comic) Universe continuity. I thought the first volume was a lot of fun, but this one takes that to a new level.One of the things many fans of The Avengers film loved was the budding friendship between Stark and Banner, the “Science Bros.” Stark accepted Banner as is, and wasn't afraid of him (whether that was wise remains to be seen!). This first half of this volume provides a showcase for that bromance. A scientist has gone missing at an arctic facility and Stark makes a bet that his team will beat Banner’s to finding him. So Hulk and Spider-woman pair up against Iron Man and Thor. The story takes a darker turn that requires the assistance of Captains Marvel and America. This story finally had the tension that was missing from volume one of the series, plus some character development. The story was well done, and I LOVED the ending!The second half is split between a story of Black Widow responding to a debt marker with the “help” of Spider-woman and Hawkeye and The Vision. This first story nicely balances the darkness of Black Widow’s past, she is atoning for assassinating a scientist, against the bickering/bantering of her two colleagues. The tales hints at what readers can expect from Black Widow’s solo series (which is awesome!). The second story sees Iron Man and Vision trying to help “Sunturion” who is dying and possibly losing his mind – and subsequently control of his powers. Mainly this is a tale of self-discovery for Vision who is somewhat lost after having finally been revived by The Avengers (he was destroyed during the Disassembled event). I’m not a huge fan of his character, but this had some good emotional beats.Overall, I liked this volume even more than the first and can’t wait to read more. Highly recommended!

This volume gets 5 stars in my book just for the three issue Science Bros arc, which is one of the most entertaining stories I've read in comics in a long time. I'm really enjoying "Captain Marvel," also by Kelly Sue Deconnick, so I was really excited when she took over this title. Though the Science Bros arc was my favorite part of this book, every issue collected here is interesting too. While this series isn't really as dramatic as many of the other Avengers titles out right now, to me, that's actually an advantage. I like that "Avengers Assemble" seems to focus more on individual characters and their problems, rather than always being about who's trying to take over earth this week. So, if you love Science Bros, Kelly Sue, the Avengers, or all of the above, check out this excellent book!

Spider-Woman and The Hulk are a match made in heaven and combined they form...Team Sad! Varies from hilarious to action packed to deep and thoughtful. A great book!

This was hilarious. The contest between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner should be fabled in song and story.

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 comics - they split into two camps. You either get a good character story or you get a well-plotted story. The great books are the ones that have both but the good ones usually do one or the other, while the weaker ones do crap versions of those types while the awful ones achieve neither.So for example, good character books are Gillen/McKelvie’s Young Avengers or Fraction/Aja’s Hawkeye where you don’t mind what the story is because you love the characters. Good story books are like Soule/Pulido’s She Hulk or Ellis/Shalvey’s Moon Knight where the plot captivates you more than the characters. The truly great ones are books like Slott/Various Artists’ Superior Spider-Man which has a great central character you want to read more of AND a fantastic absorbing plot.ANYWAY: Avengers Assemble is a good character book - the plot’s not important, it’s just something for the characters to be doing while they’re riffing. The first arc concerns a Chinese villain called Yun Guang Han who wants to create an unstoppable army of super soldiers or something. The second sees an outbreak of lizard people amidst the youth of Siberia. Meh.But the character stuff is wonderful. Like Banner and Stark arguing over who’s got the better scientific morals/approach, leading to a bizarre bet where the stakes are walking through Manhattan in your birthday suit. And Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman’s face when she uses her pheromones to get Hulk to make her a sandwich: “Huuuuuuuulk, make me a saaaandwiiich!” (as if she eats carbs!). Then her face when she sees what a Hulk sandwich looks like! By the way, this is all just five pages though it’s representative of DeConnick’s work on this book as a whole.There’s even a bit where Jessica and Hulk are in the Arctic and she says she’s cold so Hulk puts his hand over her face which warms her up. Same thing happened on the set of The Princess Bride when Robin Wright told Andre the Giant she was cold so he put his massive hand over her head!One other detail I liked which was unexpected was the appearance of the classic Cap outfit. Nowadays his outfit looks like the one Chris Evans wears in The Winter Soldier movie - very modern, practical, etc. But I miss the old Cap with the blue chainmail scales, the wings sticking out on the sides of his mask and the corsair boots. Well, he’s got them in this book - woohoo! And he has an awesome aerial battle too.I won’t mention every little thing I liked about this book but DeConnick’s character voices are highly entertaining to read - she does ensemble stories better than individual characters like Captain Marvel.The one writer who does live up to the lowest expectations is Christos Gage whose Vision story that closes out the book was totally pants. It’s the same cliched “scientist has crap life and goes batty with superpowers” thing that’s been done to death for decades. I suppose the last couple panels are cool but everything that preceded it was 100% Gage-certified crapness.If you’re like me and don’t think much of Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Captain Marvel or Pretty Deadly and you’re willing to give her another chance, check out Science Bros - it’s an eye opener! Definitely one of the funniest Marvel books I’ve read this year, DeConnick proves she can write the hell out of an Avengers book. Get rid of Jonathan Hickman and put her in charge of the title, Marvel!!

The Avengers Assemble title was already running before the Marvel NOW! relaunch/rebrand took place but, rather than cancel it, it was folded in to the new roster with Kelly Sue DeConnick on writing duties. I always approach 'anthology' titles like this with some trepidation, but in this case I was pleasantly surprised - it's funny, pacey, and harks back to the Avengers feel of old.The contrast to Jonathan Hickman's contemporaneous run on Avengers/New Avengers, as well as to the high-concept Uncanny Avengers, is clear. Rather than portentous talk about worlds colliding or the Red Skull causing bloody riots, the two storylines collected in this volume are much more down to earth. In the first, a friendly bet between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner as to who can locate a missing scientist first turns into an encounter with a new villain who wants his own breed of superhumans; and in the second, a token is cashed in by a victim of one of Black Widow's nasty past incidents, causing her, Hawkeye and Spider-Woman to confront a group of reptilians living underground in Siberia.If the narratives in both cases don't reach for the stars, they are still full of excellent moments - and in large part that's to do with DeConnick's writing, which elevates this above villain-of-the-week mundanity. In the first arc in particular, the dialogue is super-sharp, and the addition of Spider-Woman to the roster familiar from the Avengers film brings that something extra. In particular, it brings a couple of laugh-out-loud moments, not least when she uses her pheromones to command Hulk to make her a sandwich, which put me in mind of a twist on Black Widow's trick of de-Hulking Banner in Age of Ultron (although this book predates the film). The Widow story is in my view the weaker one - Natasha trying to deal with the 'red in her ledger' is a familiar beat by now - but it's still got enough to elevate it past some of the fodder we occasionally get.The collection is rounded off with an annual, which shows the Avengers including the Vision dealing with Sunturion, who is carrying out attacks on evil corporation Roxxon. The meat of this story is Vision's disgruntlement with the fact that after he was ripped apart in "Avengers Disassembled", the team kind of left him and moved on (not unfairly, they point out that Young Vision emerged from his remains and that they thought they may have been the same person). The parallel used is a bit of a stretch - Sunturion gave his life to Roxxon and the powers they gave him are killing him; Vision gave his life to and for the Avengers and he feels like they left him behind. But there is a bit of growth in that by the end of the annual, Vision is ready to make contact with his 'children' at last.This title works way better as an anthology than, for example, A+X, and it is a welcome addition to the Avengers titles given how highbrow the Hickman run is. Recommended.

I honestly don't remember ever enjoying any book as much as I enjoyed Science Bros. I immediately recognized the term since Tony Stark/Bruce Banner were collectively called Science Bros after Avengers became a massive hit and both of these characters stole the limelight. The comic itself encapsulated everything which made the movie so much fun. I can not recommend this enough to Marvel readers, especially fans of the movie!

This is great fun, just like comic books used to be but with a higher maturity rating and better art.

I wish Kelly Sue Deconnick was still on an Avengers' book. Her stories are smart, fun, and easily one of the better times you'll have reading a superhero book. Spider-Woman gets a lot of time to shine in this book, and she has a great dynamic with the Hulk in the first 3 issues collected here. The art is very good throughout and it's one of the funnier marvel books I've read in a while. I hope Kelly eventually goes back to Marvel, or maybe even their Distinguished Competition at some point, as her voice is a real benefit to any superhero book.

Ein großartiges Comicbuch mit viel Witz. Nicht nur ich, sondern auch Freunde waren begeistert. Kann ich jedem Avengers-Fan nur empfehlen :)