Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities A Joke

Q: How many issues does it take for the New Avengers to change a light bulb?

A: One issue where they argue about who's going to change it; three more issues where they and the X-Men search for a light bulb; yet another issue where they and the X-Men and the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans argue about who's going to bring the stepladder; and, in the spectacular final issue, Emma Frost climbs the stepladder and changes the lightbulb. What a great TPB that's gonna make.

A classic example of why I don't read Bendis books.

I don't either, but when I was in my LCS a couple weeks ago, they still had NA # 9 and # 10 on the racks, and I browsed through them. Every bad thing I'd been told about NA was true -- and worse! Just talk, talk, guest stars, talk, more guest stars, talk........................

A shame, because the old Avengers was (sometimes) one of my favorite books. But Bendis is just the flavor-of-the-year, he'll be washed up soon. And I can laugh about the current state of the Avengers, because it's had more drastic ups and downs than any book. And one person's ups are another person's downs. For instance -- I LOVE the Bob Harras/Steve Epting era, and I DESPISE the Jim Shooter era (the first one; I haven't read the second Shooter era because life's too short.)

Sometimes I wonder how much it's Bendis and how much it's editors telling writers to pad out stories to make more issues and thus more money. Bendis' non-superhero stuff (ie Powers as the prime example) does have a lot of talking heads - though they're usually smaller and crammed in my Oeming - but it's also got fistfuls of action and believe me, stuff happens. It's not just waiting around for a year and a half for Emma Frost to change that damn lightbulb.

That said, House of M sucks ass. Marvel 'Elsewords' or not, it stinks.

It's really hard to make me miss Silverclaw, but New Avengers has succeeded. Kurt, come back!