Mighty Avengers, Vol. 2: Venom Bomb

Venom Bomb, the second storyarc of Brian Michael Bendis' Mighty Avengers series, begins with former New Avenger Spider-Woman defecting over to Tony "Iron Man" Stark's pro-registration Avengers team, bringing the body of the Skrull-Elektra in tow. Before Tony can decide what to do about this secret invasion (no pun intended...no, nevermind, there was), a symbiote virus attack is launched on New York City, and Doctor Doom appears to be the culprit. What follows are battles aplenty and some well-handled time travel elements that pay delightful homage to the format of classic Marvel comics, which will coax a grin out of even the most jaded of fanboys. Bendis once again overdoes it with the thought bubbles, but there is something about Venom Bomb that is just plain fun. Bendis' longtime Ultimate Spider-Man partner Mark Bagley provides the artwork here, and does a great job as well. All that, and with more hints to what's coming in Secret Invasion, Venom Bomb is a fun ride that finds Mighty Avengers improving on the ground laid by it's freshman arc, The Ultron Initiative, and wonderfully sets the stage for the cataclysmic events to follow.

The build toward Secret Invasion heats up as we start to find out about Skrulls on Earth. The first half of the book focuses on an army of Venom and Carnage symbiotes getting created in New York as both the Mighty and Secret Avengers head out to face the trouble. The second (and more enjoyable half for me) focuses on a battle with Dr Doom that has some good stuff with Doom, Iron Man and the Sentry. This second half also builds towards the Doom/Le Fay conflict that will be settled in Dark Avengers.

It's a Bendis story, so expect massive decompression. It's neat seeing what happens when everyone in New York City is turned into a Venom symbiote, but I wish that had been a larger aspect of the story.

Not what I was looking for.I was looking for Venom and not symbiote clones. Avengers fans might enjoy the read, but I didn't get what I picked it up for.

great book

Very basically: great cameos, adventure, excitement, drama, action and art. A must for any fan of the Marvel bigs and the Avengers storyline.

I had received it, and was a disappointed that there was a rip, but this group contacted me to make it up to me. I highly recommend using them for future purchases.

This second collection of the 'registered' Avengers takes place post-Civil War and pre-Secret Invasion. While the art, by Frank Cho, is unbeatable, the series seems to amble, with no clear direction in mind. General consensus, I think, is that Mr. Cho's slow work pace kept the book behind and unable to keep up with ongoing Marvel Universe continuity. Still, it's beautiful - particularly his women.Writer Bendis' use of thought balloons is unique to this title and characterization is spot on.All in all, two excellent creators still trying to find their way.

It is said that given enough time; a room full of monkeys with typewriters would almost surely produce the works of ShakespeareIf so, then this must be part of the steaming pile on the way to thatBendis' hack writing is made glaring worse by Bagley's talent-less visualsThere are some good reviews on here - which must mean they have read another book and not this stinker

I've enjoyed this particular line-up of the Avengers. Volume 1 was great, and this volume was entertaining too. Spinning out of the Superhero Civil War, Iron Man creates his own version of Earth's Mightiest Heroes from those heroes that sided with him and were 'pro-registration'.This is probably not his perfect line-up, but he's doing the best he can with who's available. Other heroes are scattered about, in hiding, licking their wounds etc, but Iron Man's Mighty Avengers may yet face these 'enemies-of-the-state' again.He appoints Ms Marvel as the de facto team leader, which is a good choice from this particular cohort, consisting also of Wonder Man, Wasp, Black Widoow, Sentry and Ares, the Olympian God of War. Spider Woman also joins the team in this volume.What is interesting is the dynamics between Ms Marvel and Iron Man. She's the team leader, but it's clear who is really calling the shots, and it's not Carol Danvers. She has issues with Spider Woman joining the team (approved by Stark without Carol's knowledge) but her misgivings are ignored by Iron Man and he insists that she's on the team. This proves that this is really Stark's team and not Ms Marvel's despite him being apparently too busy to be the figurehead as he's now Director of SHIELD.They are soon put to the test though as Venom-symbiotes are infecting people all across New York. When the team assembles to fight the threat, they discover that the attack was caused by Dr Doom so the Avengers travel to Latveria where most of the story takes place.With some time-travelling scenes courtesy of Doom's Time Platform, Morgana Le Fay makes various appearances but the main protaganist is Doom, which is in contravention of the actual "Venom Bomb" title as the symbiote part that I was actually looking forward to is just a minor part of this story.Still, it's a decent story nonetheless and the artwork by Mark Bagley is fine. I question the choice of some of the heroes on this particular roster - I have no particular liking for Wonder Man and the Wasp, but the rest are fine. When you consider that Iron Man has put the best team together from available 'legal' heroes, I can live with it.Ms Marvel and Spider Woman are two of my favourite heroes (and not just because of their curves!), and Ares and Sentry are of particular interest considering what happens later on during the Dark Reign storylines. This is all set up nicely for the Secret Invasion event, which happens next.

Big fan

bought this as I symbiote fan, but the symbiotes only play a small part in it. Still a good avengers graphic novel though just a bit deceiving.

delivery was fast and the item is as described