Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Javier Garrón
Color Artist: David Curiel
Cover Artists: Javier Garrón & David Curiel
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
The Winter Guard have struck! During the events of the Phoenix Tournament, Moscow, Russia had suffered collateral damage from the battle between Namor and She-Hulk. While the Winter Guard can’t get to the king of Atlantis, they can get their hands on the Avengers. And now that they have her, Avengers #47 shows what they’re going to do with her.
Review:
In the previous issue, the Winter Guard came, saw, and kicked the Avengers’ butt in Avengers Mountain to take She-Hulk back to Russia. Now that they have her, the Red Widow is already beginning to break her mind. While Jennifer Walters has been keeping her will strong, this is the Red Room and they’ve broken strong minds before. However, the Avengers are not far behind.
You can say many things about Jason Aaron’s Avengers run, I certainly have my criticisms of it as a whole, but this issue was one of the stronger ones. This is primarily due to how he writes the Avengers as an effective unit and team. They come in like an experienced superhero team, and make their way into the Winter Guard’s renovated base with little-to-no nonsense. There’s few wisecracking or irritating MCU-wannabe style quips here. What Aaron focuses on instead is the camaraderie between them and lets the sincere desire to rescue She-Hulk carry the comic book.
However, that’s where the praise for this comic stops. Of course the comic shifts between the Avengers’ battles with the Winter Guard and She-Hulk in the Red Room. The former is fine, thanks to the art by Javier Garrón and David Curiel’s color work. However, the She-Hulk half is the weakest part of this comic. She-Hulk’s brainwashing by Red Widow is not that intense or thrilling, Red Widow herself comes off even more as a caricature of a lethal Russian assassin than ever before in her dialogue. Not to mention Widow’s method for brainwashing She-Hulk is not all that creative and the process seems more focused on crafting weird visuals that are too indulgent on “Widow” imagery.
However, the worse is yet to come it seems as She-Hulk emerges as the Winter Hulk, and I am not looking forward to this. But there’s still a potential of intrigue here as a bit more is revealed by Red Widow that hints toward their true motive for taking and brainwashing She-Hulk. If Jason Aaron does something interesting with this angle for the “World War She-Hulk”, then maybe something good can come from this story.
Final Thoughts:
Avengers #47 shows the Avengers try to rescue their own, but it seems they’re already too late. The issue has a good start with the Avengers’ initial rescue attempt that focuses less on quips and more on straightforward storytelling. However, the She-Hulk portions were definitely the weakest part of the comic, from the brainwashing to her eventual escape. Red Widow is front and center as the main villain but comes across a little too over-the-top than she was in earlier issues. And next issue is where World War She-Hulk truly starts.
7/10
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