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Avengers: Standoff (Reading Order) #1-16
Avengers: Standoff - Assault on Pleasant Hill
On his 75th anniversary, Captain America is about to face a challenge unlike any other. Prepare for an assault on...Pleasant Hill! Three shield-wielders past and present - Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson - find themselves in a standoff, with high and very personal stakes. And this tense conflict quickly escalates out of control, drawing in several Avengers teams! But it all begins in the small town of Pleasant Hill. An idyllic community with friendly neighbors...and a terrible, dark secret. What is going on behind Pleasant Hill's closed doors, and how will Captain America react?
Collecting: WELCOME TO PLEASANT HILL PROLOGUE 1, ASSAULT ON PLEASANT HILL ALPHA 1, AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. 3-4, UNCANNY AVENGERS 7, ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT AVENGERS 7-8, NEW AVENGERS 8-10, CAPTAIN AMERICA: SAM WILSON 7-8, UNCANNY AVENGERS 8, ILLUMINATI 6, HOWLING COMMANDOS 6, ASSAULT ON PLEASANT HILL OMEGA 1
Collecting: WELCOME TO PLEASANT HILL PROLOGUE 1, ASSAULT ON PLEASANT HILL ALPHA 1, AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. 3-4, UNCANNY AVENGERS 7, ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT AVENGERS 7-8, NEW AVENGERS 8-10, CAPTAIN AMERICA: SAM WILSON 7-8, UNCANNY AVENGERS 8, ILLUMINATI 6, HOWLING COMMANDOS 6, ASSAULT ON PLEASANT HILL OMEGA 1
416 pages, Hardcover
First published June 29, 2016
22 people are currently reading
237 people want to read
About the author
Nick Spencer
998 books345 followersLibrarian Note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Nick Spencer is a comic book writer known for his creator-owned titles at Image Comics (Existence 2.0/3.0, Forgetless, Shuddertown, Morning Glories), his work at DC Comics (Action Comics, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), and for his current work at Marvel Comics (Iron Man 2.0, Ultimate Comics: X-Men).
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Nick Spencer is a comic book writer known for his creator-owned titles at Image Comics (Existence 2.0/3.0, Forgetless, Shuddertown, Morning Glories), his work at DC Comics (Action Comics, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), and for his current work at Marvel Comics (Iron Man 2.0, Ultimate Comics: X-Men).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
November 6, 2016
The first issue wasn't bad, but it was sort of hit-or-miss from there on out.
Warning: Spoilers
So one of my first reactions to this was just this mindless rage that Secret Wars hadn't cured Captain America of his oldness. So. Fucking. Annoying.
I mean, I just assumed that was the entire reason they were rebooting the Marvel universe! You know, to fix the egregious error made when whatever asshat decided it was a good idea to have Steve Rogers lose the Super Soldier serum...thingy, get depowered, age like a motherfucker, and start griping about these loud kids with their rock n' roll.
Awesome. Fix it!
And then I see that he's still OLD!
If this hadn't been a loaner from the library, I probably would have tossed it out the window.
And it's a good thing I didn't!
Ok, so for those of you (like me) who come slightly unhinged when your favorite superheroes get fucked with, then there's at least one thing about Standoff that'll make you happy: CAP IS BACK!
And, really, that's sort of the main thing that comes out of this one.
Well, besides the cosmic cube girl, Kobik, who was apparently used later to futz with Captain America...yet again.
And we all know how well that went over with fans, don't we?
The rest of the story is ok.
Maria Hill has overstepped her bounds as S.H.I.E.L.D. director (surprise!), and (against orders) used a unique cosmic cube to mind wipe villains, making them believe that they're...nice.
Then she stuck them all in a fake town, changed their physical appearances (see above cosmic cube), and gave them cutsie jobs.
Shockingly, it worked out well! Everyone was thrilled with their new lives, nothing went wrong, and they all grew fat and old together.
Or something like that...
Alright. I thought this was a bit on the long-winded side. The story sort of meandered around, and the only thing of real interest (to me) was the part where the Cosmic Kid ironed out Cap's wrinkles.
Not horrible, not great. Kinda sorta ok.
Warning: Spoilers
So one of my first reactions to this was just this mindless rage that Secret Wars hadn't cured Captain America of his oldness. So. Fucking. Annoying.
I mean, I just assumed that was the entire reason they were rebooting the Marvel universe! You know, to fix the egregious error made when whatever asshat decided it was a good idea to have Steve Rogers lose the Super Soldier serum...thingy, get depowered, age like a motherfucker, and start griping about these loud kids with their rock n' roll.
Awesome. Fix it!
And then I see that he's still OLD!
If this hadn't been a loaner from the library, I probably would have tossed it out the window.
And it's a good thing I didn't!
Ok, so for those of you (like me) who come slightly unhinged when your favorite superheroes get fucked with, then there's at least one thing about Standoff that'll make you happy: CAP IS BACK!
And, really, that's sort of the main thing that comes out of this one.
Well, besides the cosmic cube girl, Kobik, who was apparently used later to futz with Captain America...yet again.
And we all know how well that went over with fans, don't we?
The rest of the story is ok.
Maria Hill has overstepped her bounds as S.H.I.E.L.D. director (surprise!), and (against orders) used a unique cosmic cube to mind wipe villains, making them believe that they're...nice.
Then she stuck them all in a fake town, changed their physical appearances (see above cosmic cube), and gave them cutsie jobs.
Shockingly, it worked out well! Everyone was thrilled with their new lives, nothing went wrong, and they all grew fat and old together.
Or something like that...
Alright. I thought this was a bit on the long-winded side. The story sort of meandered around, and the only thing of real interest (to me) was the part where the Cosmic Kid ironed out Cap's wrinkles.
Not horrible, not great. Kinda sorta ok.
August 5, 2019
What is the biggest problem facing law enforcement in the Marvel Universe?It's certainly not capturing villains because that seems to happen every issue. It's not having a place to put them, because Marvel has all kinds of prisons with cool names like The Raft. The biggest problem is keeping villains in prison. Marvel's jails are pretty much a turnstile as offending villains are back on the streets in an instant. My solution would be super hero prison guards or even anti-hero prison guards. Knowing The Punisher is sitting at a crazy vantage point with a sniper rifle and a missile launcher might dissuade people from escaping. Maria Hill had another thought altogether.
SHIELD Director Hill's plan was to use a cosmic cube to change unwanted circumstances. These plans were leaked to the public
and the Kobik project was shut down...It was supposed to be at least. Bucky Barnes the current man on the wall,
a role inherited from Nick Fury Sr., is shocked to learn there's a cosmic threat to Earth on Earth. He investigates and learns SHIELD has a sentient cosmic cube.
He alerts Commander Steve Rogers while The Whisperer is alerting current Captain America Sam Wilson. Let's say all is not as was expected as Maria Hill used Kobik to transform supervillains into ordinary people and housed them in a SHIELD operated town called Pleasant Hill. Of course nothing could ever go wrong with that plan...
Avengers Standoff is a strange mixture for a volume. The premise makes sense as supervillains always break out of jail so transforming them into non violent members of a small town makes a lot of sense...assuming they won't execute anyone. The oddest part to me was the weak attempt at humor. The author pushed hard for some laughs, but it fell short. Another strange part is that the sentient cosmic cube assumed the form of a four year old girl which should of been an immediate flag. I have a daughter who is past the age of four and relying on her to handle all the bad guys would be a mistake. Four can be an emotionally volatile age...at least for my daughter. Anyway things have to go wrong which they spectacularly do.
On a positive I did eventually enjoy seeing all the Avengers teams cooperating. I was surprised seeing that Iron Man remained basically silent throughout since he's become a major figure head largely due to his prominence in the MCU.
Avengers Standoff was solid, but far from being overly memorable. I'm glad I read it, but I'm sure I won't read it again.
September 24, 2016
I originally reviewed Avengers Standoff as two volumes because in Brit-land the publisher decided to cut the event in half for artistic reasons. Just kidding, it was for the filthy lucre! Anyways, both reviews, which cover the complete stinky event, are below – enjoy!
*
Avengers Standoff Volume 1 = 1 star
Welcome to Pleasant Hill, a perfect, 1950s-style small town complete with its own malt-shop straight out of Archie! The people here are friendly, Mayor Maria Hill is organising fun events like the forthcoming air show, Dr Erik Selvig keeps everyone healthy, and nothing bad ever seems to happen. But the community seems a little too idyllic for some... And the residents can’t ever leave or remember much of their pasts - what the Jiminy Cricket is going on?!
I’ll say spoilsies from here on out because the mystery of Pleasant Hill is about the only halfway interesting aspect of this otherwise flat, smelly comic.
So Avengers Standoff is the event book that takes place between Secret Wars and Civil War II and, as per usual with these kind of comics, it’s not very good.
With Pleasant Hill, Maria Hill’s basically constructed a different kind of prison for repeat offenders by using fragments of a cosmic cube (Marvel’s version of a magic wand - though they have those too!). It wipes the prisoners’ minds, gives them new identities and appearances, and keeps them out of trouble. The Avengers aren’t pleased that Maria’s doing this and the story becomes Avengers vs SHIELD.
Part of why I couldn’t get into this one is that I don’t really see a whole lot wrong with what Maria Hill’s up to. Cap and the others see Pleasant Hill as a kind of Guantanamo Bay which is just ridiculous. The inmates aren’t being tortured and prisoners like Crusher Creel and Baron Zemo are definitely mass murderers rather than suspects (they’re also the only ones I could identify - Trapster, Moonstone, Fixer, Nitro, the Wrecker anyone?).
The traditional jails they’ve previously been in have basically been revolving doors and Pleasant Hill - a far nicer jail than any other in the world - is an experiment to see if a glimpse into a normal life could change them for the better. I mean, that’s better than just sticking them in the Raft again only for them to break out in a few months and the cycle to reset again, right? I suppose it’s doing stuff against their will but that’s prison in a nutshell, isn’t it?
I can understand being worried that Maria Hill’s just doing whatever with the cosmic cube though because there’s no oversight there and she could do anything. Even if all she’s done is create a different jail for SHIELD’s prisoners and there’s no indication that she’ll go further later down the line.
It’s a flimsy setup that doesn’t make for an exciting read. Most of the book is different groups fighting SHIELD, like AIM (the beekeeper villains) who are suddenly good guys for some reason, and the New Avengers. One fight scene between SHIELD and the New Avengers is repeated twice, word for word, beat for beat, but drawn by two different artists, and it wasn’t interesting the first time.
Al Ewing’s definitely a huge Pacific Rim fan because there’s a big fight scene between an AIM Jaegar robot and a SHIELD Kaiju creature called American Kaiju - he has an American flag on his chest and is obviously a metaphor for SHIELD in this story: a supposedly out-of-control monster. Real subtle, Al!
I feel like Marvel thought about commenting on Snowden and Assange through Rick Jones who’s the whistleblower on Pleasant Hill but they don’t have anything to say about it here. Like a lot of things in this story it’s another useless dead-end.
Then again Marvel don’t really have much of anything with Avengers Standoff. It’s just a badly thought-out, half-baked story almost no aspect of which is remotely compelling. The mystery at the start is sort of intriguing before it ends up becoming the usual dreary slug-fest between dull characters.
The first volume (the UK publisher chopped the story into two volumes because money) of Avengers Standoff shows why almost no-one read this event book: it’s booooring! Nobody really cares about SHIELD even with their weak attempt at seeming interesting by turning “evil”.
*
Avengers Standoff Volume 2 = 1 star
Superheroes are integrated into Pleasant Hill alongside supervillains which can only mean one thing: big pointless battle! Sigh… Avengers Standoff ends as poorly as it started!
There are way, way too many issues in this event for such a weak story. Nearly every issue in this final volume is characters realising that Pleasant Hill and their identities aren’t what they think. It’s so boring and repetitive. It was old by the end of the first issue in the first volume, it’s not getting any more fresh at this point in the event!
Zemo once again falls into the generic supervillain template mould complete with unoriginal motivation – I’m gonna take over the world, wahahahaha! – and it’s not in the least bit interesting seeing characters fight over and over throughout.
The “big moment” is a literal Deus ex Machina that was something everyone was expecting to happen to this character sooner or later. The ending is one big nothing. One character is supposedly going to be punished, and Rick Jones’ whistleblowing fizzles out.
A garbage ending for a garbage event – Marvel have done it again!
*
Avengers Standoff Volume 1 = 1 star
Welcome to Pleasant Hill, a perfect, 1950s-style small town complete with its own malt-shop straight out of Archie! The people here are friendly, Mayor Maria Hill is organising fun events like the forthcoming air show, Dr Erik Selvig keeps everyone healthy, and nothing bad ever seems to happen. But the community seems a little too idyllic for some... And the residents can’t ever leave or remember much of their pasts - what the Jiminy Cricket is going on?!
I’ll say spoilsies from here on out because the mystery of Pleasant Hill is about the only halfway interesting aspect of this otherwise flat, smelly comic.
So Avengers Standoff is the event book that takes place between Secret Wars and Civil War II and, as per usual with these kind of comics, it’s not very good.
With Pleasant Hill, Maria Hill’s basically constructed a different kind of prison for repeat offenders by using fragments of a cosmic cube (Marvel’s version of a magic wand - though they have those too!). It wipes the prisoners’ minds, gives them new identities and appearances, and keeps them out of trouble. The Avengers aren’t pleased that Maria’s doing this and the story becomes Avengers vs SHIELD.
Part of why I couldn’t get into this one is that I don’t really see a whole lot wrong with what Maria Hill’s up to. Cap and the others see Pleasant Hill as a kind of Guantanamo Bay which is just ridiculous. The inmates aren’t being tortured and prisoners like Crusher Creel and Baron Zemo are definitely mass murderers rather than suspects (they’re also the only ones I could identify - Trapster, Moonstone, Fixer, Nitro, the Wrecker anyone?).
The traditional jails they’ve previously been in have basically been revolving doors and Pleasant Hill - a far nicer jail than any other in the world - is an experiment to see if a glimpse into a normal life could change them for the better. I mean, that’s better than just sticking them in the Raft again only for them to break out in a few months and the cycle to reset again, right? I suppose it’s doing stuff against their will but that’s prison in a nutshell, isn’t it?
I can understand being worried that Maria Hill’s just doing whatever with the cosmic cube though because there’s no oversight there and she could do anything. Even if all she’s done is create a different jail for SHIELD’s prisoners and there’s no indication that she’ll go further later down the line.
It’s a flimsy setup that doesn’t make for an exciting read. Most of the book is different groups fighting SHIELD, like AIM (the beekeeper villains) who are suddenly good guys for some reason, and the New Avengers. One fight scene between SHIELD and the New Avengers is repeated twice, word for word, beat for beat, but drawn by two different artists, and it wasn’t interesting the first time.
Al Ewing’s definitely a huge Pacific Rim fan because there’s a big fight scene between an AIM Jaegar robot and a SHIELD Kaiju creature called American Kaiju - he has an American flag on his chest and is obviously a metaphor for SHIELD in this story: a supposedly out-of-control monster. Real subtle, Al!
I feel like Marvel thought about commenting on Snowden and Assange through Rick Jones who’s the whistleblower on Pleasant Hill but they don’t have anything to say about it here. Like a lot of things in this story it’s another useless dead-end.
Then again Marvel don’t really have much of anything with Avengers Standoff. It’s just a badly thought-out, half-baked story almost no aspect of which is remotely compelling. The mystery at the start is sort of intriguing before it ends up becoming the usual dreary slug-fest between dull characters.
The first volume (the UK publisher chopped the story into two volumes because money) of Avengers Standoff shows why almost no-one read this event book: it’s booooring! Nobody really cares about SHIELD even with their weak attempt at seeming interesting by turning “evil”.
*
Avengers Standoff Volume 2 = 1 star
Superheroes are integrated into Pleasant Hill alongside supervillains which can only mean one thing: big pointless battle! Sigh… Avengers Standoff ends as poorly as it started!
There are way, way too many issues in this event for such a weak story. Nearly every issue in this final volume is characters realising that Pleasant Hill and their identities aren’t what they think. It’s so boring and repetitive. It was old by the end of the first issue in the first volume, it’s not getting any more fresh at this point in the event!
Zemo once again falls into the generic supervillain template mould complete with unoriginal motivation – I’m gonna take over the world, wahahahaha! – and it’s not in the least bit interesting seeing characters fight over and over throughout.
The “big moment” is a literal Deus ex Machina that was something everyone was expecting to happen to this character sooner or later. The ending is one big nothing. One character is supposedly going to be punished, and Rick Jones’ whistleblowing fizzles out.
A garbage ending for a garbage event – Marvel have done it again!
April 20, 2020
S.H.I.E.L.D. has created a new prison where they wipe criminals minds. Sam Wilson and Bucky found out about it and decide to do something about it. Things spiral out of control from there. This felt really disjointed. Things would happen in one issue, then it would jump to another book and there would be huge jumps in plot in between. Editorial really needed to sit down with the writers to create a more cohesive story. Plus one of the issues in the collected volume is out of order chronologically. Events in the book occurred like 5 issues before in another book. It had potential but felt bungled.
May 9, 2016
3,5 stars (read as individual issues).
Absolutely not the best Marvel crossover ever, but still not the worst one.
After all it was a good reading and made me want to read more All New Marvel Comics series.
I'll give them a try for sure.
September 4, 2020
Mostly a mess.
The story is fundamentally stupid. Maria Hill used the cosmic cube to turn the cosmic cube into girl with godlike (but oddly limited) powers that turn all the badguys into goodguys (AXIS again, seriously?)
Now they’re badguys again. All the Avengers have to go fight them in a town. Also, Godzilla shows up,
Something very spoilery happens to Steve Rogers. Nobody acts like they normally act. There’s just far to much dumbness here to be enjoyable. This is one of the worst crossover events.
The best parts (and I use best loosely) are the Alpha and Omega issues. The rest is exhausting, boring and stupid filler. Nobody does anything particularly cool, and you’ll scratch a hole in your skull trying to make sense of the logic.
I’d skip this and read the cliff notes if I were you.
The story is fundamentally stupid. Maria Hill used the cosmic cube to turn the cosmic cube into girl with godlike (but oddly limited) powers that turn all the badguys into goodguys (AXIS again, seriously?)
Now they’re badguys again. All the Avengers have to go fight them in a town. Also, Godzilla shows up,
Something very spoilery happens to Steve Rogers. Nobody acts like they normally act. There’s just far to much dumbness here to be enjoyable. This is one of the worst crossover events.
The best parts (and I use best loosely) are the Alpha and Omega issues. The rest is exhausting, boring and stupid filler. Nobody does anything particularly cool, and you’ll scratch a hole in your skull trying to make sense of the logic.
I’d skip this and read the cliff notes if I were you.
October 31, 2017
Picking on some threads from the opening arc of Sam Wilson: Captain America, the all-new, all-different Marvel Comics launches its first big crossover event only a few months after the conclusion of its previous big crossover event, Secret Wars.
In Sam Wilson: Captain America, writer Nick Spencer introduced a Wikileaks-style hack against the super-spy agency SHIELD that resulted in The Whisperer releasing classified data about the Kobik project. The hack leads Wilson, as well previous Captain America’s Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, and the various Avengers teams to the idyllic town of Pleasant Hill, where the secrets surrounding Kobik are revealed.
In general, I’m not a fan of Marvel’s insistence on one giant event after giant event after giant event after giant event after.... Following the relaunch of Marvel Comics post-Secret Wars, this event lands a whopping six issues into the current status quo. Some, like Agents of SHIELD, are in the middle of their opening story arc with writers forced to contend with a crossover event shoehorned into issues three and four of their big, new launch. It’s a bit distracting to have this event serving as a B-plot to the larger, and largely disconnected, A-story for that particular book. And since this event ran across numerous titles, there’s an awful lot of recapping over the course of this collected edition, and certain story elements that just feel like padding (a Kaiju attack, for instance).
That said, this was a lot of fun to read. Pleasant Hill is basically SHIELD’s more nefarious version of Guantanamo and there’s some good, if also somewhat half-hearted, explorations of the ethics behind the Kobik project. Having a character like The Whisperer operating in the Marvel Universe is a welcome addition and it adds a nifty new perspective to the political landscape (an obvious parallel to our own) our heroes operate within. There’s also a fair amount of foreshadowing for what’s ahead of us here. And if you know Marvel at all, you’ll also know this event is a stepping stone toward not one, but two more upcoming events. A lot of the books involved here look like they’re getting an entire month’s reprieve before getting dragged headlong into Civil War II! Yeesh.
In Sam Wilson: Captain America, writer Nick Spencer introduced a Wikileaks-style hack against the super-spy agency SHIELD that resulted in The Whisperer releasing classified data about the Kobik project. The hack leads Wilson, as well previous Captain America’s Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, and the various Avengers teams to the idyllic town of Pleasant Hill, where the secrets surrounding Kobik are revealed.
In general, I’m not a fan of Marvel’s insistence on one giant event after giant event after giant event after giant event after.... Following the relaunch of Marvel Comics post-Secret Wars, this event lands a whopping six issues into the current status quo. Some, like Agents of SHIELD, are in the middle of their opening story arc with writers forced to contend with a crossover event shoehorned into issues three and four of their big, new launch. It’s a bit distracting to have this event serving as a B-plot to the larger, and largely disconnected, A-story for that particular book. And since this event ran across numerous titles, there’s an awful lot of recapping over the course of this collected edition, and certain story elements that just feel like padding (a Kaiju attack, for instance).
That said, this was a lot of fun to read. Pleasant Hill is basically SHIELD’s more nefarious version of Guantanamo and there’s some good, if also somewhat half-hearted, explorations of the ethics behind the Kobik project. Having a character like The Whisperer operating in the Marvel Universe is a welcome addition and it adds a nifty new perspective to the political landscape (an obvious parallel to our own) our heroes operate within. There’s also a fair amount of foreshadowing for what’s ahead of us here. And if you know Marvel at all, you’ll also know this event is a stepping stone toward not one, but two more upcoming events. A lot of the books involved here look like they’re getting an entire month’s reprieve before getting dragged headlong into Civil War II! Yeesh.
June 26, 2017
A lot of what is happening in the current Secret Empire storyline had its foundation in this mini series. I wanted some more background to enjoy the current event.
March 17, 2021
A když Marvel neví co, dá tam Kaiju a Mega robota.
Nečekal jsem nic od tohoto eventu a kupodivu mě to bavilo, a to dokonce i "kryndž" momenty.
3,5/5
Nečekal jsem nic od tohoto eventu a kupodivu mě to bavilo, a to dokonce i "kryndž" momenty.
3,5/5
July 2, 2016
For the 75th Anniversary of Captain America, Nick Spencer got to helm a massive crossover event that ultimately restored Steve Rogers to the role of Captain America. Of course, as with any massive crossover, it had multiple tie-ins, all of which are collected here and vary in quality.
Welcome To Pleasant Hill Prologue #1, Assault on Pleasant Hill Alpha #1, Assault on Pleasant Hill Omega #1, Captain America: Sam Wilson #7-8
These issues constitute the majority of the storyline, with the bulk of the actual story beats taking place here. The idea of Pleasant Hill is pretty solid - using a sentient Cosmic Cube in the shape of a little girl named Kobik, SHIELD have been brainwashing villains and placing them in a suburban town where they can live out their lives without murdering people. Of course, it all goes wrong when Baron Zemo recovers from his brainwashing and sets out to destroy Pleasant Hill from the inside. If you didn't read any of the tie-ins, these issues are the main ones you should bother reading. They're also the best in terms of artwork, with Mark Bagley, Daniel Acuna, and Angel Unzueta drawing them all.
Agents of SHIELD #3-4
Sigh. This is how not to do tie-ins. Standoff barely factors into these two issues, and they actually re-tell half a storyline that reappears in New Avengers later in the volume, word for word. The art is fairly bog-standard, if inoffensive from German Peralta, but these are tie-ins in name only, and will likely make no sense without the context of the other issues of the series.
Uncanny Avengers #7-8, All-New All-Different Avengers #7-8
These four issues are more of a mini-arc within Standoff itself as the two teams are drawn to Pleasant Hill by mysterious twin Maria Hills, and find themselves under Kobik's influence and assimilated into Pleasant Hill itself. This ends a little too quick, as if they're mostly just being forced into Standoff by editorial mandate. Oh, wait. Still, solid if unremarkable, especially for such good writers as Mark Waid and Gerry Duggan.
New Avengers #8-10
This, like Agents of SHIELD, barely ties into Standoff, instead stealing away the Whisperer character and trying to protect him. It also deals with another storyline that has been bubbling for a while in the pages of its own series as SHIELD takes on the New Avengers, leading to a battle between the American Kaiju (think patriotic Godzilla) and a giant Avengers Megazord. You can't make this stuff up. It's excellent storytelling, but again is barely Standoff related. It should make you want to go read New Avengers though, because that's awesome.
Illuminati #6
This issue looks more at the fall-out of Pleasant Hill than the actual goings on, as Absorbing Man deals with the fact he fell in love with another character instead of his wife Titania. I expect this plays out better in the main series, so this little snippet doesn't really work on its own. Some nice sketchy art from Mike Henderson though.
Howling Commandos of SHIELD #6
Howling Commandos as a concept should be great; SHIELD-sanctioned monsters fighting other supernatural threats. Instead, it was kind of a non-starter of a series with the blandest #1 I'd read in a while, so I didn't bother reading the rest, despite the potential. The fact that this issue is both a Standoff tie-in and the finale of the series means it has a lot to do in terms of story, tying in and wrapping up at the same time. The focus on Orrgo is different, but it's an ultimately unsatisfying issue since you're not invested in any of the characters reading just one issue, and knowing that the cliffhanger ending is never followed up just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
So Standoff is, of course, a mixed bag. The Standoff story itself is great, but some of the tie-ins are poor or unnecessary. Your mileage may vary.
Oh! Standoff does resurrect the original Thunderbolts concept however, so that's a point in its favour.
Welcome To Pleasant Hill Prologue #1, Assault on Pleasant Hill Alpha #1, Assault on Pleasant Hill Omega #1, Captain America: Sam Wilson #7-8
These issues constitute the majority of the storyline, with the bulk of the actual story beats taking place here. The idea of Pleasant Hill is pretty solid - using a sentient Cosmic Cube in the shape of a little girl named Kobik, SHIELD have been brainwashing villains and placing them in a suburban town where they can live out their lives without murdering people. Of course, it all goes wrong when Baron Zemo recovers from his brainwashing and sets out to destroy Pleasant Hill from the inside. If you didn't read any of the tie-ins, these issues are the main ones you should bother reading. They're also the best in terms of artwork, with Mark Bagley, Daniel Acuna, and Angel Unzueta drawing them all.
Agents of SHIELD #3-4
Sigh. This is how not to do tie-ins. Standoff barely factors into these two issues, and they actually re-tell half a storyline that reappears in New Avengers later in the volume, word for word. The art is fairly bog-standard, if inoffensive from German Peralta, but these are tie-ins in name only, and will likely make no sense without the context of the other issues of the series.
Uncanny Avengers #7-8, All-New All-Different Avengers #7-8
These four issues are more of a mini-arc within Standoff itself as the two teams are drawn to Pleasant Hill by mysterious twin Maria Hills, and find themselves under Kobik's influence and assimilated into Pleasant Hill itself. This ends a little too quick, as if they're mostly just being forced into Standoff by editorial mandate. Oh, wait. Still, solid if unremarkable, especially for such good writers as Mark Waid and Gerry Duggan.
New Avengers #8-10
This, like Agents of SHIELD, barely ties into Standoff, instead stealing away the Whisperer character and trying to protect him. It also deals with another storyline that has been bubbling for a while in the pages of its own series as SHIELD takes on the New Avengers, leading to a battle between the American Kaiju (think patriotic Godzilla) and a giant Avengers Megazord. You can't make this stuff up. It's excellent storytelling, but again is barely Standoff related. It should make you want to go read New Avengers though, because that's awesome.
Illuminati #6
This issue looks more at the fall-out of Pleasant Hill than the actual goings on, as Absorbing Man deals with the fact he fell in love with another character instead of his wife Titania. I expect this plays out better in the main series, so this little snippet doesn't really work on its own. Some nice sketchy art from Mike Henderson though.
Howling Commandos of SHIELD #6
Howling Commandos as a concept should be great; SHIELD-sanctioned monsters fighting other supernatural threats. Instead, it was kind of a non-starter of a series with the blandest #1 I'd read in a while, so I didn't bother reading the rest, despite the potential. The fact that this issue is both a Standoff tie-in and the finale of the series means it has a lot to do in terms of story, tying in and wrapping up at the same time. The focus on Orrgo is different, but it's an ultimately unsatisfying issue since you're not invested in any of the characters reading just one issue, and knowing that the cliffhanger ending is never followed up just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
So Standoff is, of course, a mixed bag. The Standoff story itself is great, but some of the tie-ins are poor or unnecessary. Your mileage may vary.
Oh! Standoff does resurrect the original Thunderbolts concept however, so that's a point in its favour.
April 20, 2020
3.25 stars. After being told not to and saying that she destroyed them, Maria Hill in secret goes forth with her plan with the cosmic cube fragments anyway. They fuse them together and they become sentient in the form of a 4 year old girl. They take this town and turn it into a prison by using the girls power over reality to make the super villains believe they are different people living peacefully in this small town. But of course one villain breaks free of the falsehood and frees others. Shit goes down after that.
The stuff by Spencer, Welcome to pleasant hill, the alpha, the omega and the Captain America issues is the heart of the plot and the best parts of this story. The tie ins are hit or miss. But I did think it was bad and lacked imagination how in the one issue (forgot which one exacty) it was a direct bite off the Pacific Rim movie. I was like really?? They even pilot the giant robot the exact same way they do in the movie. 🤦🏾♂️.
All in all it was entertaining enough just to get a slight edge over 3 stars to get the 3.25 rating. Not the best but solid.
The stuff by Spencer, Welcome to pleasant hill, the alpha, the omega and the Captain America issues is the heart of the plot and the best parts of this story. The tie ins are hit or miss. But I did think it was bad and lacked imagination how in the one issue (forgot which one exacty) it was a direct bite off the Pacific Rim movie. I was like really?? They even pilot the giant robot the exact same way they do in the movie. 🤦🏾♂️.
All in all it was entertaining enough just to get a slight edge over 3 stars to get the 3.25 rating. Not the best but solid.
December 31, 2017
Avengers: Standoff whipped up an event for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes whose after-effects may be more significant than the story itself.
The town of Pleasant Hill, Connecticut has a secret. Using shards of a reality-altering Cosmic Cube that has taken the form of a little girl named Kobik, S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill has created the ultimate supervillain prison. Kobik uses her powers to transform the villains’ bodies and minds, entrapping them in a benign fantasy scenario that keeps them out of trouble and under the spy agency’s supervision. But when the strong-willed Baron Zemo is sent to Pleasant Hill, he shakes off the conditioning and sparks a revolt that threatens to deal S.H.I.E.L.D. a major black eye. Alerted to the prison by internet hacktivist The Whisperer, three Captains America (Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes) arrive in the town, calling in two different Avengers teams; all get swept up in the chaos en route to a big showdown. Meanwhile, The Whisperer lands in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, but the New Avengers risk their tenuous legal status to rescue him, bringing down a fierce response.
As an event, Standoff is somewhat schizoid. It ran through a couple months of Avengers and other ongoing series, with some book-end specials, so it’s not a focused, consistent story. Its central premise is rather clever and the various creators involved make good use of it in several different ways. But in collected format, it feels disjointed. The collection basically runs in chronological release order, which means the reader keeps getting pulled away from the more engaging action in Pleasant Hill. It’s not that the related stories don’t have their merits, but they essentially are side tracks and the decision to drop them in among the chapters focused on the main story saps momentum.
As has become the norm with these sorts of crossovers, several different creative teams contribute to the action, often with wildly different tones and visual approaches. The various chapters don’t necessarily cohere seamlessly, but can be enjoyable in isolation. The main story, quarterbacked by writer Nick Spencer, does work up some decent narrative steam; had Marvel chosen to group the chapters so that the reader isn’t drawn back and forth between two very different stories, the impact might have been greater when reading the collection.
Standoff might be more notable for what it set up following its run. For one, it brought Bucky, left in outer space as “The Man on the Wall” at the end of Original Sin a couple years earlier, back to Earth, giving him some strong interactions with Steve and Sam. One of the saga’s key sequences was the restoration of Steve’s youth and physical vitality after a stretch where he’d been rapidly aged and weakened. Fans didn’t realize it at the time, but a crucial cameo from the Red Skull and some foreboding summary narration foreshadowed the highly divisive Hydra Cap/Secret Empire story. For better or worse, Standoff is a crucial link in the chain of Spencer’s master plot.
Beyond that, Maria Hill is put to good use in a story that had major ramifications for the character’s future. More puzzling was the decision to create a new Quasar in the form of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Avril Kinkaid. Especially odd since the original Wendall Vaughn version has always been a strong character who’s perpetually underused. The impetus for the new Quasar isn’t made clear in this story and given her sparse use since, one can argue the merits of this introduction.
Still, Avengers: Standoff does a lot of things right. It features strong characterizations, makes inventive use of its central premise, features some great action sequences and displays a welcome sense of humor. It may not be your top priority, but if you can find it at a discount, it’s worth a read.
The town of Pleasant Hill, Connecticut has a secret. Using shards of a reality-altering Cosmic Cube that has taken the form of a little girl named Kobik, S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill has created the ultimate supervillain prison. Kobik uses her powers to transform the villains’ bodies and minds, entrapping them in a benign fantasy scenario that keeps them out of trouble and under the spy agency’s supervision. But when the strong-willed Baron Zemo is sent to Pleasant Hill, he shakes off the conditioning and sparks a revolt that threatens to deal S.H.I.E.L.D. a major black eye. Alerted to the prison by internet hacktivist The Whisperer, three Captains America (Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes) arrive in the town, calling in two different Avengers teams; all get swept up in the chaos en route to a big showdown. Meanwhile, The Whisperer lands in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, but the New Avengers risk their tenuous legal status to rescue him, bringing down a fierce response.
As an event, Standoff is somewhat schizoid. It ran through a couple months of Avengers and other ongoing series, with some book-end specials, so it’s not a focused, consistent story. Its central premise is rather clever and the various creators involved make good use of it in several different ways. But in collected format, it feels disjointed. The collection basically runs in chronological release order, which means the reader keeps getting pulled away from the more engaging action in Pleasant Hill. It’s not that the related stories don’t have their merits, but they essentially are side tracks and the decision to drop them in among the chapters focused on the main story saps momentum.
As has become the norm with these sorts of crossovers, several different creative teams contribute to the action, often with wildly different tones and visual approaches. The various chapters don’t necessarily cohere seamlessly, but can be enjoyable in isolation. The main story, quarterbacked by writer Nick Spencer, does work up some decent narrative steam; had Marvel chosen to group the chapters so that the reader isn’t drawn back and forth between two very different stories, the impact might have been greater when reading the collection.
Standoff might be more notable for what it set up following its run. For one, it brought Bucky, left in outer space as “The Man on the Wall” at the end of Original Sin a couple years earlier, back to Earth, giving him some strong interactions with Steve and Sam. One of the saga’s key sequences was the restoration of Steve’s youth and physical vitality after a stretch where he’d been rapidly aged and weakened. Fans didn’t realize it at the time, but a crucial cameo from the Red Skull and some foreboding summary narration foreshadowed the highly divisive Hydra Cap/Secret Empire story. For better or worse, Standoff is a crucial link in the chain of Spencer’s master plot.
Beyond that, Maria Hill is put to good use in a story that had major ramifications for the character’s future. More puzzling was the decision to create a new Quasar in the form of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Avril Kinkaid. Especially odd since the original Wendall Vaughn version has always been a strong character who’s perpetually underused. The impetus for the new Quasar isn’t made clear in this story and given her sparse use since, one can argue the merits of this introduction.
Still, Avengers: Standoff does a lot of things right. It features strong characterizations, makes inventive use of its central premise, features some great action sequences and displays a welcome sense of humor. It may not be your top priority, but if you can find it at a discount, it’s worth a read.
April 30, 2016
I have to admit that I've not been very impressed with Marvel's track record on their crossover events. But having said that, I'd did enjoy Jonathan Hickman's Secret Wars (DC has, in my opinion, an even worse track record, but that's a whole other tangent). So I thought I'd give this new crossover event a swing and see what happens.
It is exactly what I expected it would be: a mess. Granted it's a well done mess (Marvel's has had there fair share of real whoppers of steaming dren piles: Secret Wars II; X-Men: Inferno; X-Men: The Fall of the Mutants, etc.). But this one has some interesting subject matter beyond just the usual let's-throw-all-our-characters-into-a-insanely-poorly-developed-excuse-for-a-crossover-just-to-make-more-money. What is so interesting is that the use of a dealing with criminals as presented here. This methodology is not new, in fact it is fascinatingly similar to the methods developed by and employed so effectively by the character Doc Savage all the way back in the 1930s. Sure, this method has been updated and modernized for comic book readers as much as it has been reworked to function within the context of Marvel's pseudo-science. Nothing wrong there, it just makes the implications of the story that much more disturbing. So there was lot's of potential in the opening chapters - unfortunately the wrap-up is little more than a loosely thrown together package that only leaves as much teasing about the next big threat (read: crossover) as it does tying narrative threads together. This was a good effort, and a solid (if predictable) read for fans of the Marvel Now Universe, but there isn't much of interest for outside readers to get excited about.
It is exactly what I expected it would be: a mess. Granted it's a well done mess (Marvel's has had there fair share of real whoppers of steaming dren piles: Secret Wars II; X-Men: Inferno; X-Men: The Fall of the Mutants, etc.). But this one has some interesting subject matter beyond just the usual let's-throw-all-our-characters-into-a-insanely-poorly-developed-excuse-for-a-crossover-just-to-make-more-money. What is so interesting is that the use of a dealing with criminals as presented here. This methodology is not new, in fact it is fascinatingly similar to the methods developed by and employed so effectively by the character Doc Savage all the way back in the 1930s. Sure, this method has been updated and modernized for comic book readers as much as it has been reworked to function within the context of Marvel's pseudo-science. Nothing wrong there, it just makes the implications of the story that much more disturbing. So there was lot's of potential in the opening chapters - unfortunately the wrap-up is little more than a loosely thrown together package that only leaves as much teasing about the next big threat (read: crossover) as it does tying narrative threads together. This was a good effort, and a solid (if predictable) read for fans of the Marvel Now Universe, but there isn't much of interest for outside readers to get excited about.
October 3, 2016
It's a REALLY great idea for a cross-over mini-series. The cosmic cube. Villains mindwiped, brainwashed behind a bar-less prison. Villains transformed into new lives as happy carefree workaday Villeins.
The Captain America issues contained in the book seem to explore the ideas inherent with real gusto and relevance. Those are great fun and are the best parts of the book beyond the Alpha & Omega bookend chapters. The other intervening Avengers chapters are much less thoughtful to downright dumb and are all about moving around masses of characters - mostly who have no clue what to do. Or anything interesting to add to the "conversation". And an interesting conversation it could have been but all totally one-sided. Everyone seems to be against the prison. Even Maria Hill, who has set it up.
It would have made a much more fascinating book to have had factions. Clear cut. For and against. Prisoners who want to remain. Jailors who want to stay. Set against those for tearing it down.
But no. It's all set in one mode. Destroy it. And that's rather dull.
Captain American Issues = 5 Stars
The Captain America issues contained in the book seem to explore the ideas inherent with real gusto and relevance. Those are great fun and are the best parts of the book beyond the Alpha & Omega bookend chapters. The other intervening Avengers chapters are much less thoughtful to downright dumb and are all about moving around masses of characters - mostly who have no clue what to do. Or anything interesting to add to the "conversation". And an interesting conversation it could have been but all totally one-sided. Everyone seems to be against the prison. Even Maria Hill, who has set it up.
It would have made a much more fascinating book to have had factions. Clear cut. For and against. Prisoners who want to remain. Jailors who want to stay. Set against those for tearing it down.
But no. It's all set in one mode. Destroy it. And that's rather dull.
Captain American Issues = 5 Stars
August 22, 2018
Really, really fun. Some super good highs, a few lows though. I wanted to give this a 5, I really did, because Falcon really shined. Lots of good, fun moments. Interesting plot. Just a bit too scattered. Good collection though, must own.
Also, good questions asked. Marvel has this great way of asking bigger questions and hiding them within their stories. What should and shouldn’t be legal? Just because you can, should you?
Also, good questions asked. Marvel has this great way of asking bigger questions and hiding them within their stories. What should and shouldn’t be legal? Just because you can, should you?
July 17, 2016
Not a bad event, fixes some fractured relationships that really needed fixing, but proved there are far too many 'Avengers' teams - to the point one character jokes about 'Adjective-less Avengers'. But the balance of humour and action was great, the core characters were great, issues of certain titles slowed it down a bit.
April 3, 2021
Meh, not a bad event, not the best. Bones of a good story, execution was all over the map - some handoffs between books and subplots were well done, others were fumbled or jumbled to the point of “fuck it, I guess I didn’t need to understand what’s happening that badly”.
July 11, 2016
A bit of a mess but I had to get it so I could read how Cap got his mojo back.
February 26, 2023
Bueno, pues para empezar, de lo que he leído en los últimos días, de lo posterior a Secret Wars y sin ser ninguna maravilla, me ha parecido que por lo menos está entretenido y permite que Nick Spencer (creo que lo dejé en su momento escribiendo Vengadores Secretos) se mantenga en ese mundo de agencias y conspiraciones que se le da bastante bien, la verdad.
No sé muy bien si el arranque de Standoff está en la colección del Capitán América (supongo que sí por lo que cuentan) pero en resumen, la idea es que hace algún tiempo que el Capitán América interrumpió un plan de SHIELD, un proyecto llamado Kobik que utilizaba fragmentos de cubos cósmicos. Se suponía que el proyecto Kobik se había anulado, pero a lo largo de Standoff vamos a descubrir que no es así, y que María Hill lo ha continuado desarrollando en un pequeño pueblo llamado Pleasant Hill, donde Kobik ha tomado la forma de una niña, y SHIELD utiliza sus poderes para modificar el aspecto y los pensamientos de varios supercriminales que se ven así obligados a vivir unas vidas que no son las suyas en el emplazamiento "idílico" de una ciudad estadounidense que parece sacada de un cuadro de Norman Rockwell.
Pero como era de esperar, el plan de Hill no podía funcionar más allá de un tiempo, comienza a haber fisuras en Kobik, y mientras SHIELD persigue a un hacker que se hace llamar Susurrador y que vamos a descubrir que no es otro que Rick Jones, tanto Steve Rogers como Sam Wilson coinciden en Pleasant Hill en el momento en el que algunos de los locales, dirigidos por Zemo, comienzan a recuperar sus recuerdos y a atacar a los agentes de SHIELD. Tanto Wilson como Rogers van a acudir a sus respectivos grupos de Vengadores para conseguir ayuda, con el consiguiente y predecible enfrentamiento entre ambos para luego terminar colaborando y hacer frente a los villanos. Y mientras tanto, en Nuevos Vengadores, el equipo liderado por Mancha Solar va a dedicarse junto a IMA a ayudar a Jones a escapar de SHIELD, dejando atrás a Hulkling, Wiccan y Chica Ardilla, que quedan como únicos miembros de los Nuevos Vengadores como tal, mientras Mancha Solar, Ojo de Halcón, Pájaro Cantor, Tigre Blanco, Pod y Power Man van a enfrentarse a SHIELD... sin saber que hay un traidor entre ellos.
En fin, Standoff supuso el primer minievento posterior a Secret Wars (muy poco posterior, no había pasado ni un año) y se vería seguido casi de inmediato por Civil War II, pero sobre todo, serviría como preludio de la saga Imperio Secreto, que no tardaría demasiado en llegar, y para volver a cambiar el status quo entre los Capitanes América, pues Kobik devolvería la juventud a Steve Rogers, de modo que habría dos Capitanes América de forma simultánea.
No sé muy bien si el arranque de Standoff está en la colección del Capitán América (supongo que sí por lo que cuentan) pero en resumen, la idea es que hace algún tiempo que el Capitán América interrumpió un plan de SHIELD, un proyecto llamado Kobik que utilizaba fragmentos de cubos cósmicos. Se suponía que el proyecto Kobik se había anulado, pero a lo largo de Standoff vamos a descubrir que no es así, y que María Hill lo ha continuado desarrollando en un pequeño pueblo llamado Pleasant Hill, donde Kobik ha tomado la forma de una niña, y SHIELD utiliza sus poderes para modificar el aspecto y los pensamientos de varios supercriminales que se ven así obligados a vivir unas vidas que no son las suyas en el emplazamiento "idílico" de una ciudad estadounidense que parece sacada de un cuadro de Norman Rockwell.
Pero como era de esperar, el plan de Hill no podía funcionar más allá de un tiempo, comienza a haber fisuras en Kobik, y mientras SHIELD persigue a un hacker que se hace llamar Susurrador y que vamos a descubrir que no es otro que Rick Jones, tanto Steve Rogers como Sam Wilson coinciden en Pleasant Hill en el momento en el que algunos de los locales, dirigidos por Zemo, comienzan a recuperar sus recuerdos y a atacar a los agentes de SHIELD. Tanto Wilson como Rogers van a acudir a sus respectivos grupos de Vengadores para conseguir ayuda, con el consiguiente y predecible enfrentamiento entre ambos para luego terminar colaborando y hacer frente a los villanos. Y mientras tanto, en Nuevos Vengadores, el equipo liderado por Mancha Solar va a dedicarse junto a IMA a ayudar a Jones a escapar de SHIELD, dejando atrás a Hulkling, Wiccan y Chica Ardilla, que quedan como únicos miembros de los Nuevos Vengadores como tal, mientras Mancha Solar, Ojo de Halcón, Pájaro Cantor, Tigre Blanco, Pod y Power Man van a enfrentarse a SHIELD... sin saber que hay un traidor entre ellos.
En fin, Standoff supuso el primer minievento posterior a Secret Wars (muy poco posterior, no había pasado ni un año) y se vería seguido casi de inmediato por Civil War II, pero sobre todo, serviría como preludio de la saga Imperio Secreto, que no tardaría demasiado en llegar, y para volver a cambiar el status quo entre los Capitanes América, pues Kobik devolvería la juventud a Steve Rogers, de modo que habría dos Capitanes América de forma simultánea.
March 29, 2021
We'll saaaay... 3.5✮
I picked this up because I asked a friend for some Marvel recommendations, and he offered up Road to Secret Empire. He mentioned the Steve Rogers series leading to that, and my own brief info-gathering led me to read this first. So here I am.
So, my experience with this was likely colored by the fact that I didn't know who a lot of these characters were. Growing up, the only comics that I read were manga, and it wasn't until a few years ago that I started reading DC/Marvel (and indie) series as an adult. I had always kind of avoided it because I honestly didn't know where to start, and have a bit of a completionist side to me who would want to read everything from the very beginning. I obviously got over that and finally took the plunge, while getting recommendations from my comic-savvy friends.
Of course, I was familiar with everyone from the movies, and a few other characters that you just can't help but know about, growing up around this stuff. But the whole Avengers/Avengers Unity Squad/New Avengers/A.I.M with members from multiple groups (??) thing was a lot at once. Maaaany of the villains were also foreign to me, so keeping track of who was with which group, and who was ~betraying~ which group wasn't the easiest.
I found the premise to be interesting. I feel that the controversy surrounding Pleasant Hill was addressed multiple times with varying viewpoints, which is good. I also liked seeing how all of the individuals and groups became involved, even if the sheer number of characters sometimes made that difficult for me.
I feel like there were a few plot points that came up earlier in the book and weren't really concluded, but I'm assuming some of that will be addressed as I go further into the Steve Rogers/RtSE books.
The art was solid! Typically in collections like this, a handful of issues will have art that I'm just not really into, but I liked pretty much everything here.
I got a lot of laughs out of Rick Jones and, surprisingly, ol' Baron Zemo.
I picked this up because I asked a friend for some Marvel recommendations, and he offered up Road to Secret Empire. He mentioned the Steve Rogers series leading to that, and my own brief info-gathering led me to read this first. So here I am.
So, my experience with this was likely colored by the fact that I didn't know who a lot of these characters were. Growing up, the only comics that I read were manga, and it wasn't until a few years ago that I started reading DC/Marvel (and indie) series as an adult. I had always kind of avoided it because I honestly didn't know where to start, and have a bit of a completionist side to me who would want to read everything from the very beginning. I obviously got over that and finally took the plunge, while getting recommendations from my comic-savvy friends.
Of course, I was familiar with everyone from the movies, and a few other characters that you just can't help but know about, growing up around this stuff. But the whole Avengers/Avengers Unity Squad/New Avengers/A.I.M with members from multiple groups (??) thing was a lot at once. Maaaany of the villains were also foreign to me, so keeping track of who was with which group, and who was ~betraying~ which group wasn't the easiest.
I found the premise to be interesting. I feel that the controversy surrounding Pleasant Hill was addressed multiple times with varying viewpoints, which is good. I also liked seeing how all of the individuals and groups became involved, even if the sheer number of characters sometimes made that difficult for me.
I feel like there were a few plot points that came up earlier in the book and weren't really concluded, but I'm assuming some of that will be addressed as I go further into the Steve Rogers/RtSE books.
The art was solid! Typically in collections like this, a handful of issues will have art that I'm just not really into, but I liked pretty much everything here.
I got a lot of laughs out of Rick Jones and, surprisingly, ol' Baron Zemo.
March 11, 2020
I realize that many, if not all, of these events are a case of one person doing what they think is absolutely necessary, and fuck everyone else.
In this case, its Maria Hill doing the doing. In a nutshell, SHIELD, led by Hill, manage to make a cosmic cube that "makes itself" into a small girl. They then convince her to build this idyllic town where anyone who lives there gets happy happy lives and everyone smiles and hangs out all day. Turns out that Hill starts bringing in super villains, who are then turned into idyllic members of this town. In other words, completely brainwashed and almost erased - in a weird way. This of course goes all to hell when the villains wake up, are understandably pissed, and calamity ensues. Cue the Avengers.
So the premise is a bit forced and contrived, but the story actually holds up. We get two teams of Avengers, All New All Different and Uncanny, who of course fight when they first see each other, then come together to stop the villains and put the kibosh on Hill's weird mind wipe camp. Kobik, the cosmic cube girl hybrid thing, ends up saying "Screw this, I'm out. Peace!" and decides to leave with Bucky, of all people. Ultimately, this event was a big excuse to And it actually kind of works within the story. Nick Spencer does a good job of not making it obvious that the whole story line is really about that, but once it happened I was like "ohhhhh I get it now".
I did have some problems with the pacing sometimes, and the forced choices made, especially at the end, as far as plot. But overall this was pretty enjoyable and a good Marvel tale.
I liked this, it was good. Probably more of a 3.5 if I could give that extra half star there. I would recommend this for Marvel fans, but probably not the best for new readers as it relies heavily on a lot of stuff that came before it.
In this case, its Maria Hill doing the doing. In a nutshell, SHIELD, led by Hill, manage to make a cosmic cube that "makes itself" into a small girl. They then convince her to build this idyllic town where anyone who lives there gets happy happy lives and everyone smiles and hangs out all day. Turns out that Hill starts bringing in super villains, who are then turned into idyllic members of this town. In other words, completely brainwashed and almost erased - in a weird way. This of course goes all to hell when the villains wake up, are understandably pissed, and calamity ensues. Cue the Avengers.
So the premise is a bit forced and contrived, but the story actually holds up. We get two teams of Avengers, All New All Different and Uncanny, who of course fight when they first see each other, then come together to stop the villains and put the kibosh on Hill's weird mind wipe camp. Kobik, the cosmic cube girl hybrid thing, ends up saying "Screw this, I'm out. Peace!" and decides to leave with Bucky, of all people. Ultimately, this event was a big excuse to And it actually kind of works within the story. Nick Spencer does a good job of not making it obvious that the whole story line is really about that, but once it happened I was like "ohhhhh I get it now".
I did have some problems with the pacing sometimes, and the forced choices made, especially at the end, as far as plot. But overall this was pretty enjoyable and a good Marvel tale.
I liked this, it was good. Probably more of a 3.5 if I could give that extra half star there. I would recommend this for Marvel fans, but probably not the best for new readers as it relies heavily on a lot of stuff that came before it.
January 24, 2025
Look: indie comics are fun and interesting and tell good stories. Big-brand superhero comics from Marvel and DC are appealing not because they're masterly crafted stories or because they say something profound, but rather because they have pretty art and you feel like you're "investing" in something that will continue paying dividends later because the same characters keep appearing hundreds of more times within the comics' ludicrously massive interconnected universes.
Coming to terms with the above fact is something that I am still in the process of, because it took me a long time to realize. It's contrary to my normal habits of consuming only what I hope will be good/worthwhile media.
Anyway, getting at this comic in specific: I've read better (The Vision) and I've read worse (Cataclysm, Ultimate Invasion.) This comic "event" (where you tie in a whole bunch of individual ongoing series to tell one story from a variety of perspectives) actually had a pretty engaging premise of "using a tool to create a false idyllic city where we secretly incarcerate brain-wiped supervillains". The dialogue wasn't too cringe, the plot, while predictable, wasn't terrible, and the various art styles held up in the majority of the series, in my opinion.
I think the biggest thing that gets in this book's way is that it has *so* many little subplots going on all the time, and the recounting of the main plot is split among so many individual comic series, that it makes it hard to follow at times and starts tripping up on its own internal continuity of the order of events. I think they tried to have a *little* too much going on at once, and it made the whole thing start to wobble.
If you're okay with balancing a few too many plot points, I give this book a light recommend of "not important reading, but worth your time." Definitely not a good place to start for new comic readers, but decently fun for Marvel aficionados.
Coming to terms with the above fact is something that I am still in the process of, because it took me a long time to realize. It's contrary to my normal habits of consuming only what I hope will be good/worthwhile media.
Anyway, getting at this comic in specific: I've read better (The Vision) and I've read worse (Cataclysm, Ultimate Invasion.) This comic "event" (where you tie in a whole bunch of individual ongoing series to tell one story from a variety of perspectives) actually had a pretty engaging premise of "using a tool to create a false idyllic city where we secretly incarcerate brain-wiped supervillains". The dialogue wasn't too cringe, the plot, while predictable, wasn't terrible, and the various art styles held up in the majority of the series, in my opinion.
I think the biggest thing that gets in this book's way is that it has *so* many little subplots going on all the time, and the recounting of the main plot is split among so many individual comic series, that it makes it hard to follow at times and starts tripping up on its own internal continuity of the order of events. I think they tried to have a *little* too much going on at once, and it made the whole thing start to wobble.
If you're okay with balancing a few too many plot points, I give this book a light recommend of "not important reading, but worth your time." Definitely not a good place to start for new comic readers, but decently fun for Marvel aficionados.
March 17, 2021
As multi-series crossovers go, this one was pretty good, although (unsurprisingly) a few of the tie-in storylines weren't very relevant to the main story.
August 10, 2019
3.5 Stars
I thought this was good, although there were a few flaws. The basic premise is SHIELD is using a sentient cosmic cube (a little girl) to transform a bunch of supervillians into everday citizens and create a town where they can live a normal everyday life. It's really just a new type of prison, of course. When the villiains start to figure out what's going on, things get bad. Most heroes don't agree with the concept either, so that adds another level of drama. Then when it comes out some of the "villains" in the "prison" are really "good guys", it really "hits the fan". I need to stop using " " so I'll try to abstain for the rest of the review.
To me the core story was pretty cool, with the whole Twlight Zone prison deal. But the sentient cosmic cube girl was weird, and also, a lot of the crossover issues just seem tacked on. That is a problem with many of these big crossovers, but in this case it really stood out.
Overall though, we get some major plot developments that will continue on from here, so it least it wasn't one of those big events where nothing changes. The art was good, and really the story wasn't bad for the most part. One of the better crossover events in my opinion.
I thought this was good, although there were a few flaws. The basic premise is SHIELD is using a sentient cosmic cube (a little girl) to transform a bunch of supervillians into everday citizens and create a town where they can live a normal everyday life. It's really just a new type of prison, of course. When the villiains start to figure out what's going on, things get bad. Most heroes don't agree with the concept either, so that adds another level of drama. Then when it comes out some of the "villains" in the "prison" are really "good guys", it really "hits the fan". I need to stop using " " so I'll try to abstain for the rest of the review.
To me the core story was pretty cool, with the whole Twlight Zone prison deal. But the sentient cosmic cube girl was weird, and also, a lot of the crossover issues just seem tacked on. That is a problem with many of these big crossovers, but in this case it really stood out.
Overall though, we get some major plot developments that will continue on from here, so it least it wasn't one of those big events where nothing changes. The art was good, and really the story wasn't bad for the most part. One of the better crossover events in my opinion.
September 8, 2019
Wow, people don't really seem to like this event!
I thought it was good. I am a Captain America fan and I liked the story, which involved Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. I also really like Maria Hill and she got the chance to actually shine here. She's not perfect, she makes some big mistakes, but she always means good... or at least she means good most of the time.
There are other tie-in stories included here - I don't think they were necessary, but I liked having them, I enjoyed catching up with the bigger marvel universe through them. And Elektra appeared! It was really short, almost a cameo, but I loved seeing her, even for just 3 pages.
I thought it was good. I am a Captain America fan and I liked the story, which involved Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. I also really like Maria Hill and she got the chance to actually shine here. She's not perfect, she makes some big mistakes, but she always means good... or at least she means good most of the time.
There are other tie-in stories included here - I don't think they were necessary, but I liked having them, I enjoyed catching up with the bigger marvel universe through them. And Elektra appeared! It was really short, almost a cameo, but I loved seeing her, even for just 3 pages.
October 10, 2016
La premisa de Nick Spencer es lo más interesante de esta saga al convertir a Maria Hill en la Nick Fury de este nuevo universo Marvel. Destaca el apartado gráfico de Jesus Saiz, Daniel Acuña, Mark Bagley, Ryan Stegman y Marcus To. Muchos números tie-ins innecesarios pecando nuevamente la editorial en que se puede contar lo mismo con menos.
Este evento dejó las semillas de nuevos títulos y relanzamientos, en particular, el polémico Captain America: Steve Rogers.
Este evento dejó las semillas de nuevos títulos y relanzamientos, en particular, el polémico Captain America: Steve Rogers.
December 3, 2017
This was a decent story that was inconsistently told. While that can be normal for a cross over, considering it this only took place over a handful of titles it just made the inconsistent quality stand out more. .
September 21, 2019
6.6 ok. It's a meh tier comic. Isnt really good. Story was fine but it barely hangs on to a 3. Not a good avengers book but an ok comic. Expected much more than what I got from this.
June 7, 2019
Fresh from watching Avengers: Endgame, I was suddenly motivated to read a comic book again since it has been a pretty long time since I last did so. What better way than to read an Avengers comic too? Avengers: Standoff is centred around the Pleasant Hill storyline. With supervillains, it's always the same old story: they are caught, they are released and then they are caught again. Presented with such an everlasting problem, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill comes up with her own solution. Using the Cosmic Cube (which has gained sentience and takes the form of a little girl), Maria creates a small town in Pleasant Hill where villains are implanted with false identities to keep them from returning to their previous lives and instead feel satisfaction at the small-town living they are doing now. When some of the Avengers gets wind of this top secret facility like the three men who have previously held the mantle of Captain America (Steve Rogers, Winter Soldier and Falcon), they embark on a mission to shut this programme down based on the ethics of it. Of course, their job gets a whole lot more difficult when the villains themselves start to regain their memory and see Pleasant Hill as the prison it really is.
Avengers: Standoff definitely taps on an unique storyline about reforming villains by totally reforming their identities. It is actually bittersweet for some of them when they wake up to their true selves, such as when Absorbing Man realises the happiness he felt in his fake life as an ice cream parlour owner was simply based off lies. The exploration of the perspective from 'the other side' does make some of the villains sympathetic given the ordeal they have experienced and awaken from. From the heroes' side however, things get pretty messy given the large number of splinter teams there are from the Avengers which all have their own agendas but eventually come together to team up. There's also the complications with S.H.I.E.L.D Agents whom you can't really say whether are on the good side or the bad side given their whole role in creating this mess in the first place. Along with the whole subplot revolving around the Whisperer (a.k.a Rick Jones) who acts a Edward Snowden on S.H.I.E.L.D. affairs, I feel that if this storyline was tidied up a bit more, it could have been better but I admit that it could be due to my lack of background superhero knowledge which led me to appreciate the appearance of so many characters a little less. 3.5/5
Avengers: Standoff definitely taps on an unique storyline about reforming villains by totally reforming their identities. It is actually bittersweet for some of them when they wake up to their true selves, such as when Absorbing Man realises the happiness he felt in his fake life as an ice cream parlour owner was simply based off lies. The exploration of the perspective from 'the other side' does make some of the villains sympathetic given the ordeal they have experienced and awaken from. From the heroes' side however, things get pretty messy given the large number of splinter teams there are from the Avengers which all have their own agendas but eventually come together to team up. There's also the complications with S.H.I.E.L.D Agents whom you can't really say whether are on the good side or the bad side given their whole role in creating this mess in the first place. Along with the whole subplot revolving around the Whisperer (a.k.a Rick Jones) who acts a Edward Snowden on S.H.I.E.L.D. affairs, I feel that if this storyline was tidied up a bit more, it could have been better but I admit that it could be due to my lack of background superhero knowledge which led me to appreciate the appearance of so many characters a little less. 3.5/5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2023
Pierwsze spore wydarzenie po 'Tajnych Wojnach' nieco zawodzi, przed wszystkim faktem 'rozmycia' fabularnego, bo w zasadzie wielu przetasowań we franczyzie nam nie daje, ale te które się pojawiają są jak najbardziej w porządku.
Bucky Barnes wpada na ślad pewnej intrygi, dlatego wraca na Ziemię z księżyca. W dodatku za sprawą niejakiego Szeptacza do zabawy dołączają Avengers, którym przewodzi nowy Kapitan Ameryka, Sam Wilson. Co ze starym Kapem? On też tu jest, z ramienia SHIELD, bo nie podoba mu się to co robi Maria Hill. A to za jej sprawą powstała inicjatywa Pleasent Hill.
Tajny projekt penitencjarny, do którego powstania użyto Kosmicznej Kostki i samo skorzystanie z niej, to już zapowiedź sporych problemów. A samo miasteczko wydaje się być istną sielanką, gdyby nie fakt, że ludzi są tu aż za bardzo mili dla siebie. Na bank jest tu drugie dno... I okazuje się ono całkiem niezłym pomysłem, tyle ż słabo wykorzystanym. Bo fabuła sprowadza całość do kolejnego mordobicia. W dodatku przeciętnego.
Żeby nie było - ja bawiłem się tu całkiem nieźle, tyle że ponad czterysta stronicowe już z objętości może wymęczyć, zwłaszcza że lwia część zbieraniny to zeszyty z innych serii w ramach polskiego Marvel Now 2.0, nawet z serii, które nie są wydawane na naszym rynku, więc zagubienie w trakcie lektury jest jak najbardziej uzasadnione. Bo skąd tu ci New Avengers czy Uncanny Avengers w takim składzie? Co za Iluminati i to nawet nie ci z poprzednich serii? Już o Wyjącym Komando SHIELD czy amerykańskim "kajdżu" nie wspominając...
Impas: Atak na Pleasant Hill miejscami jest bardzo niekompetentny i tylko wątek Kapitana Ameryki i jego przyjaciół daje tutaj radę, stanowiąc przyczynę wytrwania w całym tym miszmaszu. I już pal go licho, że style poszczególnych zeszytów pasują do siebie jak pięść do nosa (choć kreski są tu naprawdę porządne - taki mocny standard branży). Sytuację ratuje kilka poważnych zmian w układzie dotychczasowych sił, które dotyczą to jednego Kapitana Ameryki czy postaci, którą możecie znać z serii Anihilacja...
Pierwszy crossover polskiego Marvel NOW! 2.0. to średniak z momentami, ale zanim się do nich przebrnie, trzeba przetrwać kilka średnio interesujących zeszytów plus oferujący udział sporej maści herosów. Reszta może sobie spokojnie darować lekturę, zwłaszcza jeżeli macie za sobą wydarzenia z poprzedniej serii Marvel NOW! Wydawca ostatnio nie ma 'ręki' do swoich wiodących wydarzeń...
Bucky Barnes wpada na ślad pewnej intrygi, dlatego wraca na Ziemię z księżyca. W dodatku za sprawą niejakiego Szeptacza do zabawy dołączają Avengers, którym przewodzi nowy Kapitan Ameryka, Sam Wilson. Co ze starym Kapem? On też tu jest, z ramienia SHIELD, bo nie podoba mu się to co robi Maria Hill. A to za jej sprawą powstała inicjatywa Pleasent Hill.
Tajny projekt penitencjarny, do którego powstania użyto Kosmicznej Kostki i samo skorzystanie z niej, to już zapowiedź sporych problemów. A samo miasteczko wydaje się być istną sielanką, gdyby nie fakt, że ludzi są tu aż za bardzo mili dla siebie. Na bank jest tu drugie dno... I okazuje się ono całkiem niezłym pomysłem, tyle ż słabo wykorzystanym. Bo fabuła sprowadza całość do kolejnego mordobicia. W dodatku przeciętnego.
Żeby nie było - ja bawiłem się tu całkiem nieźle, tyle że ponad czterysta stronicowe już z objętości może wymęczyć, zwłaszcza że lwia część zbieraniny to zeszyty z innych serii w ramach polskiego Marvel Now 2.0, nawet z serii, które nie są wydawane na naszym rynku, więc zagubienie w trakcie lektury jest jak najbardziej uzasadnione. Bo skąd tu ci New Avengers czy Uncanny Avengers w takim składzie? Co za Iluminati i to nawet nie ci z poprzednich serii? Już o Wyjącym Komando SHIELD czy amerykańskim "kajdżu" nie wspominając...
Impas: Atak na Pleasant Hill miejscami jest bardzo niekompetentny i tylko wątek Kapitana Ameryki i jego przyjaciół daje tutaj radę, stanowiąc przyczynę wytrwania w całym tym miszmaszu. I już pal go licho, że style poszczególnych zeszytów pasują do siebie jak pięść do nosa (choć kreski są tu naprawdę porządne - taki mocny standard branży). Sytuację ratuje kilka poważnych zmian w układzie dotychczasowych sił, które dotyczą to jednego Kapitana Ameryki czy postaci, którą możecie znać z serii Anihilacja...
Pierwszy crossover polskiego Marvel NOW! 2.0. to średniak z momentami, ale zanim się do nich przebrnie, trzeba przetrwać kilka średnio interesujących zeszytów plus oferujący udział sporej maści herosów. Reszta może sobie spokojnie darować lekturę, zwłaszcza jeżeli macie za sobą wydarzenia z poprzedniej serii Marvel NOW! Wydawca ostatnio nie ma 'ręki' do swoich wiodących wydarzeń...
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