Avengers #8 Is Concept-Driven But Flashes A Few Flaws

By Josh Davison

The Avengers succeeded in fighting back the Final Host and capturing Loki. The remaining Celestial host capture and extract the Final Host and raised their fallen brother to be a mountain at the top of the North Pole. The Avengers turn this into their new headquarters, and Ghost Rider just arrived for their first official meeting. Doctor Strange is wary of joining the team, She-Hulk’s powers are on the fritz, Iron Man and Captain Marvel still have problems to hash out, and the Black Panther is having the nation of Wakanda renovate the interior of the Celestial for Avengers usage.
I mentioned many times my adoration for the Avengers while contributing to my previous outlet, but I’m making it apparent for you wonderful readers of Comicon that I absolutely love the Avengers. They are my favorite superhero team, and they make up the majority of both my single issue and trade paperback collections.
I was excited for this current run under writer Jason Aaron. However, something has been missing since issue one, and, with the admittedly awesome space odyssey of fighting the Celestials complete, the comic’s flaws become clearer.

The dialogue stands as a major point of frustration. It’s not consistently bad, but the weak lines fail pretty hard. There is also just a lot of dialogue, much of which does little to add to the plot or characters.
I honestly hate to complain about this comic. I love the Avengers, I love much of Aaron’s work, and the great David Marquez and Justin Ponsor duo apply their artistic talents to this issue. The book looks great, with the excellent and unique detailing of Marquez being backed up by the vibrant color palette of Ponsor.
I dig the hell out of the concept of this issue, too. I love these status quo-building installments that set up what the team will be like, where the headquarters are located, and who will be the leader.
Avengers #8 has a lot going for it, but it flatlines at numerous points in the dialogue and progresses glacially. The humor is weak at many points too. The Avengers lover like myself will certainly get some enjoyment out of the book, and it’s not a bad jumping-on point for those who are new to this series. That said, I can only tentatively recommend checking it out due to its troubles.
Avengers #8 comes courtesy of writer Jason Aaron, artist David Marquez, color artist Justin Ponsor, letterer VC’s Cory Petit, cover artists Marquez and Ponsor, variant color artists Mike McKone with Chris Sotomayor and Philip Tan with Marte Gracia, and graphic designer Carlos Lao. The Avengers were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The comic is published by Marvel Comics and is available today for $3.99.