This book tears me like no other.  If it was a book that I felt intense satisifaction with, I’d keep buying and no problem.  If it was terrible, again no problem, I’d just drop it and move on.  However, this book is something of a mixed bag of good and bad and that irks me.  It irks me more than sheer bad.  It gives me my Doom fix and that’s good.  On the other hand, it stars my new bane of existence King of Everything Norman Osborn and that’s bad.  It has Sentry do stuff and that’s good.  On the other hand, it has Sentry being Sentry and that’s bad.  It has snappy Bendisisms and that’s good.  On the other hand, these Bendisisms come out indiscriminately out of every Avenger, leaving each character without voice or distinction.  I don’t know if I’ll be picking up this book after this arc is over and Doom leaves the scene.

This issue perfectly encapsulates my feelings.  On one hand, we have what we’ve all been waiting for with the Sentry which is to resolve the Void thread and have Bob be the Sentry.  On the other, it’s a scene that’s tainted both by its ridiculous lateness in Bob’s story and by the fact that all that really happens is that Osborn basically just says “You don’t have to worry about the Void and Bob more or less goes “Really?! Cool!” and moves on.  The threat is big and grandiose but it begs the question; if Le Fay is so powerful to turn Ares to stone and explode the Sentry… why is this battle lasting more than five seconds and why is she wasting her time going with the “generic demonic monster fight” plan to defeat these guys?  The art is decent enough in paneling and composition but I’m getting a little tired of Osborn doing the Superman pose and every female jetting their giant boobs out in cheesecake poses (I’ll admit the cheesecake was minimal this issue).

I honestly don’t really know what to think of this book.  I think parts work and parts don’t and it bothers me that the book doesn’t seem to be either good or bad for me, but some fluctuation between the two.  I think, if anything, a lot of the good comes in the execution and a lot of the bad comes in the entrenched ridiculousness of the premise in my mind.  That might mean this’ll eventually slide into the bad category as it goes on but it’s too early to tell.  Still, we got epic Doom next issue so I’m on board for that.