Avengers A.I. #2

Writer:  Sam Humphries

Art:  Andre Lima Araujo, Frank D’armata

Get Caught Up...

Spinning out of Age of Ultron, Hank Pym leads a team of A.I. based Avengers against technological threats.  The current threat, Dimitrios, is an A.I. seemingly created from the virus that Hank Pym installed to defeat Ultron.  And there’s a mysterious girl, but isn’t there always?

What’s Good?

Hank Pym is a great character.  It is nice to see this side of him, seemingly having a good time with his station in life.  It is a welcome refresher from the brooding Yellow Jacket character we’ve seen since Civil War.  Humphries shines in his dialogue.  I love his interactions with his team.  That cohesion, especially this early a new series’ run, goes a long way to making the story accessible.

The Doombot is probably my favorite character of this series.  It has a great hubris attached to it that one would definitely associate with a being linked to Victor Von Doom.  He plays well in this installment, and I enjoyed his interaction with the sentinel.

 

The art is the high point of this series.  Aruajo has a great interpretation of Vision.  He toes the line between man and machine very well.  The concept of this book is strange, with various human and non-human characters, so maintaining differences between the two is of big importance.  The art team handles this responsibility well.

 

 

What’s Not So Good?

The overall impression of Avengers A.I. is not as good as the sum of its parts.  There are many good aspects, but the manner in which they are put together feels very disjointed.  Humphries succeeded with the heroes, but failed with the villains.  Dimitrios is uninspired and flat.  I find it hard to care about his existence, and that of his associates.

I’m not sure what the deal with Alexis is, and I’m not sure that I even care.  She doesn’t spark any interest in me, and any curiosity I had from her debut last issue was squandered in this issue.  She’s mysterious, yes, and somehow connected to Dimitrious, but she doesn’t draw the reader in.

I’m not a fan of how Araujo draws Victor Mancha.  He seems overly wide.  I’m not sure if it’s Araujo’s approach or the costume design, but it doesn’t work.  Some of the panels seemed rushed

 

The Verdict...

This book is on the chopping block for me, but I’ll finish out the current storyline.  The charm from the first installment is gone, but the characters I enjoy and the solid art will keep me around for at least that long.

Oh, Yeah, And...

I’d much rather be seeing a Mark Waid scripted series like the Age of Ultron A.I. one-shot that led into this series.  However, this is definitely a “feeder” book where talent is built up.  Humphries has been around for a little while, making a name for himself in the Ultimate universe, mainly.  He’s been given a chance with this title and the latest incarnation of Uncanny X-Force.  Neither title does much to forward the plot of the family of titles, but serves well to develop the talent associated with the book to see if they have what it takes to get to the next level.