re: Avengers AOU Tomatometer Watch Thread - 79%

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I am. People will come around. Crossovers have always been money grabs

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Well, team books are different than crossovers. I do agree that the Avengers is inherently less interesting than Captain America or Iron Man's individual titles. It just doesn't lend itself to better stories, except when they are doing something truly grand (like the Kree-Skrull War).

And I know that crossovers get derided as money grabs, and they can be, but Marvel has been real good about having high quality Events and also the tie-ins are non-essential. I mean, you can read the Crossover without ever picking up a title you normally don't follow and still keep up.

I mean, Bendis gets a ton of crap for his Events, but they have been, by and large, pretty great. and the actual comic (not counting all of the tie-ins) has been tightly plotted and fun. I mean, this is a pretty stout run: Avengers Disassembled, Secret War, House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, Siege, Fear Itself.

Now, it ran out of gas towards the end, and there's a bit of killing the goose that laid the golden egg (there's a lot of smaller events in there that no one gave a crap about). But the only time the Avengers are essential is WHEN there is a massive crossover. Otherwise, its just the cool kids preeening and stroking their egos.

I do like how Marvel stressed that this all one shared universe, but it's better if a character just pops in a solo title and then goes away. Like Tony Stark showing up to hook up Hawkeye's TV (Best. Cameo. Ever.) Or She-Hulk representing Captain America in court against Daredevil (all out of costume). It stresses the bonds, but still focuses on the character who is the focus of the story. The Avengers just gets muddled.