By WARNING: Spoilers about the end of Civil War are in this post.
You know what pushes my hot button? When it seems like comics writers haven't read anything about their characters. You don't have to be a slave to continuity, but shouldn't you at least fucking pay attention to some basic tenants? New Avengers 25 is about an ex-Stark employee who shuts down Stark Tower and Iron Man's armor. That would be fine, if Tony Stark gave the Iron Man designs to a division of geeks and said, "Here, go build this while I screw Salma Hayek!" Except that he didn't. Every Iron Man story where a new set of armor was built had Stark doing the whole project alone. While it seems impossible, Stark did have a freakin' laboratory and manufacturing center in his mansion--he's as rich as Bill Gates in the Marvel Universe. Stark's current armor is tied to the Extremis nanobot technology that Warren Ellis conceived. This idea would have worked better if Maya Hansen (the Extremis designer) figured out the weakness in her invention and attacked Stark. So, even though this issue features terrific artwork by Jimmy Chueng and witty dialogue by Bendis, I flub the entire foundation of this story.
Here's one good thing about New Avengers 25: Maria Hill is less of a bitch and more of a well rounded character. I liked her for the first time. Bendis does write good women characters. The ending proves that Rich Johnston's scoop from a couple of weeks ago was correct: when Civil War is over, Tony Stark will be the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (click on the above image to expand it). Johnston says the above image is the cover to Iron Man #15. Marvel's own solicitations reveal that She-Hulk will be joining S.H.I.E.L.D. in her own series. As I've said before, I just can't imagine Tony Stark working for the government, but let's see what they do with the concept. How can he run S.H.I.E.L.D. and lead the Mighty Avengers at the same time? Nuff said.
