Jerry Ordway's Run on AVENGERS
A few quick thoughts by Van Plexico

Y'know, I thought I'd have more to say about this.  I was fairly excited to see another writer/artist, whose work I respected (though I've never been a huge fan-- just not a SHAZAM guy, I guess) have a crack at my favorite comic.  Somehow, it seemed at the time that maybe having a three issue fill-in would just make those Busiek/Perez issues all the sweeter when they resumed-- not to mention giving Kurt and George a chance to catch their breath and give us even better stuff.

So I had a fairly open mind when I picked up the first of the JO issues. 

And you know, it wasn't half-bad.  I mean, I've seen a fair amount of criticism of it (and the other two) on the Net, but really, stacked up against the current status quo of the book, a fill-in run can only come across as something of a letdown.  Truth be told, the JO issues were not that bad.  The third one, in particular, I found fairly enjoyable. 

Put it this way-- think if these issues had come along in the midst of HEROES REBORN or the CROSSING.  We'd all be salivating over them bigtime.  I like to think of them as a Wendy's burger in between bites of New York Strip steak.

And we had some nice moments-- appearances by Monica and the Black Knight (with a nice touch of character-based humor there), an appropriately brief return of Carol Danvers's original costume (nice to see again, but I wouldn't want it to replace what is arguably the coolest female costume in all of comics, that being the black one), a visit to Arkon's world, and some nice action and general adventure.  We even saw some damage dealt to Vance-- something I would never object to (I find Vance fairly important for the story Kurt's telling, but as a character in his own right, he leaves me completely cold.   Maybe if he and Firestar would just make out or something-- heck, at least put your arm around her or something, kid!  She's the hottest "cold fish" I've ever seen, but at least she manages to be likeable now and then!)

I seem to have found more to say about these issues than I expected.  They were fine-- they entertained me, didn't do any damage at all, and made me miss Kurt and George.   So-- onward and upward!  BRING ON ULTRON!!!

--Van Plexico