4. The Constant Bait N Switch
I actually quite liked the Event once it started. It began promisingly after the invasion by Ultron and after the heroes had been defeated. It was an interesting take, bypassing the excessive superhero action and seeing how our favourite characters dealt with loss and defeat. Even though after the initial dazzle wore off and the issues (specifically 3 and 4) began to drag their heels as is Bendis wont I was still invested in the storyline. The glimpses of other heroes struggles on the West Coast and in Chicago followed by the exodus from New York to the Savage Land, made for a compelling narrative now that the disparate pieces were together, the fight back can begin! But it never happened. Issue 6 sees us abandon the main storyline for the time travel nonsense. So we follow two new story threads with one taking place in the future, and the other taking place in the past - except the one in the future is quickly abandoned after one issue. The one in the past leads to another story thread, the alternate dimension story where Stark is ruler of the world - but this storyline is also abandoned after 2 and a bit issues! So were now onto a completely different story thread with Wolverine going back into the past again to stop himself from killing Hank Pym and changing the future one final time. The constant baitnswitching Bendis plays with in this Event is too much and feels like a number of random storylines cobbled together rather than one coherent narrative. It becomes tiresome to constantly try to engage with one storyline only to have it discarded for another. And another. And another. Each time it restarts, you care a little less until, by the end, you dont care at all.