Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill #1 was an invigorating start to the latest Marvel event, as despite the creative team leaving a lot to explore within the main event itself, this prelude would give us a taste of what's to come. It would also give us some intriguing twists, deserving a place on anyone's pull list. Read Full Review

As exhausting as it is to think Marvel is already launching into a new crossover event, Avengers Standoff is showing plenty of promise at this early stage. The political nature to the conflict and the mystery behind the nature of Pleasant Hill both combine to form a compelling conflict. The real question is whether this event can sustain itself as it draws in other books and other creative teams. Read Full Review

Overall, I really enjoyed this opening chapter. Maria Hill has absolutely no idea aboutthe world of trouble she has coming to her when Pleasant Hill is exposed. I can think of two star spangled heroes in particular who will not take this lightly. This story will be carrying over various Avengers titles, so I just hope that things stay on course and don't get lost on the way to the finale. Read Full Review

Secret Wars started out with a bang, but lost steam for me after delays and what I felt was unnecessary padding. Event fatigue is a real thing, and for a book to get my dollars these days, it has to provide something substantial along with the flash and sizzle. Pleasant Hill is a Pleasant Surprise. I wasn't expecting to enjoy the book as much as I did. At its center is a very serious dilemma involving human rights and a hook that has me invested for the rest of this crossover. Give it a try. Read Full Review

I'm slightly annoyed at the end of the book, because so much of what I thought turned out to be misdirection, but that is half the fun of the story. Otherwise, it's a great adventure with a lot left open to look forward to in the following volumes. It's not a book that really knocked my socks off, but I had no complaints either. A solid read, light enough to entertain new and old fans alike. Read Full Review

Both Bagley and Spencer play up this clever deception with the introduction of another character, whose seemingly sloppy attempt to conceal his identity is another crafty misdirection that embellishes the issue's eventual payoff. Before the premise can get tiring, Spencer unveils the nature of the Pleasant Hill, partially revealing what has transpired but still leaving plenty to tell. For now, though, Spencer and Bagley have grabbed readers with a familiar premise that's surprisingly fresh and refreshingly surprising in "Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill" #1. Read Full Review

Avengers: Standoff Welcome to Pleasant Hill #1 isn't so much about what happens in the pages of this comic, it's about what it is setting up for other comics. As a standalone, this comic might be a bit of a disappointment, as it has the Avengers branded on the cover, but no one bellows out our favorite battle cry. Rather, this is the start of a sixteen-part, eight-title crossover that will continue through April. This is chapter one of a larger, longer adventure. Spencer, Bagley, and company do a nice job preparing us all, but by the time readers see that final page, they won't be reflecting much on what they've just read, but will, instead, be looking forward to what's to come and what all of this means to the greater Marvel Universe. Read Full Review

The art by Mark Bagley is solid in its storytelling and does a nice job of keeping it exciting despite the majority of the issue being light on super heroics and costumes. Bagley's tenure with super hero comics shows just how easy he makes a story like this look. I'm not the biggest of Bagley fans, but he's such a solid go-to artist and I appreciate his abilities to tell a clear story with emotion and heart. Avengers Standoff has me interested in what's ahead with Marvels' next event, even though that event feels like it's coming on way too soon. Read Full Review

They say big things have small beginnings, and Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill #1 is proof of that. As Marvel primes for the summer event season, Nick Spencer, Mark Bagley, Scott Hanna and Paul Mounts quietly light the fuse with a weird, Orwellian tale set in a world populated with gods and madmen. This debut issue revels in the unexpected and in a market dominated by sprawling action sequences and a hesitation to color outside the lines in terms of plot, it is a long overdue shift. Welcome to Pleasant Hill, gentle readers, and may you never, ever leave. Read Full Review

It may only be the prelude to Marvel's upcoming 15 issue crossover event. But it is done with the soul of spy-organization S.H.I.E.L.D. Definitely worth the pick up! Read Full Review

Most importantly, Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill #1 is additive; it leaves the Marvel Universe slightly different than before and it is also acomplete and satisfying read. No decompression here, just a one and done mystery that ends with a bang that will make any classic Marvel fan very happy. Read Full Review

Something big is about to happen in the Marvel Universe. With a prologue that lights the fuse on a big powder keg, you won't want to miss the groundwork being laid out here. Nick Spencer and Mark Bagley set up the idea of Pleasant hill nicely, and you can see just how bad things could get. What made this issue really enjoyable was having no idea what to expect and reading the reveal or twist before getting spoiled. Find out what Pleasant Hill is all about. Once you visit, you'll probably find you can't leave this special place. It'll be very very interesting to see how this complete story plays out. Get ready for some serious stuff about to be unleashed upon the Marvel Universe. Read Full Review

I wasn't sure what to make of this at first, but it won my interest by the end. It's a great concept and plot. Bagley's art lacks appeal but services the story just fine, there isn't much I'd call out on it in technical execution.

This book is really weird. Its like Pleasantville meets The Truman Show meets some weird Twilight Zone episode, set in the Marvel Universe. I love the artwork on this book, and the story really does keep you guessing until the end. I liked how it ties back into whatever issue that was where we see S.H.I.E.L.D. being called on the carpet for their device that allows them to manipulate all of time and space (which comes into play in this issue, along with some other stuff that I am sure will get touched on in basically ALL of the other tie-in issues for Standoff). I liked the way this entire issue read, but the big splashy reveal at the end took me right out of it, and dropped this book out of contention for “Pick of the Week” for me. So here comes the **SPOILERS** because **SPOILERS** at the end of the issue who we think is Bucky ends up being Baron Zemo, and the Tony Stark looking dude is actually Fixer, someone I don’t actually know at all. So while it seemed like SHIELD and Maria Hill went about neutralizing the fringe good guys who she thought were bad, it seems like she’s picking up ACTUAL bad guys and transforming them into Pleasantville versions of “normal” people. My problem is that when Fixer and Zemo are revealed, they are BOTH in full supervillain garb. Isn’t this an idea that should have been shot down immediately? “Hey, why don’t we transform murderous villains into normies and leave them with their masks, armor and weapons? Who cares, because they wont EVER get turned back into baddies, so their fully loaded and holstered weapons will be useless. No need to waste time and money stripping them of their costumes and weapons and fitting them with bright orange prison jumpsuits AND ABSOLUTELY NO weapons… that would be so silly…” TAKE THEIR FREAKING GUNS AWAY! Are you kidding me??? Maria Hill is pretty off the mark on some things, but this one doesn’t seem like anything she should be overlooking. I understand that Zemo needs his mas more

I don't know it just seemed kinda lame. This comic just feels like an Orwell Bradbury love child that is just not as good as their parents were. I don't know but hopefully Standoff picks up fast. I know their is going to be an awesome cast of returning good guys and really bad bad guys but I just wish it had a little more umph. Plus the art of Bagley is just too underwhelming. I was hoping for the best but got a bad sci-fi movie.