New Avengers #41 Review

NEW AVENGERS #41
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Billy Tan

Everytime I get excited for a chapter in the ongoing Secret Invasion saga, I almost always end up coming away disappointed. Unfortunately, this issue is more of the same.

Previews featured a great scene between Spider-Man, Ka-zar and Sheena Shanna post-T-Rex party crasher from Secret Invasion #2. It basically took the Skrull nonsense and flipped it on its ear with a tongue in cheek bit of banter from Spider-Man as he is convinced Ka-zar's wife is named Sheena, despite both Plunders claiming she's Shanna. It was a nice bit of slapstick that really sold me on picking this issue up.

Sadly, the previews are about all we see of Spider-Man and company. After their little bit of fun, we get an abrupt scene change, one I missed the small, "Months ago", text box in the corner of before doing a double back to figure out what was going on, and goes off into the past to disclose what was happening in the Savage Land back during the opening arc of New Avengers, as if anyone cared what Ka-zar and Shanna were doing.

For some reason, Bendis decided we needed to know in intricate detail what was going on at that point in time and, for those people in the back row that haven't figured it out yet, tells us that the SHIELD agents that attacked and tried to kill the New Avengers before nuking the vibranium site and erasing all evidence of their existence are, indeed, Skrulls. You can't see it, but I'm shocked right now. I didn't see that coming. Not in a million years. /sarcasm off

After 15 pages or so of seeing the same scenes from New Avengers #1-6 from the angle of Ka-zar and company, we get back to the present day and have "Captain America" emerge from the jungle in another "shocking" cliffhanger that has probably no one waiting in anticipation.

Verdict - Avoid It. I can't see anyone benefitting from this. If you didn't know the SHIELD agents from the first arc of New Avengers were Skrulls by now, turn in your comic fan badges at the front desk, do not pass go and do not collect $200. The opening couple pages of laughs did not justify my wasting $3 on this unnecessary story and, while I haven't been thrilled by most of the SI tie-ins, I haven't felt ripped off or out right regretted any of them like I did this one either.

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New Avengers #40 Review

NEW AVENGERS #40
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Jim Cheung

This comic, by all accounts, should have floored me. It has great art, does its best to explain the Skrulls invasion efforst and reveals potentially one of the biggest Skrull sleeper agents in the Marvel Universe.

However, like last week's Mighty Avengers, I feel complete and utter disinterest. With the exception of the reveal at the last page, there was no big science or magic answer to how the Skrulls are undetectable or even plausible explanations as to how they can mimic brain patterns or have the same memories as who they are impersonating. The explanation given is "they just do" because they have the Illuminati's DNA. In the end, and I freely admit this is probably just me, for whatever reason, it just feels like Bendis repeating his interviews and the characters and story is just repeating everything he's said before about prophecies and how they're sleeper agents and so on.

The story of this issue features nothing but Skrulls, making me wonder about the completely random homage cover. They could have did an excellent Skrull related cover without the cover that has no baring on the issue's story, but I digress.

From the get go, we are introduced to the Skrull Princess Veranke, shortly after the Illuminati escape many years ago, and she is immediately set up as the religious fanatic, proclaiming about prophets and coming disasters, such as Galactus and the Annihilation Wave. The current Emperor silences her and has her abandonned on another planet. She's the same one we saw in the opening pages of Secret Invasion.

As we go, we see random scientific advancements in regards to the Illuminati's DNA and cloning before a shot of Galactus' destruction of the Skrull homeworld several years ago. This leads the Skrulls back to the former princess, who's prophecies have all come true, and she becomes the new Queen.

This leads to the final "explanation" of how they are undetectible and the introduction of the first new "Super Skrull", who I assume was Black Bolt's imposter or they all just look alike. Skrullektra shows up, as well, and explains her random contacts with Nick Fury, Daredevil and several others. Not sure if those are actual events that happened or just made up meetings. Finally, the Queen, herself, demands to be inducted into the program and asks for the most prominent and potentially destructive position and who she would have to replace. The final page shows the file brought up of Spider-Woman, implying, since this is in the past, that our Spider-Woman has been a fake, probably since she got her powers back. That's my best guess, at least.

My lack of interest doesn't stop me from seeing this is a great comic, when you get down to it, and I recommend it to anyone that's even remotely interested in Secret Invasion, but the only way I can describe my feelings for this issue is a big, "meh", of indifference. I really can't explain why I'm getting almost no enjoyment out of this. I don't hate it, like, say, Countdown, but I'm more or less running on "collector mode" now instead of buying it for enjoyment.

Verdict - Must Read. Despite my misgivings, I think the background information on the Skrulls, Elektra and the reveal of Spider-Woman, coupled with incredible art, make this a Must Read for just about everyone but me.

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New Avengers #39 Review

NEW AVENGERS #39
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by David Mack

Up until now, I had been on the fence with the whole Secret Invasion / Skrull nonsense. I was intrigued, but pretty much all the suspense and hype for it was coming from Bendis in interviews. Not once did I feel like the book actually reflected any kind of Skrull threat and what little there was seemed to be the exact words Bendis was using to promote the book on Newsarama, Jinxworld and the numerous other comic sites. The ending to the Illuminati series was the first time I thought this could actually be really cool.

However, this issue killed any kind of interest I have in the book or upcoming event. I'll probably still pick it up, as I'm that guy buying all the crap events, bitching about not buying them anymore and then going right back for more. But that doesn't change the fact this issue consists of Bendis disguised as Wolverine and Echo and preaching his Skrull speech for an entire issue.

I usually enjoy the whole Bendis-speak, where every character magically has the same sense of humour and verbosity, but this issue wasn't like that. It was Marvel characters with Bendis' words coming out their mouth. It felt like I was reading every piece of promotional propaganda that Bendis has spewed out over the last year or so. It's like he finally realized the so called event is starting next month and there is literally no build up other than one random Skrull body the team ran across in Japan.

It feels like everyone is drinking the kool-aid and I'm the only one still standing with the full cup. Where is this threat? Where is the proof or even an inkling of a Skrull invasion? How are they getting an event out of this?

This issue goes way out of its way to prove this point by having Echo, who doesn't really believe in the whole invasion thing, take off from the hideout to go patrol or something (it never explains where she's going, seeing as she doesn't have a home or place to go other than the base) and conveniently runs into a Skrull Daredevil imposter. This imposter, who has Cyclops' optic blast, Nightcrawler's teleportation and Human Torch's flames, among other things, can't take down Echo, even after telling her she's just a human and has no chance. When Wolverine shows up, it just becomes a joke of a threat and the Skrull has to actually run away from two relatively unpowered heroes, in comparison. This makes a believer out of Echo and I guess I'm supposed to buy into this whole invasion now, too.

The only thing I actually liked here was the nod to Echo being deaf. It seems Bendis has been reading fan outcry over the whole Echo "hearing" things when she can't see the person's lips moving and he put a scene in here where Wolverine tried to tell her something and he even points out she can't hear him. It could have been a simple way to show she's not a Skrull as well, but I'm not sure I'm going to give him that much credit for this.

Verdict - Check It. It's not that this is outright bad or not worth reading, but the sudden shift in tone and the feel that this is just Bendis trying to hype his, as of right now, non-event by having the characters spout the same garbage he's been saying all year long in magazines and online. Just felt like he was reaching in a desparate attempt to say, "Look at me! SKRULLS! INVASION! See how crazy this is! Big event coming and the heroes are scared, you should be too!". It might just be me, though, so your mileage may vary.

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New Avengers #38 Review

NEW AVENGERS #38
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Michael Gaydos

First up, the art is terrible. Gaydos is trying to channel the old Alias style here, but something got lost in translation, possibly the colouring or inking, because this is an abomination. Some of the scenes look good, specifically the opening Alias office section, but just look at some of the characters, such as Ares, who looks like he's going to eat Cage's baby.

Despite the art, I found myself liking the issue. You either love Bendis speak or you hate it and I almost always enjoy reading his character driven pieces. However, I can't understand the position he has Luke taking. Secret home gets destroyed, baby nearly killed as 20 or so villains attack, they have no where else to go and she doesn't even know if her husband survived, so she takes the baby to Avengers Tower and registers so she can protect her child. Luke treats her like she's a nazi or something for protecting their kid. Everything she says to him is perfectly reasonable and it makes no sense for him to treat her the way he does.

Of note, Spider-Man is back in the red and blues, meaning New Avengers has entered Brand New Day's timeline. I still don't know if WWH happened yet in this book, as Avengers Tower is still standing. Marvel's timeline is so messed up these days.

Also, the scene with Iron Fist explaining the new apartment / hideout the team has was great. Loved the reaction to it being the Leader's apartment as everyone needs a refresher course on who he is and why they should care and the full page spread of it all clicking for everyone as to who he actually is.

Verdict - Check It

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New Avengers Annual #2 Review

NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL #2
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Carlo Pagulayan

This was a great fight issue, but there really isn't anything to say. Hood and his goons show up at Strange's place, remove barrier, brawl ensues, Avengers win. The end. There's some freaky stuff like Hood 'killing' Strange and Strange later reviving in some demonic trance and owning everyone before leaving the team to relearn magic or something, but, for the most part, heroes are fighting villains, there's some Bendis speak and the issue ends with most of them captured and the Hood managing to escape. He appears to be talking to some advisor and I believe it's either his cousin, which seems unlikely, or a Skrull of some kind.

The art really made this issue and I don't think Yu could have handled this nearly as well. Solid ending to this storyline and a great issue.

Verdict - Must Read

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New Avengers #37 Review

NEW AVENGERS #37
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Leinil Francis Yu

Ugh, I don't know what's gotten into Bendis lately, but his choice to tell the last couple issues in a past tense retellings of events we never actually see is annoying and really detracts from the story. Oh ya, before anyone asks, that cliffhanger with all the random heroes was just an illusion by Dr Strange.

Also, these street level Avengers manage to take out all the villains without breaking a sweat. Yes, Luke Cage, a man who's power is that he has unbreakable skin, manages to take down Asgardian-level villains like the Wrecker. Other Wrecking Crew members are taken down by people like Wolverine and so on. Even with said illusions, the New Avengers shouldn't have been able to physically hurt these guys, yet manage to take everyone down with relative ease.

If Bendis' job was to downplay any credability or threat these villains posed, then mission accomplished, I don't care about them at all anymore and the upcoming Annual will be a pointless issue if you ask me as I expect the exact same thing that happened here. Bendis should see the recent Daredevil issue to see how a street level character would fare out against someone like the Wrecker.

Only thing I enjoyed this issue was the Dr Strange / Hood encounter. I liked how Bendis played up the whole demon aspect of the Hood with Dr Strange's mysticism and I'm curious to see if this is ever followed up on.

Verdict - Avoid It. It's hard to put into words how bad the narrative of this issue is, but if you read last month's symbiote recap issue by Luke Cage, imagine something worse and you'll almost understand how bad this was.

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New Avengers #36 Review

NEW AVENGERS # 36
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Francis Yu

I'm not sure what to make of this issue. Last issue I expected a big Venom symbiote battle royale crossover with the Mighty Avengers and I got a neat, villains point of view tale showing what The Hood has been up to. That issue ended with the symbiote outbreak on the television screen and left me thinking we'd finally get to see that storyline play out. I thought wrong.

Apparently, Bendis has no intentions of doing the symbiote story in the pages of New Avengers. All we got was a story filled with random flashback dialogue between Luke and Jessica. To say I came away a little disappointed is a bit of an understatement. I guess I can expect to see that story in a few months when Cho finally finishes Mighty Avengers #6 and they pump out Bagley's issues? Bendis writes both books and he knew this story wouldn't be play out for a while due to Cho. He should never have included the New Avengers in it if he had no intention of giving us the full story anytime soon.

As for the rest of the issue, Wolverine's "interrogation" of Spider-Woman was a little underwhelming. It's pretty much everything you'd expect with no major surprises. Wolverine asks what she did with the body. She tells him she gave it to Tony. They banter back and forth about Skrulls and Wolverine leaves. Decent scene, but I think they made too big a deal about it in previews and with the cover.

The remainder of the issue deals with the New Avengers tracking down The Hood and his stolen money from last issue. The team sees they are completely underpowered in comparison to the caliber of super-villains The Hood has assembled and it's pretty obvious that Dr Strange has conjured up a spell at the end of the issue to make it appear like just about every hero in the Marvel Universe is present for this attack.

Verdict - Check It. It's a fairly average outing this month. No major developments and it feels like Bendis is holding back all the major plots as he waits for Mighty Avengers to get back on track.

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New Avengers #35 Review

NEW AVENGERS #35
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Leinil Francis Yu

Stupid cover and complete lack of 'Venomerine'. How could they waste such a cover on a talking heads book that does not even feature Wolverine or freaking symbiotes? ARGH, I hate shit like this. I pity the people that got suckered into buying this based on the cover alone as you were completely ripped off.

For the rest of us, however, we were treated to a villain's talking head issue. Unlike the typical hero version, this one comes off as a pleasant surprise and was handled quite well. It basically shows how The Hood became this new "kingpin of supervillains" and building of his new organization.

I really enjoyed The Hood miniseries by Vaughn several years back and this issue really did a good job of building upon what Vaughn started. Hood's rise to power was handled superbly and never felt forced. These D-listers he has assembled have all experienced their share of humiliations and with the various perks Hood has already shown them, such as the $25,000 joining bonus, I could see any of them joining up and working for him.

Bendis has gone on record saying he hates the Tigra character and I was a bit concerned when the solicits listed this as something horrible happening to her. I have no real affinity for Tigra, but comic book deaths for the sake of having a death typically piss me off. I was happy to see Bendis didn't go this route, even though Tigra did get a beat down from The Hood while Jigsaw, who Tigra embarrassed while breaking up his robbery at the beginning of the issue, filmed it for the rest of the villains under Hood to watch later.

While this was basically a talking heads issue with little to no action, I still enjoyed it more than the previous New Avengers issues. Despite the annoying, but awesome looking, cover that had nothing to do with the contents of the issue, I was quite impressed with this issue's focus on the villains, something we rarely get in comics these days. One of the best NA issues in recent memory and well worth a look for anyone interested in The Hood or the upcoming NA story arc.
Verdict - Must Read

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New Avengers #34 Review

NEW AVENGERS #34
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Leinil Yu

I think I spoil myself too much when it comes to New Avengers. I read all the major interviews with Bendis and I get all pumped with regards to the Skrull stuff when the interviews actually deal more with them than the actual issues he talks about. I am not saying this was a bad issue, it was actually one of the best books this week and the best NA in months. I just feel let down a bit because I expect so much more after reading all the interviews and what not.

This issue wraps up the Hood fight with Wolverine pretty early on. Some great action and both fighters really cut loose. Hood blows off Wolverine's little Wolvy prompting one of the funnier lines I have read when Logan is recovering afterwards and says, "I hope it grows back bigger". Hood really held his own against Wolverine and I am very happy they did not job him out to the overly popular Wolverine. Bendis expands on the demonic origins of the Hood's costume and it seems to be a logical progression for the character. If you read the Hood miniseries, you should remember during his attack on the policemen dressed as AIM agents his eyes glowed red and demonic and shot lightning out at them. This issue has him turn outright into a demon similar to the one he stole the hood and boots from in his miniseries. Cannot wait for more information and backstory on what Hood has been up to since then. Seems long term exposure to his powers probably lead to the demonic changes.

After the Hood fight, Bendis has some random interludes with several of the New Avengers, including a funny scene with Echo walking in on Hawkeye in the shower and another with Dr Strange and his girlfriend, the Night Nurse. I liked the reference to Iron Fist's experiences in his own series and the other Iron Fist users. Well done, but I am still upset they have not converted his costume to the superior Immortal Iron Fist version with the bandana mask.

After this, it is revealed Dr Strange devised a method to discover who is or is not a Skrull. At first I thought it was pretty much going to be identical to his last 'trust' spell, but apparently this one outright reveals what the person sees themselves as, for good or for worse. This alludes to everything seen on the cover and pretty much everything is the same as pictured there. I enjoyed the jokes concerning Jessica's seeing herself as her costumed persona, Jewel, and I wonder if it alludes to her possibly stepping back into the role in the future. Another thing with Jessica I liked was the airing of the laundry between her and Luke concerning his paranoid distrust of everyone, including Jessica and the baby. Glad to see that wrapped up as I was disliking the vibe from their fight. I also thought Spider-Man would have probably pictured himself as his Uncle Ben, seeing how he glorifies him in his memory and I figured that is who his inner self would want to be.

Finally, with trust issues taken care of, Wolverine reveals Hood is launching Deathlok to attack Avengers Tower and they decide to go warn them before it is too late. Upon arriving, they see the Mighty Avengers exiting the tower and realize that the downtown area is overrun by symbiotes, from Venom and Spider-Man fame. The issue ends with the team jumping into help and Echo being covered by one of the symbiotes.

This was a great issue and covered a lot of ground. I was a bit disappointed with no Spider-Woman discussion or progress on what she did with the Skrull Elektra body, but from previews, I know that gets picked up in Mighty Avengers in a few months. Still annoys me that she took off with it two months ago and still nothing has happened regarding it. The dialogue is really great in this issue and Bendis proves he is still one of the best with that. Enough action in this issue to satisfy me and just enough plot progression to keep me hooked.

Verdict - Must Read

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New Avengers #33 Review

NEW AVENGERS #33
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Leinil Yu

The countdown to Skrullmegeddon is on. I was disappointed to find absolutely no Spider-Woman or major discussion about her "betrayal" from last issue. In fact, almost no indication these people just crashed from an airplane is apparent in this issue. I am curious to find out how non-metas, like Hawkeye, survived this plane crash when the only padding was from Spider-man's webbing.

Another thing that stands out to me is the fact Luke Cage points the finger at Spider-man as being the resident Skrull on their team when he, himself, has been one of the most "Skrully"-like person on the team, along with Dr Strange. Cage went from tiara wearing, Christmas shouting blacksploitation character and is now leading the Avengers, married and with a child. While I do not think he is a Skrull, [Strange is my pick with the missing in Civil War and "my cape does not work under these conditions" from last issue and his whole lack of magic use in general] I find it really odd he would choose Spider-man simply because he switched sides in Civil War.

Having just read The Hood hardcover, as I missed the series when it originally came out in 2002, I was quite impressed with The Hood, also known as Parker Robbins for the uninformed. While I am still a bit concerned with how this low level street thug will become a Kingpin of Supers, I am willing to give Bendis the benefit of the doubt as he is building on an excellent new character and his work with the actual Kingpin in his Daredevil run gives me all the reasons I need to have faith in his writing.

This issue itself has a lot of stuff going on ranging from the team recouping in a Chicago hotel room and dealing with rampant paranoia concerning Skrulls. Combined with the behind the scenes action of The Hood establishing himself through his acquisition of Deathlok and putting The Owl in his place for trying to operate without The Hood's permission and The Hood meeting up with Wolverine, we are given plenty of bang for our buck. This issue has a lot of build up with just enough smattering of action to keep me wanting more and I look forward to next issue and the confrontation between Wolverine and The Hood, which will either cement The Hood as a top tier villain or job him out to the all encompassing Wolverine and end any build up he might have had.

Many people complain about the artwork of Mr Yu, but I personally love it and feel it suits the tone of this series perfectly. Along the same line, if he was the main artist on Mighty Avengers, I feel that he would be a terrible fit and probably call for his removal. The dark, gritty, washed out style of his work on NA adds so much to the book in my opinion and really compliments the characters he depicts.

All-in-all, this book was almost my pick of the week.

Verdict - Must Read

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New Avengers Archives

Archives - Back Issue Bins - Marvel - New Avengers

New Avengers

New Avengers #30 - Verdict - Check It
New Avengers #31 - Verdict - Check It
New Avengers #32 - Verdict - Check It
New Avengers #33 - The Hood - Verdict - Must Read
New Avengers #34 - The Hood - Verdict - Must Read
New Avengers #35 - The Hood - Verdict - Must Read
New Avengers #36 - The Hood - Verdict - Check It
New Avengers #37 - The Hood - Verdict - Avoid It
New Avengers Annual #2 - The Hood - Verdict - Must Read
New Avengers #38 - Jessica Jones / Luke Cage "The Break Up" - Verdict - Check It
New Avengers #39 - Secret Invasion tie-in, Skrulls attempt to replace Echo - Verdict - Check It
New Avengers #40 - Secret Invasion tie-in, "explains" how Skrulls are undetectable - Verdict - Must Read
New Avengers #41 - Secret Invasion tie-in, Spider-Man & Ka-zar - Verdict - Avoid It
New Avengers #42 - Secret Invasion tie-in - Verdict - Check It

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