New Avengers Reviews By: Alex Lewis

NEW AVENGERS 31 REVIEW
Writer: Brian Micheal Bendis
Penciled: Leinil Yu

Before I start this issue I must say that this is the issue that will change the Marvel Universe. We had Civil War for 2006 and are now currently streaming through World War Hulk. This issue sets the stage for 2008. That’s all. Now I begin.

Plot: Wong and Jessica Jones are at the Secret Sanctorum when Doctor Strange sends a message to the SS showing that he is stabbed. Cut to the New Avengers fighting for their lives as Elektra and her ninjas attack. More fighting happens as Fist and Spidey have some trouble and Spidey is sent out the house. Spideys on his own for a panel before Ronin (Clint Barton) comes to help. Luke and Elektra duel and she sets him on fire. Spider-Woman says they should go back to America but Wolverine objects as the ninjas will follow them. Doc Strange has contact with Wong and Wong lets Doc Strange astral body come out and puts a few of the ninjas to sleep (standing up would you believe?)

As his astral floats around Iron Fist and Maya who is possessed by the hand fight while Iron Fist tells Maya to fight Elektra grasp. Doc Strange helps her and she is free. The Doc wants Iron Fist to tell the ninjas to stand down but Iron Fist cant. Maya is obviously angry with Elektra and stabs her in the stomach. Elektra shocked falls to the ground. The Ninjas are down and everybody is shocked to reveal that Elektra is a Skrull. The Avengers are puzzled and wonder what to do now. At the SS, Jessica is feeding the baby. The baby’s eyes open to reveal the eyes the same colours as a Skrulls...

Likes: This issue was AMAZING as the art was brilliant in places and when Marvel said this was going to be amazing it sure was.
The writing was very good with a fight scene the WHOLE way through. I love those issues so this was a special one as the cliff-Hanger was brilliant. In fact both cliff-hangers were brilliant as this really opens up for future issues as who is a skull and what’s going to happen to the baby.
Art was very good and I'm really warming to the sketchy side of it. Leinil is in my top 10 artist list (I know a certain Vampire on the forums will disagree with me there) and his Skrull was really good. It might of been a bit better if Bendis had added a speech bubble in there saying "A Skrull!!!" as I couldn’t figure out what it was (Luckily the internet was around to help) so that’s what I like about it.

Dislikes: What happened to Doc Strange after he came into his astral form? He took off and we didn’t see what happened.
Give us a name for the baby please.
Dc Strange didn’t die. This guy is my last favourite superhero now so I hope he's kicked off the team.

Overall Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5. A VERY good issue which I recommend but loses the half mark as of the reasons above. This just sits under superb issues as issues 5, 22 and 23.

New Avengers # 30
Writer: Brian Micheal Bendis
Artist: Leinil Yu
Title: Revelations

Plot:
Picking up back at the Sanctum Sanctorum with Brother Voodoo and the Mighty Avengers hunting the team down, this issue finally finishes the long series of flashbacks that have been through most of the arc. Thanks to Doctor Strange's aid, the team is able to maintain their cover within the Sanctum, thwarting Voodoo's counter spell and stopping the Mighty Avengers finding them. A desperate verbal parting shot from Iron Man leads the team to discuss their purpose in this post-Civil War world, with Luke concerned about the corruption in S.H.I.E.L.D. and the possible links between the Civil War and the Raft breakout. Soon thereafter, the team is interrupted by the appearance of Clint Barton returning to the Sanctum Sanctorum after finding the Scarlet Witch in New Avengers #26. One verbal confrontation with Luke Cage and one lie-detecting spell from Strange later, Clint assumes the identity of Ronin and joins the team in their rescue of Echo.
Finally, back in Japan , the tense stand-off between the team and the Hand breaks down as Echo seemingly surrenders to their mind-control and stabs Doctor Strange (YYYAAAYYY). In the fight, the New Avengers are brought down by the Hand's superior numbers and torn to ribbons, with Elektra welcoming Maya into the team…

Likes:

The front cover was certainly good for me at least and I’ll say more about that later
Art gets better every issue in my opinion
The speech from Tony Stark was really thought out and actually made the New Avengers think about what they’ve been doing.
Luke and Jessica (Jones) baby is quite cute and I’ll say more on that aswell later
Dialogue was good as a typical Bendis story normally is
Didn’t take 5 minutes to read as quite often you can read Bendis stories very fast. It may just be because I’m a fast reader but now I think Bendis has seen all of these comments on message boards and reverted to making his books longer to read. Then again I don’t usually study the art like some people do which makes them be a little slower to read.
Liked the idea of Hawkeye being the new Ronin

DISLIKES:

Like I said the cover was good as the art was brill but the cover was really good because Doc Strange is dying and I usually like our team of New Avengers because Doctor Strange has been really annoying over these last few issues. First of all he tried to hog the team leadership I thought buy using his headquarters and telling the team to go where and why. Secondly, He defeated the Mighty Avengers when we could have had a great fight between them all so those are my reasons for not liking the Doc.
The baby of Luke and Jess is very cute but looks more like a plastic doll more than anything else
The flashbacks that were happening really annoyed me
I didn’t really think anything major happened in this issue apart from Doc being stabbed and Maya joining Elektra
Wong again looked very odd with a large jaw I thought so if Leinil can improve on Wong I’ll be happy
Does this really need to be called New Avengers Still?

FAV QUOTE: Ms Marvel –That Voodoo that he do.

Iron Man –Carol!

Ms Marvel –Oh like you weren’t dying to say it.

RATING: A fair good issue and a whole lot better than last time which was terrible so this will get a 4. Art is good so that gets a 2 and Doc Strange being stabbed got the extra 2.

New Avengers 29
Writer: Brian Micheal Bendis
Artist: Leinil Yu

Plot:
Picking up where last month’s issue left off, the New Avengers start this issue facing off against Elektra and the Hand inside the house of the Silver Samurai. Then a flashback interrupts the main story. The Mighty Avengers tell them to stand down and they are under arrest. The New Avengers refuse and Doc Strange casts a spell which gives the Mighty Avengers their worst nightmares and the New Avengers escape. The Mighty Avengers are annoyed about this so they go to the Sanctum Santorum. They break in but with a spell cast by Strange they can’t see them and they leave. Frustrated, Iron Man and Ms. Marvel then confront Danny Rand (Iron Fist) at his corporate headquarters over his involvement with the New Avengers, but Rand counterattacks with a threat of legal action. Shortly thereafter, Rand receives the Ronin costume and email from Echo that she had sent to Daredevil in issue number one. Back in the present, Luke Cage tries to reason with Elektra “criminal to criminal” as the issue closes.

Likes:

The art is spectacular as ever. Leinil can draw a great Sentry and his “Zombie” Cap was very good which made me jump seeing that sort of thing.
Great cover that would do really well for a poster
The mighty Avengers guest-starring.

Dislikes:

Well I went to the comic store licking my lips, looking forward to an amazing fight between the Mighty Avengers and the New Avengers. And loom what I get. I get Doctor Strange VS the Mighty Avengers. It takes him 2 words to win a fight. After all this excitement we the readers have had for seeing a brutal slash out between the 2 teams we get nothing apart from 2 words. That is disgraceful so next issue I hope that Elektra and the Mighty Avengers team up because then we will have something good. Perhaps if we are lucky we will have something about it next issue.
The cover lies and doesn’t really relate to the story much. It does sort of but really they could have had Doctor Strange surrounded by the Mighty Avengers seeming as that really happened.
No Ninja fighting. We had a cliff-Hanger which made us not being able to wait and then we have a page and not 23 pages.
Spider-Man wasn’t very funny this issue as nobody seemed to be funny at all.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5. A fair issue but we can expect more from one of Marvels top writers but the art gets the 3 as this is the best yet.

New Avengers # 28
Title: Revolution Part 2
Writer: Brian Micheal Bendis
Illustrator: Leinil Yu

Plot: With a hallucinating Maya in his arms, Luke Cage temporarily leads his globe trotting revolutionaries away from their impending showdown with The Hand. Wolverine is no stranger to Japan, and takes his team-mates to the home of the Yashida Clan, namely the current residence of the Silver Samurai. But recently having had his hand sliced off by Logan, the Samurai is in no mood to host the renegade heroes at his family home.
A battle between Logan and Harada segues into a flashback. As Cage makes a trip to a Harlem bodega, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents confront him. He leads the agents on a chase across Manhattan in a stolen glider, eventually finding his way to Dr. Strange’s home. The Sorcerer Supreme now houses the New Avengers at his cloaked abode, under the guise of a Starbucks in development. Using information from last week’s Civil War: The Initiative, the team learns that Captain America’s body is being held at Ryker’s Island on ice. The group takes a gambit and teleports to Ryker’s, only to find a fake Cap corpse and a rather expected ambush by the Mighty Avengers. But the story leaves the ensuing battle to the imagination as it juts forward to the present where the Silver Samurai is still unhappy to have Avengers at his ancestral home. As the team fight with the Mighty Avengers Wolverine smells something and Spidey hears something and Elektra and the Hand join in the fight

LIKES:

The art is amazing as always but I have one problem which is below.
A reference back to Enemy of the State
Doctor Strange sneaking up on Agent Hill and following them which I like a lot
Spidey stays in Black Costume still which is good for me
An excellent Cliff-Hanger and I can’t wait for more
The Luke Cage solo bit on his own.
The fight between the New Avengers and the Mighty Avengers is gonna rock (If anyone doesn’t get Mighty Avengers then I recommend you to buy it cause it is a very good book)

DISLIKES:

The art is amazing but this time Wong is incredibly ugly. I know he’s not the kind of person who you would want to go out on a date with but this time Leinil makes his mouth really ugly but so that’s my downfall on the art this time.
MS Marvel lying to Spider-Woman cause I don’t think she would do that really.
Not really seeing much of a reaction to Caps death.
The cliff Hanger was really predictable at the end
Not enough Iron Fist
Still going on about Civil War which I know has changed the Marvel Universe but we have moved on about it.

BEST QUOTE:

Wolverine- Looks like you already have one

Luke- No, You didn’t

Jessica- Luke!

Iron Fist- Luke!

Spider-Man- Oh great, Civil war 2

OVERALL RATING: A good issue but 3 because the beginning is very boring and didn’t do much good

Really the story gets going as soon as Luke Cage escapes the S.H.I.E.L.D agents and Wong looks tom odd.

NEW AVENGERS 27
Title: Revolution
Writer: Brian Micheal Bendis
Art: Leinil Yu

Plot: We begin with Maya Lopez, otherwise known as Echo, sending an e-mail to Daredevil asking for his help. Maya was asked by the Avengers to stay in Japan and use her Ronin disguise to infiltrate the Yakuza in order to see if what was going on in the Japanese underworld was affecting the world.
Then the Civil War broke out and Maya realized that there was no longer an Avengers group for her to report back to. Maya didn’t know who to go to when she was ready to pull the plug on the Japanese underworld. Maya didn’t know who to follow. Captain America recruited her. Iron Man offer to stake her.
Maya then decides that she doesn’t need the Avengers’ help. That she can do this by herself. However, Maya says that if Daredevil is getting this e-mail then it means that she failed. We then see Ronin crossing paths with the Hand and Elektra one night. Ronin brawls with them and kills a bunch of the Hand ninjas.
Ronin and Elektra then fight each other. During the fight, Maya realizes that she can’t beat Elektra. Elektra ends up killing Maya.
Cut to Elektra back at the Hand’s secret lair. Elektra commands the Hand to bring Maya back to life. They need her as a part of the Hand. Maya comes back to life.
Elektra then orders Maya to be placed in a deep dark pit. There she will be indoctrinated in the ways of the Hand. Maya says in her e-mail to Daredevil for him to rescue her. That she doesn’t want to be brainwashed by the Hand. Maya begs for Daredevil to come for her.
Suddenly, The Avengers burst onto the scene. We have Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Iron Fist, Dr. Strange, Spider-Woman and another Ronin. The Avengers start to fight the Ninjas. Meanwhile Spider-Man goes down the pit to save Maya. Strange then transports the Secret Avengers out of the Hand’s lair. Elektra staggers to her feet and orders the Hand ninjas that they know what to do. That the Avengers must not be allowed to leave Japan.

LIKES:

Spideys in his Black Costume which is one of my faves. I know this should go for Spidey comics but I don’t review that so ill say it here instead then
The new line up is fantastic with 2 of my fave Marvel Characters who are Spider-Man and Wolverine
Also although not one of my favourite Marvel characters I like Iron Fist and he’s always good to show up
The art of Leinil Yu is beautiful. Beginning with the dramatic and impressive cover, the visuals of New Avengers #27 are a treat from start to finish.
As Yu has been announced as the ‘permanent regular’ artist for New Avengers, one can hope he lasts longer than the ‘permanent regular’ artist over at Mighty Avengers who takes a ‘break’ after only one arc. Yu’s beautiful lines can take away the sting of whatever words tell the story should that occurs.
Fight scenes were incredible with Bendis writing and Leinils artwork just made this one of the best Avengers issue yet

DISLIKES:

Timing
This came out at least 2 weeks before Amazing Spider-Man 538 and Civil War 7and Spidey is in his black costume which happens in 539 actually and at the end of 538 he doesn’t don it and this has some spoilers for Civil War (minor spoilers) so I didn’t read this until I read Amazing Spider-Man 538 and Civil war 7
On the spread of the Avengers coming to save Maya, Doc Strange and Spider-Woman look quite sketchy but that’s the only bad thing I have with the art
The new Ronin identity hasn’t been revealed yet and I would like to know that soon
My first bet was Captain America but now I have my doubts and now it could be Daredevil which I would like because he would be a great addition to the team
Not enough actual Avengers. Im getting tired of all these solo stories of the Avengers
FAVOURITE QUOTE: Spiderman- “Hi I’m Luke Skywalker and I’m here to rescue you”

RATING: 4 out of 5

A really great issue but not enough Avengers. You may not agree with me and sorry about that but it’s my view on it

Reviewed by: Alex Lewis

Past Reviews
New Avengers # 1-12
New Avengers # 13-22