New Avengers Reviews By: Jo Taylor

NEW AVENGERS 38 REVIEW
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Michael Gaydos

The Breakup

Plot:

I could some this up in one sentence (Luke Cage and Jessica Jones fight and seemingly split up and the New Avengers move into new digs) but I’m sure you want more detail.

Luke Cage searches Jessica Jones’s old Alias office for her, and surprise, surprise she isn’t there. So he call Avengers Towers and spends the next two-thirds of the issue fighting with his wife over her supposed betrayal by defecting to the Mighty Avengers and how unhappy he is because she has baby Cage in shiny, secure Avengers Tower. After Cage breaks the phone in anger, Jones intercepts him on the street before he can enter Avengers Tower and trash the place. They have a nice public spat and enjoy an audience of Ms Marvel, then Wonderman and then the rest of the Mighty Avengers. Ultimately Cage has to decide between registering so he can be with his family or breaking up with his wife and sticking to his principles. Guess which one he picks.

After the marital dispute the Mighty Avengers let Cage go because he is “considering” joining the team (despite his words to the contrary). During the argument, the Mighty Avengers overhear something about the impending Skrull threat, but neither Jones nor Spider-Women are spilling the beans to their ignorant team mates. Great to see they trust each other.

Meanwhile (on the fourth last page) the New Avengers are supplied a new HQ by Daniel Rand (Iron Fist) – the whole floor of an apartment complex. Despite the size, they however informed that they will have to wash their own dishes (bet they wish they registered now). Of significant note to us Spidey readers, he is now back in the old red and blues and has ditched the black. The last page contrastingly depicts the alone, depressed Luke Cage and the happy, safe Jessica Jones and Cage baby.

Likes:

Um, Spidey back in the trademark red and blues.
The dialogue was well written for what it was.

Dislikes:

I was pretty sure this issue had a cover on it that says New Avengers (yep, it does!). However they only feature in this issue for three pages! Three!
The Mighty Avengers had more time in this issue than the team I want to read about.
The constant focus on Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. I know they are important, but so are Echo, Ronin (the old Hawkeye), Wolverine, Iron Fist and Spidey!
The art was okay, but I like Leinil Yu better.
The real lack of progress and reveals in the Skrull invasion despite the logo at the top of the cover (unless Black Widow’s knowing smirk counts as her knowing about it, and I don’t count the Mighty Avengers first hearing about it as significant unless it was in their comic).

Favorite Quote:

Not much this issue, but: Iron Fist: “Oh, and no maid or butler or Jarvis or Wong. You mess a dish, you clean a dish.”

Spider-Man: “Maybe we should get paper plates.”

Overall Rating: 2.0 out of 5. Yep, I didn’t think much of this issue at all. I know Bendis has a massive fascination with Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. I don’t. I didn’t read Alias and I have no intention of reading it either. This story really should have been a one-shot or something. I thought this was meant to be a “Secret Invasion” issue? I thought this was meant to be a New Avengers issue too. It says something when the Mighty Avengers has more page time than our team. Hell, even Jarvis appears more!

What irks me is that I was really looking forward to discovering more of the potentially fascinating Secret Invasion and instead got Days of Our Lives. We discovered nothing really about the change in team dynamic that lingered at the end of last issue, unless of course Cage wimps out and registers. I hope next issue “The Truth About Echo” is better, as the title is fairly ominous within the Secret Invasion climate and as she is really a fringe character at the moment this will either enhance her or make her a Skrull.

NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL #2 REVIEW
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Carlos Pagulayan

Plot:

We start with S.H.I.E.L.D. licking its wounds after getting their rear ends handed to them by The Hood as he rescued his posse. Meanwhile, The Hood & Co pay another visit to Tigra and coerce the location of the New Avengers (magically hidden away from the world via magic at Doctor Strange’s mansion) from her.

Cue back to the gang as they return victorious from the smackdown they gave to The Hood and his lackeys. But not everything is peachy, as Doctor Strange exhibits signs of distress and lambastes Wong when he rushes to aid his mighty master. The rest of the crew does their own thing and Spidey decides to go home.

Meanwhile, lurking ominously outside, The Hood and gang (they really need a group name) are deciding on how to announce themselves to the New Avengers when Spidey spoils the party by appearing and then disappearing back into the building. Spidey grabs Cage baby from Jessica Jones and skirts her to safety as he warns the rest of the impending attack. Jessica of course follows Spidey outside unaware of his motives, and after Spidey gives her baby back escapes while Spidey returns to help his team.

The New Avengers, outnumbered and outgunned, fight a losing battle culminating with The Hood popping three caps in the incapacitated Doctor Strange. All appears lost until Doctor Strange somehow against the odds, raises his bullet riddled body and unleashes the dark arts upon The Hood’s unsuspecting gang as well as our heroes. After everyone is agonizingly rendered unconscious, the good Doctor revives the good guys. The revelry is short lived as Ms Marvel with her sidekick S.H.I.E.L.D agents arrive to clean up the mess and arrest the New Avengers. However, much to the shock of everyone Ms Marvel lets them go.

Cue to a disheveled Parker Robbins (The Hood) licking his wounds in an alley, talking to a mystery someone whom we can’t see. Is it him talking to himself? His demon? Or is someone pulling his strings? He leaves us with the ominous last words are ‘Now I know how to beat ‘em’. Indeed.

The last scene leaves us with a desperate Jessica Jones at Avengers Towers , registering herself in order to protect her child.

Likes:

It’s good to see Annual stories that tie into the regular titles and not a meaningless one-shot (like the stuff we were dished with in the 90s).
The good guys winning against the odds.
Tigra getting a semblance of revenge against The Hood.
Pagulayan’s art was very good and matched the mood of the regular title.

Dislikes:

Jessica Jones running to Avengers Towers like a pansy. Yes, I can appreciate that she wants to protect her child, but where does this leave Luke Cage?
How the fight was ended. Doctor Strange casting a spell to take everyone down when all appeared lost? Please.
Doctor Strange quitting the team? Oh, man! This on top of Spidey’s likely departure once New Avengers catches up with Amazing.
Ms Marvel letting the New Avengers go and then expecting her SHIELD team just to go along with it, regardless of personal ethics. In reality, some of the quiet dissenters will be telling mummy once they back to HQ.

Overall Rating: 3.75 out of 5. While this issue exudes quality in regards to the production values, a few things bugged me like how the fight was ended and how Ms Marvel just let them go. However, the fight itself was pure old school smackdown.

This issue has also seriously altered the team dynamic with Doctor Strange quitting. The team no longer has a headquarters, not to mention the fact that power wise, Doctor Strange was their biggest gun. We are now left with a bunch of lower powered, street level heroes (no disrespect to any of them). None of them can fly, no one can shoot blasts from their hands and no one can lift a building. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does demonstrate the drastic changes that have occurred since the heady days when the team included Captain America , Iron Man and Sentry (sort of). Other problems deal with the changes from One More Day when New Avengers time reaches Amazing Spider-Man time, as well as the implications on Luke Cage when Jessica Jones fled to Avengers Tower .

With the Skrull Secret Invasion looming ever closer, things are perilous for the fragile team peopled with traditional loners. I just hope Spidey will still be around!

(Sorry about the long review, but it is an annual!)

NEW AVENGERS 37 REVIEW

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Leinil Yu

The Trust – Part 6

Plot:

Now where we were? Oh yes, the Hood and gang were in the midst of relieving themselves at the sight of the New Avengers and their cavalry – the Mighty Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, S.H.I.E.L.D. and assorted others.

In the midst of getting his ass kicked, the Wrecker figures out that they aren’t being swarmed on by multitudes of heroes. Nope, Doctor Strange has cast some sort of spell to trick them. Gosh darn it! It isn’t fair! I beat Thor, for god sakes! THOR! And now I’m getting my ass handed to me by Luke Cage. When will I ever catch a break?!?!

Meanwhile with the rest of the Hood’s hoodlums, wile the rest panic, the Hood keeps a calm head and urges them to split up and regroup later. The hoodlums proceed to get taken downtown, while the Hood has an unexpected confrontation with Doctor Strange, who tries to convince Parker Robbins (the Hood) that teaming up with demons is never a good idea. The Hood who obviously hasn’t been exposed to a slew of entertainment media proving the truth of Doctor Strange’s words gets angry, turns into a demon, disgusts everyone with his handsome alter ego and then flees/makes a tactical retreat by teleporting the hell out of there.

After the clean up the New Avengers find the Hood’s right hand man, John King, trapped under a door cringing in fear! They leave him wrapped up along with the rest for the police. Cue to S.H.I.E.L.D. where they are busy interrogating Dirk Garthwaite (Wrecker) who admirably doesn’t rat out on the Hood. In reward, the Hood magically appears, rescues Dirk and promises to go after the “Avengers”. This leaves are perilously poised for the real, big showdown in New Avengers Annual #2.

Likes:

The cover is pretty cool, with the gang all posing looking tough and ready to take some names.
The art and dialogue as usual.
Doctor Strange trying to help Parker Robbins even as he is trying to kill him!
The banter between Spidey and Ronin (the new improved Hawkeye”) during battle.
The Hood fleeing like a little girl.

Dislikes:

Anyone who reads the solicitations for future issues already knew that the real showdown was gonna happen in Annual #2. So I already knew going into this that it wasn’t going to be the battle royale the last page of the previous issue promised.
How useless S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are. They go down like flies pretty much every time you see them. So much for the best of the best of the best – with honours!

Favourite Quote:

Wizard: “I just want to go!”

Ronin: “And I want a pony.”

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5. While this issue is certainly action packed, it is by no means a masterpiece and definitely feels like a Pirates of the Caribbean 2 or Matrix Reloaded. I am interested to see what happens to Parker Robbins as Doctor Strange’s words to him definitely didn’t sound promising for his long term future. I just hope that all this promise doesn’t fizzle like a few other story lines in other titles have recently. The Hood has been the most promising and intelligent new villain for awhile. I sure hope he doesn’t become demon puree anytime soon.

NEW AVENGERS 36
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Leinil Yu
The Trust – Part 5

Plot:
The first half of the issue is basically Luke Cage telling the story of the symbiote invasion to Jessica Jones and Cage baby Danielle. In a nutshell, New York was hit by a chemical bomb which saturated the population and turned them all into evil Venom creatures from hell – including all the New Avengers except Luke Cage and to a degree, Wolverine (he spends the whole fight rejecting the symbiote courtesy of his healing factor). The Mighty Avengers fight the symbiote army until Iron Man whips up something and all is peachy. Luke Cage then gets all teary eyed about how instead of fleeing the Mighty Avengers, they stay and help the rescue effort – all without being asked.

The issue picks up markedly from here as Wolverine ambushes Jessica Drew in the shower and confronts her about her stealing the Elektra Skrull body way back in issue 32. She justifies her action by stating that Tony Stark is best equipped to utilise the Skrull corpse and that the Human race is her team, and you know, she does have a point. When they are rudely interrupted by the Black Widow asking for deodorant, Wolverine makes a quick exit and jumps out of the window of the very high Avengers Tower … only to be rescued by everyone’s favorite web head.

During Wolverine’s intimate interrogation, he gleaned that The Hood didn’t use Deathlok to attach the Mighty Avengers, and instead robbed a bank (check out last issue). They track down The Hood and Co. and thanks to some Doctor Strange mojo, see that they are severely overmatched. Doctor Strange calls for back up, Luke Cage busts open the hideout and The Hood and Co. get the shock of their lives!

Likes:

The art is again excellent. The dialogue in the second half was great, pity about the first half…
Wolverine using his brain and sneaking into Avengers Tower . This guy is a highly trained Special Agent – not a moron. If one picked up the average the comic with Wolverine, you would think he was a brainless idiot who just charges into the fray come what may. While this is true sometimes, he is a cunning lad, and it is good to see him use his covert skills and be subtle for once. Of course his exit blows this paragraph out of the water, but I digress…
The final scene – classic! It may be overkill, but if you were the bad guys, you would s#%t your pants if you saw that coming at you.

Dislikes:

The first half of the issue. Why, oh why do we have to focus on the Cages? Yes, Jessica Jones was cool in Alias, sorta cool in The Pulse (until she got pregnant) and now irritatingly whinny. I wish this part had been depicted in the normal fashion so that we can see what actually happened with snappy dialogue and banter. I have heard that this is going to happen in the Mighty Avengers, and if this is the case, fair enough. Pity I don’t read the Mighty Avengers…
The cover is misleading! Jessica Drew is in costume on the cover, and yet is naked inside! I guess a shower scene doesn’t make for a good cover.

Favorite Quote:

The Hood: “Tell Me you were stupid enough to come alone, Cage…”

Luke Cage: “Hardly” (with the New Avengers, the Mighty Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Punisher and SHIELD in the background).

Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 5. The first half gets a 2/5 and the second 4/5. This balances out to 3/5. Easily my least favourite issue of the series so far, but hey, 3 out of 5 ain’t bad, right? The ending was great, and leaves us with something to look forward to. It looks like overkill on the part of the good guys, but can we be so certain?

NEW AVENGERS 35
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Leinil Yu
The Trust – Part 4

Plot:

We open with Jigsaw getting the smack down from Tigra during a bungled robbery attempt. He is given the necessary distraction when a couple of cops enter the scene, and surprise, surprise, one gets shot. Once back at his hideout he sees a mysterious little note inviting him to attend a meeting for the dastardly.

This meeting, attended by every B-Grade villain under the sun is organized and chaired by the villain of hour, The Hood. Here he unveils his master plan to organize and take advantage of the division amongst the ranks of the superheroes. He gains their trust by first giving them all “25 large” in cash and then with a visual demonstration. And who is this unsuspecting victim? Why Tigra of course. The Hood proceeds to give her the smack down, demands that she leaves his men alone, be at his beck and call or else he will kill her family first and then her. Did I mention this is being broadcasted live to the newly formed super villain gang who all cheer with glee?

Remember in the previous issue where Wolverine tells the New Avengers that The Hood was going to sic Deathlok onto the Mighty Avengers? Not anymore. After his little run in with Wolverine, the plan has changed to rob a really wealthy and prestigious bank – which they do to the tune of $12.8 million. And change. Too bad they trashed Deathlok while doing it.

The issue closes with The Hood and Co. watching the symbiote attack live on TV. The Hood of course smugly sees this as an opportunity, grand opportunity.

Likes:

Awesome cover!
It’s good to finally see a villain with a brain. I know we have had super villain teams before, but they always have dreams of megalomania. The Hood has comparatively smaller ambitions like getting rich and staying rich. Sure he wants to control New York and S.H.I.E.L.D. but who doesn’t?
Yep, the art and dialogue are again fantastic. Mr. Yu is particularly good at the dark, gruesome figures that make up the criminal underworld’s B-List.

Dislikes:

Awesome cover! Pity it has nothing to do with all but one panel in the whole issue!
Poor Deathlok just can’t catch a break! If Peter Parker thinks he has problems, he should talk to Deathlok… oh, he’s been trashed…

Favorite Quote:

Blackout: “What’s to stop us from takin’ the 25 and splittin’?”

The Hood: “Ha! Well, if you think your life is only worth 25 G’s… Then you go ahead.”

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5. Yeah, I really liked this issue. It was not what I expected after last month, but I am always open to being pleasantly surprised. Just like Tigra.

NEW AVENGERS 34
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Leinil Yu
The Trust – Part 3

Plot:
A fast and ferocious fight erupts between Wolverine and The Hood. Wolverine gets his manhood blown away (you don’t see that everyday) only to see The Hood transform into a demon (I didn’t see that one coming) and flee the scene. Not Wolverine’s finest moment.

Back at the ranch/Doctor Strange’s mansion, the team members start to return after their days break to ponder the Skrull problem at hand. Everyone arrives, except Wolverine (still re-growing his manhood I bet), and a less heated who is/isn’t a Skrull discussion takes place until Jessica Jones decides to have a marital with Luke Cage in front of the rest of the team. Upon calming down, the happy couple declare that Cage baby finally has a name – Danielle (after the Daniel Rand, aka Iron Fist, Cage’s partner from their Heroes for Hire days, but I’m sure you all knew that, right?).

Anyway, back to the good stuff. Doctor Strange casts a spell showing the true nature of the individual, revealing that no one on the team is a Skrull (unless Doctor Strange is a Skrull and faked the spell to protect the other Skrulls…). Oh yeah, and Wolverine arrives in the middle of the spell and he isn’t a Skrull either (or is he?). Wolverine updates the team on The Hood and his dastardly plan to unleash Deathlok (whom he acquired last issue when he wasted The Owl) on the Mighty Avengers (Tony Stark’s Avengers team). The New Avengers then decide to go and help the Mighty Avengers only to find a city overrun by symbiotes (of the Venom type)…

Likes:

Wolverine and The Hood fight the good fight, with blood and balls flying everywhere.
Discovering the true inner natures of the team members.
They finally named Cage baby – finally!
Echo walking in on Ronin in the shower
Do I even need to mention the snappy dialogue and awesome art?

Dislikes:

Nothing this issue.

Favorite Quote:

Jessica Jones: “He thinks his kid’s a half-Skrull baby… right?”

And

Clint Barton: “In or Out.” (Upon being walked in on by Echo while in the shower).

Overall Rating: 4.0 out of 5. This is currently my favourite series right now (along with Ultimate Spider-Man) and even now still has heaps of potential, especially with the Skrull invasion stuff looming. Keep it up guy!

NEW AVENGERS 33
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Leinil Yu
The Trust – Part 2

Plot:

Following the plane crash in the previous issue, the New Avengers now comprising of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Echo and Ronin/Hawkeye are holed up in a hotel in Chicago . While discussing how they are going to get back to New York , tensions again rise as Luke Cage decides Spidey is the most likely candidate to be a Skrull. Things escalate until room service arrives - temporarily defusing the situation. Once back in New York courtesy of some Doctor Strange mojo, the team split ups with the intention of returning in a day – if they feel that they can still trust the rest of the team.

Cue: The Owl. Recently escaped from imprisonment, he has somehow acquired the cyborg Deathlok (literally a shell of his former self – stripped of his former personality) and is attempting to sell it to the highest bidder. However, things don’t go as planned (do they ever) as The Owl meets an unexpected fate as The Hood makes an example of him – do not do anything (criminal that is) without going through him first.

The final scenes Wolverine going to a bar only to have an unexpected encounter with Parker Robbins (aka The Hood)…

Likes:

The opening flashback scene where we see that Hawkeye learnt his formidable fighting skills from Captain America .
The ominous presence of The Hood. What is his game? Who does he think he is proclaiming himself head honcho of the criminal underworld?
The always impressive dialogue and the increasingly more impressive art.

Dislikes:

I wanted more Skrull invasion stuff! But I can understand they need to build it up, so this is really more of a minor, personal whine.
I sure hope this isn’t the way The Owl is going to go. Although never Daredevil or Spidey’s greatest villain, he has had his moments and has been around for a very long time now (Daredevil #3, Volume 1) and deserves something better than being offed by a hood with delusions (?) of grandeur.
Luke Cage dissing on Spidey – come on man! Spidey’s lost more than anyone (except Captain America ) through the Civil War. Strange how Echo (whom he just met) is A-Okay.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5. This is a very good issue, but it is not quite up there with the excellent standard this series usually sets. However, it does leave us with a scene of considerable promise – Wolverine vs. The Hood.

NEW AVENGERS 32
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Leinil Yu
The Trust – Part 1

Plot: The gang plus one (Skrull Elektra’s corpse) are enroute home from their Japanese adventure and an eerie silence haunts the plane as the shock of Elektra really being a Skrull in disguise and yet nobody had a clue hits home hard. That is until everybody’s favourite wallcrawler opens his mouth and unleashes a can of worms as the implications of this revelation threaten to disrupt the already tenuous harmony of the team. While the accusations of who is and isn’t a Skrull within the team is battered back and forth, a freak weather storm causes their plane (what do they expect, small aircraft are always so much less reliable than airliners…geez) to go down. As most of the team are incapable of flight, suspicions are flung aside in the name of self-preservation. The aftermath sees Spider-Woman taking out the still barely conscious Wolverine and fleeing the site of the crash with the corpse of Elektra Skrull. But who is she taking it to? Tony Stark or … Hydra?

Likes:

The art again is very good, and Bendis’ dialogue is at its usual high standard.
The team dynamic demands the reaction we get – this is a newly formed rag-tag team formed in the aftermath of the Civil War. Spider-Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Doctor Strange are not your usual team players, and without Captain America ’s calming presence and leadership things get heated.
Spider-Woman’s betrayal while interesting, is not entirely unexpected.
Although this issue could be summarized by – silence, argument, crash, betrayal, I feel it moves the story along very nicely.

Dislikes:

Spidey webs the outside of the plane, but what about the inside? How many times have we seen him whip up instant impact cushions? A minor nitpick, but a valid one nevertheless!

Favorite Quote:
Spider-Woman – “You’re making jokes?”

Spider-Man – “Or I could cry, which one would you like me to do? Shall we put it to a vote?”

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5. This is a very good issue of an excellent series. I am looking forward to finding out where this Skrull "Secret" invasion stuff leads to.

Past Reviews
New Avengers # 1-12
New Avengers # 13-22
New Avengers # 23-31