New Avengers Vol. 1 TPB Review
As I mentioned in my review of Avengers: Disassembled, Brian Michael Bendis is in control of anything and everything evolving the Avengers. This is for a good reason though. He has a very strong grasp of how to write these characters. Now, in New Avengers, Bendis is been given the task of reinventing the Avengers for a new generation. To put it simply, he succeeds in a spectacular fashion. Bendis decided to try not to conform to what had come before him. The most striking evidence of this choice is the roster that Bendis assembles (no pun intended).
The top of the roster is headed by Captain America, and Iron Man. This is where the similarities to prior teams of Avenger's stops. The "New" Avengers unofficially team up to stop a jailbreak on "the raft" (super villain prison). This motley crew consists of Luke Cage, Spider-man, Spider-woman, Captain America, Iron Man, Daredevil, and the ever so mysterious Sentry. After they help contain the jailbreak, a couple days pass, and Captain America convinces Tony Stark to let him reform the Avengers. Cap goes recruiting and gets every candidate to commit except for Daredevil. The first meeting between these New Avengers is filled with classic Bendis dialogue. Spider-woman's big entrance, along with the Luke Cage/Spider-man/Spider-woman exchange are great examples of Bendis at his comedic best. The Avengers realize that in order to track down the villain they are after, they must venture to the Savage Land. When they arrive, they meet up with none other than everyone's favorite Canadian, Wolverine. The cast is now rounded out.
Then, in the remainder of the book, the whole team ends up getting captured, ending up naked, and fighting a gigantic Pterodactyl. Now, that might seem unbelievable, but Bendis doesn't even let you realize how "out there" the entire situation is. Then, in the final issue, everything gets tied up, not in a nice bow though. Bendis knows that he's going to be writing this series for a long time, so he leaves multiple threads open for him to pick up later.
Bendis teamed up with his Avenger's: Disassembled collaborator, David Finch as well. Finch's art is solid once again. He's not my favorite artist, but he seems to improve with every project. These six issues were a great start to the "New Avengers" series, and hopefully Bendis will continue to keep his work at this level. So overall, Bendis's job was to reinvent the Avengers, and he definitely did so.
Grade: 8.5/10
Review by Christopher Hoerdemann
New Avengers Vol. 2 TPB Review
This is the perfect example of a comic book where the art makes up for the story. I came into this trade not really liking the Sentry as a character. All he does is whine and cry, and stand on the sidelines. I should have known that I might not enjoy this story when the title of the darn trade is “The Sentry,” but I purchased it anyway. Let’s just say that I was in no way convinced to change my mind about the character.
The lackluster story here is in no way Brian Bendis’s fault. From the stories I’ve read with the Sentry in them, I’ve decided that Marvel is kind of unsure as to what they want the role of the Sentry to be. Therefore, the writers who handle the character continue to be forced to keep him stuck in the “internal conflict” stage. Basically, the whole arc consists of Captain America, and Iron Man tracking down, and trying to find out just who, and what the Sentry is. With the help of Emma Frost (the rest of the X-Men too), and the Fantastic Four, the Sentry is finally talked off the ledge. The Avengers, and the other super teams present are quite thankful, because while Emma is having a cozy little chat with the Sentry, they are fighting the Void. The Void is.......well, the Void......Let’s just say that the Void is also the Sentry, but kind of like his dark side, because if I go any deeper, I’ll just give you the readers, and myself a headache. According to Emma (as she prepares to cure him), the Sentry, “will feel like he just took the biggest dump of his life.” Bendis, you always find a way to bring those crazy, out there ideas down to a level simple enough for us normal people to grasp. Not all of the Avengers were there fighting the Void however. Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Luke Cage, and Wolverine are off capturing the Wrecker, who was one of the escaped Raft inmates from the first arc. This was the most entertaining part of the arc because Bendis got to do what he does best; super hero banter. Plus, I almost neglected the most important development of this arc, which is the first appearance of the Illuminati. From the very beginning, you get a feel of uneasiness when it comes to the group, and I got the idea that they might not last much longer together......
Like I mentioned earlier, Steve McNiven, who provides the art, makes this story work. Even though I don’t enjoy the Sentry, McNiven’s portrayal of the Void fight scene makes the characters presence forgivable. McNiven can take even the most mundane situations and turn them into eye popping art. It’s an uncanny talent that makes him one of the best in the business. After reading this, I realized that once I’ve seen him draw a character, it’s very hard for someone else to top his rendition. I can’t say enough about his art, and I really hope I get a chance to meet him at a convention someday. I want to talk to the guy who is, in my opinion, going to be the “it” artist for this generation of comics.
Bendis did his best to try and make the Sentry interesting, but the strong points of this arc are the storyline with Spider-Man and the gang, and the art.
Grade: 7.5/10
Review by Christopher Hoerdemann
New Avengers Vol. 3 TPB Review
Who is Ronin? Who is this manly character with the rippling muscles, and enough machismo to put Sylvester Stallone to shame? Well, he’s a chick..........yeah, I know, pretty crazy. This trade really comprises two arcs. One of which sheds some light on the aforementioned character Ronin, and the other deals with Spider-Woman’s double agent status.
The first couple issues of the arc deal with the New Avengers heading to Japan, in order to apprehend the Silver Samurai, who was one of the escaped inmates from the Raft. What we know is that the mysterious Ronin has been sent ahead of time to try and track the Samurai down. Well, when the New Avengers do arrive, Ronin has brought the deadly ninjas of the Hand right to Tony Stark’s penthouse. So, a fight ensues. Unbeatable Bendis banter is also inevitably involved. Spider-Woman does her double agent thing as well. What ends up happening is that after the New Avengers talk it out with the Silver Samurai, they leave. However, Madame Hydra is also captured during Spider-Woman’s double agent escapades, so they take her along with them. Plus, the identity of Ronin is revealed to be Echo AKA Maya Lopez (a bit of a shocker, but I got over it). However, on the quinjet heading for home, Spider-Woman lets the back door of the jet open, which allows Madame Hydra to escape. Captain America is also sucked out the back, but Spider-Woman dives out after him. Both of them end up being saved by Iron Man. This whole event prompts Captain America to be a bit suspicious of Spider-Woman. This leads right into the next arc, where Spider-Woman/Jessica Drew is interrogated by Cap. Jessica spills her guts about her double agent status with SHIELD and Hydra. Cap, and the rest of the New Avengers who were eavesdropping are relatively understanding of the impossible position that she’s been put in. After that, it looks like the New Avengers are going to have to go public, since the Sentry’s new watchtower on top of Stark Tower is attracting attention. Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel also makes an appearance here (per Frank Cho’s request I’m guessing). The Avengers end up having to make a deal with J. Jonah Jameson, where they tell him to lay off Spider-Man, and they’ll give him exclusive press when it comes to their exploits. So the Avengers go public, and it turns out that Jameson isn’t following the deal. He berates the new team in the papers the next morning. The trade ends with Jessica Drew talking with a member of Hydra, and it raises some questions about who exactly she is loyal to.
David Finch returns to draw the Ronin portion of this trade. I still enjoy his art, but I really think that his work is overwhelmed by the colorist. I think his art looks better with only the pencils, and the inks. Frank Cho is the artist on the second part of the trade. He does a wonderful job. His reputation as a “cheesecake artist” is well deserved. There is a smooth, and vibrant quality to his art that makes everything he draws a joy to look at.
Out of the first three trades for the New Avengers series, this one stands a step above the rest. The art is good, and the story is strong. The high point is the Frank Cho drawn Spider-Woman arc, but the Ronin portion was solid as well.
Grade: 9/10
Review by Christopher Hoerdemann
New Avengers Vol. 4 TPB Review
The previous trade was the strongest of the bunch, and this one is easily the weakest. The story is very confusing, and I felt teased by the fact that Steve McNiven drew only one issue of this arc, and not the entire thing.
The arc starts out well enough. The collective, which is the mutant energies that were taken from mutants around the world after House of M inhabit an Alaskan male named Michael Pointer. Pointer becomes extremely powerful. Alpha Flight is called in to stop him, and they get trounced. It looks like everything is pretty dire. The New Avengers are called in to stop the rampaging Alaskan. Well, I was pretty excited at this point. Steve McNiven was doing his usual bang up job, and Bendis was hitting on all cylinders. Then I turned the page. Nothing against Mike Deodato, but his pencils don’t hold a candle to McNiven’s (his work is good, but as I’ve previously mentioned, McNiven is my favorite artist). The Avengers head over to take their best shot at taking down the bad guy. They fail once......they fail twice.......looks like they are going to keep on failing. Oh, and where is the Sentry, who has the power of 1000 exploding suns? Well, he’s having “a bad day” according to his wife........GET HIM OFF HS BUTT SO HE SAVE THE WORLD LADY! Well, a little ways down the road, the Sentry does show up (his arms look like Rob Liefeld arms), and he seems to get rid of the big bad. Well, maybe not. So the bad dude comes back, and more fighting goes on, and yadda yadda yadda. While this happens, Spider-Man’s brain is being picked so that SHIELD can get more details on what the super hero community had to do with the House of M. Finally, Michael Pointer/Guy wielding “the collective” lands in Genosha. Magneto is also there, and the collective jumps to him instead. Once again, people fight, Magneto claims to be Xorn (way to make a confusing character that much more confusing), and things look bad. Then, Daisy Johnson (from Secret War) shows up, does her thing, and Iron Man traps the collective in an energy field. The Sentry then flies said energy field into the sun. Avengers win! Then the helicopter carrying Magneto’s unconscious body explodes. To be honest............I don’t even know what to think. I really can’t put into words how confusing this arc was (I guess I just did, ho hum). Mike Deodato is good. I like his art. But when you tease me with McNiven, nothing that follows will compare. End of story.
Every series is allowed to have a “What the heck just happened” arc every once in awhile, but let’s just hope that it doesn’t happen anytime again in the near future. This is the first time I’ve ever not enjoyed something written by Brian Bendis. That’s a pretty amazing feet considering how much of his work that I’ve read. See! Even I can end a negative review with on a positive note!
Grade: 5/10
Review by Christopher Hoerdemann
Check out Christopher Hoerdemann's reviews of New Avengers #21-#26 Here |
