Collects issues one to six of New Avengers
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artists: David Finch (p), Danny Miki, Mark Morales, Allen Martinez, Victor Olazaba (i), Frank D’Armata (c)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
With his Avengers: Disassembled, Brian Michael Bendis effectively closed the book on the Avengers of old and cleared the decks for his New team of A-listers to take over the mantle of Earth's Mightiest heroes. Whilst more recent issues of the book - along with the lacklustre House of M - have taken the shine off his team, rereading his first New Avengers arc in collected form actually comes as something of a surprise, because these early issues are not actually as bad as a lot of people have now written them off as. Opening with an electrifying mass-breakout of criminals from the high-security prison The Raft, the book conspires to bring together a diverse group of superheroes with the common purpose of tracking down the escapees - but soon takes a turn for the conspiratorial as their hunt leads them to the Savage Land, where S.H.I.E.L.D. appears to be engaged in some less-than-altruistic activities.
It's pretty clear that the cast list for New Avengers is Bendis' fanboy wishlist, as established superstars like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America and Iron Man rub shoulders with more obscure fan-favourites (Spider-Woman, Luke Cage) and the wild card that is the Sentry. Even Daredevil (who was at that point still written by Bendis in his own book) makes an appearance in the first few issues, briefly bringing together what you can only assume is Bendis' dream roster before the writer makes the choice to exclude Matt Murdock from future appearances due to his ongoing secret-identity troubles in his own title. It's interesting to see Bendis take such evident glee in throwing all these characters together - especially when he has self-professed difficulties in writing "team" books. Some personalities are definitely better-written than others, with Spider-Man's quips, Luke Cage's attitude and Spider-Woman's mysterious duplicity faring better than the more classic characterisation given to Captain America or Iron Man. Even Wolverine gets fairly short shrift in these early issues, showing up only during the Savage Land excursion at which point the story gets bogged-down in the machinations of minor villains at the expense of the overall plot. Although the title has obviously been planned with long-term mystery/conspiracy elements, this first arc does feel a little inconclusive as a result, as there are still many escaped villains running around by the close of the sixth issue, and the identity of the character who masterminded the breakout remains a mystery to this day (for what it’s worth, my money's on Nick Fury).
Penciller David Finch improves on his middling Disassembled work with some stronger work here, and even if he still hasn't quite shaken some of his difficulties with facial expressions and distinctive characterisation, he pulls off some excellent action sequences with dynamism and a fair amount of detail. His in-costume heroes fair well, strikng a good balance between a classic look with a modern approach, and a standout section involving Foggy Nelson, Carnage and the Sentry re-introduces Paul Jenkins' forgotten hero in one of the most impressive ways possible. Slower sequences are at the very least consistent and their best attractive, with a grasp of comedy evident during some of the lighter moments (Luke Cage's webbed-up hands, Spider-Woman's inventive bribe to get information out of a group of prison inmates, the "crash" in the Savage Land and the Nude Avengers all raise a chuckle).
Whilst it somehow doesn't feel complete as the team's "origin" arc (the New Avengers haven't joined together as a proper team by the arc's end, and some characters - like the Sentry and Wolverine - remain relatively unexplored), this is a fairly entertaining modern superhero book which re-introduces the Avengers in order to make them relevant to the Marvel Universe today. With hindsight, we can appreciate how the book has lost its way slightly in later issues, but this is far from a bad opening story for Bendis' team. As a defining Marvel story, it remains to be seen how long the team will last and how successful the book will continue to be, but as a team book with some decent enough action and a fair bit of fun banter, it does alright - although classic Avengers fans might feel that they've lost more than they've gained with Bendis' decidedly different take on the book.
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