New Avengers Volume 1: Breakout

New Avengers Volume 2: Sentry

New Avengers Volume 3: Secrets and Lies

New Avengers Volume 4: Collective

New Avengers Volume 5: Civil War

New Avengers Volume 6: Revolution

The past weekend I decided to reread all of Brian Michael Bendis’s New Avengers, the six trades that are out.  This was to prepare for the forthcoming seventh trade and to prepare myself for the Secret Invasion.  Clues abound in the series on the extent of the Skrull infiltration.   New Avengers truly is Marvel’s flagship title.  It touches on every major Marvel event in the past three years and ties them all together, leading the universe to the inevitable showdown between Earth’s heroes and the Skrull invaders.

The make-up of the team is interesting.  Marvel clearly gathered some of their most powerful and popular characters and united them in a single book.  Wolverine and Spider-man are both well placed in the public eye because of their highly successful movies.  Iron Man and Captain America are both standards in the Marvel Universe so they get in.  The inclusion of the little known Jessica Drew as Spider-woman was interesting.  I had never heard of her before New Avengers, but her role as a triple agent, lying to everyone about what her true motivations are, make her one of the best characters in the series.

Keep reading, True Believers

Posted under review

New Avengers: Illuminati

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis and Brian Reed

Art: Jim Cheung

Issues: Illuminati #1-5

I have been waiting for this book forever.  There are times that I regret waiting for the trades.  I’m impatient, but I definitely prefer reading the whole arc at once.  I have loved the concept of the Illuminati since their first appearance in New Avengers.  Marvel’s strongest characters banding together to take on monumental tasks.  Pretty cool stuff.  However, I was slightly disappointed by their actual miniseries.  That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the book, but I had it built up far more in my head, and the big revelation at the end had already been spoiled for me.

The Illuminati team is made up of six of Marvel’s strongest characters, each representing another team in this sort of meta-team.  Charles Xavier represents the X-men, Reed Richards is here for the Fantastic Four, Namor for Atlantis, Black Bolt for the Inhumans, Iron Man for the Avengers, and Dr. Strange representing all the magic users in the Marvel Universe.  The team first gathered together after the Kree-Skrull War, to determine how to safeguard Earth so such an event never happens again.  This mini-series shows their decision: Travel to the Skrull homeworld, make some threats, and blow up the Skrull emperor’s ship.

Keep reading!

Posted under review