New Avengers Finale Review

Brian Michael Bendis pulls down the curtain on his first volume of New Avengers.  This issue acts as a bridge from Siege to the next volume starting in June and is probably the most action packed of the final issues of the Avengers titles released this week.  But it isn’t without some minor problems.  Spoilers ahead.

New Avengers Finale

Madame Masque and the Hood are on the run from the heroes after the battle in Asgard.  Madame Masque takes them to the only place where the Hood can regain some of the powers he once had – her father, Count Nefaria.  As they hash out a deal, many of the New Avengers wonder what’s next for them.  Are they outlaws still or will the tide turn for them?  They decide to track down the Hood because they, like me, are tired of being inconvenienced by the prick.  So they hop in Nick Fury’s super cool spy ship and head out to find Masque and the Hood.

Along the way, they get his cousin who they share an odd, lovey-dovey relationship with each other.  They find out exactly where the two fugitives are and close in on the arrest.  After getting some intel on Count Nefaria, they go busting in.  The three villains are captured somewhat easily and returned to the authorities who take them into custody.  The New Avengers learn they are no longer wanted for violating the Superhuman Registration Act and they take a minute to figure out what happens next.  The book ends with a montage of their past adventures as a team and what it means for them to stick together as they have.  The final two-page spread shows the team in civilian garb as a big happy family taking a stroll in plain sight.

Is this a bad issue?  Not at all.  It’s full of action, it gives you that cool little montage reminding you of the different arcs and Luke Cage’s narration puts a nice bow on the whole series.  Bendis gets a huge help from Bryan Hitch who can draw the hell out of the Avengers.  Count Nefaria is in it to remind you that some of the old school villains of the Avengers are still out there and still cause some headaches, but there were two things that really bothered me.

First, they act like Count Nefaria is some new villain to deal with.  Now, I know most of these guys weren’t Avengers when they had to deal with Nefaria in the past, but you can’t tell me that only Carol Danvers has done any research?  At least Carol knew him and (if I’m not mistaken) taken him on with the Avengers before, but jeez…  This is the Avengers.  They keep files like trophies on each every threat they have ever faced.  You can’t tell me that before everything went to crap, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, or Clint Barton didn’t at least do a little research on major threats?  Count Nefaria is a seriously bad dude.  His farts can level most medium sized cities (note to self – do NOT invite Count Nefaria to all you can eat burrito night at Don Pablo’s in Indianapolis).  And come to think of it…  The Avengers AND Thunderbolts took on Nefaria when Barton was leading the Thunderbolts!  Didn’t he have some experience with him?  Why isn’t he telling everyone about what he can do and, more importantly, what a bad case of indigestion will do to a city?  Instead, Clint just hangs back with his arms folded all Cool Hand Luke like and checks out Carol’s ass while she’s leaned over looking at stuff.  I’m not kidding, he’s totally checking out her rump.  It never sits well with me when characters who know stuff about another character suddenly has no idea who that other character is.  It makes me want to pull my hair out and wonder why no one, not even the editors, takes a moment to say, “Hey…  Mr. Writer Man…  This guy in this scene right here?  He knows all about this other guy over here, okay?  Here are the reference materials you must have forgotten to ask for.”

Okay, enough ranting.  Problem #2.  This book is listed at $4.99.  Okay, it’s a thick mother, but it’s deceivingly so.  The last nineteen pages are either splash pages or two page spreads.  That’s really jumped the number of pages up in this book.  Okay, yeah, it had a ton of nice feel good dialog in those pages, but only three pages of said nineteen are original art to this issue.  The other sixteen are reprinted covers or scenes from previous issues of the series.  I got a feeling that I got charged an extra buck for all that reprint business.  Doesn’t Marvel realize what kind of economy we live in?  Every dollar counts, man!  Oh, wait…  Just got an email from Marvel.  Okay, yes they do realize what kind of economy we live in.  They conclude the email with some stuff I can’t post on this site.  Point taken.  Doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it…  Oh wait.  Another email.  Apparently yes, I do have to be happy about it.  Something about taking anything and everything they can shove down my throat with a smile…  Okay, nevermind.

(Image courtesy of Marvel Comics)

Tags: Avengers Comics Books Brian Michael Bendis Siege