New Avengers #13

Archive

Story Title: Untitled
Reviewer: Paul Sebert

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciler: David Finch
Colorist: Frank D’Armata
Inker: Danny Miki
Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Albert Deschense
Editors: Molly Lazer, Aubrey Slitterson, Andy Schmidt, Tom Brevoort, & Joe Quesada
Publisher: The Mighty Marvel Publishing Group

Following a battle with The Hand and the capture of Madame Hydra (the artist formerly Viper) our heroes find themselves face to face with none other than the Silver Samurai. Yes, the Silver Samurai AKA Kenuichio Harada AKA the guy who keeps killing me in Marvel vs. Capcom 2. One of the most skilled martial artists in the Marvel Universe, the head of the House of Yashida, and a general all around bad mofo.

But things might not be solved by a mindless slugfest, it appears that the venerable swordsman might have changed his ways. Complicating matters is some highly curious behavior by Spider-Woman who appears to be working for the group under an ulterior motive. Oh and the Hand still has some fight in them.

Still the biggest issue at hand is the unveiling of the Ronin in this issue, a shocking surprise secret so immense that it cracked the internet in half. I was reading Newsarama at the time, and well I just hate it when that happens. But seriously folks if you haven’t found out by now, I won’t spoil the surprise for you.

I will say that as the Ronin is 1. A Woman as implied earlier in the arc and 2. No not *THAT* woman. While some fans have complained this revelation was a cop-out, I found it to be a fairly entertaining surprise and good use of a semi obscure character.

That said, in light of this revelation I kind of wish David Finch managed to draw the character in more androgynous fashion. I suppose this might be result of some miscommunication between the creative teams or perhaps this plot twist is just by nature a tricky thing to pull off in the traditional hyper-realistic art style most comics are drawn in.

Overall while purists may scoff, New Avengers continues to be highly entertaining thrill ride that keeps the reader guessing. The plot twists are clever and Bendis’s knack for snappy dialog still shines.

That said, I wouldn’t be too surprised if sometime a few years from now we got a more traditionalist take on the characters again. Enjoy the fun while it lasts comic fans.