New Avengers #7
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Stuart Immonen
Now this is more like it….I feel like I say that a lot with Bendis. I probably do, but it’s true, this issue is more like it. See, when Bendis writes super heroes, there are the more human and character driven stories that he does amazingly well, and then there is the classic superhero fair with wall to wall action that he just can’t seem to grasp the mechanics of. The success of the first volume of New Avengers was in large part because he gave us a compelling story about the heroes who were on the team, which was able more often than not to mask the fact that the threats the team faced were, largely, underwhelming or shoddily written. He’s a character writer, not an event writer, and that’s been the biggest problem with the Avengers line thus far in the Heroic Age; Bendis keeps trying to write big classic super hero stories, and it’s keeping him further and further away from what he excels at.
After the previous arc, with all the magic changes to the Marvel Universe, this issue serves as something of a decompression issue before leading in to the next story arc, and man is it nice. By doing an issue without a big threat, Bendis is able to focus on the team he’s assembled for the first time since, really, the first issue. The biggest threat in this issue is Luke and Jessica’s finances, instead of the world ending, and it’s a welcome change. What separated the previous volume of New Avengers from it’s Mighty Avengers counterpart was that one was built on the backs of the members, where it was a bigger deal that these characters were on the run and hiding from the law then who exactly they fought in the mean time. This issue answers a few questions left over from those post Civil War times, even some that you may not have thought to answer. Again, finances. Luke wants to be autonomous, without answering to Steve or anybody, but the thing is….Avengers Mansion tends to get destroyed. Often. And Steve? He’s willing to repair it, which means swallow the pride. Then comes paychecks, which sets Luke off yet again about being autonomous and not accepting money, which leads to Jessica Jones reminding us all why she’s awesome. She verbally beats down her husband with the facts of life, and it is brutal, and it is awesome.
Poor Spidey though.
The team picks up a new, expected, member, and then comes….the nanny hunt. Yes, Luke and Jessica find a new nanny, one with ties to a member of the team, but not before a ridiculously entertaining two page spread of ‘interviews’. One that features such gems as a desperate D-Man, Mantis (for no apparent reason), Deadpool (because he’s Deadpool), Echo who is quick to remind them that she used to be on the team, and more. Needless to say, the end result will make more than a few fans happy (myself amongst them), as well as make Dan Slott happy. It’s a good choice, the kind of character that makes infinitely more sense in a nanny for superheroes role than actually as a superhero.
Stuart Immonen is great for issues like this, then again, I just like him in general. He’s been a superstar on this book, and he’s infinitely better than John Romita Jr. has been on Avengers. There are some nice spreads, and one thing that Immonen excels at is the characters out of costume. This means that Jessica Jones and Luke Cage stand out in the best ways. There wasn’t really any action this issue, so it was just a lot of Immonen drawing people, and it was good. I also really like the way he handles Victoria Hand, as I get the “government agent” feeling off of her more in this title than I did when Mike Deodato was drawing her in Dark Avengers. Oh, also? Iron Fist’s new white outfit? Totally growing on me.
The team seems to have finally settled on a roster as the book prepares to go into it’s second story arc. Our status quo is established, new plot lines are opened, a few new people living at the Mansion…and you know what? It’s not a bad time to be an Avengers fan. I mean, sure, I might very well curse myself for saying that after reading the next issue of Avengers, but issues like this make it easy to remember why those of us who do like it, continue to. This is Bendis at his Avengers-writing best.
Overall?
8.5/10
