The New Avengers 16

Marvel Comics
Script: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: Steve McNiven & Dexter Vines

You’ll have a hard time convincing me this was meant as anything more than a filler or setup issue. Twenty one page story with no less than 11 full page (or two page) spreads? With the only plot movement being the arrival of some ultra powerful threat, possibly of mutant origin. Oh, and SHIELD’s miffed because they didn’t get an invite to the New Avengers coming out party.

This was weak, folks, by almost any standards. There are guys who pride themselves on decompression thinking, “Man, the bar has been raised!” By the time I was through reading I was dizzy, partially deaf, couldn’t see straight and was experiencing partial paralysis in my lower body. You scuba divers will know what I’m talking about.

What the book lacks in actual storytelling it makes up for with vagueness. Apparently, if you followed all the HOUSE OF M postscripts you would know this new threat was something called “The Collective” – sort of off-campus housing for all those mutant powers that didn’t find a home on Earth. (And here I figured it was Johnny Storm all worked up because Ben had hidden his iPod again.) I’m told The Collective has taken up form in Professor X, which should make for some interesting maneuvering when it comes time to explain the body count. I’m not sure you how you’d know any of this if you didn’t follow other title(s) and I can’t even tell you which ones.

And is Alpha Flight dead? Is this even the real Alpha Flight? I read somewhere this may actually be an Alpha Flight from a different timeline, so yes, they did die, but no they didn't die. And there’s Ronin on the cover, looking very much, well, like a guy. Apparently in the end he might actually be Daredevil. Or not. I think what we have here is a new trend in comic books. You read an issue and then spend two hours trolling the message boards to figure out what might have happened. We’ll call it “interactive”; the kids will love it.      

I haven’t read any of the titles that fell on the heels of HOUSE OF M. They all seemed to be directly X-related and I don’t read X-books. Maybe once they're collected. But it appears this may be an attempt to more directly tie the Avengers back into the original event, which is fine by me - I’d just like a little more of hint of what’s going on. And barring that, more going on period would be nice.

I don’t carry any particular enmity or adoration for Bendis or the New Avengers. One or two more issues like this and that could change.

   

Comments

[Chris]

Kurt--

Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly with you, only I'm about a billion times more bitter. :-)

Bendis/Quesada are single-handedly ruining the premier superteam of the Marvel U.

Side note: I had no idea the energy villain thingy was supposed to be Professor X. Thanks for the info --- from now on I'll just call it "Onslaught" :-)

[CalvinPitt]

The threat is Professor X? Seriously? I had no idea, though it still leaves the question of what the hell Xavier was doing in Alaska to begin with.

I thought that only Cyclops went up there, and only when he needed to mope.

[Kurt]

Please don't take this as gospel. I can't even remember exactly where I read it but it was from someone who at least sounded like they knew what they were talking about. It could very well turn out to be someone/thing else. Frankly, I'd be happier if it weren't Xavier.

[Jim Roeg]

Totally agree, Kurt. What a disappointment this title has become. I didn't even care that I didn't know what was happening; what irritated me is that the whole issue is basically just an extended gag--with virtually no Avengers in sight at all. The only bright spot here for me is that McNiven's already impressive art has actually improved over the course of the series, but still, I'm on the verge of dropping this.

[David C]

I'm starting to feel the same way, and thinking "Civil War" might make a fine "jumping off" point for a bunch of titles.

[Cove West]

When it comes to "Decimation," apparently Marvel doesn't even know what's going on. The inconsistancies and contradictions in all the related titles have completely turned me off of what looked to be an interesting story. Even the 90's X-overs weren't this botched. So it doesn't surprise me that I have to rely on the Internet to understand something as should-be-no-brainer as the PLOT of Marvel's flagship title.

As for NEW AVENGERS itself, I'm not as storm-the-castle outraged as most of the blogosphere seems to be. Yeah, Bendis is decompressing the thing to an absurd degree, the plots are barely a step above "killer female Danger Room robot," and the action has amounted to little more than pretty explosions. Still, Bendis has a great core team to work with in Cap, IM, Luke Cage, and the Spideys, and he uses them well (despite trying to shoehorn WTF?ers Sentry, Ronin, and Wolverine onto the team). The Ronin arc somehow held my interest, perhaps because the setting and characters harkened back to Claremont (yet somehow managed to ignore Claremont's Wolverine in favor of the current drunken ass-hat Wolverine). And anything that puts Carol Danvers in the spotlight as hero gets Airwolf points from me. I guess I'd say I don't mind spending $3 a month for it. As opposed to say SUPERMAN/BATMAN.