New Avengers, Vol. 5, “Civil War” (DC) [collects #21-25]
w. Brian Bendis; a. various
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A series of stand-alone stories, each with its own artist, on Avengers choosing sides in the Registration Act Civil War, delving into both motive and the circumstances that forced their decision. Captain America, Luke Cage (and Jessica Jones), Spider-Woman, Sentry, Iron Man. Good writing, good art; one of the better iteration of Civil War stuff.
New Avengers, Vol. 6, “Revolution” (Marvel) [collects #26-31]
w. Brian Bendis; a. Alex Maleev, Leinil Yu
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Hawkeye searches for Wanda … Ronin fights Electra and the Hand, which draws the rest of the New Avengers in … which leads to the revelation (a key to the Secret War to follow) that Elektra is really a Skrull. Yikes!
The art is dark and artsy, but works well with the mood here. Bendis manages to give each of the players a personality so that both the ninja battles and the discussions over the Civil War flow quite well. Good book.
New Avengers, Vol. 9, “Secret Invasion” (Marvel) [collects #43-47]
w. Brian Bendis; a. Tan, Cheung, Gaydos
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The Secret Invasion proceeds apace, as the NA find some Old Avengers down in the Savage Land. Or … are they Skrulls? How are the criminals in New York dealing with the Invasion? And how did the Skrulls figure out how to infiltrate without anyone being able to detect them?
This is a bridge volume — little stands alone, but it all slips in key details to the Secret Invasion story line. Bendis does his usual excellent job while the artists hold up their end well.
New Avengers: Illuminati (Marvel) [collects #1-5]
w. Brian Bendis, Brian Reed; a. Jim Cheung
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A brilliant post hoc conceit: some of the greatest mind and powers on Earth have been working behind the scenes around various crises that imperil the planet. Reed Richards, Namor, Professor X, Tony Stark, Black Bolt, Doctor Strange are the Illuminati.
This book shows how the group formed — basically going to warn off any Skrull retaliation against Earth after the Kree/Skrull War, only to be taken captive (and, as it turns out, studied for weaknesses that led to the the Skrull infiltration prior to the Secret War — see above). Apparently the Illuminati also danced around with Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet, the Beyonder, a highly amusing “women in the Illuminati’s lives” episode — and finally the episode that breaks up the group for good.
Despite some odd retconning, the book works very well. I wouldn’t take it as canon for very long, but at the moment it’s an interesting part of Marvel Universe History.
Listening to: Jarre, Maurice, & the London Philharmonic, “The Voice of the Guns” (Lawrence of Arabia – Original Soundtrack))