New Avengers #33

New Avengers has been a slow read ever since Civil War. I'm not sure if finding out Elektra was a Skrull at the end of issue #31 was worth the wait. I won't deny that the reveal caught me completely off guard, and the possibilities are interesting. While that story arc was extremely slow to give us something, it seems that this story arc is throwing something new at us with every issue.

With the team now realizing that the Skrulls are on Earth, they know this means anyone could be a Skrull and tensions run high. Bendis loves to put his characters in situations where there seems to be no easy solution and he does it again here. How do a team of heroes that are wanted by S.H.I.E.L.D. investigate a conspiracy that is on a global scale? That "other" Avengers team would simply take the Skrull body to Hank Pym or Reed Richards and try to figure out a way to detect these aliens. That is what makes this book so different, it's a team book about heroes with limited resources. It's extremely interesting to see this explored now.

Now if this whole Skrull thing and the whereabouts of Spider-Woman wasn't enough... BMB decides to throw even more at us. The new crime lord of New York is introduced in this issue with small appearances by other villains and Deathlok of all people. In an age where most comic books have all loose ends tied up within six issues so they'll fit nicely in a trade-paperback, Bendis seems to fight this concept with every chance he gets in this series. If you look back to New Avengers #1 very little has been offered in answers since then. We still don't know who hired Electro to bust everyone out of the Raft, what really happened to Magneto and who's behind the S.H.I.E.L.D. conspiracy are just a few of the "mysteries" we have yet to get any answers for yet. Is this bad? No it's not. This is how comic books used to be. If I want a story that is completely resolved in 5 or 6 issues I have plenty of options out there. Every single comic book doesn't have to follow the "6 issue format". Of course this asks more of a investment from it's readers, and almost demands that the book stays at top quality... which it hasn't.

The biggest problem this series faces right now is the art. Leinil Yu really needs to be taken off this series. It's come to a point where the artwork is detracting a great deal from the enjoyment of the story, and for a high profile title that is unacceptable. Bendis has always depended on artists to be able to express emotions in his characters. This has always worked very well in titles such as Alias and Daredevil... but here it just doesn't work. It might just be the fact that Yu is a very poor match for BMB style of writing. There are often sequences in this book that are just plain awkward because the script relies to much on the artwork, and Yu just can't deliver it. As of this issue, I'd have to say that it feels like the Bendis of old is writing again, but the artwork just can't keep up with him and that's the only thing keeping New Avengers from being one of my favorite monthly reads.