Broken Frontier

The battle against the Collective goes into overdrive, while the New Avengers must contend with the continual machinations of SHIELD director Maria Hill.

I’ve been reading New Avengers since its inception and over that time I have developed some reservations in regards to the handling/treatment of the team. I can’t say that I am a big fan of writer Brian Bendis, but if there is ever going to be an issue where my opinion might be swayed then this is probably going to be the one.

The story picks right up where the last issue left off, as the Sentry and the Collective battle it out in outer space. Iron Man rockets off after them and he is seen heading straight into the maelstrom despite protests from the other Avengers. The intriguing aspect of the situation only worsens though once SHIELD director Maria Hill suspects the team is holding out on her with respects to House of M. Then in a surprising move, she decides to pull rank and coerce as much information out of Spider-Man as she can no matter how dubious her actions may seem.

Now I must go on record and say that this is truly the first issue of New Avengers written by Bendis that I actually liked. It’s not that I don’t think he’s a capable writer; it’s just that he often allows his self indulgences to get in the way of telling a good story. Much of his run so far on this book has been exactly that, but for once he toned down the excessive wordiness to write an Avengers story that was nothing short of being a hallmark adventure for the team. His writing here certainly reached a crescendo, and I thought it was a nice touch as to how he managed to exploit Director Hill’s treachery against the team with the raping of a hero’s mind. My hat goes off to him for finally writing the quintessential Avengers story that satiated my personal tastes.

Again, Bendis had full support on this key issue from his counterpart Mike Deodato. This guy can flat out draw, and it’s nice to see him follow a relatively solid run on Amazing Spider-Man with a plum assignment on New Avengers. This is Mike’s second issue on the book and although he still seems to be finding his stride on some of the panels, I find his work overall a breath of fresh air in comparison to some other artists who have worked on this book previously. I am hoping Mike’s stint here is a long one, but we’ll have to wait and see how his work will develop and blossom on this book, given the upcoming Civil War storyline. I am hearing that Bendis has a handful of top talents coming onboard, so that should be a lot of fun, but once that colossal storyline finishes Mike can get back to the business of marking his territory on the Avengers.

So if I haven’t already stated this enough, this issue finds the mark on all levels. Come to think of it, this story arc has been shaping up to become one of Bendis’s best so far and I hope he can follow this up with another stellar arc. Only time will tell, but in the meantime take what you will from this storyline and know that you have been treated to some good storytelling for a change.