New Avengers #29, by Marc Alan Fishman – Snarky Synopsis | @MDWorld

August 12, 2012 Marc Fishman 0 Comments

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mike Deodato
Sorry about my absence last week folks. I’d tell you “it won’t happen again”, but let’s be honest; it will. I have a kid. A mortgage. A comic book studio. And Mike Gold also asking me to put words on the interwebs. That being said… on with the review!

Whilst taking the train home tonight, I snagged New Avengers #29 from my buddy Matt. Seems he nabbed it not because he subscribes to the book mind you, he simply read online the book was a single 20 page scene reuniting Marvel’s Illuminati. It was enough to sell him on it. And after I gave it a read? I’m sold too. Too bad I have NO CLUE where or how or why this story was told in the New Avengers (who I’m nearly positive, and too lazy to check) where not a single member of said Illuminati are members. Kinky, eh? OK, I checked. Dr. Strange is on the team, and Steve Rogers is a “supervisor”. So I guess that’s why it counts. Moving on…

So, what exactly is going on here? Well, here’s the snarky synopsis: The smarty-smart heads of the Marvel Universe are called together by Steve Rogers to sort out what all is going on with the whole “XvA” dealie. You see Namor is a card carrying member of the group. Given his recent ‘Phoenix’ upgrade, they figure it might behoove them to beg for a truce. Never mind that Captain America is proactively poking and prodding the Hyper Team Phoenix Force Five Action Go Squad. And thus Iron Man, Steve Rogers, Professor X, Reed Richards, and Dr. Strange all join together in a secret bunker (a great knod to Matt Fraction’s Invincible Iron Man) to kibbutz. Namor is no where to be seen. Then again, he’s got more important things to do.

The issue itself is Bendis at his best. Not a punch is thrown (minus a flashback which doesn’t count). Only heated and hurtful words are thrown around. Emotions are frayed. Points are debated. Shiz gets real, yo. And it’s a breath of fresh air for an AvX series that crams far too much plot in far too few frames. Perhaps I am in the minority, but issues like these are a breath of fresh air. Having characters actually attempt to be more than a power set and a backstory just tickles my short and curlies—metaphorically speaking. Bendis nails each member of the brain trust with a pitch-perfect individual voice; from Tony Stark’s snark, Reed Richards analytic mind, to Strange’s aloofness. When they converse, there’s a depth and heft to them speaking. We feel the years of increasing issues that take their toll on each. And when Charles can’t help but read the minds of his compatriots and is forced to take his leave? It resonates, and makes complete sense.

Art chores this time around are shouldered by the always stalwart Mike Deodato. His command of sharp shadows, weighty form, and stark emotion fits the script to a tee. A Bendis “talkee” script demands a flawless storyteller to amp up visually what is essentially a stage play. Deodato delivers in spades. The cramped confines of the back room bunker, draped in inky blacks creates a tense mood to match the bubbling cauldron of emotion at the forefront of the issue. With 5 demi-gods reshaping the world at will, the Illuminati are equal parts hopeful, cautious, angry, and stoic. Deodato captures it all with ease. Maybe some would find the book a bit too dark / shadowy? But under the guise of being a “secret team” holding a “secret meeting”? I’m perfectly fine with it.

Ultimately, if there’s anything to criticize here, it’s the fact that it’s 20 pages of talking. In the grand scheme of things, nothing really changes by the end of the piece, save perhaps a single panel that lays out a seed of doubt. One so cryptic, my train cohorts and I disagreed as to the meaning behind it. I want to believe the Phoenix posed Five are secretly asking to be freed from the burden (save perhaps Cyclops). My friends want to believe they want nothing of the sort. The New Avengers may have basically been all but gone in this issue, but for those looking for a great calm before the storm occurring in AvX, I highly recommend this “scene in a box in a comic”. Bendis shows off just how well he knows the characters, Deodato has rarely looked better, and the exchanges (from the witty to the melodramatic) hold considerable heft. In a comic world where actions always speak louder than words, it’s nice to have a chance to have that reversed.