By: Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Carlo Pagulayan (Pencils), Jeff Huet (Inks), Justin Ponsor (Colors)
Things finally come to a head with The Hood as he and his swarm of bad guys invade Doctor Strange’s mansion. Virtually caught off-guard, the Avengers have their backs to the wall. Doctor Strange gets shot up, Jessica Jones is almost assassinated, and well, you get the picture. It’s not pretty, but there’s a few heroic moments, especially on Spider-Man’s part. This issue culminates with a bloody fight that changes the chemistry and destiny of the team. It’ll be interesting to see what happens from here on. Iron Man, the guy who seems to be in every Marvel Comic these days, oddly enough, is not in this issue.
As always, Bendis floods the panels with spurts of dialogue and it keeps things somewhat grounded. The action really moves at a feverish pace and it would be easy for one to get lost in what was going on. Carlo Pagulayan’s good pencil work deserves a lot of credit in this aspect. I hope to see more of this guy in the future; he’d be a perfect fit for New Avengers with Leinil Yu’s departure from the title.
If you’ve been following this story arc, you should probably pick up this annual. It resolves a lot of the story and opens up future plots. No Skrulls are revealed this issue, however. Bummer. (Grade: B-)
-J.Montes
Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Avengers, Brian Bendis, Carlo Pagulayan, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Marvel Comics, New Avengers, Skrulls, Spider-Man, The Hood, Wolverine
