by Brian Michael Bendis (writing), Mike Deodato & Howard Chaykin (art), Rain Beredo & Edgar Delgado (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)
The Story: Doctors try to save Mockingbird while in the past, Nick and friends raid a Red Skull base.
The Review: New Avengers #11 is a very frustrating issue to review. On the one hand, it’s unquestionably better than last month’s debacle. In fact, it does a lot of things really, really right. Unfortunately, it also has many of the same major flaws from last month, which ultimately hamper the entire package.
The biggest example of this is the division of the issue between two stories, in two different timelines, in a constant back-and-forth. We’re well into this arc now, and there is still absolutely no correlation between these two stories. There’s no hint of an explanation as to why they’re occupying the same issue. At this point, Bendis should quite with the back and forth and just call the book a double feature. There’s nothing significant in common between these two plots and no narrative interaction whatsoever, leading to a bizarre reading experience.
But it honestly wouldn’t be so bad if the two stories were of equal merit. Of course, that’s far from the case. The present-day story is simply head and shoulders above the Nick Fury story and it feels like a chore whenever we return to the latter. While Howard Chaykin’s art, while still idiosyncratic, does improve from last month’s disaster, the bottom-line is that the tale itself just isn’t very interesting at all. While that jazzy, old time tone is there thanks to Chaykin, this is nothing more than a standard Nick Fury Nazi-hunting story, with nothing at all unique or exciting about it.
Which is a shame, because Bendis does so much right with the present day story. Mockingbird’s critical condition creates real human drama and emotion. The tension is palpable and sincere, which is really quite the accomplishment given that “certain death until the last moment” is usually so tired. But Mockingbird really does feel threatened here and the reaction of the Avengers is genuine.
More than that though, there are some interesting and natural developments here. The rise of the remnants of HAMMER as an underground organization, for instance, makes perfect sense and offers a reasonable new bad guy organization in the Marvel Universe. It makes so much sense that it left me wondering why no other writer had used HAMMER before. This also allows Bendis to once again do excellent work with Victoria Hand. You knew the Avengers were going to eventually going to have more trust issues with her, and this whole HAMMER thing brings this about in a really organic and logical way. Hand’s awkward position is well done and is a really cool addition to this “buddy team’s” dynamic.
Bendis even addresses my earlier grievances about Superia by making use of the fact that she’s a no-name C-lister. He utilizes this by having it cause something of a crisis of faith in Ms. Marvel in the team’s abilities, that they got their asses kicked by, well, a C-lister. It’s smart, self-aware stuff and it was certainly appreciated.
Deodato’s art also looks a little scratchier, less polished, and a bit more old school this month. It’s not in a rushed way, just a clear alteration of his inking style. It’s nice, subtle shift from his usual look.
Conclusion: The really good present day portion is handicapped by a bizarre issue format/structure and a comparative yawner of a Nick Fury story.
Grade: C+
-Alex Evans
Grade
Conclusion