Saturday, June 11, 2011

The New Avengers #13

This issue wraps up the "two-fer" adventure, only half of which actually featured The New Avengers.

In the modern-day adventure, the team faces grim reality when one of their teammates lies at death's door. That sparks an all-out, Jack Bauer-like interrogation as they try to track down the woman known as Superia.

The other part of the story is set in the '50s and features Nick Fury and his "Avengers Initiative" wrapping up their fight with a (presumably) fake Red Skull, who had created a nearly-invulnerable (also fake) Captain America.

The two stories dovetail together as Fury discovers the Red Skull's goals in the past adventure - and then appears to offer an all-too-convenient solution to the modern-day dilemma.

Which is to say, it's a complete cheat - and from now on, every time a hero gets seriously hurt, they just need to call Fury and he can fix the problem easily. (In other words, the solution is simply a terrible idea.)

This is a rare stumble for writer Brian Bendis, but the art is top-notch (as always), with Mike Deodato handling the modern stuff and Howard Chaykin managing the flashbacks.

We can also see why Chaykin is drawing this, since a key part of the story ties back to a one-shot story he penciled decades ago.

Chalk this one up as an interesting experiment that didn't quite work.

Grade: B-

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