New Avengers Vol. 5

Like the previous volume this story wraps up some loose ends of the New Avengers book that go all the way back to the start of this second series with the Heroic Age.  Luke Cage & Jessica Jones have decided that it is time to retire from the Avengers & focus on raising their child.  This last story arc is really a Dr. Strange story & the covers for the individual issues are quiet misleading.  The story does involve Brother Voodoo indirectly but he is not in this story.  This story is about how Stephen Strange once again becomes the Sorcerer Supreme for the Marvel Universe.  Just like in the first story where there was a lot of possession of different team members by a spirit that happens again in this story.  There is death in this book of several minor characters in this story one of which is quite shocking but the death that affected the Avengers team the most is the death of Victoria Hand.  Also just to take note of in this story for the sake of continuity Ms. Marvel has changed costumes & names at this stage of the game.  She now goes by Captain Marvel.  The story-arc also has several artists that bring this adventure to a close some is unique and cool while others seem childish.  I wouldn’t say any of the art is bad in this book but not all of it works within the story that it is attempting to tell.  This story is a great end-cap to Brian Michael Bendis’s run on the main Avengers titles.

Avengers Vol. 5

This is it the one of the final volumes of the Avengers written by Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis has been writing the Avengers since my reemergence into the the world of super-heroes; so for me this is a big deal.  There are two main stories in this volume the first of which is told through the annuals of both Avengers & New Avengers.  The events in those two issues takes right place before the Fear Itself event.  In which Wonder Man & his team of misfits take on the Avengers.  Wonder Man has been trying to prove for about half of Brian's run that the Avengers are a flawed concept this story-line comes to a head here.  The second story is a rescue mission to find a The Wasp.  She has been missing in action since Secret Invasion & thought to be dead.  She is very much alive & very tiny.  This story was amazing & quite well done all in all this is how you write the conclusion to a series.

New Avengers Vol. 4

The New Avengers collection that coincides with Avengers vs. X-Men event has a lot more heart than the main Avengers title.  Steve Rogers comes to Avengers Mansion to recruit all of the Avengers for multiple missions to combat the Phoenix Force.  Storm is immediately taken aback & leaves heading for Utopia.  Captain America goes to talk to Cyclops about the upcoming threat & about turning over Hope to the Avengers.  Wolverine knows this is going to back fire but the other refuse to believe it. The conflict ensues.  Next up is my favorite part of this collection it takes place in K'un-Lun during the time of Leonardo Da Vinci.  Master Yu Ti started having visions of the Phoenix Force making its way to earth.  Master Yu Ti had a vision of a red haired girl who possessed the power of the Iron Fist & the Phoenix Force.  He found a girl named Fongji  who was taken into the palace to begin training.  She received the power of the Iron Fist & the Phoenix, the dragon & the bird.  With this power she left earth.  This short story adds a great of amount of weight to Iron Fist as a character.  Hope is taken to K'un-Lun to begin training but she can not become the Iron Fist because Danny Rand already is.  However it is not Danny Rand who needs to train her it is the Spider.  Peter Parker shares the advice he lives by with hope & helps her see exactly what it means.  Captain America calls the Illuminati together in hopes of talking some reason to Namor.  Professor X has a breakdown of sorts in which he feels that he has failed & his life's work has been for naught.  Reed Richards says some very poignant things about how maybe Captain America is on the wrong side this time & that maybe that some good came from bad intentions.  After everybody leaves Namor shows up & the dialogue between Captain America & him is great it shows that Steve Rogers is one of the few people in the Marvel Universe that Namor respects.  The final part of this collection sees an Avengers prison transport attacked by the Purifiers while they are transporting Emma Frost.  The New Avengers rise up to the challenge & take out the threat.  After the Purifiers are neutralized Luke Cage walks off into the sunset.  This volume is more essential to the New Avengers title then Avengers vs. X-Men also it just feels like there is more life in this one.

Avengers Vol. 4

Avengers vs. X-Men is here & this volume of Avengers feels disconnected when you read it by itself.  This title & New Avengers are better read while reading Avengers vs. X-Men along with several X-Men titles.  The Avengers title focuses on the Avengers space plan to take out the Phoenix Force before it arrives to earth we are getting only parts of this story in this title.  It is shocking to see Wolverine & Beast siding with the Avengers instead of the X-Men.  There is another group looking to capture the Phoenix Force for their own purpose.  The Kree Empire is looking to take control with the help of Noh-Varr they come close to accomplishing this.  As if the betrayal of Noh-Varr was not enough for the Avengers they gain a little bit of an upper hand when they trick Rachel Summers into a trap in which some she feels that she has been betrayed by Professor X.  The big issue of the collection is the Red Hulk one in which General Ross travels to Utopia on his own to assassinate Scott Summers a job which the Ross know Wolverine would not be able to accomplish if asked.  However this does not come to pass & the Red Hulk is sent back to the Avengers as a message.  As a collection there isn't much here & should be read along with the Avengers vs. X-Men event.

Avengers Vol. 3

Fear Itself is over & the Avengers have been plunged into a time of Shattered Heroes.  Steve Rogers has once again dawned the Red, White & Blue; & picked up the Shield.  Bucky Barnes died during the Fear Itself event along with Thor.  In the wake of this tragedy Captain America & Iron Man decide to hold a press conference to announce new members joining the Avengers.  Rogers approaches Black Panther who refuses to accept but offers up an alternative in his wife.  For Storm this is the first time she has joined the Avengers which for her character I think is a great achievement. but she seems to be completely underutilized in this story-arc.  The next character to join is one of the oldest members of the team, Vision has returned.  Vision has not been seen since his death in Avengers Disassembled.  The scenes with Vision are truly amazing his confrontation with She-Hulk where she apologizes for killing him are touching & heartfelt.  In comparison his appearance in Utopia sort of helps raise the tensions for the up coming Avengers vs. X-Men event.  But his threats & accusations against Magneto are simply awesome & speaks to the incredible amount of history that these characters have.  Most of this story is tense until you get to the finally.  The Avengers are taken down in one quick coordinated strike from Osborn & what remains of H.A.M.M.E.R.  Osborn again alters his physiology to battle the Avengers it will be interesting to see how permanent this change is.  The conclusion to this story doesn't make sense unless you read New Avengers Vol. 3 as well.  Many of the complaints I have with this collection I have stated in that article.  This is the story-arc that precedes the Avengers vs. X-Men event.  However there are two Avengers mini-series that take place in-between this story & the forth coming one.  The first is Avengers: The Children's Crusade which coincides with the events going under the Shattered Heroes banner.  Next up is Avengers: X-Sanction which takes place after Osborn's attempted coup d'etat.

New Avengers Vol. 3

This volume follows Fear Itself.  The issues in this story coincide with the issues in Avengers as well in fact this story would probably be better read in periodical form.  This book sees the escape of Norman Osborn under the watchful eye of Luke Cage's Avengers in the opening scenes of this story it doesn't really discuss the backstory of the Goblin gang that started being foreshadowed in earlier issues.  Osborn begins to form a plan to reform the Dark Avengers & supplant the current Avengers teams with his own.  Osborn in a genius & it shows in just how well he turns the tide against the Avengers.  Osborn forms a united team by gathering The Hand, A.I.M. & Hydra under the banner of what remains of H.A.M.M.E,R.  The one thing this mini event does is show how  disjointed the Avengers team are after Fear Itself.  The issues in this story are under the banner Shattered Heroes which is the appropriate title.  This story shows just how much Bendis loves to write Norman Osborn he has elevated this villain from the Spider-Man rogues gallery to the global stage as an Avengers level threat.  The Avengers rally once they find out how Osborn has manipulated them & show up to take down H.A.M.M.E.R.  For everything that was done right in this story there was a mistake for how well put together Osborn's plan was the Avengers plan seems confusing & chaotic.  I wish Bendis had put more time into building up this story because the execution & editing seemed rushed.  Luke Cage misses out on the final showdown because he is concerned about his family.  As H.A.M.M.E.R. falls all of Osborn's associates bail on him knowing that Osborn is his own worst enemy & that he usually brings about his own downfall.  Since these are the issues leading up to Avengers vs. X-Men I am surprised there is really no lead up to that event in these issues but it is a deserving follow-up to Fear Itself.

Avengers: Fear Itself

This is essentially the third volume of both Avengers & New Avengers as this picks up after the events of the second volumes.  I have not read the Fear Itself event I do know the general story & that it is very Thor centric event.  One of the spoilers from that event is that Avengers Tower is taken down by one of the invading forces.  The significance of that I am sure might have been lost on some readers but here's the cultural parallel this event came out in 2011.  That is the ten year anniversary of the World Trade Center collapse on 9/11.  Marvel took the anniversary & built it into an event; the tone they set with this collection echoes the feelings that arise when we look back on 9/11.  Captain America also plays a big part in this event as both the first Thor & Captain America movies came out this year as well.  If this book had another title it would be What Does it Take to Be an Avenger.  Someone is interviewing the Avengers for a book they are righting on the history of the Avengers there is some very candid dialog about each of the members & flashback stories to this event in particular.  Everybody has little moments to shine in this book particularly Squirrel Girl, Daredevil, Red Hulk & Mockingbird.  This was a great reflective volume before kicking back into new story-arcs for both books.

New Avengers Vol. 2

Again Brian Michael Bendis has established to very completely different Avengers books; New Avengers is definitely the more interesting read of the two.  This story sees Luke Cage & company settling into being Avengers while living in Avengers Mansion.  Luke Cage & Jessica Jones hire a nanny for their baby & after interviewing several potential candidates settle on Squirrel Girl who apparently has some type of backstory with Logan that is both interesting & creepy.  Finally the New Avengers set out on their first mission seeking out the remaining members of H.A.M.M.E.R. before they can set up shop again.  The resulting chaos leads to the mortal wounding of Mockingbird & the double agent reveal of Victoria Hand.  The main villain in this is a D-List character named Superia that is so obscure that Ms. Marvel even states that she has never heard of her.  There is another story that weaves in an out of this one that shows the first team of Avengers a secret team before the classic Iron Man, Thor & Captain America pairing to stop Loki.  This team was put in motion during the late 1950's & consist of Silver Sable, Ulysses Bloodstone, Sabretooth, Kraven the Hunter, Namora, Dominic Fortune, Dum Dum Dugan, & Nick Fury.  Its a cross between the Howling Commandos & the Avengers they are teaming up to take one someone claiming to be the Red Skull who has set up shop in Sweden.  This team of Avengers storms the castle to take down the Nazis who are calling themselves the Fourth Reich.  They come across an abomination that these Nazis have created their own Captain America in mixing the Super Soldier Serum with the Infinity Formula.  Sabretooth beheads the Red Skull at the end of the the mission so it is pretty evident that this was not the real Red Skull.  Nick Fury shows up in the present once the Avengers take down Superia to retrieve this formula.  Fury reveals that the Infinity Formula is what has been keeping him alive all of these years.  It turns out that the only way to save Mockingbird is to inject her with this hybrid formula that the Nazi Captain America was created with.  The big reveal at the end is that as soon as Superia is put in jail a card is slipped under her door a stylized goblin head, leaving the question who is Victoria Hand really working for?  Next up for the Avengers & the Marvel Universe as a whole is the Fear Itself event.  During that event many of the Marvel heroes go through their own mini-events Spider-Man will have to deal with Spider-Island.  While the X-Men will have to deal with Schism all in all changes are coming to the Marvel Universe.

Avengers Vol. 2

The second volume of Avengers sees a new member join the team in the Red Hulk.  The major event of this book is the fact that the Illuminati that was formed long ago & has played a hand in several events most famously the Planet Hulk story line.  This story starts off that a mysterious person has found out about the Infinity Gems by accident he really found out about an object of immense power.  This mysterious individual turns out to be The Hood aka Parker Robbins.  Parker Robbins has in a short amount of time become a major thorn in the Avengers sides throughout Bendis's run on the Avengers titles.  Robbins is able to get his hands on three of the gems before the story's conclusion & by the end he is back where he started in prison.  But a human gaining control of the Infinity Gems is not the only ramification to come out of this story.  The Avengers learn of Black Bolts death from Medusa in this book & the Avengers lead by Steve Rogers come to learn of the existence of the Illuminati & the hiding of the Infinity Gems.  By the end of this book the Illuminati still exist but now Steve Rogers is a part of it.  This book also lays more of the foundation for the Age of Ultron event.

Avengers: The Heroic Age

This collection is a great jumping on point for people who want to read about the Avengers on the dawn of the first Avengers movie.  This is also the second half of Brian Michael Bendis's run on the Avengers titles.  Bendis's run collects the 2 main titles Avengers & New Avengers there are 2 other titles that fill out the Avengers books Secret Avengers & Avengers Academy.  All of the events in this book take place after the events of Siege.  This book includes Avengers: Prime it also has the first 6 issues of both Avengers & New Avengers.  Avengers: Prime is a great story that shows the bonds of friendship that the trinity of the Avengers share even with all of the trouble they have gone through during most of Bendis's run.  The first story-arc of Avengers is a time traveling tale that includes Kang & sets some of the ground work for Age of Ultron.  Finally the third story-arc is in New Avengers with Luke Cage getting the keys to Avengers Mansion & setting up a second team of Avengers in New York City.  This is a magical tale involving the Eye of Agammotto, this was a lot of fun to read mostly because it delves into a side of the Marvel Universe that doesn't get a lot of attention.

Dark Avengers Vol. 3: Siege

The third & final volume  of Dark Avengers is out the lead up to Siege & the aftermath of the team due to the event.  Two characters are unraveling in this book the first being Norman Osborn the second being the Sentry.  This book also sheds light on the true origin of the Sentry and who exactly Bob Reynolds is.  I am still not a fan of the character bu I have a new respect for Marvel comics adding that darker origin to the character & trying to pass him off as a hero.  This book also shows how Norman  Osborn removes Doctor Doom as threat to his plans.  Osborn fabricates his own crisis to use as an excuse to invade Asgard.  In the end Osborn in prison along with the majority of his Avengers.  The only character to get away in the battle without being captured was Daken.

New Avengers Vol. 7

This is the final volume of the first New Avengers series by Brian Michael Bendis.  This book continues the adventures of the Luke Cage's Avengers during Dark Reign & into the Siege event.  A lot happens during this final volume the Hood is going through a power crisis, Luke Cage comes within an inch of death, Steve Rogers returns to the team he helped put together back in volume one.  I really love Mockingbird in this book she shines through so well in this, I am really glad to hear that Marvel has a Mockingbird book coming out this year.  Siege is the event that brings down Norman Osborn from his seat of power.  This volume does overlap with Dark Avengers which shows the attack on Avengers Tower.  Wolverine is of the board until the very end due to events that took place in Avengers / X-Men: Utopia.  Next up is a new era for Marvel Comics the Heroic Age.

Dark Avengers Vol. 2: Molecule Man

This second volume of Dark Avengers can be read without reading Avengers / X-Men: Utopia but from a chronological stand point this should be read after.  Some more light is shed on who the Sentry is & what he can do.   The Molecule Man is found in this issue living in a small town in Colorado.  One of the great things about Marvel Comics is that they have some major power house villains who could really destroy the known universe with their powers but because of the way they are used they have become incredibly flawed & complex characters.  Molecule Man is one of those characters this is really only the second story I have ever read that has a focus on him the last major Marvel Comic I read with a focus on him was Secret Wars.  Siege is next but I don't see the major amount of build up like I did for Secret Invasion.

The New Avengers Vol. 6

This volume takes place concurrently with Dark Avengers volume one, so much in fact that some of the dialog & scenes are even repeated.  The great thing about this is that a person is not required to pick up both Avengers titles to get the whole story.  However if your a fan of Brian Michael Bendis's Avengers run then you are already picking up these two Avengers titles.  This title shows a shift in the Avengers team as the new Captain America makes his presence felt, the Cage family enlist the Avengers help in tracking down the Skrull who stole their child.  Clint Barton is given field command of the team in this book.  The second story in this collection shows the Avengers helping Doctor Strange take down the Hood with the help of Daimon Hellstrom & the new Sorcerer Supreme Brother Voodoo.  Brother Voodoo is essentially Marvel Comics version of Shadowman from Valiant Comics.  I like where this is going Marvel has made some great changes with characters overtime the thing about those changes is that they rarely stick for a great deal of time.  So it is only a matter of time before Strange is back as Sorcerer Supreme.

Dark Avengers Vol. 1: Assemble

The Skrull Invasion is over they lost the earth won but it wasn't the heroes who scored the victorious blow to end the invasion.  The Thunderbolts made themselves known & one man was there to reap the reward, Norman Osborn.  This book reads like a Marvel nightmare, Norman Osborn aka the Green Goblin has taken over as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. from Tony Stark.  He has taken over the Avengers & the Fifty State Initiative.  Osborn's first act is to rebrand S.H.I.E.L.D. into H.A.M.M.E.R. while his second act is to fire the majority of personnel & replace them with a selection of former S.H.I.E.L.D. & Hydra agents.  Osborn even rebuilds the Avengers from the ground up since Ms. Marvel refuses to work with Osborn he replaces her with Moonstone, he brings in Venom to stand in for Spider-Man, Daken Akihiro is brought on board to replace Wolverine, Noh-Varr is released from prison to become the new Captain Marvel & Bullseye is standing in for Hawkeye.  All of these additions join the only two members who decided to stay after Osborn took over, Ares & the Sentry. To say this new team of Avengers is scary is an understatement Osborn even goes as far as he can to dress them up like the characters they are supposed to be portraying.  However with all of Osborn's planning the symbolic heart of the Avengers is still missing until Ghost opens up Stark's vault & refurbishes some of the Iron Man suits into Iron Patriot.  All seems to be going well their first mission is a success but when Osborn is in charge you just know he is going to self destruct it is just a matter of time & by the end of this first volume it looks like the first cracks are appearing.

The Mighty Avengers Vol. 2: Secret Invasion

This is a great companion piece to Secret Invasion just like volume 5 of New Avengers.  This collection sets up so much in just a short amount of time.  The origins of Nick Fury's new team Secret Warriors in set in motion in this book.  There is a lot of back story in these issues about when the Skrulls replaced certain heroes.  I really liked this book & I have a new respect for Secret Invasion now that I have read these to main Avengers titles.  There is a nice epilogue showcasing the funeral of the Wasp.  Tony Stark has been demoted by the government & removed from S.H.I.E.L.D. only to be replaced by Norman Osborn.  To find out more pick up the upcoming Avengers title Dark Avengers.

The New Avengers Vol. 5

The Secret Invasion is in full swing & this book is a great supplement of stories that give more of a back-story than a side-story.  I like all of the planning & build-up that the Skrulls have set in motion to prepare for their invasion.  This volume & Brian Michael Bendis's Avengers run as a whole has given me a new appreciation for the Secret Invasion story-arc.  I would recommend that if you're are looking at reading Secret Invasion or any event set forth from Marvel Comics from Avengers Disassembled to the current running Secret Wars make sure you are reading the Avengers titles concurrently alongside it.  The X-Men are still relatively separate but are still involved with major Marvel events.  This volume alone makes me want to pick up Secret Invasion again & reread it.

The New Avengers Vol. 4

This volume of New Avengers takes place concurrently with the events in the first volume of The Mighty Avengers.  There are references made to the World War Hulk story-arc that happened after Civil War.  So far all of these Avengers titles have been taking place before Brand New Day because Peter Parker is still wearing the black suit.  Luke Cage really shines in this collection he is rapidly becoming a fan favorite of this series I really like the dynamic created by this team of Avengers.  The second half of this collection is the Illuminati mini-series showed how the Marvel Illuminati set in motion the events that lead to the Secret Invasion story-arc.  They even gather the Infinity Gems to prevent another Infinity Gauntlet event.  This leads to Uatu the Watcher to arrive showing grave disappointment in Reed Richards in particular.  The Watcher even states that if Reed uses the Infinity Gauntlet he will destroy everything.  Later on the group confronts the Beyonder in the Asteroid Belt & believed that have convinced him to leave their universe.  It seems very vague on where the Beyonder did go but it provided a little more background to who & what he is.  I really like how Bendis has instilled this idea of the Illuminati in the Marvel Universe it makes sense & I can see the early seeds being planted for Secret Wars which is going on currently.

The Mighty Avengers Vol. 1: Assemble

This is the first volume of Brian Michael Bendis's second Avengers title The Mighty Avengers.  Tony Stark won the Civil War & has been made the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. now he is putting together United States sanctioned Avengers team.  Stark brings in Ms. Marvel as team leader but instead he is the one really running the show.  Other Marvel characters to debut in this collection as part of the Mighty Avengers are Wasp, Sentry, Wonder Man, Black Widow & Ares.  Unlike Luke Cage & company in New Avengers this team is all over the place the only characters that have any real chemistry are former Avengers.  There are two main story-arcs in this collection The Initiative story is first showing the team take on their first threat in the form of Ultron taking over Tony Stark's new Extremis suit.  The second story-arcshows the Avengers taking on a Symbiote attack on New York City.  This attack leads the Avengers to Latveria to take on Doctor Doom.  Overall the second story is really great with twist & turns & it ties in with what has been happening in New Avengers & how they found out that Elektra was a Skrull.  Now Iron Man has been informed by Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman that Elektra was a Skrull & shares the fears of Luke Cage's team that this is the start of an impending invasion.  The first story in this book sucked to high heaven Ultron in a female body that resembles Janet Van Dyne is just a horrible premise.  There are two major complaints I have about this book other than the Ultron story.  First I really hate the change of writing style were the inner monologue is connected with the spoken dialog this created confusion all through the first half of the book.  The second problem I have with this collection is the art work.  Frank Cho just does not seem to bring his A game to this book I have seen great Cho work before & this just doesn't work.  Bendis is setting up Secret Invasion quite nicely in this book & setting up Tony Stark for the biggest fall of his life since the Demon in a Bottle story.

The New Avengers Vol. 3

This third volume of New Avengers is best read along with Civil War because there is a lot of stuff that happens in that event that pertains to this volume.  This collection covers what happens to the New Avengers team during Civil War & the The Initiative.  This is really where Luke Cage comes into his own he is the leader & everyone else is there to follow.  Everybody in this book has sided with Captain America in Civil War.  There is some back story to Tony's motivations for his side of Civil War while he is talking to Captain America but really this is about Luke Cage's team.  This book also shows how Tony Stark becomes the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. after Maria Hill's short reign.  I don't know how much time they are saying went past between Civil War & Avengers Disassembled but it doesn't seem all that long.  I would think that the public or at least the U.N. would be wary of Stark after he had a drunk meltdown in front of them.  It just seems out of left field that he would be given the reigns of their peace keeping force.  Back to Maria Hill she was created by Brian Michael Bendis & she has been a bad-ass every time she appears on panel I really loved how she infiltrated Avengers Tower; it really is to bad that the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of her is not this awesome.  The other thing that this volume brings to the forefront is the return of Clint Barton & how he took up the mantel of Ronin.  One thing that I have noticed is that Bendis has really been seeding the paranoia & mistrust throughout his Avengers run up to this point.  I know this preparing the way for Secret Invasion & I would recommend that if you are going to catch up on Marvel events from Avengers Disassembled forward to Avengers vs. X-Men you need to be reading Bendis's Avengers run alongside it will make so much more sense.