The New Avengers, Vol. 3: Secrets and Lies

The New Avengers (2004)

by Brian Michael Bendis, David Finch (Illustrator), Frank Cho (Illustrator)

The debut of the mysterious New Avenger everyone has been talking about all year Who is Ronin and why has Captain America recruited him into the fold? Bet it has something to do with Hydra helping the Silver Samurai get out of the country after he broke out of prison. And what is Ronin's true identity? Here's a hint: He's not Daredevil Plus: Spider-Woman's dark secrets revealed Captain America catches her double-dealing the Avengers and corners her How did Spider-Woman get her powers back and to whom does she answer?

Collecting: The New Avengers 11-15, Giant-Size Spider-Woman 1

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes, Fiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 2006

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part of this volume is set before House of M; Captain America introduces 'Ronin' into the team, who are themselves in Japan to investigate the Silver Samurai, who's got caught up with some HYDRA shenanigans, shenanigans that may also tie in to the wider global SHIELD conspiracy. The second half of this volume that immediately follows House of M see Spider-Woman called out by Captain America and having to reveal 'secrets and lies' all through the lens of Captain Marvel's post House of M revelation and the public announcement of the New Avengers.

This volume brings to light more incredible Bendis storytelling as he turns the 'we are your Avengers' press conference trope into something completely different; also by now, after my initial strong doubts Spider-Man and Wolverine as New Avengers is really working. The ongoing underlying SHIELD conspiracy is OK, but does feel a bit too vague at times. My only real issue with this volume/series at this point was how the whole 'Ronin' secret New Avenger deal was introduced, and then dealt with so quickly. 8 out of 12, Four Star read.

2022 read

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

So Spider-woman's sexy ass is a agent for Hydra! Wait wait, is she? Who is she playing, how far is she a double agent, what is happening? Oh who the fuck is Ronin? Where my boy Sentry crazy ass?

Well this volume is more for the street level dudes. Got Cap, Spidey, Wolvie, and new friend Ronin going to Japan. We just had to get the fucking Hand involved didn't we? They never very interesting. Also we have to deal with Jessica (Spider-woman) and her being a Hydra agent. But then we find out she's working for Nick. But then we find out she might still be working for Hydra. What the mother of all fucks is the truth here? WHERE IS IT?

Good: The art still remains good, unique, and interesting. The team dymanic is solid, with the jokes landing most of the time. The Jessica stuff is very interesting and easily the best part of the book and remaining on her side or seeing if she's bad is always fun.

Bad: Fuck the hand. They suck. They are boring here as ever. Also Tony attack made no sense and he could have used it early.

Overall it was a fun adventure but didn't like it as much as volume 1-2. Still, the jokes are fun, the characters are great, and the fights are pretty exciting. A 3 out of 5.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new mystery Avenger joins the team as they head to Japan. Silver Samurai was on the list of escapees from the Raft and he's went home to broker a deal between Clan Yoshida, the Hand, and Hydra. Ronin is introduced and his / her costume is outstanding. It's one of David Finch's best character designs. I'm not sure why Marvel hasn't brought this character back. They could put anyone that knows martial arts in the costume. Some major revelations with Jessica Drew come to light with Frank Cho on art. I love the added intrigue on top of the intrigue of what's going on at SHIELD and Hydra. Bendis is really playing the long game here. Bendis also makes sure there's plenty of humor along with the drama. J. Jonah Jameson's appearance in the book was fantastic, escpecially Bendis's handling of the character. Marvel keeps sending out it's big guns to provide the art with David Finch and Frank Cho, the book looks beautiful.

[Kemper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty fun.

[Sud666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this Bendis penned tale of the New Avengers. Volume three has a little bit of everything- a roll out of new members, a new hero, ninjas and Hydra. All of it beautifully drawn.

The story begins with Captain America badgering Daredevil about joining the New Avengers (who so far are- Cap, Spiderwoman, Iron man, Luke Cage, Spiderman and soon the Sentry). So considering the makeup of this team, I can see why the addition of a Daredevil would be useful. But, this is happening during the story-arc of where Daredevil was "outed" and he strangely keeps refusing to join the Avengers (though one would think that would help him). He does recommend a proxy- the mystery hero known as Ronin. Ronin agrees to scout some information for Cap. What follows is a fairly interesting tale that involves the Hand. It seems that the Hand wants to takeover the mantle of supreme underworld power. They decide to help release the Silver Samurai from the Raft breakout and present him with his armor and weapons again. But in return he would have to agree to run the underworld. Along with the Hand we also have Madame Hydra who wishes a stronger, more disciplined HYDRA to be formed.
Now apparently in this story arc Spiderwoman lost her powers but were given them back by some crazy 17 month process. Well, her "masters" at HYDRA want to use her to bring SHIELD down as well. Bear in mind during this story arc-SHIELD had some issues going with rogue parts of SHIELD being a huge problem. But fear not, not all is as it seems with Spiderwoman.

I enjoyed this Hand/HYDRA arc. Bendis's writing style has some nice humor that works considering the current makeup of the New Avengers. The artwork is excellent throughout. The Hand made for an interesting opponent in my opinion. This was an interesting volume, especially with the reveal of who Ronin really is. Can't say I am familiar with the character, but it does remind me of Taskmaster in the skill set of photographic muscle memory.

This is a must read for any fan of Bendis's writing or any Avengers fan. A deserving 5 star volume.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay read. Some info about the formation of this new team and the double agent amongst them.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun volume and has like the team going to Japan after the Silver Samurai escapes from the raft and we see the deep ramifications and story behind it and also enter Viper aka Madame Hydra and well Hydra and the Hand and how they are behind it and its a complex explanation of espionage and underworld power with the Avengers trapped in the middle of it and I love how Bendis writes it, he brings this layer of tension and suspense and stories and what not.

And then there is the big revelation with Jess Drew and what she has been upto and Fury and Hydra and so much, its like straight out of a James Bond movie and I love it and the inclusion of Carol/Ms Marvel was awesome in it and Bendis monologuing her thoughts is well done and the fun way with JJJ and Spider-man vs him.

I like how Bendis brings the team struggles and well a sense of humanity and grounding-ness to this book and that makes them more relatable and I love the fallout of all the other events happening! One of the best volumes!

[˙⋆✮ Anny ✮⋆˙ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. I neither particularly loved nor hated this volume.
Some interesting developments, and I liked finding out more about Jessica's secret-identity-backstory. I also liked seeing Carol.
Not a fan of the art in the final two issues though.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really, really, good. It was a little slow in places, but it was very good.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars.

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, this wasn't as great a reread as I thought it would be.

I remember reading this the first time and thinking Jessica Drew was treated pretty poorly. This time around, I can't believe I missed just how bad it was. When she's not being drawn with erect nipples in a skin tight vagina suit, everyone she speaks to mentions her body. There wasn't a single issue (aside from maybe the classic Marvel issues) where someone didn't comment on her body in some way. It was really sad.

I won't get into the gross way Carol was drawn except to say, for artists that claim to love boobs, they have no understanding of how they work. If Carol flew around with her breasts resting on her stomach like that, she'd be severely off balanced. And men wonder why women prefer other women draw for female characters. This bullshit is why.

Moving on, this was a volume about Jessica Drew's double agent status. Hydra thinks she's working for them, SHIELD thinks she's working for them, the Avengers think she's working for SHIELD. (Little does everyone know: spoiler alert: she's working for a 3rd party entirely). We get it.

I was more interested in the team camaraderie here. I enjoyed the issue with the Avengers trying to announce their new line up. I liked seeing that Cap was well loved by the public but the others were a lot less loved. I liked seeing Tony try to navigate the optics of Spider-Man and Logan being on the team. That was interesting.

Once again, I come to the conclusion that Bendis either doesn't know or doesn't care to write Luke Cage well. Reminds me of the trope in Not Another Team Movie where the black guy can only say "damn" or "that's messed up."

I really loved the conversation between Steve and Carol. That was wonderful.

So, that's really all I liked about this volume. It's a bummer that rereading this isn't as great as I thought it would be.

[Therese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this too. Sorry for spamming everyone with comics these last couple of days, but I'm preparing myself for my last exam this semester, and comics are so easy to read on the side. When my exam is done I'll get back into real books.

[Roman Zarichnyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Том «Нові Месники: Секрети і брехня» (2006), #11-15 складається із двох сюжетних арок: «Ронін» і саме «Секрети і брехня».

«Ронін» — починається з того, що Капітан Америка вмовляє Шибайголову про приєднання до Нових Месників для нової місії. Тому, враховуючи склад цієї команди, я думаю, що він мав би непогано влитися. Але Мердок дивним чином продовжує відмовлятися приєднатися до них. Він рекомендує довірену особу — таємничого героя, відомог��, як Ронін, що може допомоги їм. Ронін погоджується розвідати деяку інформацію для Кепа у Японії. Адже за перевіреною інформацією Рука хоче заволодіти мантією верховної влади підземного світу.

У другій арці розповідається, як Жінка-Павучиха втратила свої сили, але їй повернули їх через якийсь божевільний 17-місячний процес. Ну, і звісно «Гідра» хоче використати її, щоб нашкодити «ЩИТу».

Відверто, цей том слабший за перші два. Але якщо порівняти цих дві арки, то перша в рази краща для мене.

[Judah Radd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty average. I enjoyed it, but it lacked any deep intrigue. I felt like the character interactions were a tad stale. The story didn’t pull me in. Didn’t Wolverine just finish wrecking Hydra and The Hand’s shit big time? Why are we still dealing with them?

It’s always nice to see Carol Danvers and it’s fun getting to know Spiderwoman a little better... but there just could have been a little more meat here.

The art was good, although the Hand fight was a bit jumbled. I’m curious what role Secret War (singular) is gonna play.

Sometimes it feels like they are mentioning House of M just to remind us that this is a shared universe. M Day does not seem to effect people very much outside of the X teams.

I think I may read up a bit more on 00s Danvers after this. I love her costume and her personality here.

Not bad, not great. Moves the series forward.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Were I not buying these volumes for my 13-year-old little bro, I would probably stop reading the series at this point. (But since he likes The New Avengers a lot and I'm trying to encourage him to read for pleasure, I will continue to buy them and read them before I give them to him.) The appearance of dinosaurs in Volume 1 made me think that the writer of the series, Brian Michael Bendis, might actually be a 12-year-old boy, and the barrage of ninjas ... yes, ninjas ... in this volume made me wonder when racecars and/or giant robots are going to be worked into the plot. This series isn't bad, it just seems to have limited interest for adult comic readers.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otro tomo que creo que ya leí hace rato en números sueltos (aunque no sé si todos) y que en una relectura posterior me gustó bastante menos, y eso que ahora sé mucho más del sub-universo vengata que entonces. De todos modos, la historia está bien contada y entretiene. Y básicamente digo lo mismo de la mayoría de comics de superhéroes que leo. Ahora habría que ver si eso es algo bueno, malo, da lo mismo o qué...

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still continue to enjoy reading this series. I never really liked Spiderman all that much until now. I appreciate his sense of humor. The double agent stuff is really interesting, especially since the reader really doesn't know the whole story and which way things are leaning. This is a series Marvel (and especially Avengers) fans should read.

[Carol Mola · Rating 3 out of 5]

La historia de Spider Woman muy chula, pero es una recopilación un poco mix de rellenos. Meten un trozo de Ronin, otro de Ms. Marvel, un flashback de Spider Woman dibujado por otros... Me ha dado sensación de tomo de comics Frankenstein. Aún así muy bien Jessica y la presentación de los Nuevos Vengadores.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fights are fun, some decent jokes in the dialogue but just not enjoying it as much as I was hoping. Spider woman working as a double agent was ok but again I felt some of these scenes dragged on with the Bendis heavy dialogue.

[Hilary "Fox" · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume focused primarily on two different things. Number one, who exactly is Ronin and why does Captain American trust them so implicitly? Number two, who exactly is Jessica Drew working for? These two questions take the bulk of the volume to unfold but are nonetheless intriguing from start to finish. Ronin, partially due to how killer the costume is and how big a part they play throughout the action with Hydra and the Yakuza. Jessica Drew for... well, for being Jessica Drew and navigating her own complicated life the way that she does.

The New Avengers really seem to have come into their own in this volume as the team feels far more coherent than they did before. Everyone has their own stuff and it is starting to show. There's even an interesting little bit regarding Spiderman and why he's so averse to the press and working with them. I enjoyed this volume and hope to read more of the series soon.

[Gad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aquí tenemos una de esas historias que profundizan en la psicología de los personajes. Tenemos unos héroes más humanos, y somos conocedores de los secretos más oscuros de alguno de ellos. En líneas generales me ha gustado, y creo que es uno de los cómics que más trasfondo puede tener en las relaciones de los miembros del grupo. Aunque creo que a veces tiene dialogos excesivamente largos, el cómic cumple y es mejor que el tomo anterior de los nuevos vengadores.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knock off spider person is getting on my nerves

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first two volumes - the Breakout story and the Sentry story - but still solid and I’m still really enjoying these!

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Excellent storytelling.

[Labyrinth Rossiter · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a brand new world. This set, 11-15, focuses on Spider-Woman's secret and ends with a public announcement of the new roster, which doesn't go as well as they'd hoped. I am currently reading this New Avengers line up of Wolverine, Luke Cage, Jessica Drew, etc. along with a nonfiction book called "I Wear the Black Hat," which explores our fascination with villains and includes a section on vigilantism...and will eventually get around to dealing with the anti-hero, I hope. The "classic" Avengers were the unassailable "good guys," fully back by the state. With the exception of Cap, much of this line-up has "red in the ledger" or suffers from a bad public image (poor Spidey). Also, SHIELD has apparently been compromised. They are largely independent heroes...vigilantes. The writers have definitely included this tension in the comic. The Avengers have been completely shoved out of their comfort zone.

P.S. The art work is incredibly sexy.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silver Samurai (11-13). A nice follow-up to the initial arc's prison escape, a nice continuation of the SHIELD conspiracy arc, and best of all an interesting introduction to a conflicted Jessica Drew ... but the fight against the Hand is very dull [5+/10].

Spider-Woman & The Unveiling (G-S SW, 14-15). Fortunately, the next arc's much stronger. The story of Spider-Woman's return is great because it's both a personal character story, and the sort of spy story that she does great in. Meanwhile, the unveiling of the New Avengers is touching, particularly for how it impacts Peter. Though I find it notable that it took 15 issues to get here, really demonstrating how decompressed the New Avengers is [7+/10].

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continues the fun, amps the intrigue.

Jessica finally spills her current backstory, including how her powers got upgraded, and her complicated relationship with the bad guys and the good guys.

Using Spider-woman as the centrepiece of this book was a ballsy move, which is why this 15-years-on re-read is working out so well. Love this. Prime Bendis.

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mmmmhm. Yep, not as fun.
I've discovered, I really don't like Carol Danvers circa 2004-07.
The Jessica Drew shit is solid, esp. The old issues.
Ronin? Meh, Echo? Who? Nope. Also Sentry gone but itmakes sense as the mental strain from last volume took time to get over.

Why does Ms. marvel hang around like a mall rat at Avengers tower??? I wanna play too dudes?

[Carles Muñoz Miralles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bendis es el amo del Blockbuster comiquero, y con New Avengers lo está demostrando. La pega que le encuentro es que en ocasiones tanta charla y tanto chiste hace que el cómic quede un tanto vacío de dimensión épica

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one focused on Spider-Woman and what's she's up to double agenting everywhere. Having already read Secret Invasion this kind of blows my mind that Bendis had that planned from the start!

Echo popped up briefly as Ronin, and she seems pretty cool.