The New Avengers, Vol. 7: The Trust

The New Avengers (2004)

by Brian Michael Bendis, Leinil Francis Yu (Illustrator)

The New Avengers have found a huge clue to the threat that has faced them since the day they banded together. And now just the knowledge of that threat is tearing them apart. What secret could be so damning that it could do to the New Avengers what Civil War could not?!

Collecting: The New Avengers 32-37, Annual 2

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

184 pages, Hardcover

First published April 2, 2008

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

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been the best volume in awhile. Least the best in the sense it all flows together in one big story and doesn't feel disjointed.

So the truth is out. Trust is broken. Who the fuck is a Skrull? Secret Invasion is on the way (Which I might re-read because hated it the first time but it might be better now that I'm reading stuff around it). Also the bad guys have had enough. One in particular known as "The Hood" decides to round of the villains and hunt the heroes, and does he ever. A full blown out attack, betrayals, big fucking magic showdowns. Shit goes down.

Good: The art is good throughout which is nice change. The fights are big and fun. The banter still hits well. The trust issues, who is real, and the internal struggle is great. The ending leaves up to a lot of interesting possibilities, and how great was that Spider-man moment when he saves Jessica's baby? A true spider-man moment.

Bad: Some long drawn out talking scenes with the villains dragged it down a little too much, and some fight scenes went on too long.

This was my favorite volume since 2 though so that's saying something. It's about a 3.5 but I'll bump it to a 4 because I was enjoying the entire time mostly.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

The secret is out. Elektra was a skrull and now the Avengers don't know who to trust even amongst themselves. Plus, The Hood is introduced. He's one of the most interesting individuals Bendis reinvents during this run. I love how he's creating his own crime syndicate of cheesy Marvel villains. The battle scenes are epic. Spider-Man shows his altruistic nature, saving Luke and Jess's baby. I like how well this dovetails with Mighty Avengers as well.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love it when Bendis writes 616 Peter Parker. And Leinil Francis Yu is an artist I like who's work I don't appreciate enough. The amount of characters he fits into panels (as well as in volume 6), with the detail he fits in, is amazing.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually a pretty good volume and like deals with the friction with the Avengers as they distrust each other as to who among them is Skrull and well that sort of tension splits the team and well Luke vs Peter and is amazing to see that and how it plays out. Then you have the tie in to Mighty Avengers and they deal with Ultron and then Venom bomb storylines and well with Deathlok and then the new Masters of Evil led by the Hood its upto Avengers to fight them and save the day.

Also big things about Dr Strange and we like get to see the team dynamic here. This was a good volume and yes its the usual prelude to Secret Invasion but I like how Bendis takes the time to explore every character on the team and gives them their defining moments and one can say his Peter is annoying but then again its Spider-man and his usual banter and him showing Wolverine as the tough guy fits right in with his characterization.

Plus the last page was a big reveal as he enters into the humanity of these characters plus something with Dr Strange coming soon and thats cool. Its all well done and set and Bendis is a master at it. The art for the most part was decent but I would have preferred someone like Finch but then again good decent one-time read kind of volume.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for a fast paste book these volumes are slow. But there’s some tie ins you might need to get.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prelude to Invasion (#32). This issue really should have gone with "Revolution" in the original trades, since it's the story of Spider-Woman's sudden-but-inevitable betrayal. Beyond that, it's a lot of talking, but it's good talking because it tries to tie together the strings of Bendis' story to date, where both SHIELD and Hydra had been compromised. Mind you, I think that Bendis strung his story out for too long, because by the time I'd gotten to this 32nd issue, I'd lost most of the threads, going back to the first arc, but when you reread them all, you can see he was headed to the Secret Invasion the whole time [4/5].

The Trust (#33-37 + A#2). The Hood was one of the most interesting characters in the Bendis Avengers run, and this major story shows him to full effect, as a demon, as a failure, and as a leader, all in different parts. Bendis also has some fun deconstructing standard heroic tropes in his treatment of Tigra, something that would follow her for the next few years. However, the story has more depth than that thanks to its sidelines about skrulls and the Mighty Avengers. Put it all together and you have an arc that feels like a major milestone for the Avengers storyline [4/5].

[˙⋆✮ Anny ✮⋆˙ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art definitely grew on me, and so did the characters. I've always had a soft spot for Jessica's little family. Love Clint as Ronin. Spidey was fun as always.
The storyline was okay, too many villains to keep track of though. I'm excited for when it's gonna go more into the Secret Invasion plot that was hinted at.

[MB Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this as part of an effort to fill out my Dr. Strange collection before the movie comes out next year (hopefully).

The stories (written by Brian Bendis) were pretty decent writing wise, but unfortunately I wasn't a big fan of the art by Leinil Yu. I also wasn't a big fan of either the Skrull Secret Invasion storyline (which parts of this are a prelude to) OR the Civil War storyline (which parts of this are a postscript to).

Doctor Strange is in all of the stories (which was good), but except for the last one his role wasn't really critical (which was bad).

The last story (reprinted from New Avengers Annual #2, 2006) is a bit of a different beast however. First the art is by Carlos Pagulayan which I found more to my liking. Story wise the Civil War elements are still there, but they were handled a bit differently, so I didn't mind them as much. But more importantly there was some significant character development for Doctor Strange.

Unfortunately, this volume isn't as standalone as one might like. There are a lot of loose ends that (I assume) will be tied up in the next story arcs which are part of Secret Invasion. I won't be reading them, so I guess I won't know how they played out.

If it wasn't for the inclusion of the story from the Annual, I probably would have given this 2 stars, and considered it a waste of my time and money. With the story from the Annual (which wouldn't have made much sense without the stories), I'm giving it 3 stars.

[Kyle Berk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was a blast to read. It moves things along very quickly and culminates in a giant throw down that I actually really liked.

This lineup is much better than the one in Mighty Avengers. This one has Spider-Man, Wolverine, Doctor Strange, and Luke Cage. Cage is a standout here.

This volume deals with the New Avengers learning about the Skrull invasion and what they do in the wake of it. Though this continues to show why Iron man’s side was wrong during the Civil War.

A really enjoyable read with fun characters and an interesting overarching plot.

4 stars.

[Alan Castree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but also a tad boring and a little disappointing.

[Brian Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

The possibility of a Skrull infiltration caused some serious trust issues among the team, prompting Spider-Woman to absconded with the Skrull Elektra corpse. The others retreated to Doctor Strange’s New York Sanctum, wary of one another. Wolverine stumbled onto a new scheme led by The Hood, who had acquired great power via a deal with an unnamed demon and organized a small army of other villains. The New Avengers worked on their trust issues and then got drawn into the “Venom Bomb” story unfolding in Mighty Avengers. The Hood led an ugly, gratuitous attack on the Avenger Tigra, which was particularly horrifying for readers after the disrespectful way Brian Michael Bendis had presented Tigra a couple months earlier in a Mighty Avengers story. The New Avengers and Tigra had a major showdown with The Hood’s crew at Doctor Strange’s Sanctum. Doctor Strange went to extreme lengths to defeat the villains, but ordered the Avengers out of his Sanctum, feeling he’d failed in his duties as Sorcerer Supreme. In the end, a fearful Jessica Jones turned up at Avengers Tower with her baby, willing to register with the Initiative to protect her child.

There was still plenty of the “sell out” accusations going on in this arc, but they often took a back seat to the developing mystery of the Skrulls and the threat of The Hood’s new villain army. As those plot threads were far more interesting than Luke Cage’s latest tirade about the Registration Act, it made for a much more compelling stretch of issues. The distrust sown among the heroes by the potential alien infiltration was well-handled and was the catalyst for some compelling drama. The battles with The Hood and his crew also demonstrated that Bendis could handle action sequences quite nicely. Leinil Yu remained on board as the regular artist and his work sharpened up, making it some of his best on the book. Carlo Pagulayan stepped in for the Annual and did a very strong job, especially with the character-packed fight sequences. Overall, this was a fairly strong run-up to Secret Invasion, which would displace the regular story for much of the following several months. This is a definite “must read” for fans of the series.

A version of this review originally appeared on www.thunderalleybcp.com

[Robert Bowers · Rating 2 out of 5]

"AAAIIEE!" "AGH!" What are those two 'words' you ask? Well, maybe not words. But they are in speech balloons all throughout this book. "AGH! Is on nearly every page. Apparently the writer had some sincere fascination with those two expressions. It got old quick. Very quick. The story had great promise. The art was sub par. Still...I liked it a bit. If you are a new Avengers fan it's worth a read. "AGH!"

[Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a mixed bag in every sense. There was a lot going on in this volume, and for juggling it all I do applaud Bendis. However, it was a bit too scattered and unfocused as a result. I enjoyed how so many plot threads were woven together here: the New Avengers still dealing with the fallout of Civil War as well as the new threat of a Skrull invasion and the mistrust it has sewn, Spider-Woman switching sides, and on top of that having to deal with both the Venom Bomb (from the Mighty Avengers' second arc) and also having to deal with the Hood and his super-team of villains. It was a very packed arc, for better or for worse.

On one hand I do appreciate how well this volume ties Civil War to Secret Invasion; on the other hand I think there were quite a lot of missteps. First of all, I think the sudden bout of mistrust, especially on Luke Cage's part, was a bit too forced. I could see how he'd act like that with a baby to protect and all, but it just felt too out of character to me. I think Bendis should've eased into it instead of just bombarding us with sudden drama. Another Bendis misstep was spending almost an entire issue recycling writing from his Mighty Avengers Venom Bomb arc. I was reading both volumes interchangeably and the one crossover issue was just a flat-out lazy retelling of the events of Mighty Avengers. There was also another issue where all the villains were just talking without much happening, which would be fine and all if these villains were to stick around a bit longer, but with Secret Invasion coming in after this, I doubt they will. And how many times has Doctor Strange died in the past couple arcs? Twice now? C'monnnnn. Despite all my complaints, there were some decent bits of good writing here and there though.

The art was also a mixed bag. I like Leinil Yu most of the time, and this is no different. He did a pretty good job through most of this, but it did get messy at times. Coloring by Dave McCaig is quite the treat, and really helps Yu's pencils stand out. Also a huge kudos to the artist for the annual (Pagulayan); that huge brawl must have been a pain in the ass to draw, but he really knocked it out of the park.

Overall a good arc, all things considered. Still enjoying New Avengers over Mighty Avengers by a long shot.

[Surly Gliffs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to be lazy and quote another one of my recent comics reviews: Marvel is mostly kvetching with some fights, DC is mostly fighting with some kvetch. And this placeholder volume of New Avengers is a perfect example. The plot goes nowhere, mostly marking time until the next Skrull secret-war crossover can be stood up. There's lots of kvetching: are you Skrull? Bendis oddly puts most of fights into the rear-view mirror, even some battles royale, having them recounted by various bit characters. The only exception is the 100-page special, battle for the Secret Sanctum, which is kinda cool but has absolutely zero stakes for anyone involved.

Within those limits, Bendis can still write. There's some fun action, and I like Doctor Strange as the leader of an Avengers-level squad. The characters' chemistry is about right for an ensemble book, though Avengers human resources may have a problem with its members' habit of confronting one another in the shower. If you think it's sexist to check Jessica Jones there, don't worry, Clint Barton gets a turn! Speaking of gratuitous shower scenes, Yu provides solid art, a bit baroque but above-average composition and character design. For an undemanding Marvel book, you could do worse.

[Shibosan · Rating 4 out of 5]

С трупом скрулла на руках Новые Мстители летят домой и размышляют, а так ли случайны были все катастрофические события последнего времени - Дом М, Гражданская война, смерть Кэпа и исчезновение Фьюри. Накатывает паранойя - что делать и кому можно доверять? Кто следующим окажется скруллом-засланцем? Тони Старк? Партнеры по команде? Президент? Твоя жена? Твой ребенок?
А пока одни герои гоняются за другими, в городе появляется новый игрок - Капюшон, который успешно организует преступный мир и действует очень жестко. Эта арка к "Тайному вторжению" отношения не имеет, но тоже неплоха, злодей вышел очень толковый и колоритный.

Также в томе:
1. Росомахе отстрелили член. Но ему, похоже, не впервой.
2. Неприятно смакуемое насилие над женщинами, которые, непременно, в неглиже. Да и в целом Лейнил Ю лучше бы над лицами так корпел, как он старательно вырисовывает всем женским персонажам бюсты четвертого размера, вываливающиеся из декольте.
3. Лишняя звезда за шикарно нарисованный Карло Пагулаяном аннуал - очень динамичные и эмоциональные боевые сцены, смотрится отлично.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 7.
Having discovered that the Skrulls have infiltrated Earth, the New Avengers are almost torn asunder by mistrust, worsened when one of their number switches to the side of their enemy Iron Man. However, they are pulled together as a team by an encounter with the magical supervillain known as the Hood, who has begun gathering together an army of supervillains and who intends to target them where it will hurt the most.

This book served to remind me just how much more engaging this team of Avengers is when compared with their contemporaries in Iron Man's Mighty Avengers.
I'm also a sucker for an underdog story, so seeing this team of fugitives facing the terrifying implications of the Skrull invasion without any of the resources to deal with it was pretty powerful. The Hood and his crew also prove to be a genuine threat which takes a real toll on the team (not to mention what happens to poor Tigra).

Overall, another strong outing for the fugitive Avengers.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collects New Avengers issues #32-37 and New Avengers Annual #2

The story is still fun, but the artwork was really hard to get passed. It got easier as I read on, but the story is what kept me coming back.

There is a lot of set-up for "Secret Invasion" here, as well as lots of connections to the sister title that was running concurrently at this time "The Mighty Avengers."

Another fun feature of this collection is the build-up for a new (at the time) villain named The Hood. He is organizing the criminal underworld in this collection, and we get a lot of good stories about his group of villains. I'm excited to see where things go for his story, and am optimistic about the future for The Hood.

[Sr. Lado Brillante · Rating 3 out of 5]

Después del cliffhanger del arco anterior Bendis decide usar otros de sus trucos y no seguir esa historia, darle tiempo a la intriga. En lugar de eso se presenta su segundo gran vicio en sus New Avengers, The Hood.
The Hood intenta ser muchas cosas y ultimadamente no logra ser nada. Un mafioso con poderes demoniacos que Bendis intenta demasiado en convencernos que es un rival digno y que solo obtiene su momento de brillar hasta que Remender lo toma para su serie de Punisher.
No pasa mucho aqui, pero al menos es la primera vez que dos arcos seguidos de los New Avengers cuentan con el mismo dibujante y ayuda mucho al sentido general de la historia.

[Will Hinds · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far so bad on my reading of Bendis' Avengers run. I recall re-starting comics exclusively on my reading of Ultimate Spider-man back in... 2002? Who knows. Anyway, I loved Powers, and Alias and then Bendis was given the keys to the kingdom and I stopped reading. Anyway, I'm reading Secret Invasion so being the insane person I am, I'm reading all the prerequisite materials I find worthy. I won't know the merits for awhile, but I do know Bendis has a weird ass way of writing the Avengers and I don't love it. One day I'll re-read Powers before I get caught up on that series, I wonder if I'll find it as good now, with my aged sight... Time will tell.

[Judah Radd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the last volume.

The theme of this one is paranoia. Everyone is unsettled by the blossoming Skrull situation. Spidey’s paranoia is, to be honest, a little overdone and annoying.

The action is a bit jumbled and hard to follow, but overall, this is a decently exciting story. Some big faceoffs, a nefarious plot by a coalition of badguys, and some demon shit as well. Kinda makes me want to read the Initiative, The Mighty Avengers and mid 00s Doctor Strange so I can have a better big picture view.

The art is cool at times. Still not mind blowing... but it tells the story for the most part. Sometimes, it kinda doesn’t.

You had a good start, Bendis. Please don’t let me down!

[Emilie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was good. It went a ways in explaining why certain New Avengers retained a grudge against the Hood. I'm still not quite sure why Clint Barton (the original Hawkeye) got so angry that he ultimately went as far as he did in Freefall, but I was starting to get a bit of an idea here. Wolverine received a nasty, nasty injury, and I could understand why he'd feel like he needed revenge. Wolverine has gone into berserker rages for much less.

The New Avengers are really getting it from various sides, between two groups of criminals and also Tony Stark's version of the Avengers still trying to hunt them down.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life is not going well for the New Avengers. They're being hunted by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Carol Danvers's Mighty Avengers, their safety right now is entirely dependent on a rapidly destabilizing Doctor Strange, a new team of super villains led by the mysterious (and possibly demonic) Hood has a vendetta against them, and any number of them might secretly be Skrulls. But, their duty is to be heroes and that's what they're going to keep on being. Heroes don't run away when innocents are in danger.

This volume starts incredibly well. It lost me for a little in the middle when it started focusing a bit too much on the villains, but it ended very strong.

I'm so ready for Secret Invasion.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually read this out of order since I have already read the next 2 Marvel events, but I had the comics laying around so I figured I'd fill in the gap and I'm glad I did. Some of the witty banter was great and the whole Skrull thing with everyone worrying about everyone else being a Skrull really ramped up the tension.

[Javier X · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, 3.5/5

While I enjoyed the main plot and new villains, I felt like this was more like a filler arc until they reached Secret Invasion, overall it wasn’t bad but I don’t got the rush either.

I don’t get why Spidey is still on the team if they don’t use him besides a few jokes and punchlines, the same with Ronin and Wolverine, it’s more like Luke Cage & Friends.

[Thomas Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun concept, great art for both action and “acting” beats. Hard to overlook how poorly a lot of the female characters (Tigra and both Jessicas) are treated in this volume, especially because this writer has done great work developing two of the three in previous volumes. Still, the Hood and his gang are a great foil for this avengers team.

[Jimbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Avengers against Avengers and who is a Skrull?

Doctor Strange quitting and kicking everyone out of his mansion.

Ms Marvel letting them go.

Hellcat's problem with the Hood. The whole problem with the Initiative . . . so much happening all at once.

Fun read

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bendis just keeps us wowing us with his convoluted story lines. Do not miss his Avengers (and related) books.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 really pretty good

[Gomezmr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comic is very fantastic.

[Bruvydsb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, basically just wasting time between Civil War and Secret Invasion. Not the best volume.