New Avengers (Vol. 1) #3

Background

In the last episode of New Avengers...

Electro was hired to break into the Raft, a maximum security prison. He freed almost 90 criminals and escaped with someone who is yet to be revealed.

At the same time, Matt Murdock, Jessica Drew, Luke Cage and Foggy Nelson were in the far depths of the prison visiting the man with the power of a thousand exploding suns, the Sentry.

Also at the same time, Spider-Man got brutally beaten up by the residents of the Raft. Captain America and Iron Man joined the fray and it was a battle supreme.

In the middle of the battle, using his mind control powers, Purple Man sends orders to Luke Cage via his mind-controlling powers. "Kill all these other 'hero' friends of yours and then kill yourself."

Story Details

The issue starts off with Iron Man and Captain America enjoying a bagel on the top deck of the S.H.I.E.L.D. hellicarrier. They reminisce about what happened the night before the big battle royale. The Cap wants Tony to THINK about what they saw last night. He brings up Luke Cage.

Luke Cage is under the influence of Purple Man's powers. He stands ready to start attacking the others. That is, until Purple Man mentions Jessica Jones and the "bastard" baby she's carrying. Cage shakes off the powers and points out that Purple Man was drugged up in prison to the point where his powers don't have full potency. So Luke proceeds to viciously beat up Purple Man. I mean viciously. There's blood flying every which way in about four panels. The Cap stops him and Power Man calms down.

Iron Man shouts for everyone to return to their cells. "You mean that's all we had to say?" quips Spider-Man sans his mask. The Captain shouts for the heroes to wrap it up so they can call it a night and they do.

Back at the hellicarrier, still musing over about the fight, Captain America tells Tony that last night reminds him of the stories about how the Avengers were formed. A group formed by fate to combat a situation that not one hero could control. Then Bendis really speaks through Cap, "...people you would never think to put in a room together." While Cap is speaking of fate and stuff, there's a cool picture of a beat-up Spider-Man running on a wall and Jessica Drew looking super-hot as she's flying.

Over coffee, Iron Man says, "You want to assemble a new team of Avengers?"

Cap replies, "I'm saying that the new team already assembled itself."

Iron Man is hesitant to start a new team, so Cap just asks him to think about it.

Afterwards, Captain America visits Peter Parker after school. At first, Peter is super paranoid and thinks that he's in trouble, but the Cap is pretty succinct in offering Parker a spot on the New Avengers roster. Peter resists joining at first, citing the he's "not a team guy." The Cap coaxes him into joining by telling him to try it first and if he doesn't like it he can leave. He also comments on being amazed whenever he's had to work with Spider-Man. Peter agrees saying, "I could really use the money."

Captain America replies, "Oh, there's no more money."

Parker says, "Ugh, that is so me it's not even funny."

When Captain America offers Luke Cage a spot on the new team, Luke Cage is both flattered and surprised. He agrees but adds, "No way in hell does Matt Murdock say yes to this."

The next scene has Matt Murdock in Daredevil gear saying, "no." Daredevil doesn't want to mess up the reputations of the others in the group. He brings up some stuff that shows his respect for Peter Parker and then realizes that he let his name slip. Cap tells him to think about it.

Next Cap visits Jessica Drew, who's looking hot working a punching bag at the gym while every male watches her. Well, every male except for one guy, who's wearing green. She's sort of taken aback by the idea and laments that she got pulled off her S.H.I.E.L.D. assignment. She agrees but seems to want a "cool clubhouse."

The core members of the new team gather in Stark Tower, est. 2005. It would have been Tony Stark's swingin' bachelor pad, but he decided to donate it to the Avengers. Tony's ready to get things under way when Captain America stops him. "Jessica Drew isn't here yet. We should wait for her."

Jessica Drew is not far away, looking up at Stark Tower. She's having a conversation with a mysterious person. She is being paid by this mysterious person to report on S.H.I.E.L.D. and the New Avengers.

General Comments

These New Avengers books just keep topping each other. I picked this issue up expecting to continue from where the last one ended, but was pleasantly surprised to see Captain America and Iron Man enjoying a bagel. This made me want to read more, and fast, so that I could get to where the story last left off.

Seeing Luke Cage go to town on Purple Man was cool. I like how the Cap just kinda calmed Power Man down and Cage thanked him for it. There's a lot of great characterization. Like watching Spider-Man fight even though he just got royaly beat in the last issue. Watching Daredevil, sans the costume, fight even though he's having trouble denying his Daredevil-ness in the press.

Another cool thing was seeing everyone's reaction to Captain America inviting them to the team. Peter Parker was reluctant, Luke Cage was shocked, Matt Murdock seemed tired and stressed, and Jessica Drew was almost playful.

My only complaint is the artwork. While good at doing poses, David Finch's characters are starting to look the same to me. Maybe I'm tripping, but it looked as if Peter Parker and Captain America were brothers. They just look kinda the same.

Overall Rating

Four Webs. Great storyline, I'm pining for another issue over here.

The novelty of this artist is starting to wear thin on me, but he does draw a hot Jessica Drew, so he can't be that bad.