Perhaps understandably considering the recent scandal surrounding its artist, New Avengers #39 has become a talking point at various blogs.
J. Hunt of Comics Daily enjoyed the issue, particularly David Mack’s pencils:
It’s a fairly straightforward story, but nicely plays off Maya and Logan’s history together (as explained in the pages of Daredevil some years ago) by pairing them up. Bendis is remarkably restrained with his dialogue, allowing Mack’s amazing pencils to speak for themselves. I’ve never seen Mack’s work like this – I’m only used to his painted pages, and I had to check the cover to make sure it was actualy him. Let’s get this straight: Mack is nothing short of an amazing penciller. If I worked at Marvel I’d give him whatever it took to have him pencilling something on even a semi-regular basis. As it is, he only seems to put out the odd issue of Kabuki through Icon – a move that seems purely designed to keep him at Marvel ready for this kind of project. Either way, keep doing it.
Kirk Warren of Weekly-Crisis didn’t like the issue:
Up until now, I had been on the fence with the whole Secret Invasion / Skrull nonsense. I was intrigued, but pretty much all the suspense and hype for it was coming from Bendis in interviews. Not once did I feel like the book actually reflected any kind of Skrull threat and what little there was seemed to be the exact words Bendis was using to promote the book on Newsarama, Jinxworld and the numerous other comic sites. The ending to the Illuminati series was the first time I thought this could actually be really cool.
However, this issue killed any kind of interest I have in the book or upcoming event. I’ll probably still pick it up, as I’m that guy buying all the crap events, bitching about not buying them anymore and then going right back for more. But that doesn’t change the fact this issue consists of Bendis disguised as Wolverine and Echo and preaching his Skrull speech for an entire issue
While Deamentia of Weekly Comicbook Review.com was unimpressed by the issue, particularly Mack’s pencils.
Not helping matters is David Mack’s art. I know, it’s hard to believe. Maybe I’m just spoiled and used to seeing his beautiful painted stuff, because his pencils and inks here are average – and worse, his storytelling is very mediocre. Those who are keen enough will notice a lot of “lifted” poses for the characters, especially when it comes to the fight scenes. There’s also a double page splash that feels complete wasted and devoid of any kind of energy. Don’t get me wrong, I love David Mack’s body of work but his art in this issue is bad enough to where it detracts from the story.
So what did you think?
March 29th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I liked the story. It was a bit slight, but I don’t mind because the Secret Invasion stuff is sure to be jam packed with action. I was underwhelmed by Mack’s artwork on this issue and had to flip back to the credits page after finishing the issue to doublecheck whether he did the whole issue himself or just provided breakdowns. The art wasn’t bad, mind you, just average superhero art like something from an issue of 52, and I expect more than average from Mack.
March 29th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
I was flabbergasted by how lack luster Mack’s pencils were…I just didn’t understand why they weren’t better.
March 30th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
The whole Skrull thing is getting confusing now. Has Daredevil been a Skrull for awhile, since at least when he put Echo with the New Avengers? Or are there two Daredevils running around, like in Ms. Marvel right now?
If so, does that mean the Skrulls probably don’t even have Elektra or Black Bolt in their possession?
March 30th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I remember a Civil War tie-in with Daredevil asking Iron Fist to take over for a while, but then being confused reading DD #87, DD and Iron Fist fight because they didn’t know who the other was. Was that ever explained? Were they both Skrulls?
By the way, my opinion of other people’s thoughts goes down dramatically when they say they are the kind of people who buy a book, bitch about hating it and say they’re gonna drop it, don’t, then complain some more. If you don’t like it, stop buying it. If you want some sense of closure, wait until your ‘rage’ passes and buy the missing pieces as back issues. At least by then you may pick up some perspective and the story won’t be so bad. I’ve found that I almost enjoy back issues more than the current ones.
March 30th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Dang. I was hoping to buy this, but I guess this will be another Bendis event I skip. Bendis just isn’t very good at these kind of stories. He needs to go back to “street level” or team up with a penciler who is actually good at this kind of story and can carry him on his or her shoulders.
This is something that screams out for Mark Bagley to draw.