The New Avengers #31 By Hervé St-Louis Jun 16, 2007 - 12:38:04 PM

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Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Leinil Yu

The Avengers are fighting the Hand ninja clan headed by Elektra, the old Daredevil villain. Can the Avengers rescue Echo and extract valuable information from Elektra, or will they all be sliced into cold cuts by the ninjas’ blades?

This is a fight issue with nothing deeper. As usual, Bendis continues to stretch stories beyond a reasonable length, offering readers nothing but tiny plot advancement. What did we learn this month? That the villain behind the Japanese Yakuza is not whom it appeared to be. The plot, as they say thickens. However, an entire issue was wasted on quirky quips and posturing before readers got to extract this “valuable” information. I find this abusive, although the story itself was somewhat enjoyable.

This is a slugfest that artist Leinil Yu complicates with ninjas and Avengers all over the page. There is no thought in the battles’ choreography and Yu’s line work doesn’t help readers’ comprehension. There is some complex overlapping panel work, which muddles the page further. There is something appealing in Yu’s renditions, but as a comic book artist, his lines are not kinetic and cannot express motion.

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