The New Avengers #38 - Mobile Edition

Marvel Comics
The New Avengers #38
By Hervé St-Louis
March 24, 2008 - 19:51

Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller(s): Michael Gaydos
Inker(s): Michael Gaydos
Colourist(s): Jose Villarrubia
Letterer(s): Comicraft
Cover Artist(s): Marko Djurdjevic

Jessica Jones has left the rebel heroes at the end of the last issue and joined Iron Man’s Initiative, so she could offer her baby a safe place to grow up. Husband Cage is not happy about this and wants to get his wife and girl back. But Jones’ conditions are for him to join the Initiative. Will he?

I kept expecting Cage to try to burst in the Avengers, headquarters and get his daughter back. Fortunately, Bendis did not go there. However, he’s overusing the friendly amnesty ploy used several times by Ms. Marvel. How many times does she have to let a rebel go before it becomes ridiculous? If rebels are not automatically chased, especially when they show up on the doorsteps of registered heroes, then the concept loses credibility.

The storytelling and the panel layout in this issue are new grounds for an Avengers’ title. With Bendis at the helm, the pacing is slower and the fighting minimal. It feels more like a crime drama than a super hero book. I’m not complaining as for an issue about marital affairs, the characters’ expressions were just right.