Marvel Comics
The New Avengers #49
By Hervé St-Louis February 1, 2009 - 11:36
Publisher(s): Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller(s): Billy Tan
Inker(s): Matt Banning
Colourist(s): Paul Mounts
Letterer(s): Albert Deschesne
Cover Artist(s): Billy Tan, Jason Keith
$3.99 US
Luke Cage gets his baby back by participating in torture
and the former Avengers decide they will oppose Harry Osborne and his new team
of villainous Avengers, before they can repudiate their legacy and tarnish
their name. Who will win?
This issue read quickly which is unusual for something
written by Bendis. At this point, I ask myself why I am still torturing myself
reading this series, as I really don’t like anything written by Bendis. He continues
to kill Skrulls at every opportunity, yet Luke Cage, when he has the
opportunity to attack some real villains, simply smack them a bit and allows
them to live. I really liked how Cage was made agreeable to torture. These
super heroes really do stand for something it seems. Torture and assassinations
are all right, as long as they get the job done.
Tan’s work is not bad, but Banning is the wrong inker for
him. He just muddles through the drawings of Tan, making them almost undecipherable.
Banning makes Tan’s work look like a poor imitation of Leinil Francis Yu, which
himself is not a great artist. Can standards to both writing and art be raised
a bit?