New Avengers 1: Breakout [Anglais] [Broché]

Before I get into the nitty-gritty, let me just say that I love Bendis. He's a god among men. Powers, Jinx, Daredevil, Alias, Goldfish... these are some of the best comic books that money can buy. He writes great noir and fantastic dark stories.

But the New Avengers, having risen from the ashes of Avengers Disassembled, has left me with a few issues that could be problems later on:

Lineup. This team is a little too much contrived for my own tastes.
1. Luke Cage, having a big resurgence in recent years (thanks to Bendis and the Maxx comics) as a bad-a$$ African-American superhero. I like Luke Cage. He's cool to the core. He's the Samuel L. Jackson of the Original Marvel Universe. Yet, what are his powers? His skin's unbreakable and he can punch. He's the strong-arm.
2. Spider-Man. Another power-house. Sure he can swing around on his webs too but only if he has something to adhere them to. Take the boy out of the city and he's in trouble. Also, Bendis under uses Web-head. He's a comic relief for the team. Spider-Man is better than that and Bendis knows that.
3. Captain America. I have no problems with Captain. He's a born leader, strategist, moral compass, and all-around great superhero. Only problem is that he's a strong-arm too. Sure he can throw his shield but only so far. Captain America is all about fisticuffs and throwing the shield around.
4. Iron-Man. Now we get into some power. The suit can do amazing things (but can it toast a piece of bread just right?) and having Iron-Man on the team adds mobility and power to the team. Also, Tony Stark has developed from his tortured, recovering alcoholic into this playboy, all-around fun guy in recent years.
5. Spider-Woman. I always have a problem with the female knock-offs of male characters (Batgirl, Spider-Woman, Supergirl, She-hulk, etc). I'm not being sexist here at all. I love female superheroes. Give me Rouge, Storm, Sue Storm, and the Wasp (especially The Ultimate's Wasp). Spider-Woman has most of Spider-Man's powers but can shoot "venom blasts" from her wrists. So mostly she's a strong arm with limited-range artillery.
6. Wolverine. Same as Luke Cage in that Logan's a rough-neck who will get the job done at any costs. A strong-arm with a killer set of claws and even deadlier instincts. On top of that, he works with the X-Men, but as an Avenger, I don't get it.

So my problem is that this team was put together by the marketing guys instead of the writers. Luke Cage, black. Spider-Man, popular, Captain America and Iron Man, staples, Spider-Woman, chick, and Wolverine, popular. This is not a team put together to be Marvel's Authority or JLA. 5 out 6 members are earthbound. This is not a good all-around team.

Story: the story is for the most part weak. The whole escape of the bad guys and the subsequent hunt for them would be a great premise. To have S.H.E.I.L.D. be the bad guys is interesting but I think could be limiting. To have the guys go after the escapees every week would be great.

Artwork: I love Finch's artwork but sometimes it's not the right type of work for the book that Bendis is writing. Finch doesn't do repeating panels very well. Nor does he handle panels when it's just someone's face. He tends to put too much detail into it. Oeming does Bendis' writing style justice. Finch doesn't. But then give him an action sequence and the boy shines like a beacon. If Finch is going to be a regular, than Bendis needs to write to Finch's strengths. That's the only way this book can flourish.

Overall: If this book is going to be a "Dark" Avengers, then go that route. The whole going to Savage Land made no sense. Luke Cage and Spider-Man are city superheroes. Wolverine can work just as well crouching in the back alleys, chasing down one of the escaped convicts. Make it dark, keep them in cities, and have them chase down the remaining victims. It will give the series structure and will allow you to take a superhero group in a whole new direction: hunting down criminals. It could be very interesting.

Sorry for the novel. I just wanted to put my three cents in. This comic has serious potential. It just doesn't know what it wants to be.

Following his deconstruction of the original Avengers, the premise for putting together this new team following a mass prison breakout of super villains just does not ring true. This team is definitely underpowered in theory to deal with the baddies. Anyway, how can one put together loners (Spiderman and DD), overlaps in Superpowers (Spiderwoman and Spiderman) and refugees from other groups (is Wolverine allowed to use the X-plane for other groups?)? Everyone crashes out at Tony Stark's hangout (is this a private club) for regular club meetings etc. This is really mundane stuff. next they'll be showing the guys and gals hitting on each other, making small talk and so on. The occasional reference to Jarvis, the butler, helps to establish that this is an Avenger group.

The plot here is that following the mass breakout, the team tracks down Sauron to the land of the lost where they battle dinosaurs and this mutant pterodactyl which is truly about the most stupid plot ever for a comic.

To say that the new Avengers lineup raised a few eyebrows is saying it lightly. Plenty of fanboys call New Avengers Brian Michael Bendis' attempt to JLA-ize the team with the company's most popular characters (Spider-Man, Wolverine), but a few of the other choices he's put on the team is quite intriguing. By the end of this TPB, the New Avengers consists of returning members Captain America and Iron Man, along with Spidey, Wolverine, Spider-Woman, Luke Cage, and the Sentry; who may be the strangest choice here (you may remember the Marvel Knights mini-series a few years back starring the character by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee) as Bendis gives the team a Marvel version of Superman. As this TPB opens, Electro is hired by an unseen employer to break into the most powerful prison in the city. As this happens, Matt "Daredevil" Murdock, his partner Foggy, and bodyguard Luke Cage are brought in to find out why the Sentry, the most powerful superhuman on the planet, allowed himself to be imprisoned. Soon enough, the power goes out, and all the super criminals break free. Spidey, Captain America, and Iron Man soon join the fight, which thanks to the awesome art of David Finch, is one of the most action packed and well orchestrated brawls in mainstream comics today. After that, a new team is born, and a mystery begins to develop. Bendis' storytelling is ok, while Finch's art definitely sells the book. His action scenes are incredibly detailed, and his rendition of Spider-Woman is incredibly luscious. The new team lineup however is what hurts the book, because we don't need Wolverine on any more teams, and having Spider-Man on the team just comes off as cheap (I'm surprised he didn't include Daredevil as well, which is probably on the way). Despite that, this first New Avengers arc is surprisingly solid, and is definitely worth checking out.