New Avengers #35 Review

NEW AVENGERS #35
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Leinil Francis Yu

Stupid cover and complete lack of 'Venomerine'. How could they waste such a cover on a talking heads book that does not even feature Wolverine or freaking symbiotes? ARGH, I hate shit like this. I pity the people that got suckered into buying this based on the cover alone as you were completely ripped off.

For the rest of us, however, we were treated to a villain's talking head issue. Unlike the typical hero version, this one comes off as a pleasant surprise and was handled quite well. It basically shows how The Hood became this new "kingpin of supervillains" and building of his new organization.

I really enjoyed The Hood miniseries by Vaughn several years back and this issue really did a good job of building upon what Vaughn started. Hood's rise to power was handled superbly and never felt forced. These D-listers he has assembled have all experienced their share of humiliations and with the various perks Hood has already shown them, such as the $25,000 joining bonus, I could see any of them joining up and working for him.

Bendis has gone on record saying he hates the Tigra character and I was a bit concerned when the solicits listed this as something horrible happening to her. I have no real affinity for Tigra, but comic book deaths for the sake of having a death typically piss me off. I was happy to see Bendis didn't go this route, even though Tigra did get a beat down from The Hood while Jigsaw, who Tigra embarrassed while breaking up his robbery at the beginning of the issue, filmed it for the rest of the villains under Hood to watch later.

While this was basically a talking heads issue with little to no action, I still enjoyed it more than the previous New Avengers issues. Despite the annoying, but awesome looking, cover that had nothing to do with the contents of the issue, I was quite impressed with this issue's focus on the villains, something we rarely get in comics these days. One of the best NA issues in recent memory and well worth a look for anyone interested in The Hood or the upcoming NA story arc.
Verdict - Must Read

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