New Avengers #41 Review

NEW AVENGERS #41
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Billy Tan

Everytime I get excited for a chapter in the ongoing Secret Invasion saga, I almost always end up coming away disappointed. Unfortunately, this issue is more of the same.

Previews featured a great scene between Spider-Man, Ka-zar and Sheena Shanna post-T-Rex party crasher from Secret Invasion #2. It basically took the Skrull nonsense and flipped it on its ear with a tongue in cheek bit of banter from Spider-Man as he is convinced Ka-zar's wife is named Sheena, despite both Plunders claiming she's Shanna. It was a nice bit of slapstick that really sold me on picking this issue up.

Sadly, the previews are about all we see of Spider-Man and company. After their little bit of fun, we get an abrupt scene change, one I missed the small, "Months ago", text box in the corner of before doing a double back to figure out what was going on, and goes off into the past to disclose what was happening in the Savage Land back during the opening arc of New Avengers, as if anyone cared what Ka-zar and Shanna were doing.

For some reason, Bendis decided we needed to know in intricate detail what was going on at that point in time and, for those people in the back row that haven't figured it out yet, tells us that the SHIELD agents that attacked and tried to kill the New Avengers before nuking the vibranium site and erasing all evidence of their existence are, indeed, Skrulls. You can't see it, but I'm shocked right now. I didn't see that coming. Not in a million years. /sarcasm off

After 15 pages or so of seeing the same scenes from New Avengers #1-6 from the angle of Ka-zar and company, we get back to the present day and have "Captain America" emerge from the jungle in another "shocking" cliffhanger that has probably no one waiting in anticipation.

Verdict - Avoid It. I can't see anyone benefitting from this. If you didn't know the SHIELD agents from the first arc of New Avengers were Skrulls by now, turn in your comic fan badges at the front desk, do not pass go and do not collect $200. The opening couple pages of laughs did not justify my wasting $3 on this unnecessary story and, while I haven't been thrilled by most of the SI tie-ins, I haven't felt ripped off or out right regretted any of them like I did this one either.

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