New Avengers Annual #2 Review

NEW AVENGERS ANNUAL #2
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Carlo Pagulayan

This was a great fight issue, but there really isn't anything to say. Hood and his goons show up at Strange's place, remove barrier, brawl ensues, Avengers win. The end. There's some freaky stuff like Hood 'killing' Strange and Strange later reviving in some demonic trance and owning everyone before leaving the team to relearn magic or something, but, for the most part, heroes are fighting villains, there's some Bendis speak and the issue ends with most of them captured and the Hood managing to escape. He appears to be talking to some advisor and I believe it's either his cousin, which seems unlikely, or a Skrull of some kind.

The art really made this issue and I don't think Yu could have handled this nearly as well. Solid ending to this storyline and a great issue.

Verdict - Must Read

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New Avengers #37 Review

NEW AVENGERS #37
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Leinil Francis Yu

Ugh, I don't know what's gotten into Bendis lately, but his choice to tell the last couple issues in a past tense retellings of events we never actually see is annoying and really detracts from the story. Oh ya, before anyone asks, that cliffhanger with all the random heroes was just an illusion by Dr Strange.

Also, these street level Avengers manage to take out all the villains without breaking a sweat. Yes, Luke Cage, a man who's power is that he has unbreakable skin, manages to take down Asgardian-level villains like the Wrecker. Other Wrecking Crew members are taken down by people like Wolverine and so on. Even with said illusions, the New Avengers shouldn't have been able to physically hurt these guys, yet manage to take everyone down with relative ease.

If Bendis' job was to downplay any credability or threat these villains posed, then mission accomplished, I don't care about them at all anymore and the upcoming Annual will be a pointless issue if you ask me as I expect the exact same thing that happened here. Bendis should see the recent Daredevil issue to see how a street level character would fare out against someone like the Wrecker.

Only thing I enjoyed this issue was the Dr Strange / Hood encounter. I liked how Bendis played up the whole demon aspect of the Hood with Dr Strange's mysticism and I'm curious to see if this is ever followed up on.

Verdict - Avoid It. It's hard to put into words how bad the narrative of this issue is, but if you read last month's symbiote recap issue by Luke Cage, imagine something worse and you'll almost understand how bad this was.

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New Avengers #36 Review

NEW AVENGERS # 36
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Francis Yu

I'm not sure what to make of this issue. Last issue I expected a big Venom symbiote battle royale crossover with the Mighty Avengers and I got a neat, villains point of view tale showing what The Hood has been up to. That issue ended with the symbiote outbreak on the television screen and left me thinking we'd finally get to see that storyline play out. I thought wrong.

Apparently, Bendis has no intentions of doing the symbiote story in the pages of New Avengers. All we got was a story filled with random flashback dialogue between Luke and Jessica. To say I came away a little disappointed is a bit of an understatement. I guess I can expect to see that story in a few months when Cho finally finishes Mighty Avengers #6 and they pump out Bagley's issues? Bendis writes both books and he knew this story wouldn't be play out for a while due to Cho. He should never have included the New Avengers in it if he had no intention of giving us the full story anytime soon.

As for the rest of the issue, Wolverine's "interrogation" of Spider-Woman was a little underwhelming. It's pretty much everything you'd expect with no major surprises. Wolverine asks what she did with the body. She tells him she gave it to Tony. They banter back and forth about Skrulls and Wolverine leaves. Decent scene, but I think they made too big a deal about it in previews and with the cover.

The remainder of the issue deals with the New Avengers tracking down The Hood and his stolen money from last issue. The team sees they are completely underpowered in comparison to the caliber of super-villains The Hood has assembled and it's pretty obvious that Dr Strange has conjured up a spell at the end of the issue to make it appear like just about every hero in the Marvel Universe is present for this attack.

Verdict - Check It. It's a fairly average outing this month. No major developments and it feels like Bendis is holding back all the major plots as he waits for Mighty Avengers to get back on track.

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Comic Book Character Spotlight - The Hood

I kicked off my Comic Book Character Spotlights with last week's Sodam Yat profile. On the weekend, I did a follow up with a spotlight on the current Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes. Today, I'll be taking a look at Marvel's newest super-villain kingpin, Parker Robbins, better known as The Hood! He's making waves over in The New Avengers and was the source of much controversy with the attack on Tigra. Find out who this guy is and why you should care about him in this week's spotlight.

Who Is The Hood?

Name: Parker Robbins

Associates: John King, Madam Masque, Jigsaw, Chemestro, Jonas Harrow, Crimson Cowl, Wizard, Blackout, as well as various other super-villains

First Appearance: The Hood #1 (2002)

Required Reading: The Hood #1-6, Beyond! #1-6, New Avengers #33-37, Annual #1

Powers & Abilities: The Hood has no natural abilities. His hood and boots give him limited invisibility, flight and demonic powers, which can manifest through increased strength, electrical discharges and demonic transformation.

Origin

Parker Robbins was recruited by his cousin, John King, to break into a warehouse, with light security, rumoured to be housing unknown, but highly valuable goods, and took the job in order to make some money to help move his mother, who suffers from an undisclosed degenerative mental illness, to a better health care facility.

Once at the warehouse, Robbins and King discover an abandoned mystic ritual. Upon further investigation, both are startled by a demon, later revealed to be the Nisanti - Runaway fans might recognize the name as Brian K. Vaughan references it in that series. Robbins instinctively shoots the demon as it leaps at them, apparently killing it. Not wanting to leave empty handed, Robbins takes the demon's cloak and boots before leaving.

Later, after being accosted by several gang members, Robbins flees. As he runs, he puts on the Nisanti boots and discovers that he can levitate with them on. Further exploration of the demonic items reveals the hood's ability to turn the wearer invisible, provided they hold their breath.

Putting his new found abilities to the test, Robbins attempts to steal some diamonds. During his escape he shoots a cop in the neck before fleeing. The police sketch depicts a hooded individual and labels the villain The Hood.

Why Should I Care About Him?

Regardless of what you think of his current role in Brian Bendis' New Avengers, The Hood's original Marvel MAX mini-series by BKV was one of the best works to come out of that imprint and somehow managed to get lost in the shuffle for whatever reason when it first launched back in 2002.

By the end of that series, Vaughan had sowed the seeds for a potential follow up mini-series or possible ongoing with several unresolved plot threads, such as The Golem's retaliation for Hood's transgressions or the new hero/villain White Fang, who wanted revenge on Hood for the death of her husband, the cop he shot during the diamond heist, and so on. Whether Bendis will follow up on these lost threads or not is still open to debate. Either way, this mini-series will give you the much needed back story and insight into this new character that will give you a new found appreciation for him.

Current reasons to care about The Hood lie in Bendis' desire to make him "the ‘Godfather’ of all super villains" in the post-Civil War Marvel Universe over in his New Avengers title. Bendis has an obvious desire to build this character up and as one of the major creative driving forces in the Marvel Universe, Bendis has the means to do so.

Recent New Avengers issues has Robbins working with his cousin, King, to establish his super villain empire. Many minor villains have fallen under Hood's sway, including Madam Masque, Crimson Cowl, Jigsaw and a number of others.

Various exploits by The Hood under Bendis' care include going toe-to-toe with Wolverine, with The Hood coming out victorious, apparently killing The Owl for operating without The Hood's permission, reprogramming Deathlok and using him to steal over 4 billion dollars in cash and, finally, acquiring detailed information on several heroes working under the Super-Hero Registration Act and using that knowledge to send a message to other heroes by brutally beating Tigra as well as showing the villains that he can protect them from said heroes if they ever become a problem.

The Tigra beating by The Hood has been a major source of controversy and even required an interview with Bendis by Newsarama, which you can read here. Whether you believe the scene was an misogynistic 'women in fridges' moment or not, the scene has put a major focus on The Hood and elevated him from a simple villain and helped establish his rule over the other super-villains. So, while you might hate the character after this, the scene has given the viewers a much more vested interest in seeing the New Avengers get their eventual pay back on the fledgling, would-be 'godfather of super-villains'.

What Does The Future Hold For The Hood?

The Hood's rise to power will continue to unfold in the pages of New Avengers for the rest of the year before concluding in the New Avengers Annual #1 in January. Even with this storyline set to end with a large dust up with the New Avengers team, I doubt Bendis will simply throw away all the work he has put into building up The Hood by simply incarcerating or tearing down his newly built empire. I predict a draw when these two teams meet later this year and fully expect Bendis to continue to build on The Hood's story over the next year or two in either New or Mighty Avengers, or possibly both.

Also, many rumours and various interviews have linked The Hood with the Skrulls and Bendis' upcoming Secret Invasion event in some form or another. While I doubt he will end up being a Skrull or end up working with them, I do believe his super-villain army might pose a threat to the Skrulls, leading to their attempt to take over or eliminate the group. Whatever ends up happening, Hood will be featured in the event in some capacity and should further raise his stock.

Conclusion

As I said earlier, with Bendis pushing him, The Hood has no where to go but up as the biggest creative driving force in the company pushes him into the spotlight in Marvel's biggest and highest profile book, The New Avengers. Combined with the strength of his debut mini-series, which was recently re-released in hardcover format to coincide with his introduction in New Avengers, The Hood is set to become one of the biggest players in the Marvel Universe.

Personally, I'm curious to see if Bendis will bring in the various back story elements from The Hood's original series. Will we see a retaliation for the attack on Tigra on Robbin's girlfriend or child, who was recently born, in some form or another? Will the White Fang or Golem be re-introduced to throw a wrench into his plans? The character has a lot of potential with the excellent work Vaughan did establishing him and I hope we get a chance to see Bendis expand upon it as he builds his criminal empire.

Interested in The Hood? Check out these various Hood related trades from Amazon.com and help support The Weekly Crisis!

• The Hood by Brian K. Vaughan
• Beyond! by Dwayne McDuffie

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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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New Avengers #34 Review

NEW AVENGERS #34
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Leinil Yu

I think I spoil myself too much when it comes to New Avengers. I read all the major interviews with Bendis and I get all pumped with regards to the Skrull stuff when the interviews actually deal more with them than the actual issues he talks about. I am not saying this was a bad issue, it was actually one of the best books this week and the best NA in months. I just feel let down a bit because I expect so much more after reading all the interviews and what not.

This issue wraps up the Hood fight with Wolverine pretty early on. Some great action and both fighters really cut loose. Hood blows off Wolverine's little Wolvy prompting one of the funnier lines I have read when Logan is recovering afterwards and says, "I hope it grows back bigger". Hood really held his own against Wolverine and I am very happy they did not job him out to the overly popular Wolverine. Bendis expands on the demonic origins of the Hood's costume and it seems to be a logical progression for the character. If you read the Hood miniseries, you should remember during his attack on the policemen dressed as AIM agents his eyes glowed red and demonic and shot lightning out at them. This issue has him turn outright into a demon similar to the one he stole the hood and boots from in his miniseries. Cannot wait for more information and backstory on what Hood has been up to since then. Seems long term exposure to his powers probably lead to the demonic changes.

After the Hood fight, Bendis has some random interludes with several of the New Avengers, including a funny scene with Echo walking in on Hawkeye in the shower and another with Dr Strange and his girlfriend, the Night Nurse. I liked the reference to Iron Fist's experiences in his own series and the other Iron Fist users. Well done, but I am still upset they have not converted his costume to the superior Immortal Iron Fist version with the bandana mask.

After this, it is revealed Dr Strange devised a method to discover who is or is not a Skrull. At first I thought it was pretty much going to be identical to his last 'trust' spell, but apparently this one outright reveals what the person sees themselves as, for good or for worse. This alludes to everything seen on the cover and pretty much everything is the same as pictured there. I enjoyed the jokes concerning Jessica's seeing herself as her costumed persona, Jewel, and I wonder if it alludes to her possibly stepping back into the role in the future. Another thing with Jessica I liked was the airing of the laundry between her and Luke concerning his paranoid distrust of everyone, including Jessica and the baby. Glad to see that wrapped up as I was disliking the vibe from their fight. I also thought Spider-Man would have probably pictured himself as his Uncle Ben, seeing how he glorifies him in his memory and I figured that is who his inner self would want to be.

Finally, with trust issues taken care of, Wolverine reveals Hood is launching Deathlok to attack Avengers Tower and they decide to go warn them before it is too late. Upon arriving, they see the Mighty Avengers exiting the tower and realize that the downtown area is overrun by symbiotes, from Venom and Spider-Man fame. The issue ends with the team jumping into help and Echo being covered by one of the symbiotes.

This was a great issue and covered a lot of ground. I was a bit disappointed with no Spider-Woman discussion or progress on what she did with the Skrull Elektra body, but from previews, I know that gets picked up in Mighty Avengers in a few months. Still annoys me that she took off with it two months ago and still nothing has happened regarding it. The dialogue is really great in this issue and Bendis proves he is still one of the best with that. Enough action in this issue to satisfy me and just enough plot progression to keep me hooked.

Verdict - Must Read

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New Avengers #33 Review

NEW AVENGERS #33
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Leinil Yu

The countdown to Skrullmegeddon is on. I was disappointed to find absolutely no Spider-Woman or major discussion about her "betrayal" from last issue. In fact, almost no indication these people just crashed from an airplane is apparent in this issue. I am curious to find out how non-metas, like Hawkeye, survived this plane crash when the only padding was from Spider-man's webbing.

Another thing that stands out to me is the fact Luke Cage points the finger at Spider-man as being the resident Skrull on their team when he, himself, has been one of the most "Skrully"-like person on the team, along with Dr Strange. Cage went from tiara wearing, Christmas shouting blacksploitation character and is now leading the Avengers, married and with a child. While I do not think he is a Skrull, [Strange is my pick with the missing in Civil War and "my cape does not work under these conditions" from last issue and his whole lack of magic use in general] I find it really odd he would choose Spider-man simply because he switched sides in Civil War.

Having just read The Hood hardcover, as I missed the series when it originally came out in 2002, I was quite impressed with The Hood, also known as Parker Robbins for the uninformed. While I am still a bit concerned with how this low level street thug will become a Kingpin of Supers, I am willing to give Bendis the benefit of the doubt as he is building on an excellent new character and his work with the actual Kingpin in his Daredevil run gives me all the reasons I need to have faith in his writing.

This issue itself has a lot of stuff going on ranging from the team recouping in a Chicago hotel room and dealing with rampant paranoia concerning Skrulls. Combined with the behind the scenes action of The Hood establishing himself through his acquisition of Deathlok and putting The Owl in his place for trying to operate without The Hood's permission and The Hood meeting up with Wolverine, we are given plenty of bang for our buck. This issue has a lot of build up with just enough smattering of action to keep me wanting more and I look forward to next issue and the confrontation between Wolverine and The Hood, which will either cement The Hood as a top tier villain or job him out to the all encompassing Wolverine and end any build up he might have had.

Many people complain about the artwork of Mr Yu, but I personally love it and feel it suits the tone of this series perfectly. Along the same line, if he was the main artist on Mighty Avengers, I feel that he would be a terrible fit and probably call for his removal. The dark, gritty, washed out style of his work on NA adds so much to the book in my opinion and really compliments the characters he depicts.

All-in-all, this book was almost my pick of the week.

Verdict - Must Read

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