REVIEW: The New Avengers - 41

Now here's an interesting little book. Secret Invasion has piqued my interest over the past few months, and has managed to keep me pretty hooked in between issues thanks to excellent complimentary storylines within books like The Mighty Avengers, Ms Marvel and in this case - The New Avengers.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Remember waaaaaaaay back in issue 6 of The New Avengers, the team travelled to the Savage Land, only to see a bunch of rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agents strip mining vibranium?

It was one of those dangling plot lines that Bendis had left in the back of readers minds - and now it looks like we know why. They were Skrulls ladies and gentlemen - damn dirty Skrulls.

Most of issue 41 is told in flashback from the perspectives of Shanna The She-Devil and Ka-Zar, around the time of the Breakout storyline. The issue fills in some interesting gaps - all of which will make you wonder about the next issue of Secret Invasion - and just how far back Bendis has been laying seeds in the Marvel garden...

Pete's Score: 4 out of 5
(Bendis doesn't fail to deliver - and Billy Tan reminds us all why he's such a brilliant artist)

REVIEW: The Mighty Avengers - 13

Well - if you read my review of The Mighty Avengers issue 12 - you would already have known...

***SPOILER ALERT***

...that we've finally found out where Nick Fury has been hiding himself for the past year or so, and why. Nick found out all about the Skrulls on earth, and decided to start doing something about them...

Now - if you've read The Mighty Avengers issue 12, and are feeling pretty '@$£& yeah' about Nick's ideas - you might want to check out The New Avengers issue 40 before reading this issue, as it may very well put a bit of a spanner in the works for the ex-head of S.H.E.I.L.D...

But anyway - this issue carries on with Nick's quest to save the earth, watching how he (through Daisy Johnson) assembles a surprising team of 'unknowns' to combat the impending Skrull threat, banking on the fact that as he was the only one to ever know about them, they well definitely be human.

Risky gamble to take in the first place - but even more risky when you learn that one of the 'unknowns' is none other than the son of Ares - Phobos, the god of fear (who also happens to be ten years old).

It's obvious from the outset that these heroes are going to be asked to lay everything that they have on the line, with the very real possibility of losing it all in the process.

Something big is on the horizon...

Pete's Score: 4 out of 5
(the saga of "what Nick did with his time away" is essential reading for anyone who wants the full story behind Secret Invasion)