New Avengers #43 Review

[goldenfist]

Ign.com reviews New Avengers #43.

Perhaps it's a testament to the strength of most of these tie-ins, but when one of them is just alright, I find myself really dissatisfied. I've come to rely on the Avengers titles to reveal the shocking and fun roots at the heart of Secret Invasion, and for the most part they've obliged. Hank Pym, Spider-Woman, and Elektra have all received strong, compelling issues, so when it comes to a lower-key topic like the Captain America who emerged from the crashed Skrull ship, I find myself stifling a yawn.

Savvy comic fans won't be surprised by the "revelation" in this pages that the Steve Rogers running around the Savage Land battlefield isn't one that's ever known earthly origins. Aside from the numerous spaceship inhabitants who've been slain and turned up bumpy-chined in the main Secret Invasion series, everyone at Marvel has been more than happy to assure readers from the onset of Secret Invasion than the more major players in recent Marvel Universe happenings (Cap, Tony Stark, Hulk, Scarlet Witch, etc.) aren't getting the Skrull treatment. But New Avengers #43 isn't really that kind of book.

Instead, it's just about the best insight we've got into the inner workings of the Skrull brainwashing department and how the much-fabled Skrulls-who-don't-know-they're-Skrulls come to be. It's interesting if that stuff juices you, and there are a couple quick character moments for Shanna and Spider-Man. But I know there's a large sect of Secret Invasion followers who are screening these tie-ins to find out which ones are integral to the main series, and for the most part this isn't one of them. It's a competently done issue and tells the story it sets out to tell (I'll admit, I even felt a bit sorry for "Cap" by the end), but as I mentioned before, it doesn't meet the bar set by some issues of Mighty or New Avengers.

There are a few minor bits of Skrull culture and methodology to be picked from New Avengers #43, for those who are interested in that. But with so many other SI tie-ins doing mildly entertaining stories that only tangentially involve Skrulls, I expect the Avengers to be hitting harder than this. Still, I can't honestly say it's a bad or flawed book, just unremarkable.

Review Score: 7.3 Decent

[freedomfighter]

Ok now that this book has been out for a while, I don't think this will be a spoiler to discuss what was wrong for ME. Not saying those out there can't still love this issue, but here's what killed it for me.
First Cap is a perfect fighting duplicate even though he doesn't even have Cap's memories, just some stuff they've cobbled together from other people?
Nope, not buying it. The skrulls had Professor X in their thrall, he's probably accidentally mindscanned everyone he's come into contact with, especially superheroes, so he might have given them a better picture, I could buy that far sooner--the idea that an incomplete Cap or any other hero would fool his allies for long is just to me, silly. I don't think any of these dupes could fool anyone for long being so incomplete.
Lest you think I'm being too nitpicky, when I studied anthropology a professor related a story about how spies during World War II would be caught for the most simple things, the small things, like using a knife and fork differently (Americans tend to cut with their dominant hand and then switch hands and Europeans tend to cut with their less dominant hand and not switch- at least back in 1943 or so). People notice little things. Especially superheroes with amazing skills.
For example why doesn't Spider Man's spider sense tip him off to a skrull threat? It must work on a subliminal level and it has to be able to distinguish minute differences in persons and things-otherwise it would go off every second. Take a look at this page from a marvel comic explaining how Spidey's sense even detects villainous threats when they're not directed at him and/or not in costume!!
www.geocities.com/spydr7/
I think this might be extreme, but I think every dupe should raise some hackles on Pete's neck even if it's just a slight buzz...
I don't deny the skrulls could duplicate Cap's athleticism, simply they couldn't do it to the point where he'd be a perfect copy and battle trained. On a side note it still bothers me that Hank Pym's replacement was just as good at biochemistry as Hank. The man discovered how to make mass and size irrelevant. You don't just find a person who can duplicate that in the yellow pages (or would the skrulls have green pages??). While I'm sure the Skrulls have an advanced technology, that doesn't make someone able to understand a less advanced technology. While many of us are smart, I doubt one in a billion could have the same technological grasp as DaVinci who had no computers and still managed innovations centuries ahead of his time.
These little factors, these unique skills could've been built into the story as tipoffs, instead we get weird references to art from back in Disassembled and early NA when Finch admitted he didn't know some of the characters and he made mistakes as some of the groundwork. That seems like a bad way to set things up.
Also when Capskrull (Crull?) lay dying he turns back. Not dead yet, but dying. I thought they only turned back at death, not minutes before. Given the crux of the story it opens a huge window. Now if you paralyze the nervous system they lose their shape too? What else works on the skrulls to change them back? Are we going to argue death throes? Well the brain was still working, I'm not willing to concede.
The stuff of this story leaves me cold. maybe I missed something when reading it, but man it just struck me as careless and ill thought out. To go through all this deliberate pacing, slow setup and then just ignore logic in major plot holes bothers me. Were it not for decompressed storytelling it probably would not bother me, but the point of the issue seems to be at odds with how cunning and perfect this plan was previously described as being and the evidence of the issue leaves me with the feeling that Ka-Zar and a couple of darts could end this thing in about ten minutes.

[bobc]

Careless and ill thought out? Bendis? How can that be?