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New Avengers #34: Review

Sep 2007
Brian Michael Bendis, Leinil Francis Yu

Story Name:

The trust part 3

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

New Avengers #34 Review by (March 25, 2015)
I've skipped #31-33 because they don't have Iron Man (or anyone else relevant to out Library sites) in them. I briefly covered #31-32 in #30. #31 was the end of the Japanese storyline, where they discovered Elektra was a Skrull. #32 was officially the start of the new storyline but it worked more as an epilogue to the Japan tale, where the team got paranoid and Spider-Woman stole the Skrull body to take it to Iron Man in Mighty Avengers #6-7. I'll now do a quick synopsis of #33, where TV news said the Ultron situation from MAv#1-6 was just over. The team returned to Dr Strange's Sanctum where they suspect each other of being Skrulls. Strange suggested they all go home (apart from those who are calling his place home at the moment), and come back the next day if they still want to work together. Meanwhile the Owl held an auction for Luther Manning, the original Deathlok cyborg. But the Hood and his lieutenant interrupted proceedings and shot Owl because he didn't ask permission for his actions. Wolverine went out looking for information that might point to Skrull activity, but instead found Hood and pal planning to send Deathlok against the Mighty Avengers. When I 1st saw The Trust as the title of this arc I assumed it was a group, possibly Hood's gang as shown on the cover of #33. But instead I assume it refers to the trust that is lacking amongst the team.

The Hood is Parker Robbins who started out in his own mini-series. He was a small-time thief until he stole levitating boots and an invisibility cloak from a demon. Partnered with his cousin John King he branched out to more ambitious crimes. After being transported along with other supercharacters to Battleworld in the Beyond! limited series, Parker is now back with John beginning a criminal empire that will see him a major player in Dark Reign. Wolverine obviously gets shot in the crotch, and after the fight sits drinking waiting for his genitals to grow back. Linda Carter was 1 of a trio of nurses in the 1972 Night Nurse series. Much later she used the nom de guerre Night Nurse to treat wounded superheroes, 1st in Daredevil (1998) #58. She helped Dr Strange in his Oath mini-series, and that's where they began their relationship. The Immortal Iron Fist series revealed that Danny Rand is but the latest in a sequence of Iron Fists. I wouldn't say that anyone siphoned off Danny's powers in the #1-14 of that series that are placed chronologically before this issue. Instead he may be referring to Junzo Muto who stole the Iron Fist in New Warriors (1999) #8, until Danny got it back in the Iron Fist/Wolverine limited series. Dr Strange mentioning that he will lose the title Sorceror Supreme to someone else eventually is a foreshadowing of #53 where Brother Voodoo will take his place.




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

New Avengers #34 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
Last issue Wolverine walked in on the Hood and his right-hand man John planning to send a Deathlok cyborg to Avengers Tower to attack the Mighty Avengers.

In the ensuing fight Hood's invisibility doesn't prevail against Logan's sense of smell. And the damage Hood's guns do won't be permanent. So Hood turns into his demon form and escapes to lick his own wounds. (John already ducked out during the fracas.)

In #31 the team discovered that Elektra (who was now running the Japanese underworld) was a Skrull. In #32 Wolverine figured the green aliens had replaced lots of selected people as part of an invasion. In that and last issue the team (especially Luke Cage) suspected each other of being Skrulls. Dr Strange suggested they all go home and sleep on it. (Except that Clint Barton, Maya Lopez and the Cage family have nowhere else to go so they stay here in Stephen Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum.)

Here in his house Stephen is sleeping with Night Nurse (Linda Carter). He regrets staying out of the Civil War, and that's why he's letting the New Avengers use his home as their base. He also wants to bring their relationship out into the open.

As Linda leaves in the morning, Clint (now Ronin)'s shower is accidentally interrupted by Maya (Echo), who may be deaf but she ain't blind. Danny Rand has returned and asks Strange to find some way of stopping anyone else using the Iron Fist power, as recently happened. Stephen tells him it's impossible, because as Danny knows someone will eventually succeed him as Iron Fist - as Strange himself will someday be replaced as Sorcerer Supreme.

Spider-Man arrives and declares that his loser life convinces him that he's probably a sleeper Skrull who doesn't know it. Luke almost believes him. They know that Spider-Woman quit in #32 taking the Elektra-Skrull body with her. But they note that Logan is a no-show. (Peter Parker cracks the in-joke that Wolvie is on lots of teams these days.)

Angry Jessica Jones-Cage enters. Maya has just told her about the Skrull situation and Jessica has realised why hubby Luke was off with her last night (last issue) - he thinks she might be a Skrull.

Dr Strange intends to dispel all doubts (obviously the deception-detecting spell he used in #30 wasn't proof enough). He casts a spell to reveal each person's inner nature. (But 1st the Cage's reveal their daughter's name - Danielle after Luke's long-time friend Daniel Rand. [I hadn't realised they hadn't named her yet.])

The spell shows Luke Cage in his original Hero For Hire getup, Iron Fist as a Medieval knight, Jessica in her teen superhero Jewel mode, Spidey as the pre-Spidey Peter Parker, Maya as a female Daredevil, Clint as Captain America,  Dr Strange as the surgeon he used to be (I think), and Wolverine arrives just in time to be shown as a Samurai. (And all that explains the cover image.)

Logan explains about Hood planning to attack Avengers Tower with a Deathlok cyborg. The team wonder whether they just warn the Mighty Avengers, who want to arrest them. Luke and Clint settle the matter by saying that's what good guys and Captain America would do.

But as they approach the Tower (flying via another magic spell) they see Iron Man leading the MAv, including their ex-member Spider-Woman, to face streets full of Venom and Carnage symbiotes (as at the end of MAv#7). And as they move to help, Echo starts to transform to a Venom.



Leinil Francis Yu
Leinil Francis Yu
Dave McCaig
Leinil Francis Yu (Cover Penciler)
Leinil Francis Yu (Cover Inker)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steve Rogers)
Daredevil
Daredevil

(Matt Murdock)
Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange

(Stephen Strange)
Iron Man
Iron Man

(Tony Stark)
Spider-Man
Spider-Man

(Peter Parker)
Wolverine
Wolverine

(James Howlett)



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