Book of the Week 4/40/08 New Avengers #40
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils by Jim Cheung
Inks by John Dell
Colors by Justin Ponsor
Letters by Albert Deschesne
Picking the book of the week can be a hard thing. There are so many factors that go into it. You want to pick a book that excites you and gives you an emotional response, you also want to try to be unique and look for different things in different books, I mean you don't want the same book to be the book of the week all the time.
That being said, last weeks book of the week was Mighty Avengers and this week the pick goes to New Avengers #40 and all for one simple reason.
Brian Michael Bendis really knows what he's doing.
We've already talked about how Bendis has planned Secret Invasion for years and that this is all coming to a head but this is just an amazingly crafted story. In this issue we're given the Skrull view of things and that may have been enough to grant this issue book of the week status. It was great to see things through the eyes of the Skrulls, to know and understand what they have planned and more importantly, why they're planning it. The Skrulls have become great villains and even better than that, they've become great characters. Learning about Skrulls in the recent months makes me want to know so much more and I'm very intrigued by their society and culture.
A man that can not be overlooked in the grand scheme of things is Mr Jim Cheung. I moon over Cheung all the time on the podcast and with good reason because his art is simply beautiful. There aren't a lot of artists that I get excited about but when I saw that Cheung was going to be drawing #40 with Bendis I became giddy with fanboyness and my expectations were met and exceeded.
Anyone who was a fan of New Avengers:The Illuminati will not want to miss this issue because a lot of back story was revealed here and a lot of things in this issue reflect directly back to Illuminati #1.
There were big reveals by both of the major comic companies this week and this issue had one of them and I was literally floored. I'm pretty sure that I gasped out loud because I didn't see it coming at all and it truly changes everything about what's going on in the Marvel Universe right now.
All in all this was a great book and this may possible be a perfect modern comic book. The big draw of comics, especially modern comics is the idea of an ongoing story that doesn't end, it only changes. Bendis is crafting a story that, if it continues to be executed as it has so far, will be the greatest comic story ever told.
I know that's a big statement, but I believe it.
I'm not going to ruin the shocking ending to New Avengers #40 here but Eric and I are really excited to talk about it so look forward to a major spoiler-full podcast this week!
