The breakup of the Avengers was serious. The book stayed off the shelf for months to really show the impact of the team being dissolved. Just kidding, this issue came out the same month as that Finale special. The team is meant to have been dissolved for awhile in-universe, tho. A new series began several months after this one called Young Avengers, most or all of which takes place before this, bridging the gap somewhat, giving us a look at a New York without Avengers. That book featured some teens dressing up as kid versions of classic Avengers, and Iron Man, Captain America and Jessica Jones trying to catch them because they thought it was too dangerous. It was actually great, full of interesting twists, fun surprises, and cool new characters, including future MCU characters Kate Bishop and Cassie Lang. Anyway, comics biz working the way it does, we all knew who the New Avengers were, who the creative team was, the question was just: How’s it going down? It’s Bendis Finch, Miki and Frank D’Armata, the team from Disassembled, unsurprisingly. Why sign any of them up for just 4 issues? We’re told it’s been 6 months since the team broke up…
This seemed like a real shot across the bow of the “grounded” trend in comics. I mean, we saw what the Ultimates look like. Any fun and interest was drained from everyone but Cap in the interest of looking “grounded.” But there was kind of a movement against that going on around this time. Astonishing X-Men saw the team ditch their black leather, movie-jocking look for costumes again. Now this. Also worth noting: Not the MKSM redesign on Electro. That story was only on #8 when this came out. Untangling this timeline has been very challenging. Like issue 2 of that series had Spider-Man’s stupid run-in with the Avengers, and by issue 8, the team broke up. Well, anyway, we go take a look at the Raft, where Matt Murdock is getting off a helicopter. He’s met by Jessica Drew, the original Spider-Woman, and Luke Cage. Rumors have persisted since the beginning that Jessica Jones started life as a Jessica Drew pitch, but Bendis has always said that wasn’t the case. Foggy is also there, but too scared to get out of the helicopter.
Jessica Jones’ boyfriend is not gonna like seeing the Purple Man.
Jessica you are BEGGING for trouble, here. She keeps on talking about how incredibly impossible it is for anything to go wrong right up until the power goes out. Not just in the Raft, but in all of New York, we see. And then there’s a massive burst of electricity that blows a huge hole in the Raft. What’s all this got to do with our Spider-Man blog?
Oh hey. Well, soon enough, Spider-Man’s on his way, but while he sees the smoke coming out of the Raft, he has no idea how to get over there until some SHIELD choppers fly overhead and he can hitch a ride. But as they approach the prison, all the electricity still in the air, zapping around, hits the chopper and they start going down.
“Oh, hey, Cap, how’s it going? How you been since your 1940s girlfriend turned me into a giant bug and I died and then I inexplicably un-died?” Inside the prison, Electro busts out a very specific person we don’t get to see before telling everyone else they’re loose and they owe him. A prison full of unleashed supervillains! Good thing a small group of superheroes just happen to be here. Say, you don’t think…?
And on top of all that, Bendis is bringing the Sentry into mainline continuity! Busy first issue! But we haven’t even seen everyone on the cover yet. At some point, I believe it’s Bendis who convinces mgmt that first issues need to be oversized so they can get readers further into the story on their first outing, which is a smart move.