I gotta say, Leinil Yu, great artist, longtime fan… do not get the Spider-Man mask. He looks like he’s the sad mask from the theater sign. It was a thorn in my side this whole otherwise great run. We begin with the New Avengers, having just teleported out of danger, trying to find out what happened to Maya, and trying to decide where to go. Spider-Woman has an idea.
Bendis loved Mean Girls. We recall Silver Samurai last encountered the New Avengers in the first Ronin arc. He & Logan have had beef since then during Logan’s quest to recover his past.
Very weird take on Silver Samurai. We flashback to yesterday. Specifically to Luke Cage foiling a convenience store robbery while trying to buy milk. But, of course, some cop ran in and tried to arrest Luke, and shot him, for all the good that did, and then a whole buncha cops appeared outside.The cops were backed up by cape-killers, and Luke just leapt up, stole one of their flying craft, and escaped. Very clean.
Jess & the as-yet-unnamed Baby Cage came back from Canada a lot earlier than you might expect.
Now, Jess was told Cap was alive in that Initiative special, but by now, Wolverine has been shown Cap’s body. Right? Does this work? So many moving parts. She says Cap is being held at the Raft, and everyone agrees if there was a chance they were being held, Cap would come get them. So, they sent Doc Strange in his astral form, and sure enough, he saw Cap strapped to a table, with Maria Hill being told it was in case he tried to get up. This is a very elaborate ruse. So, the gang decided to go get him.
They make it to the body, which Wolverine immediately knows is fake. But… he saw the real one…? It’s a trap, of course.
Once again, the Mighty Avengers. A team with Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Wonder Man and the Sentry on it should be able to make short work of these New Avengers, even with Dr. Strange. But before we can see how that played out, we’re back in the present. Dr. Strange is trying to help Maya as Silver Samurai tells them Elektra has been consolidating the Japanese underworld under Hand control, and they’ll bring all that to his door. Then…
Whenever I see an Elektra, a Psylocke, a lady who dresses like this (Almost no men do, obviously) I always just instantly imagine them slowly but surely putting all those stupid straps of fabric on their arms, legs, fingers, in Elektra’s case, here, while everyone else impatiently waits for them to be ready to go superheroing, or -villaining, as the case may be. Surely the aesthetic isn’t worth the time. But, what do I know?