Well, I mentioned how Stuart Immonen had become too hot a commodity to stay on USM, so where’s he end up? Why, New Avengers, of course! Immonen and constant companion Wade Von Grawbager are joined by colorist Dave McCaig to take this title to new heights visually. Storywise… well, it’s still Dark Reign, so… Things look bad for our heroes on the cover! We begin by flashing back to the team’s latest battle with the Hood and his gang, and after the Avengers escape, we follow the bad guys this time, as there’s dissention in the ranks about why they even had this fight. Some of them want to know why they keep fighting the New Avengers over and over (Fair) and losing (Fair!) as Madame Masque defends her lil’ boyfriend’s terrible leadership.
Wrecker makes some good points. These jobbers weren’t always jobbers. The Hood’s gang takes an overly large and unwieldy gathering of pretty scary characters and turns them into a bunch of mopes who are just here to run in circles. This whole Hood thing just refuses to go anywhere, including away. Well, now it’s “Brooklyn, Midnight. Thursday,” and Bucky arrives home to find the Avengers have really trashed it. He silently peruses the devastated kitchen, bathroom and living room, growing visibly frustrated. Then it’s a week ago again, and the red guy from before who I don’t know has taken the Stark Tech he found to that most confusing of villains, Dr. Jonas Harrow, who has identified it as a “genetic disruptor” and calls it “the nuclear bomb in the war on powers.” Ok!
Since when is Jessica Jones a redhead? A far cry from their chat in ASM 601, which came out a month after this. Maybe Spidey’s meant to have calmed down by then. I said it about Bagley back in the day, and I’ll say it again, Immonen’s Amazing Spider-Man being visibly different from his Ultimate Spider-Man is pure class. His mask, his build, even his movements. On the same evening, the Hood has failed to show up to his Loser Club meeting, and the Wrecker announces to the others that his team is out. He doesn’t trust Robbins (Fair!) and doesn’t like running errands for him. Someone off panel interrupts his tirade to say the Hood is working with Osborn.
Alrighty! Well, now it’s finally “Now,” and we’re with the New Avengers, and Bucky is desperately trying to admonish them for mistreating his home, but they’re nonstop chatting about other stuff (Including how Wolverine went back to Utopia). Spider-Woman is upset about Hawkeye going on TV, and he agrees it was a mistake, and then says what he should have done is gone and killed Norman.
Bendis was very keen on the notion that Dark Reign makes all the heroes learn what it feels like to be Spider-Man, which is a fun idea in theory, but doesn’t really factor into, well, anything in practice. This conversation is about all you get. Chemistro, they finally said his name, is randomly blowing things up in Times Square. Clearly a trap. But our gang flies in, anyway, in the typically electric Immonen style.
So, like… what’s that thing do? A “genetic disruptor.” How would that effect Bucky or Hawkeye or Moonstone? It seems a bit convenient. Maybe it’ll make sense in our next pulse-pounding issue.