New Avengers - Volume 7: The Trust

by Brian Michael Bendis

Book Overview

In the wake of the superhero civil war, outlaw Avengers Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Spider-Woman, Dr. Strange and Iron Fist are still fighting the good fight, joined by new recruits Echo and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0785125035
• ISBN13: 9780785125037
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Marvel
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.6" x 10.1"

Customer Reviews

Mash em and smash em

I absolutely loved this graphic novel. There is plenty of tension, plenty of intrigue and page after page of good ole fashioned butt whooping. There are tons of old school baddies and some new ones to keep things fresh. The Skrull invasion begins and things are just beginning to get murky. This is one of the few books that does a good job of being a story while setting up future stories. This is one I will read again and again.

Brian Michael Bendis does it once again!

Superb dialog plus top notch art. Honestly, Bendis could write a phone book and I would read it cover to cover multiple times. (Review by Michael Atkinson I just purchased it for him)

The Trust Works for Me

Bendis's New Avengers run has had its ups and downs - a great beginning led to a somewhat disappointing and meandering muddle in the middle. The books suffered from being overly-tied-in with other comics I hadn't read. But The Trust picks things up again with some great superhero action against a background of paranoia and mistrust that really ramps up the tension. The New Avengers is an anti-establishment group as it is, and one thing you don't want to do with a hippie is look like a narc. When your teammate, whom you must trust with your life, is possibly a Skrull, it's hard to hold hands and sing "Kumbaya." Bendis writes great patter, and this book is not an exception. His Spider-Man is genuinely witty, and the romantic, playfully sexy banter between Luke Cage and his wife is charming. When Cage gets suspicious of her, Jessica's patient and practical response is perfect - Bendis writes her character so beautifully, it makes me miss Alias Vol. 1 and The Pulse, Vol. 2: Secret War even more. The plot of The Trust seems to borrow from DC's Villains United storyline, as The Hood bullies and builds a group of ragtag bad guys into a loose federation. But the action is good, and Bendis makes The Hood into a character to contend with. Overall, good stuff, and the book's strongest outing in awhile. Of course, mediocre from Bendis is still better than most writer's best days, and this book is far better than mediocre. The man is a genius. Lastly, I'm more of a story than an art guy, but I didn't love Yu's work here. It seems overly sketchy - even ugly - at times. There are some powerful layouts, but I prefer a cleaner look.

"Do you feel Skrully?"

The New Avengers can't catch a break. As if the Civil War wasn't enough. Or the fact that they're wanted criminals, and with their former teammates hunting them down. As if it's not enough that they've just faced off against Electra and her deadly group of ninja assassins, the Hand. Now the fit really hits the shan. In the last issue (see New Avengers Vol. 6: Revolution) it's revealed that Electra is actually a shape-shifting Skrull. This causes a big, big problem as these outlaw Avengers now suspect that a secret invasion is in the works. But how long have the Skrulls been skulking around? And how big the conspiracy, how deep the infiltration? Could the Skrulls have been somehow responsible for the Civil War? So, these renegade heroes now don't even know if they can trust each other ("Do you feel Skrully?" asks one Avenger to another). Paranoia sows its seed and quickly threatens to shatter the group. In fact, one member promptly skedaddles. On top of it all, a demon-ridden villain calling himself the Hood ('cause, y'know, he has a hood) is scheming to take over New York's criminal underworld. And he's making quick headway. The Hood is a thinking criminal, and he espouses organization and cooperation amongst New York's criminal element. It also strikes him that, with the Superhuman Registration Act lending ready access to the identities of many in the superhero community, one way to build up instant credibility is to make an example of a superhero. To quote the Hood: "One by one. We get them where they live. All of them. No one is safe. Not the icons, not the up-and-comers." His actions put him and his superpowered crime syndicate on a collision course with Luke Cage and his crumbling outlaw band. So far Dr. Strange's mystical dwelling had provided a foolproof sanctuary for these fugitive Avengers. But not anymore. Oh, and there's also some nonsense about all of New York City being transformed into symbiotes (like Venom). This might've been interesting except that amongst the infected are the New Avengers, so that's no fun. Plus, it was told in broad-stroked flashback by Luke Cage, one of the two who didn't get infected (him because of his invulnerable skin, Wolverine because of his healing factor). Apparently, this symbiote storyline is told in full in an issue of Mighty Avengers. But since I don't follow that series much ("bleccch!" to the Mighty Avengers), I guess I won't get the full lowdown on what happened. This is THE NEW AVENGERS Vol. 7: THE TRUST and it collects issues #32-37 and The New Avengers Annual #2. I figure, as long as Brian Michael Bendis keeps churning out New Avengers stuff, I'll keep reading 'em. To be honest, though, I was getting pretty tired of the Hand story arc, so I'm glad Bendis has (for now) moved on. This new arc paves the way for the next big Marvel Comics event, Secret Invasion, which is an 8-issue limited series. In an IGN interview, Bendis let out that he'd been planning this thing for years and that there's

Trouble is a brewin...

The New Avengers are in some serious trouble. On the way home from rescuing Echo in Japan, the New Avengers are betrayed by one of their own, as they come to question their loyalties in the wake of discovering that Elektra was a Skrull. To make matters worse, there's a symbiote epidemic (that isn't delved into much, but leads to a team-up of sorts with Tony Stark and his Mighty Avengers) in New York, and things really turn bad for everyone when The Hood gathers an army of super villains (and attempts to take control of cyborg killer Dethlok), and wrecks havoc on everyone he can, most notably former Avenger Tigra. Once again, Brian Michael Bendis provides plenty of adventure and twists in his run on New Avengers, with The Trust serving as the calm before the storm of the upcoming event Secret Invasion. The distrust between Luke Cage and his team leads to new heights, and no one is safe. What Bendis does even better is put to use Brian K. Vaughan's character The Hood, who received his own Marvel MAX mini-series some time ago, but hasn't been heard from since. Thankfully, Bendis picks him up, and really gets the ball rolling with him. Recurring artist Leinil Yu provides more solid artwork here, as does Planet Hulk artist Carlo Pagulayan in the series' annual issue, which is also included in his hardcover. All in all, The Trust is another solid entry in Bendis' New Avengers run, which guarantees that trouble is a brewin' not just for Luke Cage, Spidey, Wolverine, and the rest of the crew; but for the entire Marvel universe.