By Dante' Maddox

Dammit, has Wolverine slept with every girl in the Marvel universe? What is the appeal of a four foot eleven head case who reeks of cigars and decades worth of other peoples blood?

Aside from that little tidbit of info (Logan and Echo has 'a thing'), issue 39 of The New Avengers is pretty good, but confusing in a good way all the same. This issue is a Secret Invasion tie-in making it dangerous territory, but this is also one of the core books for that story making it fairly unique. The story focuses on Echo, sort of, what the story really does is eliminate a prime suspect in the readers hunt for the skrull on the team.

Brian Michael Bendis makes a lot of the arguments for the reader as Wolverine and Echo battle a Skrull that was posing as Daredevil (which begs the question, is Daredevil a Skrull?) and determine that the aliens intent was to replace her on the team. Are the new Avengers the only team that’s 99.9% Skrull free (still plenty of trans fat sadly)? And what’s with two references to Cap being dead? I’ve heard rumors that Steve will be making a comeback, and if they're true I hope the story is so good it eclipses what Brubaker has accomplished in that book.

There is also a new relationship developing between Echo and Clint Barton who is apparently beginning to adjust to being alive again. Its good to have Clint back in the fold, the last half decade or so has really evolved the character. Here’s hoping we see him have a run in with his former teammates the Thunderbolts one of these days.

Put it this way, Secret Invasion will be big, and the Avengers books will be right there at ground zero. Marvel and DC are going back and forth with big series after big series and the big winners are the fans. This round we’re going to see Final Crisis go right up against Secret Invasion, and I can already tell you who the winner will be, the readers. Secret Invasion #1 hits shelves tomorrow.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: David Mack
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $2.99

CraveOnline Rating: 7 out of 10