The New Avengers: Illuminati 5 of 5
Writer(s): Brian Michael Bendis & Brian Reed
Pencils: Jim Cheung
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Comic book writer’s promise us ‘answers’ all of the time, but most of the time those answers generally only serve one purpose, to provide more questions. The best part about that dynamic is that we love it that way. Brian Michael Bendis takes this position as giver of answers and provider of questions very seriously, and has given us more than our fair share of questions throughout 2007. Here now, with the conclusion of the five part Illuminati series, Bendis gives us the answers we’ve been waiting for. Of course, in providing us with these answers, a brand new slew of questions have arisen.
First, let’s look at what we do know, that there is an impending Skrull invasion. What we are unclear on is the particulars of this invasion, and of course how it will all work out. While this issue doesn’t provide really any of those answers, what is accomplishes is providing the scale of the threat that our heroes are facing. The dialogue gives you a true sense of where everyone is at, and the amount of hysteria that will be wrought before this is over. What’s really amazing is how well all the events in the Marvel U are starting to fall into place (with the exception of what’s going on in Mighty Avengers, still waiting to see how that works out.). Bendis is very careful to use the dialogue to let readers know the ‘when’ aspect of the story.
As you know, I try to keep CraveOnline Comics spoiler free, so I won’t be revealing the Skrull in this article, but I will tell you that the revelation does take place within this issue. If you’ve been reading this series since the beginning, then you will be blown away like I was to finally see who the Skrull infiltrator is. I would also encourage all readers to immediately pick up and re-read the first issue in order to see how deep the implications of the big reveal might go. Jim Cheung’s art work is fantasmoriphic for lack of a better term, and having him in on every issue has been a true treat. Look gang, I’m not going to spill anymore beans here, just know that the book is the big payoff it was purported to be, and that any fan of Marvel would be out of their minds to miss out on this really huge event.
