The New Avengers Number 28

The cover for this issue is ok nothing really special or unique about it, it's hard to comment on something like this as I have no strong feelings about this it feels fairly generic and the only really interesting thing about it is the destroyed wall in the foreground and the prison cell door looming in the background menacingly.

A quick note before I start though this is a tie-in issue to the events of Avengers versus X-men and I will give you a bit of backstory. A destructive force known as the phoenix is on it's way to Earth to of course destroy it. So the avengers and x-men try to stop it and are successful but it is shattered into five pieces which are absorbed by five x-men: Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, Magik and Colossus. Now they're turning evil and the heroes of Earth are all that stands in their way and of course some of the heroes are taken prisoner.

We open with a dark hallway in Utopia as we then see Spiderwoman in her dark prison cell. She is then given some food by one of the x-men. She refuses to eat as she believes it is being drugged to dampen her powers although the x-man tells Spiderwoman that her power is to suppress other powers. Spiderwoman asks her if this is what she wanted to do with her life. The x-man (who is named Phoebe) walks away without a reply. Next we visit Warpath giving Luke Cage his meal (in another dark room) right before Luke goes crazy and tries to assault this causes Warpath to drop Luke's food. Luke taunts Warpath before breaking down and asking to be able to phone his daughter. So now we see Hawkeye's cell where it is feeding time. He manages to trick the x-man into giving him her arm which he promptly threatens to break if he isn't released. Warpath is slightly displeased with this and decides to discuss in a calm manner by throwing Hawkeye so hard he manages to hit the opposite side of the cell. Hawkeye then cheerily states that if they don't have an in 'n out burger. We then go back to Spiderwoman's cell where she has brought a bowl of water to bathe with and is told by Phoebe that Thor (God of thunder) has been captured. Spiderwoman convinces Phoebe to let her have a pen and paper so she can get her afairs in order and tell her Mom she loves her. When she gets the pen she uses it to threaten Phoebe with it unless she opens the door, Phoebe is then knocked out. On her way Spiderwoman discovers Warpath who she beats to a pulp. She goes to release Hawkeye and when she does he attacks her believing she is a mutant. She proves she is not by knowing "how he got that thing on his butt". They find Cage and Spiderwoman uses her energy blast to open the lock. They begin running through the facility taking down one x-man while running. Unfortunately it seems they have wasted their time as four mutants are waiting for them one being a member of the phoenix five(Colossus). Luke Cage decides to bash Colossus into a wall and down a hill. We get a quick glimpse of Cyclops as they bash past him onto a speed boat. Just as they get away they are awakened in pods by danger explaining that it was a simulation until permanent accommodation can be created. We then see the same scene as the start but Spiderwoman refusing to talk.

Now I liked the story and the matrix like ending gave it a real feeling of hopelessness from Spiderwoman as there is no point of escaping. Overall the dialogue and the story was fine but a major problem with this issue was the art and colouring. The art was just all over the place some of it being ok to just terrible and the inconsistencies with proportion just remove you from the story plus there where several scenes with completely white backgrounds. The colouring on this comic felt lazy as the majority of colours where black and white. The prison cell I can understand it being dark but the colouring on the outside and in scenes such as when Luke Cage fights Colossus down a hill are hard to comprehend on a first read.

New Avengers No 28 gets a 2/5 as the no amount of writing that can save bad art or vice versa.