The New Avengers, Vol. 4: The Collective

The New Avengers (2004)

by Brian Michael Bendis, Steve McNiven (Illustrator), Mike Deodato (Illustrator)

House of M changed the planet; now, a new, major threat has emerged. Nothing can stop it - not even Canada's premier super-team, Alpha Flight! The New Avengers are about to be put to the test in a way they never have before. Debuting the bombastic pencils of fan-favorite Mike Deodato. Guest-starring Ms. Marvel!

Collecting: The New Avengers #16-20

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published April 4, 2007

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

And the hits keep on coming. A powerful entity strikes Alaska wiping out a two SHIELD jets (and crews) and a superhero team! The New Avengers find themselves pulling out all the stops to take on The Collective, and also have ongoing issues with SHIELD acing boss Maria Hill, the President. and possibly each other to deal with. A world-class follow-up to House of M where Bendis spins what has always been missing, the Government/SHIELD's concern and interest in a 'Summer Event' and looking to get the real intel from the super powered beings. With all the physical combat in this volume the art looks a bit weak. 8 out of 12, Four Stars.

2022 read

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of that mutant energy taken away from House of M has just came crashing down in Alaska. Now it's obliterating everything in its path as it heads through Canada towards Cleveland. I don't know how Bendis comes up with all these summer blockbuster stories, one after another. I'd love to see him take over the Justice League now that he's working for DC.

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have really been enjoying the Bendis run on the New Avengers. The last 2 volumes have been excellent. This one was still good, though I did not like it as much as the first two.

The Collective starts with the New Avengers becoming "official", news that is not well received by SHIELD Director Maria Hill. Also these events are happening directly in the wake of the House of M events and it seems other than the mutants and some Avengers most people, including SHIELD, have no clue what has happened.
Well what has happened is the energies displaced by the Scarlet Witch when she "wished away" mutants, all went and inhabited the body of a Postal Worker who was also a mutant capable to storing other mutant powers. This newly energized mutant then falls under the mental control of a creature called Xorn. Xorn takes this amalgam of the different power sets of mutants and slaughters Alpha-Flight (the book makes it seem like they are dead-but are they truly dead or "super-hero" dead?) and seems to be heading for the US. SHIELD and the New Avengers scramble.

Spiderman, outfitted in some red armor with golden arms for some bizarre reason, is sent to the SHIELD Heli-Carrier to help by using his scientific skills. Unfortunately, once in SHIELD turf, he is scanned by SHIELD Psi-Division and Director Hill asks him"What's House of M?" and when he refuses to answer she promptly places Spiderman under arrest.
This is not going to go over well with the Avengers. Well, that is if they survive this standoff with Xorn. Eventually Xorn heads to the ruins of Geonosha and gives Magneto back his powers and wants him to lead the mutants on a new crusade. But, the Avengers with the help of the Sentry arrive. As they fight, SHIELD and the Avengers co-operate and find a way to defeat Xorn.

There were some great moments in this book- from the internal conflict between SHIELD and the New Avengers in terms of jurisdiction and influence. I shall have to read more of the House of M story arc, but was rather surprised at how few non-mutants knew about the event. The prologue states that the House of M event was kept out of the news for fear of generating huge anti-mutant backlash. Strange though that SHIELD didn't know about it.

I don't know much about Maria Hill, but she sometimes makes very valid points- such as when she is talking to Iron Man about how she feels as the head of SHIELD to find out a group of super powered vigilantes have formed up without her say so. OK, I can see that. But when she decides to do things like arrest Spiderman, after inviting him onto the Heli-Carrier, this does nothing but exacerbate the tension between New Avengers and SHIELD.

The artwork was as usual very good. The story has the usual tongue-in-cheek Bendis humor. I just think the story over all just wasn't up to the quality of the first two volumes. This is still a great read and I would highly recommend this to any Avengers or Bendis fan.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love reading this side by side to Hickman's avengers run. Hickman's is total comic book love. I mean it's deep, dark, you'll only really get it if you're deep into Marvel mythos, and it's wonderfully complex and well crafted. Bendis is highly entertaining, summer blockbuster type of avengers, and the perfect companion to the deeper story Hickman ran.

This volume tackles a unstoppable force coming down to wreck shit. From the skies comes a man on fire who basically makes him unstoppable. His powers are off the charts and he's able to take out Alpha Flight quickly and easily. Then the Avengers step up, but how much can they do? And what is this person? Thing?

Good: I liked the start. It's intense, scary, and very fast paced. The bickering between our heroes and quips make it highly entertaining and basically the blueprint for a lot of superhero movies now days. I also think the art is great for the most part.

Bad: The ending was a big let down for me. I thought it was handled and fixed up WAY to quickly. I also thought the sentry really didn't do much except being a convenient plot point to help in a lot of ways.

Overall highly entertaining but otherwise kind of shallow due to wrapping things up in 5 minutes. I think the conflict being longer and drawn out would have made a deeper impact. A 3 out of 5.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another good one.

We see that a new being has emerged and he is full of fire/energies and he takes down Alpha Flight and Hill contacts the Avengers to deal with him but they are busy with ground missions and helping people but when they engage him they can't take him down and even with Sentry and Ms Marvel there to help, its becoming tough and we learn the origins and motives of this being named COLLECTIVE and its an amazing revelation and physics accurate and its a massive threat and then how the Avengers come into conflict with MAGNETO, its epic and a great story!

It deals with the fallout of House of M correctly and like has Hill in a good position maybe and makes you question whose right and whose wrong and then deal with the Avengers as they take on this massive threat and show them in this heroic position. The art was okayish for the most part and all! But its leading to the biggest event ever: CIVIL WAR NEXT!

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, again, not as enjoyable as it was the first time around.

I liked the team work in this one. I also liked the way Tony took charge in this volume. The storyline is interesting. Ultimately, this was just okay.

Civil War is next!

[˙⋆✮ Anny ✮⋆˙ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Pretty much in the same league as the last volume: not great, but not terrible either. Same goes for the art.
I liked seeing Ms Marvel and Daisy Johnson in this one.

[Roman Zarichnyi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Вже і третій том «Нові Месники: Колектив» (2005), #16-20 вийшов досить незвичним, де деякі сцени змогли винести мозок. Але водночас за відчуттями для мене вийшов найслабшим поки.

Розпочинається арка з того, що команда нових Месників стає офіційною і це розголошення не дуже сподобалося ЩИТу. Але це не є основною темою цього тому. Десь із глибин космосу на Землю падає невідоме створіння, чи то людина, чи щось схоже на Людину-Факела і який одним помахом знищує всю Канадську команду супергероїв (ось так легко попустили тих хлопаків). Месники намагаються знайти контакти із цим невідомим чолов'ягою, але нескоординовані дії членів команди роблять цю ситуацію неконтрольованою та катастрофічною. А ще й до того, вони дізнаються, що це створіння має сили багатьох колишніх мутантів.

Сюжет вийшов досить динамічним і з кількома класними і неочікуваними поворотами, особливо тими подіями, що відбулися на знищеному Ґеноші. Серія далі продовжує бути хорошою.

[Rizwan Khalil · Rating 5 out of 5]

first page to last, literal edge of seat suspense. Literal Avengers-level code white threat, EPIC action thrills! I could seriously almost hearing the bloodpumping drumbeats of Hans Zimmer's background score, especially during The Sentry versus The Collective battle! Superlative.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

After effects from House of M still linger. Great story.

[Alan Castree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is from around the time I got back into comics for a bit (before moving away from the US). There was a jump from Volume 3 because House of M happened. Now this leads right up to Civil War with all kinds of mentions of the super hero registration act. That was some exciting comics but the registration still sucks. Every comics had its ties to that event and being “into” the comics at that time made the event way more powerful than just reading the Civil War stand alone comic. Civil War also kinda made me stop caring about comics because (spoiler alert) the registration won and it just left tainted everything that followed. Maybe my loss… It’s good, but so depressing.

[Anton · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Fast-paced, high-stakes thrill ride, with a compellingly opaque villain. A cut above the average bang!blam! superhero fare.

[Kiernan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I'm missing something but this volume feels like a bunch of big concepts and action that they never really make an attempt to explain

[Fehiman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yorumun aslı ve devamı Yorum Cad��sı'nda.

The New Avengers, çizgi romana yeni başlayacaklar için muhteşem bir tercih! Olay örgüsünde kayıp yaşamamak için Avengers Dağıldı ve Gizli Savaş'ın okunması gerekiyor ama tek gereken de bunlar. İsteyen, önceki çizgi romanlara bakabilir fakat Avengers üyeleri değiştiği için klasik Avengers'ı ve eski maceraları illa da bilmek gerekmiyor. Sadece, sayılar arasına giren bazı çizgi romanlara dikkat edilmeli. Bunları yaptıktan sonra, kurgusu sürükleyici ve çizimleri müthiş bu serinin sayfaları arasında kaybolmak o kadar da zor olmayacaktır.

[Brian Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A big nimbus of space energy descended on a small Alaskan town, engulfing one man who emerged from the wreckage, glowing and powerful. He wiped out Alpha Flight. S.H.I.E.L.D. reluctantly tagged in the New Avengers. Ms. Marvel and the Young Avengers version of the Vision pitched in, too. S.H.I.E.L.D. did some nasty things to Spider-Man and Vision when they were dispatched to help figure out the nature of the energy field, which related to the climax of House of M. As part of the fallout of the battle, Magneto regained his full powers.

The Collective was a fairly solid story. Brian Michael Bendis ramped up the tension between the New Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., making both sides look not exactly sterling. The summary dispatch of Alpha Flight caused a lot of anger among fans of the Canadian heroes, but the prominent role of Ms. Marvel was welcome. After a single, strong issue from Steve McNiven, Mike Deodato illustrated the rest of the arc, using a scratchier, shadowy style that matched the moody tone of the story. In some ways, this stretch felt like a holding pattern, setting up tensions for the upcoming Civil War story, but New Avengers fans (especially those who love Ms. Marvel) will certainly want this collection.

A version of this review originally appeared on www.thunderalleybcp.com

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

So after House of M, all the energy went somewhere...turns out, it ends up in Alaska, in a postman named Michael. He takes the powers and energies of everyone de powered in HoM.

He wipes out some SHIELD team, Alpha Flight, until the Avengers arrive. Tony is making strides talking to him, then Carol fucks it up by attacking. Stupid head. Sentry stalls him while they try to figure out something...

End up in Genosha, where Shit is bad, and Hill has to choose the fate of the Avengers...but someone else is still in Genosha...and he has a lot of unfinished business, and the energies have it with him too...

Kinda odd, and silly that they do this right before Civil War, as Spidey has his Iron Spider costume, which seems totally out of context....anyone else Get it? Not me...I think it's a continuity error.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hated the art but the story was good, nice to see them face a real threat. Maria Hill is kind of a bitch! Also Carol was in it, which is cool.

No idea what Xorn is though so the finale was a bit lost on me!

[Derek Moreland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Call it 3 and a half. It would have worked better if the Shocking Character Reveal in the final issue had been given more foreshadowing. Still, it feels like a solid follow-up to the HOUSE OF M.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not giving this 5 stars because I liked it, but I thought they did a good job all around.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 4.
In the wake of 'House of M', the Avengers are trying to keep the secret of those events out of the hands of SHIELD; something which becomes far harder when in Alaska a mutant is empowered with all of the energies of those who lost their powers on M-Day.

It's hard to say why, but I just didn't entirely buy the threat posed by the Collective.
Perhaps it's because they supposedly have all the powers of the 99% of depowered mutants and yet most just glow and blast the Avengers with generic energy blasts. It's not an interesting use of those powers and I also didn't like that the recipient of them is just some random guy called Michael. Would've been far more interesting if it was someone like Onslaught or even Apocalypse, someone whose empowerment actually meant something.

One other thing I didn't like about this book is actually probably an intentional writing choice but still interfered with my enjoyment of the story; Maria Hill.
Having the Director of SHIELD be so aggressively obnoxious was really grating and it took me a little while to remember that this is the story directly before the events of 'Civil War' (by Mark Millar), where she'll turn her 'cape-killers' against Captain America on the bridge of the Helicarrier. So, it is all probably intended to be building up to the Civil War, but it still annoyed me.

How the story unfolds other than those gripes is perfectly enjoyable, but they really did limit my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Ryan McNie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst working as a great stand alone piece this issue also reinforced for me the reason why you can get the most out these stories when reading entire runs.

The Collective takes place in the aftermath of the epic House of M. Tensions between SHIELD and the Avengers are rough after the events of Secret War but when an unknown power begins to leave a trail of destruction in it's wake they are forced to work together in order to stop it.

The first thing I loved about this series of issues is that this thing feels like a real and credible threat. You can feel the desperation of Director Hill as she attempts to liase with the president and The Avengers (albeit reluctantly) on how to stop this rampage. The element of mystery, which seems present in the majority of Bendis' New Avengers plot lines, also helps to drive the intrigue and action forwards. What is this thing with this immense power? Where did it come from? How can it be stopped?

The fact that the story also begins to heavily lay ground work for the events of Civil War is just another point in its favour as the climactic events of this run of Marvel comics smash into each other like dominoes.

A fantastic edition that only loses a star due to a reveal that seems more climactic for X-men readers and does feel wholly necessary.

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a mysterious burst of energy strikes Alaska, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the governments of the United States and Canada coordinate a response. At the center of the blast is a mysterious, alien individual which prompts a response from Canada's eminent superhero team, Alpha Flight. Immediately getting dunked on, S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill reluctantly makes the call to bring in the New Avengers, which legitimizes them as a new superteam. The events of "The Collective" tie-in directly to the "House of M" event, along with major plot points from Grant Morrison's New X-Men run. Bendis does a good enough job contextualizing the premise, but honestly the story would have limited appeal to readers who haven't read those first. Overall, the story was kind of bland and overly decompressed. This didn't really need five issues to get the point across, and much of this was fluff that doesn't even really develop the individual team all that much. It's mildly entertaining action blockbuster stuff, which is what I suppose readers wanted out of their Avengers comics around this time.

[Stephen Abell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twenty-one steps down marvelguides.com Road to Civil War sees us still visiting the New Avengers.

And before I go on, I have to say The Collective is a must-read compilation: Even more so if you have read The House of M, as this is an important aftermath story.

So how does the story relate to Civil War? Well, it does so in no small way. While helping out S.H.E.I.L.D, both Spidey and Young Vision are arrested. While in custody, Spidey is demasked and is mind-molested by a Psi Agent. After this abuse of power, they are freed only to be warned that because the Superhero act is going through congress, the heroes will be working for S.H.E.I.L.D, sooner or later. As shown in the X-Men titles in the list, S.H.E.I.L.D is already policing them with the Sentinals.

Bendis weaves a marvellous tale full of action and intrigue. And the multiple artists add more power and grandeur to the proceedings.

It was nice to finally get a few loose ends tied up. Treat yourselves. Grab a copy, brew a cuppa, and settle down for an entertaining and enjoyable read.

[Judah Radd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty badass follow up to House of M and E is for Extinction.

Without giving too much away, a major Morrison NXM character returns, and he has all the mutant energy that was lost on M day.

But this time, all of this mutant shit becomes an Avengers problem. Which is really cool.

The book is riddled with foreshadowing for Civil War, as characterized by Maria Hill and the Avenger’s strained relationship. We also are still feeling fallout from Nick Fury’s Secret War.

All in all, this is a worthy entry into the New Avengers series. We all know everything is about to fall apart and it’s nice to see Cap and Tony as friends one last time.

Bendis was such a good writer during this era. I definitely recommend this series.

[XMCU · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've only read the first volume on New Avengers. Read Volumes 2 & 3 aren't required, but Reading House of M kinda is. I haven't read anything from Decimation yet. It's not necessary to read, as far as I know and from what I've read. I'm going to check out Magneto's appearances between House of M and X-Men Legacy, and I'll update my review if I find anything of interest.

I'm really liking this era of marvel comics. New X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, House of M and New Avengers. Xtreme X-Men might be added to the list if I ever read it. I also want to mention Rogue Complete Collection, X-Men Marauders, Cable The last hope Vol #1. And hopefully Cable Last Hope Vol 2 and Second Coming will be good as well.

[drmanhattan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shortly, art was delicious in this precious one. Mike Deodato's pencil was amazing. I felt similar taste with the Watchmen and Dr. Manhattan. Probably it's not coincident ;) Anyway, I like it so much. I'll keep watching him after this.

The story was a mystery until the end. Unpredictable in every frame. This is what I expect from a graphical novel or a comic book.

We're meeting out the mysterious agent Daisy Johnson again in this one. Again, her look was modeled after actress Angelina Jolie in the film Hackers. You already read another issue like this already, are you?

So, why 3 stars anyway? I don't know, maybe It's because it's not the best anyway.

[Kyle Berk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bendis’ Avengers run is just fun to read. It has a good character line up and an interesting enough plot. This one is pretty much when The Justice League fought amazo, but if amazo had already absorbed a bunch of powers and didn’t take them as he went.

I’ve said it before but I’ll repeat it, if you like Bendis this will work for you and if you don’t it won’t. It’s fun, not his best work. But it doesn’t have to be for it to be some damn fun.

3 stars.

Maria Hill is the worst.

She messed with Spidey

Don’t mess with Spidey.

[Sr. Lado Brillante · Rating 3 out of 5]

Secuela directa de House of M y solo sus dos primeras partes valen la pena por estar ilustradas por Steve McNiven. Hacen su aparición los Illuminati y Alpha Flight y te hacen sentir que McNiven nació para dibujar estos personajes.
Después entra al relevo Deodato Jr, que nunca deja de ser competitivo, pero cambia por completo el tono del comic y queda estancado en cualquier comic de los Avengers de los noventas. Imaginense Lazos de Sangre, pero con Luke Cage.

[Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, a book that grabs you from the get-go and doesn't let go. Third time lucky it seems...
As politics and infighting muddy the waters, the actions in House Of M come home to explosively roost.
Bendis ratchets up the tension and races to the conclusion with twists and turns galore.
Not a bad way to end the year...

[TAB · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was less impressed with this arc of the New Avengers but that's probably mostly because I have not read House of M and I feel that is a prerequisite to this. Without it it just kinda felt like a deus ex machina event that was over before it began. I did enjoy seeing the SHIELD vs. Avengers frenemies angle though as I know that will only get worse.