Classic:New Avengers:Illuminati One-Shot 2006

This issue is easily one of my favorite comics of all time. I'm not a big fan of Brian Bendis, even though I find myself enjoying much of his work. Other times I detest it with a passion. It's a real love/hate relationship. Even though ,at times, he is able to pen an extremely interesting and enjoyable story arc, it's his tics and his smart-ass dialogue and talking heads that often leave me shaking my head in abject despair. Deeply polarizing within the comic reading community, there is no taking away from his talent, even if I acknowledge that grudgingly. (He killed Hawkeye and the Vision, BASTARD!!!!!!) Only joking.
         If you were to string together every negative line of text posted about Bendis' dialogue and protracted storylines the end result would rival the meandering length of the Rhine.
         But my aim is to tip my hat at some of the good, and indeed, the great, comics of the last 30 years, and Illuminati most certainly belongs to the latter category.

Artist Alex Maleev really captures the
 tension
in this 'vote' scene.
         THE PLOT: In the wake of the Kree-Skrull war Tony Stark decides to organize a meeting with the main figureheads of the Marvel Universe; Mr Fantastic, fellow genius and leader of the Fantastic Four, Professor X of the X-Men, Blackbolt of the Inhumans, Dr Strange, the sorcerer supreme, Namor, king of Atlantis, and lastly, T'Challa, the Black Panther, king of Wakanda. It's obvious that the whole business with the earth being imperiled during the Kree-Skrull war has left Stark shaken and his pitch to the others is that they share any information they have together to prevent being caught on the 'wrong foot' the next time some cosmic entity, or whatever, threatens to destroy the earth. Sounds plausible. He also requests that the meetings are secret and that no team members or family are to know about these meetings. He maintains that all the members had little pieces of information that were not shared and had it been shared the earth would be a safer place.

Artist Alex Maleev really captures
 the  tension in this 'vote' scene

Professor X has his doubts...

       WHAT'S GREAT ABOUT IT?: I'm not a fan of retcons, I believe they show a lack of creativity and forward thinking, but Bendis has fitted the existence of the Illuminati seamlessly into the fabric of the Marvel Universe. No small feat, only the most anal of continuity freaks could really find evidence to contradict it based on past stories. The dialogue; unlike some of his other work Bendis allows each character to have their own voice (apart from Blackbolt) and shows their political and personal stance within the different stages of the Marvel Universe's development. Xavier represents the Mutants who are feared and hated in society and his primary concern is his 'dream',
Namor has no time for the surface world's problems and only cares about Atlantis and its people as its head of state. Mr Fantastic and Stark are celebrated public figures and scientists and do not have secondary concerns regarding the Illuminati's existence. Dr. Strange can see the bigger picture on a more intuitive level than either of the empiricists. It is these differences that give the story its dramatic impetus.

Favorite scene in book 'BOOM'

The caustic interplay between Namor and Iron Man is excellently handled ans Namor's underlying distrust of the smooth talking surface dweller is expressed beautifully, as is Stark's tiring of Namor's imperious and headstrong manner. This of course erupts in a great fight scene and the only physicality seen in the book.
Namor: 'I am a king.'
Stark:'Not up here you're not'
BOOM
classic...