New Comics! (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Avengers #13:  I've been very unhappy with Bendis for a very long time at this point.  Between the split-personality disorder "New Avengers" has been suffering and the overly-cosmic adventures of "Avengers," I just haven't really felt like either of these book has been worth reading (let alone $3.99).  "Avengers" has always emphasized the team and its members' relationships with each other, and Bendis hasn't really focused on that, giving us instead time travel and Kang and Ultron and Parker Robbins and Infinity Gauntlets and...well, you get the picture.  This issue?  I love this issue.  Maybe it's because I've been so starved for good characterization, but I feel like Bendis gives us 13 issues' worth of it in just one.  I love the conversation between Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman because, OMG, finally they both get to be real people.  ("It's a bad idea."  "Go away."  "Bad."  "Disassemble."  I mean, hilarious.)  I love the flirtation between Hawkeye and Spider-Woman because, honestly, I actually think they'd be a lot better together than Hawkeye and Mockingbird, which I never before realized (and feels like heresy to say).  I love that the best pick-up line Clint has is "You've got amazing hair" and I love that Bendis finally stopped ignoring Hawkeye and Spider-Woman.  I love that Bendis incorporates the oral history he's been delivering into the actual narrative and that he manages -- better than anyone ever on this title -- to give each and every member his or her own distinct personality.  I love that, on top of all the other things about this issue that I love, Bachalo, my favorite artist, drew this issue, icing on the cake.  I love even the things I didn't love about this issue, like Spidey (yet again) puking in his mask again.  So, thanks, Bendis, for finally giving us back the Avengers.  Huzzah!  (One quick note:  is someone ever going to mention that Bucky is gone?  We dropped him from the title page a few issues ago -- in the middle of an event, for Pete's sake, -- and no one, not even Spidey, noticed?  No, "Hey, I wonder how Bucky-Cap is doing in that gulag in Siberia?  Anyway, pass the eggs."  It seems weird, particularly given that this issue is essentially about how much the Avengers are a family.)

Batman #710:  "Long Halloween" is, to this day, one of my favorite Batman stories ever told, second, possibly, only to its sequel, "Dark Victory."  Throughout this issue, I got a "Long Halloween" vibe, a vibe that totally reached its crescendo when Gilda Dent stepped from the shadows and shot Harvey.  Harvey is at his most deranged here, and Steve Scott captures that beautifully, giving us two fairly grim shots of Harvey shooting people in the face.  Daniel not only builds on the foundation laid by "Long Halloween," but he draws together stories told in at least two different series over the last few months.  Harvey is searching for his coin in this issue, which, if I'm not mistaken, he last possessed in "Batman:  Streets of Gotham" #15, when one of his henchmen gave it to a homeless guy after he and another henchmen supposedly killed Harvey and ditched his body.  We, however, last saw it in "Batman" #707, when a woman (who I thought was going to be a female Two-Face) was casually flipping it.  It's pretty clear that "female Two-Face" is Gilda, and it's interesting Daniel hasn't fully shown us her face yet.  Gilda, in that issue, asked Riddler to help her with one "teensy little job," which I'm guessing has something to do with Harvey's predicament at the end of this book.  Daniel generally does a great job in the beginning of a story arc drawing me into the story; this arc is no different.  Hopefully, he won't do what he also generally does, which is leave me disappointed at the end.  Fingers crossed.  At any rate, this issue is a great start to the return of one of Batman's classic villains and sets up Dick's first time really dealing with Harvey as Batman.  We'll see how it goes.

Batman:  Gates of Gotham #1:  OK, in a pique of annoyance over getting EIGHT different Bat-books, I canceled this series a while ago.  But, then I realized it was being written by Scott Snyder, so I put it back on my pull list.  I'm glad I did.  Snyder is a genius when it comes to pacing a story, and this issue is a great example of that.  He builds the plot on two levels, giving us the central event-- a shadowy figure, a few explosions, and a questionable motive -- as well as some overarching questions -- how said event ties to Gotham's dodgy past, particularly its prominent families.  I wasn't aware that Penguin came from a storied Gotham family and I didn't see the possibility of Hush getting pulled into the mix, even though it makes sense, given the Elliots' historic prominence in Gotham society.  I'm intrigued to see where the series is going, particularly after all the revelations about the Waynes during Morrison's "Return of Bruce Wayne" as well as the exploration of the Elliot family tree in "House of Hush."  More importantly, I always enjoy seeing Dick and Tim work together, so I'm excited we're going to get a whole five issues dedicated to it.  (Damian is awesomely arrogant here as well, as usual, so I hope he's also part of the mix.)  Snyder also manages to work in some character development vis-à-vis Dick here.  His principal theme in "Detective Comics" is how taking on the mantle of the Bat is affecting Dick, and he continues that here.  Higgins pens a great scene where Commissioner Gordon encourages Dick not to blame himself for the explosions and Dick is more or less not able to do so.  This title is a natural extension of the stories Snyder is telling in "Detective" and if you like that series you'll be quite happy with this one.

Hawkeye:  Blindspot #4:  We get a pretty satisfying conclusion to this mini-series, with Clint using his wits (and a little emotional blackmail) to defeat his brother Barney and chase off Baron Zemo.  Zemo is his usual weird self, deciding to honor his "agreement" with Hawkeye and depositing all of Barney's ill-gotten gains into Hawkeye's bank account since he won the battle.  The only discordant note for me in this issue is that Barney agrees to allow Donald Blake and Tony Stark to use his bone marrow to repair Clint's sight, but then repeatedly threatens to kill him when Clint thanks him.  It doesn't really make sense, unless McCann wants us to think that, deep down, Barney doesn't really mean it and might still be looking for redemption.  It's also unclear, in the end, if Clint is using the money Zemo gave him to set up his own version of the WCA, which would be awesome.  We shall see.  Or, unfortunately, we won't.  I searched for some news on what happens next for Hawkeye and didn't find anything.  So, it looks like the end of the road for Hawk and his own series.  Hopefully Bendis will start using him more in "Avengers" while we wait for McCann to convince Marvel to give him another go.