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Average Customer Rating:

behind the scene story	Customer Rating:
this book is the behind the scene story of everything that happen before civil war going into secret invasion this is the beginning of it it is real good

A tremendous series

Customer Rating:

I was surprised to see the mixed reviews here at Amazon to this series and it was the sole reason I waited so long to read it. In fact, I only purchased it because I wanted to be a completest with my New Avengers collection. To my surprise the series was fantastic. Basically six major heroes in the Marvel Universe work together secretly to end major crisis's before they begin. First the group strikes a powerful blow to a ship of would-be Skrull conquerors. This may have been the event that set the whole secret invasion off. Next they round up the Infinity Gauntlet and all the Infinity Gems to prevent them from being used again. Then they locate the Beyonder and finally revel who or what he really is. I really enjoyed this issue as it tied up a lot of long hanging loose ends with the Secret Wars and Beyonder stories. Finally, there is more Skrull story which preludes to the secret invasion. A very good story and if Blackbolt seems out of place with this group it is adequately explained in the Beyonder issue. I would be in favor of future Illuminati adventures.

Insignificant

Customer Rating:

I love all the characters in this group. This is a supergroup that transcends the Avengers. The only ommitance I guess is Captain America and perhaps a few international representations, but those could be overlooked. There are 5 issues in this limited series. I guess that means the writer Bendis felt he only had 5 stories to tell of this amazing group of uberheroes. But from issues 1 to 5, there was not much significance. I didn't feel these Illuminati members did anything to warrant such high and secretive status. Their adventures were bland and their characterizations were sporadic. The writing is somewhat rushed, I think. The art was ok. Nothing to be remembered. Bendis is a great writer, but usually because of his arcs and his runs in Ultimate Spiderman, Daredevil, New Avengers, and his independent books. His independent books are amazing by the way. I can give this a 2 star recommendation, but that's really being generous. Graphic Novels these days should be self contained and innovating to characterization. But the 5 issues contained here are sporadic and tells its own stories. So you get 5 mini stories and in comic world these days, that's like 5 random episodes of a TV series. It's just not that worth it and it won't reveal or shed anything that you will want to remember.

Review of New Avengers: Illuminati

Customer Rating:

New Avengers Illuminati is written by Brian Bendis with art by Jimmy Cheung. It is a five issue mini-series that elaborates on who the Illuminati are and what their role was regarding the Skrull Empire and a few other notable Marvel characters (and items). This is necessary reading for those who are currently reading the Secret Invasion storyline since it elaborates on "the deal" an imprisoned Marvel Boy struck with the Illuminati who now seems to be a big player in Secret Invasion. The reader also learns how the Illuminati may have started the current human-skrull conflict and that there is a traitor in the Illuminati's ranks that is revealed at the end. This isn't the best Bendis story but it satisfies for those, like me, who wanted a bigger glimpse inside the adventures of the Illuminati. I don't like retcons but in this mini-series it seems to work. Cheung's artwork is excellent. For those who want to read Bendis at his best, I recommend his entire Daredevil tenure as well as Ultimate Spider-Man which Bendis continues to write for.

History Shmistory	Customer Rating:
Bendis has some fun here filling in some cracks in the marvel past. It's a great idea and very well executed. It's composed of several mini stories all kind of tied together by the Secret Invasion official hood of conspiracy. If your interested in the larger event it's a must read. It also is great as a stand alone book.