New Avengers: The Reunion #4

With this series, Jim McCann has done a phenomenal job re-introducing us to Mockingbird. Along with that, he's also evolved her character a bit to deal with her imprisonment on Skrull World and her problems with Hawkeye. The series was quite good when it stuck to those concepts. However, The Reunion might have been one issue too long, because most of those plot points were dealt with by the end of last issue.

The only Mockingbird action we get in this issue is a fight scene with an AIM scientist. It is pretty cool seeing her flex her battle skills, but not even close to her using her stalking and intel-gathering ones on Skrull World. We don't get to experience any of her frustration, confusion, or torment that made the first three issues so entertaining. The fight wasn't a total waste though. Mockingbird and Hawkeye's team-up in battle was pretty fun.

Instead of focusing on Mockingbird, a majority of the substance in this issue is dedicated to Hawkeye. As a matter of fact, the last few pages have an internal monologue from him explaining his reasons for loving the woman. I suppose that serves as an explanation of the reasons we should love her too, but I would have preferred figuring that out by myself or maybe Mockingbird giving an internal monologue herself.

David Lopez does an adequate job with the art in this series. Nothing stellar and nothing absurd. His panels with the Mockingbird fight were clear and easy to follow. The characters were appropriately rough looking because girls can't stay pretty while they're fighting despite most artists' efforts. Some of his work looks a little washed out, but that might be more of a coloring problem. Lopez's greatest contribution would have to be Mockingbird's new costume though. Hopefully, we'll be seeing it regularly.

Four issues may have been one too many for this series, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. The espionage action was pretty fun and seeing Hawkeye and Mockingbird fight together was a treat. Hopefully we'll be seeing this dynamic in New Avengers one day.