New Avengers #37

What's up with Bendis and flashbacks these days?
I've (almost) always been a firm supporter of this book, especially lately-complain about Bendis's decompression all you want, he's delivered some action-packed pages over the last year. I'm also a very big fan of Leinil Francis Yu's art work-it's dirty, gritty, kinetic, and perfect for the tone of the book. It's not super realisitic, but it just works. This weeks issue is no exception-in fact, I think it offers some of Yu's cleanest looking work, without compromising that edge that makes it work so well for the book.
This month, we get little more than a beautiful slugfest between the New Avengers and the Hood's gang. Last month's issue ended in an AMAZING splash of pretty much every Super Hero, ever, ready to pounce on the Hood's posse; I figured this was a trick conjured up by Dr. Strange, and I was right, but it was still fun to see the Hood's gang freak out and try to figure out what was going on. My only real complaint is that I don't really care about any of the members of the Hood's gang besides the Hood and John, and maybe the Wrecker (but only because he threw down with the New Avengers once before). I don't even know who the other guys are, besides Madam Masque and Chemistro (at least, I think its Chemistro...) because of their distinct looks (and that Madam Masque is, ya know, a chick). Dr. Strange faces off with Parker Robbins, and warns him about the demon that inhabits his cloak, and now him, too; he tells Robbins that he isn't powerful enough to handle this demon, and that this demon doesn't belong on this place. Neither Parker nor the Demon appreciate this.
Most of the issue's banter is, as usual, provided courtesy of Spider-Man. Iron Fist gets a few little quips in, and RoninEye has even less. Which is fine, because I love Spider-Man, but I really enjoyed the team dynamic back when they were fighting ninjas. That being said, I really don't care about Echo. I never have, although I've tried, believe me. Ever since she showed up again in #27, she's said maybe 5 lines, and hasn't really played a noticeable or significant role in anything (except for that hotel-cleavage scene). I hardly even noticed her in this one. Of course, maybe I'm just being insensitive, and our lovely deaf heroin just doesn't like to speak for fear that Spidey and Clint will whip out the Helen Keller jokes, but somehow, I doubt that's the case.