The New Avengers: Book 9- The Trust by Brian Michael Bendis, Leineil Yu and Carlo Pagulayan

Just back from Japan, Luke Cage's outlaw Avengers have picked up two new recruits, Ronin and Echo. They have also returned with the Skull of a Skrull, and are facing the truth of a Skrull Invasion of Earth. This piece of alien may also hold the keys to mysteries that have plagued the Avengers since their reforming, but though they have a temporary home with Doctor Strange, they are still being hunted by the government-backed version known as the Mighty Avengers.

But more problems are looming on the Horizon. A super-powered criminal known as the Hood is gearing up to take over the underworld, and to keep the Avengers off his tail after Wolverines break up one of his little schemes and discovers that he is a demon, he decides to hit them where they live, to hunt them and break down their minds and disorient them. The one he goes after first is Tigra, by revealing he knows everything about her family, and threatening to go after her mother if she doesn't get the Avengers to lay off. And videotaping him beating her up.

But before that, the Avengers have to deal with themselves. Afraid that one of them might be a Skrull, they ask Doctor Strange to do a ritual that reveals themselves the way they think about themselves, on the off chance that if one of them really *is* a Skrull, their inner view of themselves will reveal it. All of them check out, with some rather amusing inner views (such as Luke Cage thinking of himself in his iconic 70's persona, with the open shirt and chain-link belt, and Spider Man thinking of himself as nerdy little Peter Parker).

And then, on a call against the Hood's men, the Avengers somehow start turning into Venom-ized versions of themselves and must find a way to stop it before they do major damage to the city and bystanders. But with Luke Cage the only one unaffected by this sudden change, how can he stop it without knowing what caused it?

And then, when the Hood's agents have engineered a stunning betrayal within the ranks of the Avengers, he sends his forces to Strange's mansion to take out the Avengers once and for all. But can they fight off an overwhelming attack by a man that is actually a demon... as well as taking orders from someone unseen? And what of the Skrulls, who are still lurking out there, unknown and unseen? How can they save the world from a menace it doesn't know is there, and one which they, themselves, can barely find?

Confusing. That's the word for this particular graphic novel. I had to read and re-read it several times to understand what was going on, as the battle scenes are uniformly chaotic and confusing. So many threats come at the Avengers so quickly that it is like an already punch-drunk fighter taking blow after blow after blow. With the readers confused and off-balance, you can see that many of the characters are the same.

These Avengers don't have a stable membership. With all that happens in this book, two of the members leave, and at the end, Jessica asks to be registered, to keep her baby safe. But I had to ask myself, if the Skrulls may have infiltrated the government, how safe will she really be? A good question, and one she seems not to have asked herself.

The story ends with the Avengers in a bad place; without sanctuary, and with nowhere to go/ Where the story goes from here I can't tell, and I may pick up the next book to find out.