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A good collection of individual stories that tie in the Skrull invasion and individual New Avengers member's stories. There's also some about the Skrulls planning their invasion that is less connected to the characters of New Avengers. This and the next volume flesh out the Secret Invasion story, and are worth reading in addition to the main event story. ( )

There are two New Avengers tie-in trades for the crossover event Secret Invasion. And honestly, there is no good reason, other than greed, why they weren't collated into one book. Never-the-less, they are excellent tie-ins that really expand on the event and show how far back it truly began.

Book 1 goes quite a ways back to set-up the Secret Invasion, with the seeds laid right after Disassembled – even before House of M! The first two stories that open the book really don’t add much to the big picture. Jessica Jones chooses to register in the wake of Civil War, which causes a break in her relationship with Luke Cage. I’m not sure why this was included since the only tie to Secret Invasion is that a couple of characters who appear are actually Skrulls. The next bit follows-up with Echo, who was rescued from the Hand by the “secret” Avengers (those who split from the New Avengers & are on the run from registration). During that mission, they discovered that Elektra was a Skrull and now they are after Echo to replace her. Neither of these stories is essential. However, the remainder of the book is crucial.

Jessica Drew, aka Spiderwoman, is at the heart of Secret Invasion. After reading the main event, I was still confused as to the sequence of when pivotal figures were (or were not!) replaced. Here, readers see the planning of Secret Invasion from the Skrull POV as well as how and when Spiderwoman was replaced. The book also has a small bit that takes place in the Savage Land (and continues into the second New Avengers trade) which leads to another key figure: Captain America.

Overall, this tie-in was critical to helping me see the larger picture of Secret Invasion, as well as how far back the writers laid the foundation. Highly recommended.

Though I’m not happy about the New Avengers material being released in two small books, at least Marvel is now releasing tie-ins as one large “companion” to the crossover events. ( )

Part of the Secret Invasion mega-crossover event, New Avengers volume 8 gets used by Brian Michael Bendis as a dumping ground for several stories related to that event. Mostly this works,but if you are only reading this volume, some things just make no sense or are of little interest. Some background information via a "Previously On" or, "In comic book x, this happened, and now this follows..." would have been nice.
Issue by issue:
#38, art by Michael Gaydos: One of the highlights, this issue deals with Jessica Jones leaving Luke Cage to safeguard their baby. Powerful issues of trust and betrayal, nice artwork.
#39, art by David Mack (although there is a page in here I would swear was drawn by Alan Davis): Maya and Wolverine learn a little bit more about the Skrull Invasion. So-so.
#40, art by Jim Cheung: More backstory on the planning of the Skrull Invasion, and a Big Reveal at the end. Helps if you have read the New Avengers Illuminati trade as well. Cheung's art is always very crisp and well done. Although this story largely has nothing to do with the New Avengers and so sort of doesn't belong here, the Big Reveal is supposed to tie it all together.
#41, art by Billy Tan: The most confusing of the bunch if you do not recall what else is going on in Secret Invasion. Ends up being more backstory reveals about the Secret Invasion. They could have changed the New Avengers title to Behind the Secret Invasion. Then again, maybe that is all New Avengers was ever meant to be.
#42, art by Cheung again: A look back at events in the New Avengers comics, this time with the truth about who was really a Skrull and thus, why things really happened the way they did. ( )

This collection is moderately better than the previous trade in this title. The art is significantly better for the most part (several different artists worked on these issues). The plot is decent, but it ties in with the Secret Invasion event, so if you aren't familiar with that, you'll probably be confused about what is going on in these issues.

I don't want to write too much about the plot, since I don't want to spoil anyone, but Bendis seemed to give the female characters more room to shine in these issues. After the last trade, particularly the fight involving Tigra, I was getting rather peeved at how things were progressing. But Jessica Jones shows some backbone, Echo actually has more than a panel here or there to herself, and Spider-Woman makes an important appearance.

It's definitely not the best title in the Marvel Universe, but there is an improvement from the downhill slide the title has been on for the past few trades. ( )