New Avengers #64

Bendis has really nailed down his take on the Avengers. It used to bother me, but I think I'm ok with it now. This is another issue where the Avengers barely appear. There is a nice parallel scene where Clint Barton is looking for Mockingbird while the Hood searches for Madame Masque in the ruins of fallen Asgard. I liked the symmetry, it was neat seeing that both sides can loose sight of the big picture when a loved one is on the line.
There is a nice flashback where we see the Hood's hold over his gang of super-thugs. When Mandrill actually tries to leave the group (he sees Norman Osborn's opinion of the Hood's gang quite clearly) the Hood withdraws his power. It is so upsetting, Mandrill begs to come back. So it may be interesting seeing a group of recovering addict villains searching for some way to boost their powers. The flashback scene with Osborn and Hood pledging their loyalty was nice too, actually.

The Hood ends up as one of the most wanted villains in Marvel by the end of the issue. When Loki takes back the power of the Norn Stones, the Hood is left with nothing. He and Madame Masque make a run for it, wisely realizing that everyone is going to be on their trail. I think the villain gang might be a little mad at Hood too, come to think of it. (Especially after Madame Masque shot Griffon and Brother Blood to make their escape.) It will be fun checking in on him in a bit, but I do think it would be wise to take him out of the picture for a bit, the Hood has been in a TON of comics over the past few years.

Stuart Immonen is still awesome. His Mandrill is great. That one scene with the Hood and Osborn really was nice, I liked seeing two lonely, powerful men actually being friends and supporting each other. I isn't going to work out, but I like the way Bendis and Immonen staged it.

Good