New Avengers #2

It's surprising to see the "street-level" team continuing Bendis' magic-based stories. I would have figured that was more appropriate for the Avengers Tower crew. That said, guest-stars Dr. Strange and Daimon Hellstrom immediately turn any title into a supernatural comic.

So the mysterious being who possessed the magicians last month adds Cage to his list, and the three of them go up against the Avengers. There's an amusing sequence where the team is trying to get the Eye of Agamatto out of Avengers Mansion, away from the possessed characters. They eventually succeed when Ms. Marvel snatches it and swoops away. You'd think she'd stay away, but she comes back a few moments later and poof, after a bit of musical bodies (I think the being ends up only in Iron Fist) he gets the eye and can disappear. It's funny this team is so large, half the team had almost no impact on the fight. Hawkeye, Spidey, Jewel, and even the Thing contributed almost nothing. I think the team should spend less time eating meals together and more time practicing.

Clearly this villain has history with the Earth, he repeatedly mocks the heroes and their emotional attachments to each other. I especially enjoyed when he's pretending that Cage is breaking free from possession. Dormammu is probably too obvious, and Nightmare doesn't seem like a Bendis type villain. Baron Mordo is from Earth, so I'm don't have any good guesses right now.

I still love Stuart Immonen's artwork. Giant Cage made me laugh. He does a nice Wolverine, I have to admit, I don't even think twice about him fitting in with the Avengers. I do wish that Mockingbird had her old style costume, I think Immonen would do a great job on it.

Story - Average
Art- Excellent
Overall - Fair