New Avengers #5

In an issue filled with talking about sorcery, my big problem concerns Hawkeye. First of all, Hawk has normal human strength, so have a car on top of him would really hurt, I'm not sure he could just flip it off as he does when he first appears here. My bigger problem is what he does to the team right after joining them; he leaves! He says he's needed on the other Avengers team, and that he only hung around for four issues to be with his wife. What? And yet Spider-Man and Wolverine calmly state that they won't leave, even though they are on the other team too. Is there some popularity limit where heroes can handle being in multiple books? I can appreciate Bendis wanting to define the cast of New Avengers, but there is no excuse for making Hawkeye out to be a selfish and non-dedicated Avenger.

The bulk of the issue deals with the New Avengers trying to figure out who is after the Eye of Agamatto. I'm a bit confused on just who is sending the light monsters, or how they're doing it. The motivations for the big bad have been twisted up so many times that I'm a bit confused at this point. Perhaps I'm reading too many comics, but I'm fuzzy on just who the bad guy is now. It's actually Agamatto, right?

Bendis excels where he usually does, in the dialogue. The Thing is great as he clarifies his stance on bad guys as "the guys he hits," and Spidey always sounds great when Bendis uses him. Luke Cage has faded into the background a tad, but that's ok, Iron Fist is doing well in the spotlight. The magic sub-team works well together, Daimon Hellstrom and Strange are old faves, but I'm pleased at how well Doctor Voodoo works as the Sorcerer Supreme.

This book is just too slow, though. While Stuart Immonen's art is beautiful, there are too many dialogue-less pages and unnecessary splash pages. This is just not worth 3.99. I'm bailing on the series in floppy format after next issue and switching to trades.

Fair (pushed up for the gorgeous art)