The New Avengers #52 (Marvel – Bendis / Tan / Bachalo)
“Who is the new Sorcerer Supreme? The entire Marvel Universe hangs in the balance as the Avengers race to help the fallen Doctor Strange battle the forces of the Dark Dimension as they make their earthly power play. “
Doctor Strange is cool again! I know there are many out there who claim that Doc Strange has always been cool, and that I’ve just been missing the awesome boat. I state that if that where true then where has his monthly book been? BTW, I say the same for Alpha Flight (poke, poke)! I believe that Doc Strange is at his best when he’s being a guest star, or a part of an ensemble. It’s a lot like the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance video game. Doc Strange is a supporting character, nothing more.
The best thing about supporting chracters is that when they are used correctly, like in the hands of Mr. Bendis, they are great additions to stories. Seeing how Strange interacts with each of the various Avengers on different levels is everything from action awesome to utter hillarity. All of those are due to the great writing of Brian Michael Bendis. I know he’s Marvel’s golden boy and lots of people don’t enjoy his “slow burn” style of story telling. But if 75% of the issues are like this one, I won’t drop it…again.
Let us not forget the fantastic art by Billy Tan and company. They are piecing together a stylized and dynamic visual story that is purely captivating. Even if you choose not to read a word of of this issue, you can enjoy the hell out of the art.
On one final note: Why is Brian Michael Bendis not writing Amazing Spider-Man or one of the other 616 Spider-Man titles? He obviously has an understanding the character better than any other writer at Marvel at this point. Honestly, Spider-Man has been pretty horrible for a long time (One More Day anyone?), but Marvel has the perfect guy on their payroll. The problem is that he is already a pretty busy guy as it is. My suggestion is to move him from one of his other book to a 616 Spider-Man title. Just not any of the books I’m reading.
Grade: A
