Thursday, March 26, 2009

New Avengers #51

It's no source of comfort to see the return of one of my all-time favorite characters - Dr. Strange - in the pages of the New Avengers.

That means his fate is in the hands of Brian Bendis, who has been known to do bad things to heroic characters. Just ask Hawkeye or Jack of Hearts or The Wasp or The Scarlet Witch or... well, you get the idea.

Dr. Strange was a character I liked from the first time I read one of his stories - which was one of those early Stan Lee / Steve Ditko adventures from the pages of Strange Tales. He was mysterious, powerful, heroic, resourceful, and the art was amazing and moody, creating new worlds never before seen. What's not to like?

So apparently, in today's time frame, the good Doctor has lost his way and is no longer the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. So now he's looking for a replacement, and some not-so-desireable replacements are, in turn, looking for him.

In the meantime, the New Avengers are trying to sort out membership problems, which leads to a very surprising moment (which I won't spoil for you, of course).

The art in this issue is something of a mixed bag - there are six artists listed on the credits page, and the art runs from outstanding to shockingly average.

Still, so far the story is building nicely, and the Doc isn't dead. Yet.

Grade: B

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