When a franchise starts creating spinoff titles, that's usually a good sign that the end is near. Look at the Uncanny X-Men. Once the top book in the industry, now it keeps dropping in sales. Why? Because the brand has been watered down. New X-Men, X-Men First Class, X-Force, X-Factor, New Mutants, etc. etc. etc.
Soon the reader gets tired of the overload and starts drifting away from the titles - but the line limps on as the company keeps trying to milk every last dollar out of the readers. (By the way, DC and the other comics companies are equally guilty of this.)
At Marvel, it happened to Spider-Man and it's about to happen to the Hulk, but that character is in a race with the Avengers.
The Avengers spent a lot of years near the top of the sales charts, and then, through a series of lackluster stories (don't get me started on teen Tony Stark), it came crashing down.
But it's been revived over the past five years (or so) by Brian Bendis, who shook up the status quo and infused the New Avengers title with some new characters, powerful stories and unexpected directions.
Of course, nothing breeds excess like success, so now there are other Avengers titles to choose from: Dark Avengers, Mighty Avengers and the assorted mini-series, such as the recent one starring Ronin (Hawkeye) and Mockingbird.
Thankfully, Bendis has maintained control of the "original" Avengers comic, New Avengers, and continues to take it in surprising directions. In the latest issue, he has the team stricken by a mysterious force that has wiped out their powers - which is a bad thing when an army of super-villains show up who are apparently immune to the effect. Then throw the Dark Avengers into the mix and things really get interesting.
The art is by the always-excellent Stuart Immonen, with inks by Wade von Grawbadger, and they manage to cover the army of characters and the chaos of battle with great skill.
I'll admit that I'm suffering from Avengers overload, and if those other titles went away, it wouldn't bother me a bit. But this comic, I like.
Grade: B+
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