New Avengers #52 Review

The New Avengers has been a disappointment to the Revolution. While Bendis has done a good job writing his solo books and the Dark Avengers, this title has never lived up to the Avengers name. Let us see if Bendis can turn the corner with this issue.

Creative Team
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: Billy Tan, Matt Banning and Justin Ponsor & Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend and Antonio Fabela

Story Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: Dr. Strange is telling Billy (Wiccan of the Young Avengers) about his search for the new Sorcerer Supreme. The Hood is approaching. Doc warns Wiccan to leave.

The Hood is a two-bit thief who bonded with a demon. Under the Hood (no connection to the Watchmen “Under the Hood”), his face sometimes appears normal and other times it is very demon like. Doc tells the Hood that his bullets will not hurt him even though they have a splash of demon fire. As the fight continues, Doc realizes the Hood is now stronger than him. Wiccan distracts Hood with a lightning bolt. Doc transports them away from the fight. He ends up at Avengers hideout in Brooklyn.

He shows the Avengers the Eye of Agamotto. The Hood wanted to take it from Doc. He is caught off guard by the appearance of Bobbi (Mockingbird) Morse. He needs to continue his search for the new Sorcerer Supreme. The Eye has to be delivered to the new sorcerer. The problem is Doc does not know who it is. The Avengers agree to help him.

The Hood meets Madame Masque. She makes him take off the hood. She removes her mask. MM wants to take him to Dr. Strange to get his help to get the Hood control of the demon or remove it from him.

Doc and the Avengers fly to New Orleans. He explains that the new Sorcerer can be either good or evil. Luke Cage says he knows who they are looking for in that city.

In a room in New Orleans, a man is fighting with his ex-wife on the phone. The man is Damion Hellstrom, the Son of Satan. The Hood breaks in and starts firing his guns at Hellstrom.

The Good: This is one of the few times where I thought the Hood actually appeared threatening.

Another good point is the appearance of some of Marvel’s lesser known characters. Son of Satan used to be in the Defenders original series. In addition to some excellent Defenders stories, he had his own short lived series written by John Warner.

The Bad: When you see that many artists listed in one book, it is usually a bad sign. This was no exception. The varying art styles, poor anatomy, and lack of continuity between the artists ended up giving us a poorly drawn issue.

What happened in this issue? We find out the Hood is now stronger than Dr. Strange and he beats the Avengers in a race to New Orleans. At least put the main focus on the Avengers team. They have been reduced to supporting characters in their own book.

Overall: Another poor issue. Marvel, get a regular art team for this book. Force Bendis to focus on the main characters. The search for a new Sorcerer Supreme should be exciting. This book was far from it.

5 thoughts on “New Avengers #52 Review

  1. I thought that the title of Sorcerer Supreme could only be awarded by the Aged Ghenghis?

  2. I’m not really looking forward to this, because no matter who they put in the role of Sorcerer Supreme, we’re going to have to suffer through years of comics of them training and making mistakes. Which is a fine concept in comics and I personally love those stories, but for the Sorcerer Supreme, with so many people not having any idea what they’re doing with magic, should be a straight-out master. Which Stephen Strange was. Why fight what works?

    Also, what happens to Strange when there’s a new Sorcerer Supreme? He opens a flower shop?

  3. Why is Spider-man maskless? I thought that after Brand New Day he has refused to remove his mask even to his teammates.

  4. Aside from ignoring the main characters, this was a decent to good book. If this story happened in say “Dr. Strange #1” no one would have very many complaints about the scripting. The art is undefendable but the story was solid enough

  5. The New Avengers are vastly underpowered. Their roster should be made into the Secret Avengers.

    Doctor Strange is a strong individual and at the worst of times has taken small solace – even in ones such as his Defenders.

    However to see these characters act like a bunch of school girls around the kitchen table is just….going to keep me richer.

    and Luke Cage with the “Yo, yo”. Geeeese.

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