the New Avengers #60 - Marvel

I have to say, I'm actually surprised that Brian Bendis has stayed at the writing of this book for this long. As he was beginning to drop off some of the other books he was doing, I really expected this one to go into other hands. But . . at the same time, I do appreciate the job he's doing here. I don't know that anyone else could glue together this rag-tag group of characters into any semblance of a team. But Brian has. And right now they're all rallying around Luke Cage. After Doctor Harrow activated the power dampening device, Luke went into a heart attack. He knew that the only way to save himself, and his team, was to turn himself over to Norman Osborn. Once the operation was complete, this group of Avengers, as well as his wife, decided to break him out. The problem is, now that he's home, they find that he's got a tracking device attached to his heart, and . . it's also a bomb. So they call in Dr Pym, and he and Stephen Strange go on a 'Fantastic Journey' into Luke's body. The funny part comes at the end. As Norman and HAMMER are bearing down on the device's signal, he instruct Harrow to activate it . . which I assume means activating the bomb. However, just as it's about to explode, Norman realizes that they've removed and transported it to Norman's summer house. Needless to say, there's nothing left of it now. Anyways, we also see a bit of the relationship between Norman and the Hood. Neither of them are happy about Harrow trying to take over control of his men . . or their willing defection. So they put the law down and let all the miscreants know where they stand. As of now . . they work for Norman Osborn. 'I have one job for you you'll all love. You hunt and kill Captain America . . and Luke Cage . . and Ms Marvel . . and Iron Fist . . and Clint Barton . . and Mockingbird . . and Daredevil . . and Spider-Woman . . and Doctor Strange . . and this Doctor Voodoo and all the others. You are my new storm-troopers. My new Black Guard. You hunt them and you kill them. I don't care how. You bring me their heads. And you're off the hook with me. We're square. All sins forgiven. Spider-man too. But I want him alive!' I like this book. I enjoy the way this team operates. But I still think that I like the Mighty Avengers better. I can't really put my finger on it, but . . I just do. But that's not to say that I don't think Brian and Stuart Immonen aren't doing a fantastic job here. I really expected one of these books to be cancelled long before now. The problem is . . they're both pretty strong. Plus we all wanna know . . what are these guys gonna do?