New Avengers #26

New Avengers #26
Well, we all knew it was coming, right? Only a matter of time. It was only a question of how they did it - or undid it as the case may be. But here you have it, fanboys and girls, your good old friend Clint is back! And while we're at it, let's bring the Scarlet Witch back as well. And heck, even Agatha Harkness for good measure - why not?
Too cynical? Sorry.
At least amidst all the justified griping about Millar and Straczynski raping the Marvel Universe, this little nugget of information caught me unawares. Sure, the next issue caption, front cover, and first page gave away most of the secret, but not all of it. So kudos to those in the know for keeping it under wraps as long as they did.
And since we all knew they were going to do this eventually, it might as well be done well, no? And to make it work properly, Bendis jettisons the entire cast of this book, and replaces them all with Doctor Strange. Well characterized too. Not only that, but he gets all Daredevil on us, and brings Alex Maleev back to work with him. I missed his work.
So, cynicism aside, this is a VERY GOOD story. Sure, it adds another few entries to the wikipedia article on comic book death, but at least it does it well. Perhaps even better than Joss Whedon did with Colossus. I look forward to the next issue of this title once again - for the first time in several months.