New Avengers (Vol. 1) #51

Background

A while ago Dr. Strange lost his mastery of the mystic arts when he used dark magic to save The New Avengers. Since then no one has seen or heard from him.

Story Details

In The Hoods penthouse Dormammu tells The Hood that he must find Dr Strange so he can kill him and become the new Sorcerer Supreme, and he needs to find him quickly as he's not the only person looking for him. Meanwhile at The Avengers hideout Ms. Marvel is watching the footage of Clint on the news. Clint returns and tells her is going to be okay because Osborn will screw up and things will get back to normal.

The next day in Jersey, Wiccan from The Young Avengers stops an armed pursuit when Dr. Strange offers to buy him breakfast. While eating Dr. Strange tells him he is looking for the new Sorcerer Supreme but he's not sure if Wiccan is the chosen one. He discusses other candidates and notes even Victor Von Doom could be the new Sorcerer Supreme. Wiccan says he would like to be the Sorcerer Supreme. Dr. Strange looks outside and tells Wiccan to leave. Outside the diner Dr. Strange confronts The Hood who now seems to be fully demonic.

Back in The Avengers hideout, the team nominates Clint as the new leader as he's the only one with real Avengers experience. Ms. Marvel is now second in command, and the first order of business is Spider-Man. Clint tells him that after everything they've been through, they need to be able to trust each other and for this to happen he needs to unmask himself. While the team encourages Spidey he is hesitant to do this. After some deliberation Spidey unmasks. He tells the team he is Peter Parker, Jessica Jones realises that she used to have a crush on him when she was at school and gets excited. Luke gets jealous, but Peter only remembers Jessica as "Coma girl" which upsets her. Peter tells everyone that this has to stay a secret as Osborn is his best friend's father. Clint says they can use this as an in against Osborn. Suddenly Dr Strange appears and collapses saying "Help me..."

General Comments

I do love how Spidey was unmasked in this issue but shouldn't jessica have realised who he was before the whole brand new day story? Anyway that gripe is only minor. This issue starts off a new story that could have ramifications for the rest of the Marvel universe. Who will become the new Sorcerer Supreme? The mystic side of the M.U. needs a shake up and having someone like Dr Doom or The Hood as the most powerful mystic would be very interesting.

Overall Rating

Solid start to an interesting story but I do have to say Chris Bachalo's art is not to my taste. I find his work hard to take in. Still it does provide an interesting contrast to Billy Tan's.