The New Avengers #3

written by Brian Michael Bendis  with art by Stuart Immonen

I will be the first to admit - I thought the new numbering for this book was totally unnecessary.  Actually, I still think that.  Plus I also think that having Wolverine and Spider-Man on this time and the regular Avengers book is really stupid.  However, I'm wiling to put that aside due to the fact that Spidey references my favorite movie of all time - Ghostbusters. 

Don't get me wrong, I've always been a fan of New Avengers, I just think it's silly to have the same characters in multiple books with the same title.  I mean, Wolverine and Spider-Man as individuals have like 12 books apiece (plus a book they star in together).  Sheesh, we get it!  Spider-Man is cool and Wolverine's a bad ass . . . Ya just need ONE book to say that!  But I digress . . .

This story just gets better and better!  We pick up with one of my new Bendis favorites - Victoria Hand.  I liked her in Dark Avengers and think she is awesome here too.  She has kind of an Office Space moment where she freaks out in her car and then sees the sky literally falling.  Then, Iron Fist is stuck in another dimension (or as Buffy would call it "a Daffy Duck cartoon").  He has a classic Bendis banter with "the unseen enemy" and we go back to the sky falling and the New Avengers ready to kick some mystical butt!

Ms Marvel, the Thing and Spider-Man take the lead with Spidey making his aforementioned Ghostbusters references and the Thing loving it while Ms Marvel doesn't get it being as how she has not seen the movie.  I find this type of banter with the heroes during their fights to be pretty funny actually.  People tend to hate Bendis for the way he writes but I think it's funny to mix the mundane with the fantastical (eg: The Incredibles).  Also the Thing does not say, "It's Clobberin Time!" which Spidey (and myself) find upsetting. 

During the fight Jessica Jones is all like, "Will someone please think of the children!!" More specifically her baby in Avengers mansion.  She flies back home to save her, all the way proving that she is a mediocre heroine in the process (which she admits).  Then Hand shows up and is all like, "Hold on, I've got a giant gun" and proceeds to shoot random ghost thingies. 

During all THAT, Brother Voodoo, Dr Strange, and Damion Hellstrom retreat to Voodoo's Sanctum to figure out how they can put a cap in the dimensional oil spill (haha topical humor, get it?).  Voodoo is all like, "Dudes, I suck at this Sorcerer Supreme thing."  Hellstrom is like, "Yeah pretty much" and Strange is like, "No no, you're fine (yeesh)".  Hellstrom tries to figure out who could be powerful enough to make all three of these dudes look like amaters and Dr Strange lies with a simple, "I don't know."  What a jerk.

Meanwhile, in the "Daffy Duck Cartoon", Iron Fist realizes that holding the Eye of Agamotto gives him a bargaining chip.  But he's all like, "Dr Strange is my buddy and he's gonna kick your ass!"  Then the freaking dude that TRAINED Dr Strange (I don't know his name) is all like, "Oh no you di-idn't!!"

As usual with the Bendis/Immonen team up on New Avengers I was not disappointed.  This issue actually got me more into the storyline than the previous two.  Here's hoping that this arc continues to heat up.  Although I do hope Spidey and Wolverine pick a damn team already . . .