I love this short series for a bunch of different reasons. For one, it's written so well...almost Joss Whedon like. Bendis is at his peak here, he throws in so much action and humor in this book it's so easy to get sucked into the story. Whether it's giving us the (very) early preview for Secret Invasion, to confronting the Beyonder, to a discussion about their love lives; everyone in this book has deep characterization in it.

One of the things that is really important about this book is the Infinity Gaunlet and it's gems. All 6 members of the Illuminati have one gem so that no one can possibly gather all the gems at once. What bothers me about this aspect is that, especially now with Secret Invasion, this should be a huge factor. I mean they took Black Bolt out of the picture early, so they should have the 'Space' gem with them. That could mean the Skrulls could take over the entire universe just by having that gem. It doesnt make much sense why this big plot point isnt further used for any of the major events so far. It would definitely make the SI event much better if they could use it somehow.

Anyways back to the book, the art is also fantastic here. Cheung does all the faces, backgrounds, and actions well in the book. It really looks a lot like Steve McNiven  with the attention to detail in each page. Although my one gripe is that sometimes his faces far away are a little too simple. It's just two dots for eyes and a crude looking mouth. But other then that it's pretty soild from each issue.

There is no hyperbole needed for this review, it's not the best Marvel book out there. I could think of other events and issues that could top this little run. But this book is entertaining no matter when you read it, the art is great, and overall I wish they could've done more here then just 5 main issues (and a tie-in recently with New Avengers). Hopefully with an 'evil' Illuminati next year we can see a reemergence of this group or something of that type.