The Infinity Gems make any story fantastically fun, and that’s been proven by this latest arc of Avengers which uses the Gems as the focal plot point. Someone is stealing the Gems from members of the Illuminati and so the group reform, albeit with Medusa instead of Black Bolt, and go about trying to discover how this mysterious individual has managed to gain more than one Gem. It’s obvious from the start that Bendis is having a lot of fun writing this, the characters all gleam with his sense of giddy excitement, and the plot feels like it could be leading to one of the best Avengers stories in a while. The art is by John Romita Jr, who remains one of my personal favourite artists, but despite that there’s something off about his style here, which hurts the story; it just doesn’t feel like Romita a lot of the time, and almost has the sense of being rushed and poorly constructed. But it’s still Romita, and most of the time it shines out as his definitive style.