Immonen’s art continues to be the best reason to buy this book. That is partly because there isn’t much else going on here and partly because the artwork is really damn good. The double splash on pages 2 and 3 features one of the best iconic shots of Ms Marvel I have ever seen. What amazes over the course of the issue is not only how pretty it is but also how consistent the quality is throughout every panel and how well the action is conveyed, how bulletproof the storytelling is. I have seen in interviews with Bendis and Brevoort where they state that not only is Stuart Immonen this good but he is one of the fastest artists in business, any chance we can bribe someone to get a second Immonen book on the stands? Even a bi-monthly? Please?

As far as the writing and story go, this installment is very much the same as the previous three. It is a fun, quick read but without much actually really important going on. We haven’t really gotten any farther into the meat of this storyline at the end of issue #4 than we had after issue #1. For an arc that was touted to be explaining and reinventing magic in the Marvel universe we haven’t seen anything of the kind so far. More likely this is building to some big reveal or event that will change the status quo for Strange and maybe Marvel magic altogether. Sometimes I wish Bendis and Marvel would spend more time building up from what is already there, how someone like Geoff Johns does, rather than always turning over the apple cart. And that is coming from a lifelong Marvel fan.

I have been with Bendis’ Avengers run for a long time now, as have so many of us, and the opening arcs of both this title and the Avengers book show it might be time for someone else to step in and take over. Certainly for at least one of these titles. I am not one of those who has a problem with the banter and “Bendis speak”, I usually find Bendis’ dialog clever and funny but throughout the run on New Avengers there has often been a lack of distinct characterization and character development for most of the Avengers characters and that is continuing in spades here in the relaunched title.

This issue bears the honour of having one of the worst and least cliffhanger-y cliffhangers I have read in some time. Ending on a question is never good and ending on a question that we (the reader) don’t even know why we should care about is doubly not good.