The New Avengers, Volume 2 by Brian Michael Bendis

The Avengera are in Japan to investigate the doings of Hydra, and most specifically, Madame Hydra. Captain America has recruited a superhero called Ronin to investigate the doings in Japan after another super, Silver Samurai, returns home to his family after having been wrongly imprisoned in the super-prison known as the Raft.

To combat the escaped Super-Criminals, Captain America has reformed the Avengers, and although he tries to recruit Daredevil for a mission against the Hand, Matt Murdock's suddenly public identity prevents him from agreeing or even being able to help, as his enemies will track him if he leaves America to go to Japan. He does have someone in mind to help Cap, though, and this person is Ronin.

In Japan, the Avengers are attacked by the Hand after Ronin tells them that she was detected in her spying, but a huge fight is averted after Silver Samurai turns down Madame Hydra's offer of alliance. Although he has some hard feelings towards America after being imprisoned, he won't allow his own hurt feelings to dictate his alliances. The Avengers capture Madame Hydra and bring her back to America, but partway over the ocean, Spider-Woman sets off a coincidence that ends up freeing the Supervillainess.

This doesn't go unnoticed, and Cap asks her who she is really working for, and how she got her powers back. After some hard questioning, she tells him what it was like for her after she lost her powers. After spending months as a mere normal, she was approached by a super-powered villain, who offered her the chance to get her powers back. She, being a loyal Shield operative, approached Nick Fury about it, who told her to go for it, and since Hydra wanted information from Shield as a partial payment, he arranged to pass some good (though ultimately unimportant) information, and some disinformation through to Hydra, in return for which they genetically manipulated her to give her her powers back.

Every so often, she is still required to aid Hydra or its members, but now that Nick Fury has been ousted as the head of Shield, she is frightened by the thought that they will think her a real double agent and either arrest or kill her for what she has been doing. As far as she knows, only Nick Fury has been privy to the fact that she was passing disinformation and pretending to work for Hydra.

Cap doesn't like it, but he does understand the position she is in, and lets her stay on the team. Then, as the newly reformed team is announced to the world, Cap and the team get a visit from Carol Danvers, and learn of a problem. Some kind of super, possibly an slien being, has arrived in Alaska from outer space, and he is fighting and killing his way through the countryside, heading for New York City. Several super-teams, including Alpha Flight, try to stop him and are unsuccessful.

As the Avengers try and take him on, they discover that he is a postal worker who was also an unknown Mutant. When the Scarlet Witch banished the powers of the Mutants of the World during the House of M, all those powers had to go somewhere. Apparently, they "possessed" this man and are looking to escape and return to their users. After a titanic fight that leads from Chicago to Genosha, the powers finally escape, and the man recovers, having gained some powers of his own in the process. Powers that the Avengers will train him to use, and hope he can use them to do some good in repayment of all the evil and suffering his actions have caused.

Magneto, who has also been hiding out on Genosha, and is nearly killed by this man, is arrested by Shield. If he lives through his injuries, he will be put on trial for crimes against humanity.

Finally, a woman in a hospital bed, the new Black Widow, is told she has failed in her mission against the Avengers in the Savage Land. But she can be given new powers and a new face... if she squares off against them again to avenge her earlier defeat.

Meanwhile, Jessica Jones moves into the Avengers Skyscraper with her lover, Luke Cage, and their child. Luke proposes to her, but their marriage is interrupted by the former Black Widow, now a strange-looking creature who can absorb the Avengers powers merely by touching them. After having absorbed most of their powers, she is nearly invincible, but she is defeated by the same mental problems that plague Sentry. However, before she can reveal who is behind her new powers, they pull the plug on her, destroying her body in front of the eyes of the New Avengers.

After the battle, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones are finally married, much to everyone's surprise and joy. But Iron Man knows that Hydra were behind Yelena's new powers, and knowing that Spider-Woman has ties to them pisses him off mightily. He practically accuses her of being equally responsible, and that creates some hard feelings on her part.

This was a very interesting series of stories, and watching the New Avengers, with their wide disparity in styles of battle, relating and personalities, was very interesting and entertaining. The sheer number of Avengers is staggering, but this new team reminds me a lot of the old Avengers, at least in certain things. For one thing, Captain America and Iron Man remain core Avengers. And while the old team had Giant Man/Ant Man with his mental problems (such as his alternate personality, Yellowjacket), the team has a new member with mental problems, Sentry. The only difference is that Sentry's problems are widely known, even to himself, and Henry Pym's mental breakdown came out of left field in something of a surprise.

Nevertheless, this was an interesting book, and one I enjoyed reading. The stories run the gamut from cosmic to down-to-earth, and the new team is a very enjoyable read. I'll be looking out for further stories with this team with enjoyment.