Glad it didn't take too long to read, or let's say skim. ( )

A big step up from the previous volume. Small scale crimelord supervillain The Hood breaks out of prison and starts collecting Infinity Gems where the Illuminati (the secret Marvel cabal of powerful heroes, not the secret religious society) have hidden them. A fun, simple and yet powerfully dangerous premise that unearths secrets and frictions among the Avengers and pulls on decades of established Marvel continuity without making the book feel reliant on it to follow or enjoy the story. It's nothing truly special, but it's solid, and it's fun. ( )

The Hood seeks the Infinity Gems, and faces off against the Avengers (and the New Avengers, and Red Hulk, and possibly a few other Avengers teams). It's an enjoyable story, even if the story arc is somewhat predictable. It would have been better without the last two pages, were we learn that the Illuminati have learned nothing, and that Steve Rogers is rather hypocritical. ( )

This volume was a lot better thought out than the first, in my opinion. I really liked the way the story handled the Steve/Tony banter and it didn't seem immature. There aren't many distractions, unlike the first that had the problem that everyone had one liners rather than contributing to the conversation. I thought the Spider-girl story was alright, Jessica is definitely an intriguing character and I find myself interested in picking up more comics with her in the fore-front. ( )

I was disappointed in the first volume of Bendis' Avengers post-Siege series. It was great to see Steve Rogers back with his teammates, however, I was not happy to see Ultron, or Kang, and another convoluted timestream story. Fortunately, this second volume was a major improvement as the Illuminati discover (once again) that their actions had unforeseen consequences. In "New Avengers: Illuminati", Reed Richards convinced the group to find and take custody of the Infinity Gems, so they don't fall into the wrong hands. Now, someone has discovered they have them and has been stealing them one by one. Further, there is some fallout when Steve and the other heroes learn about the secret group. I love how everything this group of geniuses does manages to bite them in the ass! Also, I enjoyed Red Hulk's inclusion in the story. He was far more interesting than I expected.

The book concludes with a brief story of the team going after Spiderwomen, who has disappeared during a secret mission on behalf of S.W.O.R.D. Steve is not happy to learn about SWORD, or that some of his Avengers are secretly agents of the secret organization that until now had been secret from him! I liked this story right up until the very end when my least favorite villain returns. Again.

Overall, I really enjoyed this volume. The main story is not only interesting, but ties back into previous events while continuing to lay the groundwork for the future. I will definitely buy the next volume. Highly recommended. ( )