Avengers #33 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Bendis continues to channel George Lucas in this issue (and the fact that it's an improvement says a lot more about Bendis than it does about Lucas).  Thor and Jan's conversation in their cell is reminiscent of the great scene on the skiff in "Return of the Jedi," where Han expresses dismay when Luke tells him that things are going the way that they usually go for them.  In addition to being funny, it also manages to be a touching moment, with Bendis making palpable the relief that Thor feels at the discovery that he did not, in fact, kill Jan during "Secret Invasion."  Bendis also manages to inject some honest-to-goodness drama into this issue, with the Avengers getting their asses handed to them due mostly to the unpredictable nature of the Microverse's effect on them.  (I'll note that I don't remember the Microverse having a negative effect on the FF and Spidey during their journey there in "Amazing Spider-Man" #590-1 and it doesn't seem to be having one on Kaine and Venom, who are there right now as part of "Minimum Carnage."  But, I'm actually enjoying this arc, so I'm going to try really hard not to focus too much on details like that one.)  The guys will eventually find a way to adapt and hand Lord Centaur a rousing defeat.  But, in the meantime, it's a nice change of pace to watch them face some actual opposition and not waltz their way through a fight.  In the end, we'll be reminded of why they got together in the first place, why they're more than the sum of their parts, and it's definitely a nice touch on Bendis' part to draw those parallels as he wraps up his run.