So, this is the problem. The book is sliding into a terrible slide. The stories are actually good. I LIKED the story - where Gilad is trying to get the copy of the book of the Necromancer. It IS just a copy - but Darque doesn't want any other to possess it. Ironically, it's exactly what Darque wants. When Gil and Geoff burn it at the end of the story, he's pleased. The problem is, so much of the story was going there, it was easy to see. The telling of the story is terrible. I liked the character who was squeezing heads - gruesomely exhilarating.
The new team
The Avengers really started out as a pathetic little book - ragtag group of cast-offs that became a pretty moving team - but the changes in storytelling over the last few books have been telling. This issue closes out by really changing the team around. Not only has every member of the Avengers from the beginning been replaced - a rather amazing accomplishment in 16 issues - but the new team consists entirely of former villains in the Silver Age Universe. Great power play on the book to really turn around the age.