As I mentioned earlier this week, it was a slow day as far as comics were concerned. The only thing waiting for me at the shop today was the final installment of Bendis and Reed’s Illuminati mini-series. While I’m disappointed that it’s coming to a close, I’m getting more and more excited for the Secret Invasion storyline that will be taking off shortly. We’ll get to that in a later entry. In the meantime, let’s talk about Illuminati.

Bendis must have given this mini-series a little bit more attention than the rest of the stuff he’s been working on because this one stands as, in my opinion, the best thing he’s done within the past year or so. He keeps it simple by not time traveling too much and showing too many flashback sequences. He also, unlike Mighty Avengers, keeps the thought bubbles to a minimum. Thank god.

As always, Jim Cheung’s artwork is phenomenal. If his work on Young Avengers appealed to you, you’ll feel right at home with this title. The guy really knows what he’s doing.

I’ve always liked the idea of having almost a “shadow government” group within the superhero world and Illuminati fits that perfectly having been involved, secretly, in every major Marvel event over the past year or so and having chosen the fate of many major players in the Marvel universe. If you’ve been following the mini-series, this should be an insta-pickup for you. If you have yet to read Illuminati, get on it. It’s a solid read and will keep you up to speed with most of the major events that have taken place and will be taking place soon. This is a great ending to a fantastic arc.