Bendis and Immonen Relaunch ‘New Avengers’ with Luke Cage

Today, Marvel released this preview image, effectively announcing that Bendis will continue his dual-fisted, twice-a-month, parallel-title Avengers approach in the new, reconfigured Heroic Age Marvel Universe.

Joining Bendis's own "Avengers" with John Romita Jr., Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato's "Secret Avengers" and Christos N. Gage and Mike McKone's half-rumored, half-confirmed (check the creative teams) "Avengers Academy," this relaunch of "New Avengers" -- starring current series artist Stuart Immonen -- will likely reconfigure the title less as the successor to the Avengers legacy, as volume one was, and more as an alternate approach to superheroics, perhaps based on Luke Cage's "impact superhero work" methodology introduced in "New Avengers" #17:

Also interesting is the fact that Bendis will, seemingly for the first time ever, be sharing Luke's ongoing story in the Marvel Universe with another writer -- "Thunderbolts" scribe Jeff Parker.

This "New Avengers" relaunch signifies the continuation of Bendis and Immonen's creative partnership, which began in July 2007 when Immonen replaced longtime series artist Mark Bagley on the first volume of Ultimate Spider-Man. No other team members or details have been announced, although it's likely the rest of the week will see "I Am A New Avenger" promo pieces similar to those "Avengers" and "Secret Avengers" received.