Well... the '59 Avengers Were Pointless
Finally, the New Avengers take back this series and the '59 Avengers take a backseat as this story arc comes to a conclusion. While Brian Michael Bendis does succeed in tying the two story threads together, he doesn't do so in a way that really justifies the '59 Avengers tangent that dominated previous issues.
Let's get this out of the way first. The '59 Avengers plot in this story arc turns out to be completely unnecessary. Yes, it does introduce the variation of the Infinity Formula is a major factor in this issue, but it does so in a ridiculous way. We did not need this rather boring story of a Nazi-hunting Avengers team to establish the formula. In fact, Nick Fury provides us with all the necessary exposition for the formula in a single page in this issue. That page alone, with some tweaking, would have been totally sufficient. This secret Avengers team from the past is irrelevant to the whole supposed purpose of that story.
Thankfully, the New Avengers side of the story arc has been very good and continues to be in this issue. Bendis has done an excellent job at dusting off an obscure villain like Superia and selling her as a dangerous and competent villain, and tying it into fallout from Norman Osborn's Dark Reign makes it all seem even more interesting. The most interesting part of this has been his development of Victoria Hand and the ambiguous nature of her loyalty.
This issue also features a major development for Mockingbird's character and a predictable one at that. As soon as she was injured a few issues ago, it became rather obvious how this was going to end. However, this doesn't make it a bad thing or bad storytelling. Also, judgment really has to be reserved about whether this is a good thing or not for the character since it will really depend on how it plays out from here.
One part of this issue doesn't really work, and that is a scene when the Thing blames himself for Mockingbird getting hurt. As I recall, it was Spider-Man who distracted her with some banter and got her shot. It is a little annoying to have Ben expressing his regret over what happened while Spider-Man is standing right there and acting as if he was not much more at fault.
Due to the New Avengers story taking priority, this is the best issue of the story arc, allowing it to at least end on a strong note. The '59 Avengers tangent really took its toll on the story arc overall, though. It's a little hard to understand how Bendis and his editors could have ever thought this blend of two stories would work out well, but it is forgivable. The New Avengers story is still quite good, and hopefully, they have learned their lesson from this experiment and won't repeat it.
