Marvel announced today who will be the new artist on The Avengers when the series relaunches in May with a new first issue.

Personal favorite artist John Romita Jr. will join writer Brian Michael Bendis as they launch what Marvel is calling “The Heroic Age.” [Read Marvel Comics Promises “˜Heroes Will Be Heroes Again’ In “˜Heroic Age’]

Along with the announcement came a new image from Romita, showing the new Captain America, Bucky Barnes. (Check it out here at right; click for larger, full view.)

We know that the new series will feature the return of the Big Three (that’s Captain America, Thor and Iron Man) to the Avengers, although we don’t know the rest of the team yet.

The good news with Romita Jr. taking over on art is that we can look forward to 12 issues a year, on time and looking great. New Avengers has been lagging for me for a while, but this announcement has me very excited to see the new series.

[Source: Marvel]