I’m only happy when it Reigns.
DARK AVENGERS #2
WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis
ART: Mike Deodato
COLOR ART: Rain Beredo
LETTERER: Cory Petit
PLOT:
Morgana Le Fay nearly stabs lil’ Doom in his cot 37 years ago, but decides punishing a grown Doom will satisfy her more since he’ll know the reason for it (she’s mad ’cause he boned her for mystic secrets). With a compliment of demons, she ambushes the Doc in the ruins of present-day Latveria, roasts his escorts, and defeats him in a duel of magical power.
Meanwhile, Norman orates to H.A.M.M.E.R. initiates, recruited from the husks of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra. Afterword, he meets with the Avengers to lay the new team’s ground rules. They get a call from the last surviving agent in Latveria, and it’s off to save Victor Von Doom. The fight ends quickly because The Sentry YANKS MORGANA’S MOTHER-!@#$ING HEAD OFF. Round two, however, begins when Sentry vanishes and Morgana stands in his place, saying that if they kill her in the present she can always return from her own time. Oy, the paradoxes.
THOUGHTS:
With the same artist and half the characters, I think most readers expected Dark Avengers to follow the lead of Warren Ellis’ Thunderbolts run. What surprises me is how much like an Avengers book this feels. Though flavored with Ellis’ sense of irony, Dark Avengers never relies on it, and instead occupies itself playing with bigger toys on a grander stage, with higher stakes and flashier action. Thunderbolts had sensationalist moments, but its sharp satire and cynical bite imparted greater depth, making it the thinking person’s shock fest. With Dark Avengers, the fewer brain cells you bring to your reading chair, the better.
Mike Deodato’s art serves as a beautiful blunt force trauma of ocular awesome concussive enough to make plot holes easier to ignore. My inner Comic Book Guy wants to rage against the worst. Time travel logic. EVER. because good fantasy requires internal consistency, but the shear prettiness lets me accept that one reads Dark Avengers to see photorealistic psychopaths in leotards throw down with dragons and decapitate skanky witches, not to analyse it to pieces.
Brian Michael Bendis does bring some intelligence to his characterization of Norman Osborn, at least. Stormin’ Norman spent most of his Thunderbolts career behind a desk, popping pills and allocating authority, which led to an unstable unit. Now on the front line, he takes charge with such directness and force that he could plausably keep this team in line. We’ve seen Osborn as an individual fighter and a master schemer slash organizor. But as an effective leader of men (and Moonstone … and Sentry)? Let us call this character development.
FAVORITE QUOTE:
“‘You know, it’s too bad I killed my mother in high school. She would have loved this.”
RATING:
3 out of 5. Dark Avengers carries some inexplicable charm. Flaws that usually kill my enjoyment (a lack of depth, poor logic, decompression) just don’t seem to matter next to the joy of brutal antiheroes tearing into medieval monsters against a backdrop of pink lightning. Take it no more seriously than it takes itself, and you’ll find $3.99 worth of fun.
And since you’ve already been spoiled by my review, I’d like to share the greatest splash page ever:
REVIEWED BY: CrazyChris
Please leave a comment!
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Pandora
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
Podbean
Amazon Alexa
Player.fm
Listen Notes
Stitcher
Oh Man….i find it difficult to believe that i stumbled onto your post so quickly…LOL…..It was just what i was loking for….Thanks so much
No, I think I’ve only written reviews for this site. What blogs are you thinking of?
The style of writing is very familiar . Did you write guest posts for other blogs?
Is it me or do theyjust come out with a new Avengers book after every crossover?
dont really read thunderbolts. but thats cool.. seriously..sentry blows.
The current run on Thunderbolts has had some killer fight scenes, especially in issue 127. I recomend that if that’s what you’re looking for.
The Sentry has a lot of Superman’s powers, but he’s completely different personality-wise. I don’t much care for the character because he cries too much and always seems like an obstical the writers have to write around rather than a toy they really have fun with. But I don’t think he’s a copy of Superman so much.
oh yeah the sentry bit….ummm hes superman.
make better action scenes and you might not use up all your stories… DUH!
ok, really OUT now.
and by choreographed i dont mean allll poses… i mean some of that STILL by STILL stuff.. that stuff owns. plus ya know… cool stuff.. think of SOMETHIGN. :P~ ok i shut up now.
tbh i would take a coke and a smile with some well choreogrphed fight scenes between characters with some nice strings to tie it together. but… for instance though Spider-Man and the X-men #3; no decent fights only group collages, iceman containing Carnage, Wolverine growing his claws in 2 secs? & X-men vs Hulk; Hulk running away crying he is on fire?? Come on peeps your meant to be proffesionals. give us some nicely choreographed fight scenes with insight. oops.. i think i am ranting.
well first of all i speak from a (Spider-Man and the Marvel that surrounds him) point of view.
hrmm, i know there are a lot of different points to consider, but it just seems as though the creativity that made these characters has stopped for a while now, and they are being constantly re-illiterated.
Hey, Gamer7, thanks for reading. Could you explain how the Sentry shows Marvel is turning into DC? That’s an interesting point but I don’t quite get what you mean.
eeeh, i dont know why i bother but i DO OH SO love a good comic. There just hasnt been a good spidey comic for sooo long. I hope its not dead forever.
er…Sentry.. i think its the sign that Marvel is now turning into DC.
Aspman, I clicked your link. Is that your band? I like it!
Great review. I’m loving Norman Osborn….. taking over the whole F-ing Marvel Universe!!! Can’t wait for Amazing Spider-man #600!!! Woo hoo!
Skanky witch? Man, I should have been reading this…
… nevermind, I just remembered “Penny the Skittles hooker…”
Great review man.
For me, I’m really glad that this feels like an Avengers book. Despite my love of Thunderbolts, I wouldn’t want more than one.
I like my book to each have their different feel…but this does feel a lot like NEW Avengers unfortunately.
I was surprised how much it felt like an avengers book myself. loved the Sentry, you know, DOING SOMETHING.