Author Brian Michael Bendis’ best team title is the Dark Avengers. Known for his quips and deeply characterized dialogue, Bendis is nailing the personalities of each Dark Avenger. As I find myself asking, well what about this… Bendis tackles it in the next issue.
Ares, the god of war, is a silently brooding Avenger who has been in the background. In this issue, he addresses the fact that his son Phoebus, god of fear, is on Nick Fury’s Secret Warriors. Ares confronts Fury and it’s nothing that I expected. Rather than handing us a safe and predictable resolution, Bendis creates a realistic father-son relationship between Ares and Phoebus that makes perfect sense, yet totally unexpected.
Dark Avengers are a time bomb waiting to explode. Daken is manipulating his teammates behind the scenes; Bullseye is nuts and craving to kill; Venom is crazy as well; and the Sentry is waiting to unravel. The tableside chat between teammates is priceless – who is funnier Spider-man or Deadpool? – wisecracks about the Sentry and his fragile state of mind. Bendis also leaves us with a cliffhanger that could have major ramifications.
Bendis frames this issue beautifully with both the first and final pages depicting a silent Norman Osborn behind closed doors as his team of leashed psychopaths begins to become untethered.
The next issue should be interesting.
4 out of 5
Daken, Wolverine’s mysterious son, takes over his daddy’s comic. Expecting to witness a train wreck, I am very pleasantly surprised. What could have easily been a thoughtless stopgap during Dark Avengers has become a smartly written expose into the seedy mind of Daken.
Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu have joined pens to pit Daken against Bullseye. Using his wits and powers of suggestion, Daken is weaving doubt and deceit among his team members. With a Machiavellian flare, Daken is engaged in a battle of the minds with Bullseye and Norman Osborne. Setting up events like chess pieces, his final play is still unknown but this arc is moving toward what should be an interesting climax. Way and Liu are smart in their take on Daken. Rather than the typical slash and pound, this intellectual posturing is well written and fun.
Giuseppe Camuncoli’s art is brilliant. From Daken feigning concern, Bullseye’s rage, and Osborn’s tantrums, each expression is captured beautifully. His battle between Daken and the Thing is of particular mention, fluid and smartly paneled.
While its nothing earth shattering, this issue is unexpectedly solid. I am very intrigued to see how Daken’s plan works out.
3.5 out of 5
It’s hard to keep track of all Dark Reign limited series spinning through the Marvel universe. I wasn’t expecting much from this five-issue series. However, I was very pleasantly surprised as this book came close to my favorite read of the week.
The only thing “Hawkeye” about this book is the title and the costume. It’s all Bullseye and he rightly deserves the spotlight. Bullseye is a sadistically fun villain and when written well can be a blast to read. Andy Diggle proves that he can write Bullseye and has a great story to tell. He’s the perfect man for the job.
Jumping out of the pages of Dark Avengers, Diggle shows us what life is like for Bullseye. Osborn wants to keep his pet assassin on a tight lease. Bullseye just wants kill. You can dress up Bullseye like a superhero, but you just can’t get him to be good. Bullseye is very bad in this issue. He challenges Osborn, hoping his boss returns to his evil ways and stops playing good guy. Diggle adds an appropriate sense of humor to Bullseye without letting this bad ass become goofy.
Artist Tom Raney has a surprisingly bright and crisp style for this book. With Bullseye primarily in the pages of Daredevil’s noir style, it took me a few pages to get. He handles the conversations and action panels very well, providing a good pace for this first issue.
There are some sick and shocking scences in this issue. I just recounted and there were three holy crap moments. These are some good times with Bullseye!
4 out of 5
