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