And so it begins with the assemble of his avengers
This is the book where dark reign pretty much begins and I have to say I am a little disappointed with this. I had very high hopes for this, I hoped it would be like New and Mighty Avengers with a darker tone like Warren Elises run on Thunderbolts but although I didnt get the darker Avengers that I wanted this was still a really good read
The first issue starts of very well with Norman Osborn quickly settling into his new job. Firring Maria Hill appointing Victoria Hand as deputy directer of H.A.M.M.E.R and getting together his avengers.He first recruits the leftover members of the thunderbolts (after the events of Burning Down the house)Bullseye,Moon Stone,Venom(who was given a pill to make him look presentable) members of the Mighty Avengers Ares,Sentry, Marvel Boy whom is still residing in the cube plus Daken and gives them new identity's as heroes as well as using one of Tony Starks armor calling himself Iron Patriot. their first mission was to help Doc Doom fight Morgana Le Fay in a fight which involves Sentry killing her only for her to reaper and kill Sentry. the avengers then fight of her minions as Doom and Norman go back in time to trap her in time so she can't reaper again but as the Avengers return they find Sentry waiting for them. Norman then has to go on T.V to talk about the accusations Clint Barton makes about him on live T.V while Moon Stone sleeps with Marvel Boy who is shocked to find out that most of the people on the team are villeins which causes him to leave. Atlantians attack the surface and Norman calls his Cabal together to try to get Namor to give them up to him but he refuses which causes Norman to go into a rage and order Sentry to turn into the Void and kill the terrorists except one which he feeds to venom. It is then shown that the Green Goblin is starting to talk to Norman again
I give this 4 stars out of 5 because although this wasn't as good as New Avengers I still think there is alot to come from this. n Bendis gives us great character dialog as he does with all his team books but in saying this the Dark Avengers aren't your typical team where almost everybody gets along so he has to come up with new ways for them to interact which although are good could have been better at times. The art how ever was fantastic I really have to give it to Deodato my favorite part being when the sentry is seen alive outside Avengers Tower and the look of Fear on Osborns face shows us that he doesn't know what he is getting into paving the steping stones for his next breakdown. I think the only thing that hurt this story for me is that I expected it to be like Warren Elises thunderbolts, Don't make the same mistake I did because this is a great story in its own right and even though they aren't my favorite Avengers and it has the same look and characters as the post Civil War thunderbolts it is enjoyable. This is a really good book and has all the right pieces left out for the next story.
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