Dark Avengers 6

It's been a bad time for Marvel comics lately, and by that, I mean Spider-Man. Amazing Spider-Man is bad, Sinister Spider-Man is worse, and Amazing Spider-Man Family made me sad. Luckily, there's still something good in all of this, for all of you that are sick of my more scathing comic reviews. It is:

Comic Review: Dark Avengers 6



Last time I reviewed one of these, Norman Osborn had put together his team of Avengers from former criminals and the like. After that, they responded to a distress call from Dr. Doom, who Osborn was in league with. They beat some evil magic woman called Morgana Le Fey, who was pissed at Doom because he broke up with her or something. During the battle, the Sentry was apparently killed, but when they returned home, there we was, good as new. While Osborn gave an interview on the TeeVee, Ms. Marvel was gettin' it on with the new Captain Marvel, and revealed to him that they were all criminals, which he didn't know because he really wasn't one. At the end of the issue, we see Atlantean people riding on manta rays and whatnot, attacking Los Angeles.

At the start of this issue, we see Namor, former prince of the now fractured empire of Atlantis, flying out of the sea towards the new Avengers tower. It's a really nice shot, and makes me appreciate the artists who made this.



Anyway, he joins in on the meeting of the Cabal, Osborn's secret evil group of evil people, who are trying to take over the world, or something else just as vague and evil. In it are: Dr. Doom: Ruler of Latveria and Scientist/Magic Man; Emma Frost: Former X-Man, was evil, then good, now apparently evil again; The Hood: A small time crook who hit the big time when all the superheroes were distracted with Civil War; Loki: Norse God of Mischief, turned himself into a woman for reasons I don't understand; and finally, Namor. They're meeting because Osborn wants Namor to publicly denounce the Atlantean terrorists, destroy all but one, then drag that one through the streets as retribution. Namor asks why, and gets a cogent response.



Ignoring that thoroughly polite reason, Namor refuses, so we cut to the next day, in Avengers Tower. Nobody knows where Captain Marvel is, so they ask Ms. Marvel.



Osborn comes in, and tells them all about the situation, and that him and the Sentry are going to kick some Atlantean ass, and the rest will be the second wave if necessary. Osborn's assistant, Victoria Hand, suggests he takes this mission off, because he hasn't slept since he became director of HAMMER. Osborn silently agrees, and proceeds to send only the Sentry. As Sentry is flying away, we see a small flashback-ish thing, with Osborn talking to Sentry right before the mission. He tells the Sentry, "We need him." and "To exact God's wrath on them." Sentry replies thusly.



Osborn says, "Kill them. All but one." We then see shots of Sentry's eyes, entirely black, which I think is a nice effect. The next few pages have no dialogue, just Sentry killing Atlantean shit. He brings up an Atlantean for the press, as Osborn talks to the President about how well it went, etc. Next we see the Atlantean thrown in a cell, where he isn't exactly going to get due process.



Osborn asks Ms. Marvel where "his space alien" is, and freaks out a bit. He walks out of the room, and collapses in Tony's old armor vault. Then the issue ends on an interesting note.



See, Dark Avengers is why I still read Marvel comics. Bryan Michael Bendis is an awesome writer, Mike Deodato and Will Conrad are exemplary on the art, and the story is good. Each character keeps their personalities, it's got action, everything. So yeah, I love Dark Avengers. Even in the face of Cannibal Venom.