Thursday, February 19, 2009

Dark Avengers #2

Now that the first issue set-up is out of the way, we have a new team of Avengers working for Norman (Iron Patriot) Osborn.

The catch being that the team is almost entirely made up of villains who are disguised as heroes. In the second issue, writer Brian Bendis gives the Dark Avengers a worthy opponent: the sorceress Morgana Le Fey, who apparently has decided to get her revenge on Dr. Doom and unleashes a blistering attack on him.

The team shows up for battle, and almost immediately something very shocking happens.

And let me just say, I hope the high price tag ($3.99) keeps young readers away, because there's at least one truly disturbing splash page that's a bit much for young ones.

I'd also like to know: what's the deal with the way writers are treating Dr. Doom? Brian Bendis had the Mighty Avengers defeat and capture Doom several months back - something that should almost never happen - and then in Fantastic Four Mark Millar has Doom captured by a new Defenders team - and now Le Fay shows up and smacks him around.

Doom is Marvel's top villain and an incredibly capable character. He should be virtually impossible to beat - and now it's happened three times in a year. Enough, already! These are obviously Doombots - just ask Walt Simonson.

The art in this issue is terrific, as Mike Deodato supplies some amazing images here.

I'm not sure I can recommend this comic - it's not bad, but it's totally without a redeeming character, and when you find yourself rooting for Le Fey to win, you know there's something wrong.

I'm going to hang in for a while longer - but like the "grim and gritty" phase, this story is starting to wear thin already.

Grade: B

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