Friday, December 18, 2009

Dark Avengers #12

With this issue, you have to wonder if writer Brian Bendis is feeling invulnerable.

That's because he has resorted to the lowest, most desperate solution to being painted into a literary corner - the Deus Ex Machina.

That translates to "God from the machine," and it boils down to this: when a story problem seems impossible to overcome, you simply have God show up and solve it for you. No muss, no fuss.

It's a very difficult trick to manage, and as much as I enjoy Bendis' work, I have to say, he doesn't manage it here at all.

Perhaps it's all part of his overall plan for the comic, but it still feels like a cheat - or at least a cheap trick.

The comic picks up after the Dark Avengers have confronted the Molecule Man. It didn't go well for the team - they've all been (more or less) destroyed, and only the intervention of... well, let's just say God... keeps them from staying that way.

The art, I should quickly interject here, is fantastic. Mike Deodato fills the pages with lush detail, raw emotion, amazing characters and fight sequences, and man can he draw lovely women. He more than carries his half of the comic here (and is the only reason this comic doesn't receive a failing grade), but unfortunately, the best art in the world can't save a really bad story.

What an odd month, where both Geoff Johns and Brian Bendis write one of the worst stories I've ever read by either author. Hopefully they got it out of their system, and things can get back to normal.

Grade: D+

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