Dark Reign begins
For the past 8 or 9 months, I've been hating and slamming Secret Invasion every issue it came out. But, it looks like the horrible storyline Secret Invasion is actually bringing us something good. This issue chronicles the meeting of the "Dark Illimuinati". First and most badass of the members is Dr.Doom. Bendis writes Doom here beautifully and Alex Maleev illistrates him really well. From the beginning of the meeting Doom has almost everything under control. Next is Namor the submariner. This issue was the worst interpretation of Namor on both sides. He is supposed to be regal and is not supposed to look like a bumb. Next is Loki. I'm not a big Loki fan and don't follow Thor but I liked her here. Then comes the Hood. I loved the hood's storyline in New Avengers, but here he looks like a bum who has no business being in this meeting. Last but certinally not least is Emma Frost. I had my concerns that she would go back to being a villian, but that doesn't happen at all. Bendis gives me a clear and understandable reason as to why she should be in this group and I love her in this issue. Osborn is one of my favorite villians and is always badass, but Maleev's art didn't look like Norman. This issue does provide hints to Dark Reign with the Shadowed friend of Norman's, the bad year to come for Tony Stark, and the lineup of the Dark Avengers. I thought the Swordsman sequence was bad. I've hated what Ellis did with him in Caged Angels and we already knew Osborn was insane. We also get previews to Secret Warriors, Agents of Atlas, and War Machine. All three look great. Overall, a great jumping on point for Dark Reign if you can get past some of the bad charecterization and art.
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