Daken: Dark Wolverine #3

Overall: So last issue Possessed Wolverine(who is rapidly becoming my favorite new villain)killed Daken after Daken tried to defend Mystique from good ol' Possessed Wolvie. Mystique attacks Possessed Wolvie, but can't do any damage to the hellspawn. Mystique continues to change into various different forms, but no matter what she does, she can't make a dent in the uber-powerful Possessed Wolvie. Eventually the police arrive on the scene, drawing Possessed Wolvie's attention, while also giving Mystique the opportunity to escape. Once outside, Mystique morphs into a different form and curses herself for developing feelings for Daken. From there, Possessed Wolvie gives one final look at Daken's remains before setting the entire restaurant ablaze. This brings us to a flashback sequence, where Romulus is telling a very young Daken that he must never allow himself the luxury of caring for anybody but himself, and that the best way to rule the world is from the shadows. After the flashback, we head back to the present, where Possessed Wolvie is talking to Daken(!?), who obviously didn't die in the fire. Daken tells Possessed Wolvie that killing Mystique wasn't a part of the deal they had, and Possessed Wolvie taunts Daken, asking him how he liked being lied to. Daken goes to attack Possessed Wolvie, but is easily tossed aside. Possessed Wolvie tells Daken that one day he'll collect on the favor he's owed for “killing” Daken before leaving. With that, Daken stands alone on the rooftop and realizes that to the world, he was dead, meaning he could go about manipulating events in the same manner as his teacher Romulus had done, from behind the scenes. This issue ends with Johnny Storm(the Human Torch)learning that Daken had “died” and calling Mr. Fantastic with the news. It seems that before his “death”, Daken had gone to the Fantastic Four and told them that if he was ever murdered, they should hunt down... Well we don't get to find out who just yet.

Wooo baby, now THIS is what I'd call an awesome comic! I wasn't a fan of the last issue at all, but this issue MORE than made up for the last issue! There was so much good here, I'm not quite sure where to begin heaping my praise! First off, the flashback scene was beautifully done, and gave a wonderful insight into why Daken is the way he is. Then there's Daken's master plan of “dying”. It was brilliantly done, and in one fell swoop, he convinced Mystique that he had died, who would almost undoubtedly tell the X-Men/Wolverine(when he comes back to life), as well as tricking the Fantastic Four, who he smartly started up a relationship with during the old Dark Wolverine series. By convincing Johnny that he was dead, Daken had convinced the FF he was dead, meaning the FF, being connected to pretty much EVERYBODY in the Marvel Universe, would spread the word. Daken literally left NO loose ends. As far as the Marvel Universe is concerned, he is dead, leaving him able to pull whatever strings he wants to pull from the shadows. I guess if I have one gripe, it would be that with Daken being “dead”, there's no hopes for a full blown Daken/Mystique relationship. I guess that's one small price to pay for what was otherwise a fantastic comic.

Score: 10 out of 10.Hey, a perfect score deserves at least two scans!