Daken: Dark Wolverine #4

Review: We begin this issue in the Baxter Building, where the various members of the Fantastic Four are discussing the “death” of Daken. While that conversation is on everybody's lips, the lights are killed in the building(which Reed can't believe)and Sue and Reed are attacked by a chain-wielding goon. Needless to say, a guy with a chain, even in the dark, is no real match for Reed and Sue, and the chain goon gets laid out. The two heroes turn around and discover another goon holding a gun to the head of their drugged son, Franklin. By this point, Thing has arrived on the scene, and the goon with the gun tells Reed and company that if they don't get out of his way he'd shoot Franklin. Before anything else can happen, the goon with the gun is slashed by a pair of claws, which frees Franklin and fells the goon. Sue pulls Franklin over with one of her force fields, while Thing goes after the guy with the claws, even though Reed tells him to lay off. Finally, the forth member of the Fantastic Four arrives, and Johnny torches(heh heh)the guy with claws, until he realizes that he was wailing away on Daken, and that the other two goons had gotten away. Later on, Daken explains to the FF that he wasn't really dead(duh), but that he was going to try to take advantage of the news of his demise to try to start his life over again, this time without the specter of Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers hanging over his head. Thing questions if Daken had anything to do with the two goons who attacked the Baxter Building earlier, and Daken claims innocence, stating that he just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Daken admits to the team that he actually came for a reason, explaining that he wanted to try to stay hidden from the people who had tried to kill him, but that once he popped his claws, his cover would be blown. Reed solves that by giving Daken a glove that creates a set of energy claws, thus making it so that Daken wouldn't have to use his own claws. From there, Daken thanks the FFers and goes on his way, leaving Reed behind to wonder whether Daken had pulled the wool over all of their eyes. From there, Daken gets on a boat and heads to Madripoor, looking at some small device he stole from the Baxter Building while he was there. While looking at the device, Daken spots a newspaper stating that Captain America(Bucky)was also the Winter Soldier, the same Winter Soldier who had murdered Daken's mother while he was still in her womb. This issue ends with Daken promising to get his revenge on Bucky, but first, deciding to take control of Madripoor.

Thoughts: Well, Daken is one of my favorite comic book characters, as evidenced by the fact that I gave Dark Wolverine my favorite Ongoing Series of 2010 award, and Daniel Way won my Favorite Writer of 2010 award, so it should go without saying that I did enjoy this comic... Just not as much as I would have hoped. It was an okay comic, but I expect better with this character and this writer than just okay. I understand why Daken headed to the FF, but I liked the idea that NOBODY knew that Daken was still alive, so I was a bit unhappy that Daken revealed his existence to the FF. It seems pretty obvious that Daken set up the attack on the Baxter Building, and I think Reed suspected as much, although he didn't want to come right out and say it considering the fact that Johnny had become so close with Daken. As for Daken, he received the gauntlet that would simulate his claws, as well as whatever the small device he stole was. So yes, this was a solid comic, but I'll be hoping this series heads back into its usual perfect score territory come next issue.

Score: 7 out of 10.Yes, I laughed aloud at Daken's line to Ben...