-This issue begins with Daken masterfully messing with Ares' mind with but a few simple words(along with his phenomenal powers). Daken causes Ares to believe that the Fantastic Four made him look like a fool two issues back. After fooling around with Ares, Daken bumps into Venom and gives him practically the same speech about the FF.
-Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four are meeting with Osborn, who is showing them the footage he captured of the Thing pulverizing Daken outside the Baxter Building last issue. Osborn tells the FF that if they don't turn all of Reed's research over to him he'll have them all arrested for assaulting a government employee(Daken)and he'll have their children sent to the worst foster home he can find.
-Flashback time! We learn that while Daken was in the Baxter Building talking with the FF the prior day he agreed to allow the Thing to beat on him, figuring that would allow Reed access to Osborn's office(so Osborn could gloat over the footage). With Reed in Osborn's office, he would be able to plant a bug in Osborn's computer that would download all of Osborn's nefarious schemes to Reed's computers back at the Baxter Building.
-Back in the present, Reed turns Osborn's offer down and Osborn repeatedly threatens the team. Before the FF can leave though, Ares and Venom attack the foursome against the wishes of Osborn. During the battle, Osborn notices that his computer has been compromised and he immediately destroys it.
-While Ares and Venom are duking it out with the FF in Osborn's office, Daken is happily strolling through the halls of Avengers Tower, content with the carnage he created. Not far from Osborn's office, Daken is struck by an arrow right in his upper thigh. Bullseye walks over and taunts Daken, who continues to play mind games with the deranged Bullseye, even with an arrow lodged in his thigh. Bullseye explains that the arrow is tipped with explosives and that he's had enough of Daken and his sick games.
-Before Bullseye can push the plunger to set off the explosives, Osborn's office doors blow off, striking both Daken and Bullseye. The FF begin to retreat, but Reed spots Daken with the explosive tipped arrow precariously close to his groin. Reed makes a move to help Daken, but Daken tells him to leave, stating that the information he downloaded from Osborn's computer was more important than he is. Reed hesitates, but finally leaves when Daken assures him Osborn wouldn't allow anything to happen to Daken. As the FF head out, Bullseye detonates the arrow to the horror of the retreating FF.
-Upon returning to the Baxter Building, Reed discovers Osborn managed to delete everything from his hard drive, meaning Reed didn't get the smoking gun he was hoping to find on Osborn's computer. However, that also means the footage of Ben beating Daken up was also deleted, meaning Osborn no longer held anything over the head of the FF.
-Finally we head back to Avengers Tower, where Daken regains consciousness several days later. Moonstone, who was sitting at his bedside, tells Daken that Bullseye was mainly unharmed in the explosion, but that Osborn was upset with his actions. However, she tells Daken that Osborn is incensed with Ares and Venom for attacking the FF against his wishes. After some mild flirting, Moonstone exits the room. Daken grabs his phone from the nightstand and discovers that Reed sent him an encrypted message basically thanking Daken for all of his help and telling him that the FF is in his debt. Daken happily lays back in his bed with the knowledge that in one fell swoop he manged to get Bullseye, Ares and Venom on Osborn's bad side while secretly allying himself with Moonstone and the FF.
Damn do I love this series! I've been a fan of Daken from the start(Daniel did a sweet job with his initial appearances in Wolverine: Origins), but I wasn't sure if his character was ready for a solo series. Boy was I ever wrong! The first three issues of Dark Wolverine have been spectacular! The twists, the turns, the machinations, and of course, the puppet-master himself, Daken have made this series into one of my favorite monthly Marvel books. Seriously! I get that this comic(and Daken)isn't for everybody, but this series hits all of the right notes for me.
To me, Daken is infinitely more interesting than his brawling, berserker of a father. While Wolverine is apt to enter a situation claws flailing, Daken would study the same situation from top to bottom before deciding exactly how he could cause the maximum amount of damage when he decides to make his move. And now I'm going to do something I've never done before. For a score, I'm going to give this comic a 10 out of 10, a perfect score. The past three comics I've read and reviewed, Daredevil #500, Flash: Rebirth #4 and Dark Wolverine #77 have all been granted perfect scores. That has never happened before, and I strongly doubt it will ever happen again. What a great run of books I've had lately!
Daken once again proves that his most dangerous weapon isn't his claws, it's his brain.
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