Captain America #603, Dark Wolverine #83 & Dark X-Men #4

Wow, it's already the first day of March... Nothing too exciting going on with me, I ordered a bunch of comics I didn't need earlier today, comics I probably won't get around to reading for months, but what else is new? Oh yeah, in other comic book related news, it seems Superman has already been dethroned... Who took his place? Why Batman of course! Since I'm going to bet most of you have NO idea what I'm babbling about, click here and all will be revealed to you. I'll be checking out a couple of my favorite Marvel comics tonight, but fear not DC faithful, over at my other blog(which you can conveniently find here)I'll be starting Wonder Woman week up. All right, enough talk, let's get to the reviews! Now with extra X-Man!

Captain America #603: Writer: Ed Brubaker. Pencils: Luke Ross.

We open by reliving some of the life of Bad Cap, and get into what's bothering him about America(it's not the 1950's anymore!). Bad Cap gets updated by some of his Watchdogs as to how Bucky's training is progressing, and the Watchdogs tell Bad Cap that it seems Bucky is deliberately trying to downplay his skills, which just confirms Bucky's identity to Bad Cap. We get a quick scene showing Bucky and Falcon attacking a few of the Watchdogs(I guess so we know Falcon is still hanging around)before we head back to Bucky's Watchdog training sessions. Bucky decides to make his move late one night, and he sneaks into Bad Cap's command tent in order to try to figure out what Bad Cap's plan was, but he is surprised to find Bad Cap standing there waiting for him. Bucky attacks and trounces Bad Cap, which causes Bucky to realize that he wasn't fighting the real Bad Cap, just a lookalike. Bucky figures out that Bad Cap must be after Falcon, and rushes out of the tent, only to be met by at least 50 Watchdogs training their guns on him. Falcon is returning to his hotel room, when he is confronted by several Watchdogs, which causes him to try to take the fight outside. Before getting outside, Falcon runs into Bad Cap, who pretty much beats the living hell out of Falcon, leaving him lying in the street. This issue ends with one of the Watchdogs, a scientist, telling Bad Cap that they should return Falcon to their base so they could remove the Vibranium from Falcon's wing systems, which they could then use to create a devastatingly powerful bomb.

This was a pretty good comic. The story is moving along at a brisk pace, and we now know what Bad Cap's plan is(creating a mega-powerful Vibranium bomb). This was definitely a set-up issue, but it does a good job of making Bad Cap and his Watchdogs look very strong, setting up for what should be an explosive confrontation between Bad Cap and Bucky down the road.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.How can't you like a character whose idea of a battle plan is, "Rush in and get captured."?

Dark Wolverine #83: Writers: Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu. Pencils: Giuseppe Camuncoli.

This issue picks up directly where last issue left off, with Daken killing Norman Osborn during the Siege of Asgard. Daken taunts Osborn's corpse for a while, before he is interrupted by three strange women who claim to be Asgardian Fates. The Fates tell Daken that he really hadn't killed Osborn, he had only imagined it, which is what drew them to him. They then talk cryptically and disappear, leaving Daken standing next to the alive and well Osborn feeling pretty confused... Oh boy, it's going to be one of THOSE comics... Osborn gets annoyed by Daken's inattention and sends him to hunt down Thor as a punishment. Daken finds Thor, and before anything can happen, he is pulled out of reality by the Fates, who explain that they want to create Ragnarok, and that they feel Daken is the human who would be able to cause that event to occur. Daken gets pissed that the Fates are trying to use him to do their bidding, and he warns them that if he was to bring about Ragnarok, it would be on his terms, not theirs. Upset by Daken, the Fates disappear, and Daken gets sent back to his body, which had been charbroiled by Thor's lightning. As Daken regains consciousness, he spots Osborn flying around in the sky above him, which angers Daken. This issue ends with the Fates, who are still miffed about Daken's actions towards them, deciding to punish Daken by forcing him to live through his greatest fear.

Well, the streak is over! The last two issues of Dark Wolverine had gotten 10 out of 10's from me, and although this issue was good, it certainly wasn't a perfect comic book. I'm obviously not surprised that Daken imagined killing Osborn, because like I said last issue, there is NO way Marvel was going to kill Osborn off in an issue of Dark Wolverine. When and if Osborn goes, it will be in the main Siege mini-series, not an x-over issue. Although not perfect anymore, I'd still consider this series among Marvel's best titles, hands down.

Score: 8 out of 10.Yeah, I've said it before, but I think I should say it again, Daken is one hell of a great character.

Dark X-Men #4(of 5): Writer: Paul Cornell. Pencils: Leonard Kirk.

This issue begins with Nate Grey(who is currently in possession of Norman Osborn's body)telling Mystique that he wouldn't be bowing down to her demands. Nate tells Mystique that he'd consider helping her remove the bomb Osborn implanted in her head only if she proved herself to him by redeeming herself. While the two are talking, Osborn momentarily regains control of his body, but is swiftly replaced by Nate. Nate explains that he has a lot of work ahead of him as he decides that he is going to try to right all of Osborn's wrongs, and as such, he tells Mystique that if she were to run away, he wouldn't try to stop her. Instead of running away, Mystique decides to alert her fellow Dark X-Men as to what has transpired, and they all begin to panic at the prospect of Nate controlling things. Ultimately, Mystique calms them down long enough for her to reveal her plan to them. What is that plan? I'll get back to that in a bit. We next go inside the mind of Norman Osborn, where he and Nate are having an arm wrestling contest to determine who would take control of Osborn's body... Yeah, really! Osborn explains to Nate that he doesn't need to defeat him, only stalemate him long enough for somebody to figure out what had happened, so that one of Osborn's many colleagues could eject Nate from his brain. While that is going on, Mystique and the Dark X-Men head to the Psi-division of HAMMER and with the help of one of HAMMER's telepaths, the Dark X-Men enter the astral plane in search of Osborn's mind. Back in Osborn's mind, Osborn begins to get the upper-hand on Nate, but surprisingly, Nate doesn't seem at all bothered by that, in fact, he informs Osborn that everything was going exactly as he had planned... The Dark X-Men find Osborn's mind, and arrive in a large dungeon, which is where they assume Nate had trapped Osborn's consciousness. Osborn begins to panic, as he realizes where the Dark X-Men were, and Nate takes advantage of Osborn's panic by pressing his attack. This issue ends with the Dark X-Men breaking open a large locked door in Osborn's mind revealing his Green Goblin persona!

Yet another very good comic book! I've been pretty lucky with the books I've been reading as of late! This issue was a little bit more comedic then the last three issues(Nate and Osborn arm wrestling to see who would have control of Osborn's body?!?), but that didn't take away from the story at all. All of the important characters(Nate, Osborn, Mystique and Dark Beast)were all acting perfectly in character, which is always a major plus, and the art and story blended together nicely. All in all, I have no major complaints. Now, with only one more issue left, I have to wonder what will become of my favorite character upon the end of this mini-series... As of right now, I'm going to guess that Nate gets ejected from Osborn's mind, and ends up returning to the astral plane as dissipated energy again. If that were to happen, I can't say I'd be overly disappointed, because if Nate was able to return to life once from that state, there's no reason to believe he wouldn't be able to do it again. In a perfect world, this mini would end with Nate leaving Osborn's body, creating a new body for himself and leaving with the Dark X-Men, although with Mystique's actions this issue, I think that would be a bit of a stretch. Regardless of what happens here, I can at least be happy with the fact that for at least 5 issues, Nate Grey was alive and kicking ass again, which is all I ever really wanted...

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.You know, I'm really going to miss this mini-series when it ends... Where else can I read about Norman Osborn and Nate Grey having an arm wrestling contest?