Dark Avengers #15: Writer: BENDIS. Artist: Mike Deodato.
Last Issue: 7 1/2 out of 10.
If you've read the Siege: The Cabal one shot from a few weeks(months?)back, then you know what went on through most of this comic, because this issue is just a rehash of those events. Here's the short form: Doom and Osborn have a disagreement over Namor being kicked out of the Cabal. Osborn threatens Doom with the Void, Doom doesn't back down, and the Void destroys Doom. We then learn that it wasn't actually Doom, but a Doombot, and the Doombot unleashes a swarm of nanites, which proceed to tear apart Avengers Tower. These events lead to Osborn evacuating the Tower, which is where the new stuff picks up. While evacuating, Bullseye takes the Sentry's wife on a private helicopter, and as per Osborn's instructions, he kills her, tossing her corpse into the Atlantic Ocean. After the mess with Doom is cleaned up, Bullseye returns to the Tower and tells the Sentry that his wife committed suicide rather then be with him, since she was terrified of him. The Sentry turns into the Void, attacks Bullseye, but is ultimately convinced by Osborn that Bullseye wasn't in the wrong. With that, the Sentry leaves to mourn, and Osborn gives Bullseye the, “good job” look, which Osborn's right hand woman, Victoria Hand picks up on, ending this issue.
Meh. There really wasn't NEARLY enough new content in this comic to justify the $3.99 cover price, since most of this comic dealt with events that I've already seen play out in the Siege: The Cabal comic... Not only that, but man was BENDIS in one of his bad dialogue moods... Ugh! Here's an example of what I most dislike about BENDIS'S writing style. During the scene where the Dark Avengers are evacuating the Tower, Moonstone, Venom and Daken have the following exchange about getting the Quinjet airborn.
Moonstone: Why isn't this thing working?? Venom: You have to turn the blue thing. Moonstone: I turned the blue thingy. Daken: I can fly it. Get out of the way. You had it on emergency lockdown. Moonstone: No, I didn't. Daken: Then how did it get in emergency lockdown? Moonstone: I don't even know what that is. Daken: Everyone in your seats. Where to, Ms. Hand?
And it keeps going on from there! It's just inane dialogue that adds nothing to the story... It's simply there to fill up the page, which(to me anyway)is such a waste of my time. Further the story, or develop the characters, don't just put dialogue for the sake of putting dialogue. Exactly what did that exchange accomplish? That Moonstone can't fly a Quinjet, but that Daken can? Couldn't that have been accomplished with much fewer words? And why exactly did we need to know that anyway? I don't know, to me it seemed like BENDIS really didn't have anything to do with this comic, besides killing off the Sentry's wife, so he just filled this comic with scenes from a comic that came out a while ago, as well as throwing in tons of annoying dialogue... On the plus side, the art was REALLY well done, and as most of my regulars know, I hardly ever notice the art in a comic. To me, Mike Deodato's artwork really made this comic tolerable.
Score: 5 out of 10.
You've got to love Taskmaster's reaction to the Void.Thunderbolts #142: Writer: Jeff Parker. Pencils: Wellinton Alves.
Last Issue: 8 out of 10.
This entire issue revolves around the battle between the Thunderbolts and some of the Mighty Avengers(Vision, Stature, Amadeus Cho and US Agent), as they all attempt to get their hands on Odin's Spear, which is on par with Thor's hammer when it comes to ultra powerful Asgardian weaponry. The T-Bolts are under orders to retrieve the Spear and get it to Osborn, while the Avengers want to make sure that doesn't happen. So after many pages of fisticuffs, as well as the reveal that the leader of the T-Bolts, Headman, is actually Nuke, the entire city of Asgard begins to crumble thanks to the Sentry's attack in Siege #3. After all of the dust has cleared, US Agent comes to and realizes that the Spear landed right next to him after the fall of Asgard. Agent goes to grab the Spear, but before he can, Nuke procures it, stabs Agent with it and this issue concludes with Nuke declaring that the Spear is now the property of Norman Osborn and HAMMER.
I enjoy a good all out fight as much as the next guy, and this issue gave me that. The art was crisp, and the dialogue didn't get in the way of the story(unlike in Dark Avengers #15), it added to it. The only thing I can honestly say I didn't like was that tool, Amadeus Cho, defeating Mr. X in battle... The same Mr. X who handed Wolverine his ass... Yeah, that definitely didn't work for me. Besides that, I enjoyed everything else about this comic, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Jeez, Nuke must be challenging Magneto's record for most times returned from the dead!
Lol man, I don't know if I should've suggested it if the reviews are taking a hit. :P
ReplyDeleteI just want everybody to know, if my reviews start to slack off, blame JT! It's all his fault! :-)
ReplyDeleteLol I knew that was coming :P I didn't make you play, it was just a suggestion!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that Mr. X is back in the Wolverine books...the Frank Tieri run that introduced that character is one of my absolute favorite Wolverine stories. :)
ReplyDeleteNo JT, you MADE me play it... If I remember our conversation right, you practically threatened me, telling me that I had better get that game... Or else! And being a spineless jerry fish, I meekly went along... Yep, that's how it happened!
ReplyDeleteWow Marc, you're impressing me more and more everyday! I also loved that run, and most of Frank's work for that matter. Out of curiousity, did you ever happen to read Frank's Weapon X series?
I've read part, but not all, of Weapon X. I remember the Agent Zero one-shot being particularly good, but beyond that I don't remember a whole lot. That series started around the time I left comics, and by the time I got back in it was just about finished. They only ended up collecting the first two arcs in trade, otherwise I probably would have read it by now.
ReplyDeleteYeah, when I got back into collecting, Weapon X was still an ongoing, but was probably 17 or 18 issues in. So I did pick up the two trades and any loose issue I missed out of. Considering what it was, that was a damn good series.
ReplyDeleteI've wanted to read it for quite a while, so thanks for reminding me. I've always wondered about the final fate of the Director and Brent Jackson, so it should be really interesting. I'm also curious as to how Agent Zero got from the point he was at the beginning of that series to where he is now (the last time I saw him was at the beginning of Jason Aaron's Wolverine: Weapon X series).
ReplyDeleteI know they did a mini-series after the series was cancelled which pretty much wrapped up a lot of the loose ends, probably including Agent Jackson and the Director. As for Agent Zero, I know he appeared in a few issues of Wolverine Origins a while back, but since I'm not sure how much you know about him, or if you know who his alter-ego is, I'm not going to say anything else!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've heard of that series, Days of Future Present I believe it was called. I heard good things about it, but I think a lot of people were confused because they didn't understand that it was basically supposed to be a wrap-up for the Weapon X series.
ReplyDeleteI found out who Agent Zero really was maybe a year ago, and I was quite surprised since the last time I had seen him (in Wolverine #176, if I recall correctly) he looked pretty dead. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to finding out exactly what happened there.
Oh well, as long as you admit that you're a spineless jellyfish and I'm awesome I guess you're right my friend. In other words, I'm Deadpool and you're Agent X, which makes me 1000% more awesome.
ReplyDeleteMy bad, I'm pretty sure it was Wolverine #175. I think 176 was the flashback/dream issue with Rose (from the Origin miniseries), which was also the last issue (sort of) of the Tieri/Chen run.
ReplyDeleteHey, I don't remember mentioning that you were awesome, JT! :p
ReplyDeleteSo it's safe to say that he was going by the Maverick identity again in the Wolverine: Weapon X series, Marc? There's actually a story in the Weapon X comic that kind of explains a lot of what happened and why he turned back, but you really have to know your obscure Marvel heroes to fully understand the whole story! I'm horrible with numbers and stuff... When you have as many comics as I have, you start to lose track of individual issues... I mean I know I have the Mr. X storyline, but if you were to ask me in which Wolvie comics it took place, I wouldn't be able to tell you!
You don't have to dude, I know it's an unspoken thing between us that I'm awesome. Lol
ReplyDeleteActually, he was still dressed pretty much the way he was as Agent Zero, minus the mask. But I think Wolverine called him by his real name or something, which is how I figured out who he is. That was actually the first time I realized he wasn't dead...so I went on Wikipedia to see what happened, and discovered that he had been Agent Zero.
ReplyDeleteI remember issue contents by covers usually, and oftentimes I can associate a cover with a number. It was a lot easier before comics started getting renumbered left and right, but I do what I can. In this case, I remembered that the issue I was thinking of had a nice Sabretooth cover by J.H. Williams III, but I was off on the numbers at first thought.
Man JT, I don't know what I could possibly say to that!
ReplyDeleteHuh, that's weird, because in the Wolvie Origin comics he showed up in, he was in his full Maverick outfit. Maybe he did that because Omega Red was there and he was feeling old school or something. That's EXACTLY how I remember issue content. I actually had a similar conversation with another blogger about that very thing. I equate covers and time-periods with storylines and events nowadays, although I can still give the name and numbers of the comics I owned when I was a kid, as well as which characters appeared inside!
Just remember that in this world, there's life, there's love, and there's JT. And all are Awesome. ;)
ReplyDelete"Just remember that in this world, there's life, there's love, and there's JT. And all are Awesome." Best quote EVER!!!
ReplyDeleteLol that's so off the top of my head dude, just typed it as it came. But Thanks lol
ReplyDelete