Bendis has always been pretty good at leading into big crossover events. With a clear flashpoint in mind, Bendis can expertly weave together a story and character motivations across several books with the kind of skill matched by no-one else in the industry. It’s only when the story actually gets moving that things become somewhat mired.

Luckily, this issue is squarely in the former category as the first official lead-in to Siege, Marvel’s next big crossover. Although given the title of “Cabal”, it’s squarely a Norman Osborn character piece. Indeed, the group itself bears a fairly scant relationship to the anti-Illuminati established in the wake of Secret Invasion – and rightly so. A group of double-dealing, back-stabbing, self-interested villains couldn’t help but come apart at the seams, and it’s fitting that the in-fighting and arrogance has taken such a toll on the group mere months after its inception.

The conflicts that are established (or re-established) within these pages form the spine of the forthcoming event, and on that level it’s a massive success. Points, too, for seeing Bendis actually remember that Osborn is merely the head of HAMMER under the jurisdiction of the US government rather than a fully autonomous body. The parallels drawn here between both the dissolution of the Illuminati and the start of “Civil War” are entirely appropriate and subtly established, with Bendis, as ever, keeping the focus on conversational back and forth even when the mandatory action scene gets going.

Even the appearance of Michael Lark, providing artwork, it’s echoes a previous meeting of the “good” Illuminati, with Lark capable of exactly the same kind of scratchy, serious artwork that Maleev brought to the “New Avengers: Illuminati” several years ago. Lark, though, has a far better grip on the action scenes than Maleev had back then, and it’s a virtual revelation to see Lark taking on some more conventional superheroics after becoming very familiar with his street-level work on Daredevil. Although tasked with drawing some particularly difficult images (I’d love to have seen the descriptions for some of those Sentry panels) Lark makes every page look effortlessly simply. It’s a side of his work that I wasn’t familiar with, and certainly a welcome one.

Although not exactly the beginning of the Siege event, Seige: The Cabal #1 manages to do all it needs to, and more. It works both as a one-stop story for those who want to catch up with the Dark Reign mythos to read Siege, and as a discrete chapter connecting the current status quo with the forthcoming event. The only bad part? Getting to the end and seeing all the comics on the “Siege Checklist”. Once again, Bendis is going into full event-mode with the Avengers titles, with Thunderbolts and Thor both joining in. Like it or not, there’s going to be a lot of Siege in my comics for the next few months…

Secret Invasion managed to noticeably dull my enthusiasm for New Avengers, and while it wasn’t terrible, the “Sorcerer Supreme” arc that followed didn’t do a whole lot to put the shine back on things. However, the arrival of Stuart Immonen on art, combined with Bendis re-focusing some of the action back on Luke Cage, has re-energised the title to this extent. Indeed, New Avengers #59 is the best issue for quite some time.

Part of that is because the Hood has finally been pushed to the background a little, and once again it’s the Avengers that take the spotlight. For most of this year, New Avengers has been a little too heavy on The Hood, so seeing the heroes actually starring in their own book is probably far more refreshing than it should be.

It’s not just that, though – the events of the issue move at a surprisingly rapid pace, and as a slightly grumpy comics fan who remembers when you got a whole story every issue, I’m to see someone using the 22-page format as a well-defined, stand-alone chapter, rather than an arbitrarily-enforced serialisation constraint. This issue is firmly about the rescue of Luke Cage, and takes that idea from conception to execution in one 22-page story. If this is the way Bendis is going to take his writing in the future, then the days of decompression are quite definitively on their way out.

But enough about the format – it’s the events of the issue that truly make it feel like an inventive read, as the Avengers take a leaf out of the villains’ book and deploy their own tactics against them. Now that the tide of authority has turned, it’s nice to see this kind of idea being explored, and for a change it gives almost all of the cast members a distinct opportunity to get involved. The large number of guest stars doesn’t even detract from that, and indeed, if anything it brings back the feeling that New Avengers used to have of being on the leading edge of the Marvel Universe.

Although decompression is off the table, Bendis’ usual stylistic tics don’t go entirely un-noticed – for some reason, he’s recently decided that Bucky-Cap should use slightly out-of-date vocabulary, which doesn’t make much sense given that the character has been continuously alive for decades, and at the same time puts him at odds with his depiction elsewhere. Still, in fairness, it just about works if you take this series in isolation, and at least it prevents him from sounding like every other character in the book.

After all that, the biggest complaint I have about the issue is actually the cover. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great – possibly my favourite Marvel cover of the year – but it suggests a story far more interesting than the one we actually got. It’s strange to come away from an issue this good feeling a little let down, but when you make a cover that striking and memorable, it’d be nice if the issue’s contents could remotely reflect it!

Given the criticism that this arc of the New Avengers has attracted, I expected to find myself in a minority when it came to this issue, as I’m fond of a number of the elements on show here. While I’d still maintain that the book’s receiving some unnecessary stick at the moment, I do find myself unexpectedly in agreement with a general complaint about recent comics, and one that I previously thought I’d remain detached from.

The hunt for Doctor Strange’s successor isn’t going well, with the Avengers still one step behind the Hood in perusing the new sorcerer supreme. Strange is out of his depth in these circumstances, but a number of events fortunately giving away the location of Robins’ target. Despite the criticism that Billy Tan’s art has attracted, his style here manages to successfully convey the nighttime setting without loosing any clarity from events. His talent for action sequences serves him well here, with the silhouetted fight between Spider-Woman and Madame Masque being particularly striking. Brian Bendis also goes to some lengths to avoid the issue being pure combat, with effort taken to show Strange as being out of his depth and a welcome continuation of the fallout from Peter Parker’s unmasking and its effect on Luke Cage. Although readers of this arc alone might be rather nonplussed by the cliffhanger, the character that appears was used in the book not too long ago, and provides a welcome twist to the plot.

In summary, this is a book of quality, and a reader who has never been that intrigued by the Thunderbolts concept, it presently appeals to me the most of the three Avengers titles on the market. The general complaint that I mentioned is one of price. It may be old news, but at the time I wasn’t too concerned about the raising of the entry charge for many of Marvel’s books to $3:99. The difference seemed minimal, and wasn’t enough to deter me from any of the books I picked up regularly. New Avengers #53 is a solid comic, but not the sort of exceptional venture that I’d find myself willing to hand over £3:15 to read, when I could be getter better value for money from another title. I’ve no particular attachment to any of the characters here, and I can experience better work from this writer elsewhere. If this price rise becomes permanent, I can now see the reason for concern about the behaviour of “casual” readers.

Finally, the Dark Avengers meet the New Avengers for the match-up you’ve been waiting for!

Or rather… they don’t. You can colour me slightly miffed that the meeting I was looking forward to – the one that was advertised in all the material and on the cover of the book – DIDN’T ACTUALLY HAPPEN. It makes complete sense, of course, and shows exactly how formidable Osborn is now that he’s in a position of power, but, well, it’s not exactly the comic that was advertised…

That aside, there’s much to love about the issue. The issue does, at least, feature the New Avengers reacting to the first appearance of the “Dark” Avengers, and that scene plays out with some of Bendis’ funniest dialogue for ages – although Phillip Tan’s artwork for the same scene leaves much to be desired. As improved as Tan is, he’s not really in the same league as the book’s previous artists. On a title like New Avengers, readers deserve top artistry.

On some level Marvel do understand that – this issue, extra-sized, has a unique gimmick of having single page character focusses during the big fight scene, drawn by artists associated with that character, including some brilliant spidey art by McNiven and an always-welcome glimpse of Gaydos drawing Jessica Jones. It’s a unique approach to a fight scene, and a welcome “event” to mark the book’s 50th issue – even if that does mean seeing some of Greg “got the” Horn’s laughable attempts at rendering an interior page.

Of course, as good as the plot is, and as special as the extra artwork is, there’s one fact that deeply overshadows this entire issue, and that’s the price. If part of you doesn’t wince at the idea of paying $4.99 for an issue of New Avengers, then, well, you’re lucky that you’re rich enough not to care. I used to pride myself on buying comics with scant regard for how much it actually cost – but when one comic costs almost 4 quid, it’s genuinely hard not to complain. I actually bought a *NEW* TPB containing 8 issues of Fantastic Four for less than twice that price. I don’t want to stop buying singles, I’m sure Marvel don’t want me to stop buying singles, but this is getting ridiculous.

As someone who was immediately enthusiastic about Dark Avengers, it’s good to see that the second issue holds up well to the first. The main draw, initially, was finding out who was on the team, and how they got there. The second issue… well, that’s where the fun needs to start. Especially since Dark Avengers is one of Marvel’s $3.99 ongoings, I’m expecting a LOT of entertainment from this series.

And entertainment is what I got. Without spoiling it, there’s at least one moment in this issue that utterly blew my mind.  There’s not an Avengers fan around who wouldn’t have the same reaction to that scene. If Dark Avengers keeps up this level of consistency then I can almost begin to forgive the price tag.

After introducing the cast one at a time last issue, Bendis takes the opportunity to show them interacting a bit this time, with particular amusement being generated by Moonstone wondering exactly who Daken is, no doubt speaking with the voice of thousands of Dark Avengers readers. Bullseye gets some great dialogue too. The danger with using villains as your cast members is that many of them have poorly-defined characters, so it’s nice to see them getting a little time to be rounded out a bit.

Bendis is also avoiding – so far – the obvious reformation trope. The danger with villains is that the more you establish them as characters, the more sympathetic they become. So far, none of these characters want to reform, they’re just glad to be on top for a change.

If you’re not a Bendis fan, there’s little here that’s going to convince you to give the book a chance, of course. There are even some particularly self-indulgent scenes that consist mostly of Doom and Morgana Le Fey ranting at each other in an invented language that, one suspects, most writers would recognise as a bit superfluous to requirements, but it’s a bit par for the course for Bendis. At least he’s improved his Doom dialogue since the character turned up in Mighty Avengers, though…

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Between Deodato’s art and Bendis’ writing, Dark Avengers looks like it’s going to be a rather epic series. The concept is great fun, and both creators are clearly having fun with it. If they can keep up this level of excitement in the future, then, despite the price tag, Marvel are going to be a lot of pleased customers on their hands.

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Whatever you thought of Secret Invasion, there’s the fairly universal agreement that the practically tacked-on ending, the “crossunder” we’ve come to know as “Dark Reign”, has finally managed to turn the status quo left over from Civil War into a situation that can carry its dramatic weight. There’s little very intrigue in having a  hero like Tony Stark in control of the world’s superhumans (which is probably why he was repeatedly cast as the Marvel Universe’s foremost dick) but having someone genuinely evil like Norman Osborn running the show? That’s a story worth reading.

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In fact, so great was my enthusiasm for the Dark Reign flagship, Dark Avengers, that even a patently ridiculous name and the promise of an $3.99 price tag per issue did not dissuade me from buying it. The concept – villains masquerading as heroes – has long been done over in Thunderbolts (a title I’ve followed since issue #1) but the opportunity to see Bendis’ spin on it was not one I wanted to miss. Indeed, with the use of the concept and cast members – Osborn, Bullseye, Venom and Moonstone – Dark Avengers is actually far more of a follow up to Thunderbolts than the latest issue of the comic currently carrying that name is.

So, now that I’ve read the issue, was my enthusiasm justified? I’d have to say, conditionally, yes. I’ve always had a particular weakness for those “gathering the troops” issues that team-based comics are wont to do every couple of years, and this was a particularly good example. The concept is pure, each character’s intentions were clearly stated, and their reactions were well-played. Former “Mighty Avenger” Ares gets some memorable, in-character jokes, and the mystery of The Sentry’s compliance quickly and effectively set up. Meanwhile, Deodato absolutely knocked the artwork for every page right out of the metaphorical park. As first issues go, it was damn near perfect.

The one flaw, of course, is that there’s a distinct feeling that some of this was supposed to be a surprise. Weeks ago, based only on promo art, I correctly deduced almost the entire Dark Avengers lineup, (bar only the Sentry, who hadn’t been shown at the time) and while my enthusiasm for the title was based on the “villains as heroes” concept, it should be noted that no part or the promotional work for Dark Avengers actually made it clear that was what was going on. If we weren’t meant to know – and the lack of any twist to this concept suggests as much – then Marvel did a ludicrous job of covering it up.

Even so, I find it hard to believe anyone could come out of this issue with any feeling other than enthusiasm for the series’ direction, and if the title does see Bendis’ delivering his “early-New Avengers” best, then seeing the team in action next issue is going to be fun indeed.download new kids the dvdrip

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