Given that this crossover has so far mainly consisted of an accomplished piece of disguise, with a primarily character-lead drama masked as a political clash, it comes as no surprise to find a similar piece of deception in its final act, with an interesting tale of the triumph of experience on the part of the victorious side. Matt Fraction delivers the expected fan-pleasing punch ups which Utopia has promised, but manages to encase these moments in a consistent broader storyline.

With the mutants’ new status quo having been largely explained in the previous issue of the story, little time is wasted in getting down to brass tacks, with the two sides of the crossover finally squaring off against each other. Defeat for the X-Men was never on the cards here, but Fraction sensibly avoids having Cyclops carry the day through sheer weight of numbers (here he commands the casts of four books, compared to Osborn’s two teams), instead picking on a satisfying concept to resolve the situation. The writer shows that the Iron Patriot has not yet appreciated the constraints which he must operate under, and Cyclops’ superior knowledge of non-lethal combat allows him to outmanoeuvre the Avengers. Osborn’s team visibly buckles under terms of engagement that they are still unaccustomed to. It’s a satisfying conceit, reflected in many of the match-ups on show here. Bullseye stumbles in the face of a more experienced Archangel, while Wolverine’s grudge against the more-powerful Weapon Omega allows him to overcome his enemy. The only moment which slightly jars is in the final pages, where Fraction shows Osborn and Summers both managing the fallout from the incident. Tellingly, the self-satisfied expression which has become the trademark of Scott ‘Smug’ Summers during this arc is completely absent from Terry Dodson’s art. The writer obliviously felt that both sides in the clash had to walk away with a slightly ambivalent result, but Osborn’s upbeat assessment and Cyclops’ exhaustion sit rather oddly in the context of the latter’s triumph in the previous pages.

That aside, the issue presents a remarkably rounded-package, with even the feed-ins to the forthcoming Confession one-shot and X-Force’s Necrosha event not feeling like intrusions in the face of a story which has made good on its promise of adjusting the X-books’ status quo without completely discarding the pleasures of the “SFX” set-up. By deliberately dialling down the situation’s political aspects in the second half of the story, Fraction has left a compelling implied hook for Uncanny’s next arc.

Dark Avengers #3 continues the series’ fantastic opening arc, as Osborn’s team of “evil” Avengers fight an attacking Morgan Le Fey.

The opening pages, however, take a short break from the action to show us exactly how Osborn brought the Sentry into the fold. As a man well-placed to deal with voices in his head, Osborn’s advice to Bob is undeniably helpful, but in giving him this advice, Osborn also places The Sentry subtly under his control, assuring the unstable hero that they fight together. It’s simply some of Bendis’ best writing in years.

After that strong character material, the gears change and we are instead treated to the spectacle of the Avengers fighting Le Fey’s forces. It’s all excellent reading as the team struggles to stay in control of clearly overwhelming odds, demonstrating the competency and intelligence that such villains would need to stay in their position. This arc in particular shows why the “Dark Avengers” are needed at all – with Osborn now running the show, he needs enforcers to protect those loyal to him. Since Dr. Doom falls under such auspices, so he must intervene when Le Fey attacks. It’s big-budget action, with a brilliant core concept, and I can’t wait for each new issue.

A large part of that is Deodato’s artwork, which is reaches breathtaking levels at times. It’s a rare talent who can make characters recognisable purely from their posture, but that’s what he manages to do with Norman Osborn on the final page. Even with the character concealed beneath a full suit of armour, it’s unmistakably him. Surely, Deodato is the comics industry’s turnaround success story of the last 10 years, going from sub-Image 90s wank to the absolute top of the industry. If ever an artist deserved to be rewarded for his hard work, he’s the one.

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…

• apartment the online

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.

straightheads dvdrip download

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.

cocoon the return dvd

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

• download severance free

Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

Ultimates Annual #2 was, in its own way, a failure of its own timeliness. Telling what was, at that point, the first non-Millar Ultimates

in a dark place dvd download

story to bear the name, it took place after the conclusion of Ultimates Vol. 2 and was thus in the unfortunate position of providing an epilogue to an ongoing plot, with all the implied spoilers that entails. Undoubtedly, it fared poorly because of it. The previous Ultimates Annual had been written by Millar and seemed integral to the Ultimates universe. There was never any way this one could match up.

After all, the issue was written by Charlie Huston, whose radical take on Moon Knight was achieving moderate success, and it was Illustrated by Mike Deodato and Ryan Sook, both decent artists. None of the three, though, had worked on Ultimates before, and at the time, I found the issue a bit underwhelming – it just didn’t seem capable of carrying the reputation it had been afforded.

elizabethtown online

Now, as a stand-alone story it wasn’t especially bad. It featured the unsatisfying team-up of the Ultimate Falcon and Ultimate Captain America, seemingly for no other reason than to echo the pair’s friendship in the “regular” Marvel Universe. It then pitted the two against Ultimate Arnim Zola in a fairly pedestrian example of formulaic superheroes, and only Huston’s complicated narration saved it from being utterly generic. It wasn’t rubbish, but it didn’t remotely satisfy.

That’s because, at the time, it was a substantial step down from the work Millar and Hitch were doing, and simply seemed unworthy of carrying the Ultimates name. Oh, if only we had known. Just over 2 years on, I’d give almost anything to have the Ultimates series hit the dizzying-by-comparison highs seen in this issue. Competent. Average. These are words I cannot use to compliment Ultimates 3, that would perfectly fit this annual. The story itself does improve slightly when read in the correct place chronologically, and contrary to what I used to believe, if you’re hungry for Ultimates stories then it probably is worth having a quick look at it.

Moon Knight is one of Marvel’s more low-profile titles, powering on despite the exit of “name” author Charlie Huston as writer. The title’s noir-ish tone places it alongside books like Daredevil, but the graphic violence suggests it might actually be more at home in the MAX line of titles where it could really cut loose. Whatever its place in Marvel’s repertoire, it’s managed to get to 20 issues, and that’s already a fairly respectable distance for such a low-key ongoing to travel.

This issue is a stand-alone story that spotlights Moon Knight’s old foe Jack Russell, Werewolf by Night, and an underground fighting ring that exploits his Werewolf powers to provide a super-powered alternative to illegal gamblers. Naturally, Moon Knight is on hand to bring things down the only way he knows how – with a number of heavy beatings.

There doesn’t appear to be much time given to any specific ongoing plot thread in this issue – the story takes place largely in flashback to 1994, and only makes a brief attempt to tie in with Moon Knight’s current status quo, in which he has quit as the avatar of Khonshu and decided to cease killing his enemies. While the general theme of the flashback ties in with that decision, it’s not likely to convince any regular readers that it’s an essential chapter in the story. 

Luckily, it’s not aimed at regular readers. Deodato’s artwork is fantastically atmospheric and his fight scenes brilliantly technical. A back-up story reprints Moon Knight’s first, 2-issue appearance in the pages of Werewolf by Night, adding a reasonable $1 onto the issue price as a result. Between a stand-alone story, a classic, hefty-sized reprint and an appearance from one of Marvel’s hotter artists, it’s clearly a package designed to bring in a few new readers to the series in-between arcs.

In that regard, it’s certainly a success, since it appealed to me and I’m not a Moon Knight fan – the problem, if anything, is that I’m not convinced I want to read the next issue after this. The framing sequence doesn’t adequately explain how the flashback ties in with the ongoing plot, and as a result I don’t feel compelled to pick up the next issue and see where it’s going. It’ll sit nicely as a Moon Knight story in anyone’s collection, especially with the reprints, but is it likely to translate those casual buyers into regular ones? Probably not.