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.

It’s been a fair while since I read a DCU comic – almost nothing since the end of 52, in fact. Still, even someone as largely disinterested in DC Universe comics can’t fail to notice that big things are happening. DC’s second weekly series, Countdown, has ended, apparently without getting to the place it was supposed to. Whoops. Someone get Grant Morrison on the horn. Enter DC Universe #0, which sets the stage for Final Crisis in all the ways that Countdown managed not to. Apparently.

DC Universe #0 isn’t so much a story as a guided tour of the current state of the DCU. Both Marvel and DC have been screwing around with mega-crossovers for years now, and just keeping up with continuity is getting to be a harder and harder game than ever. DCU #0 tries to explain where most everyone important is and what they’re doing, with the notable exception of the Shazam family of characters. The problem is, it neither explains who anyone is, nor what situation they’re in. It just shows them doing some stuff and you have to try and piece it together from what’s going on in their parent titles. The Batman segment is especially impenetrable. It’s Batman and the Joker! I know those characters! I shouldn’t be left unable to understand a damn word of their conversation.

The opening description of the recent Crises is almost impressively succinct for what’s been going on, but the rest of the book is a jumble of characters and situations that fail to engage. It feels more like a sampler than a story in itself, which is a pity because it ends with a fairly important revelation that you suspect really needed a stronger companion material. Narrating this tour is a mysterious figure. (Spoiler time, folks. Please exit the review immediately if you’re bothered.) Initially, I thought this was part of the fruition of Morrison’s “Sentient DC Universe” idea that he was talking about a few years back, but it becomes fairly clear who it is – it’s Barry Allen. If they’re serious about bringing back the man Seb and I once named as our No. 2 Best Death in Comics, it needs to be for a better story than Crisis Nine or whatever this one is, and it certainly should’ve been done in a better comic than DCU #0.

There are some nice touches – the way the caption boxes fade from Black to Red is a great detail, and that final page is a fantastic image. Lopresti’s Wonder Woman is Hughes-esque without being gratuitous, and the Spectre sequence is probably the best of the bunch, appropriately creepy. Perez drawing anything is always worth seeing. On the whole, though, it fails as a book. It’s supposed to be leading into Final Crisis, and yet it doesn’t adequately introduce anything or anyone. It’s the comics equivalent of channel-surfing. My first DCU comic for some time, and probably my last one until this Crisis is over as well…

Well, it wasn’t Predator-X who stopped Bishop, but instead the Marauders made their re-appearance at a fortuitous moment, taking the baby for themselves. This is the first time it’s significantly changed hands during the arc, and presumably signifies the point of the final chapter – rescuing the baby from the Marauders.

At this point, I’m wondering if Bishop won’t become the main antagonist in Cable’s new series. His role in Messiah Complex just become far more important, and once his apparant betrayal comes to light it feels like the only really payoff can be death or exile, in the grand tradition of previous X-Traitors.

Speaking of which, Gambit’s appearance in this issue can’t fail to disappoint Gambit fans. Sometimes a character shows up and suddenly they’re just acting how they should, and you realise that for years they’ve been mis-written - This is one of those moments for Gambit, in my opinion. Tan’s artwork contributes to that, as he continues to improve massively. There’s a brilliant panel later in the issue where Wolverine squares up to a disobediant (and much taller) Warpath, that Tan deserves credit for rendering, because it’s an excellent little Wolverine moment.

The final twist in the issue sees Cable contact the Professor for help – as expected, the Professor’s about to play a big role in Messiah Complex which explains the earlier attempts to put him down. There’s going to be a triumphant return for one Charlie Xavier, but the question should be whether the X-Men will be pleased to see him or not. A few threads remain to be wrapped up – Predator X really has to do something big to justify his inclusion in the series, and Layla has to get back to the past somehow (though part of me wonders if this isn’t part of a plot thread introduced in X-Factor… I’ll elaborate if anything comes of it.)

Once again, the best thing you can say about Messiah Complex is that, Morrison’s run aside, the X-Men haven’t been this exciting or urgent in years. Only a few chapters left and I’m still as gripped today as I was at the start. I’m just hoping they manage to buck the trend for climaxing with a damp squib like most of Marvel’s recent big stories.