Marvel Meltdown: October ’09

[Stephanie]

Welcome to an all new Marvel Meltdown, true believers! Each month we’ll select three upcoming Marvel comic books and let you know whether or not they’re worth buying. This time we’ll flip through the pages of Dark Avengers #10, put some cavemen in their place in Mighty Avengers #30, and brood in Dark Wolverine #79 in this special Avengers-themed edition.

Dark Avengers #10

Not all of the Dark Avengers stories spread over the Marvel Universe right now are going to hook you, but Brian Michael Bendis mixes intrigue with a strong enough plot that threatens to make an actual impact. Dark Avengers #10 starts off with a light enough premise: two college girls go missing on their road trip when they reach Dinosaur, Colorado. The name of the nowhere town sounds harmless enough, but what they find there at the beginning of the issue sets the stage for something more perilous than Osborn's team expect in the following pages.

One of the girls happens to be the daughter of the Secretary of State, and Osborn's new, very public position at the head of the national peace-keeping organization, H.A.M.M.E.R., doesn't leave him much of a choice when the Secretary requests the involvement of the Dark Avengers. Bendis provides plenty of comic relief with Venom (advertised as a new version of Spider-Man), spinning remarkable chemistry and free-flowing dialogue between the characters. Of course, there's a darker layer working its power behind the scenes—not only with the awaiting dangers of the mysterious Colorado locale, but with Norman Osborn's questionable behavior as he strides into headquarters in his full armor as his new alternative identity, the Iron Patriot. Things take a turn for the worse when the Sentry, sent to investigate Dinosaur first, suddenly explodes off H.A.M.M.E.R.'s radar. The entire team assembles in response, but what they find doesn't veer much from the fate the Sentry met just moments before.

Bendis maintains the pace incredibly well throughout the issue; although the ending takes no leniency on the reader, throwing him into a sense of confusion that mirrors Osborn and the Avengers', it's clear that the writer knows what he's doing. Everything connects and runs smoothly, and the reader's interest only grows as the issue progresses. Mike Deodato matches Bendis' writing, pairing the strange with the stranger and designing a fair share of panels whose art just might send a shiver or two up your spine. Dark Avengers #10 wraps up as a solid and enjoyable issue that's sure to leave you wanting more.

Mighty Avengers #30

Christos Gage and Dan Slott don't exactly strike the dramatic chord that Brian Michael Bendis does with Dark Avengers; in fact, the tone these two writers set is much more easy-going. Mighty Avengers #30 has a lot going on in its pages, and most of it turns out to be pretty cheesy. Featuring art by Sean Chen, the comic fosters a silly, all-ages atmosphere, but despite the various minor flaws in plot, the issue surprisingly doesn't disappoint.

Brace yourselves, because in the newest issue of Mighty Avengers Hank Pym (aka the Wasp) gets punched square in the face by a personified embodiment of the universe, Jarvis turns giddy with nostalgia, Hercules makes overly dramatic entrances and exits, and humanity's latest threat is its own past: drooling Neanderthals, oh my! As ridiculous as the story might be, Gage and Slott manage to embed the dialogue with fresh and light-hearted humor that brings the comic to life; without that subtle and perhaps under-appreciated touch, the comic would surely fail. While the issue does contain some awkward elements that don't exactly pull through—for example, the characters' complete forgetfulness over the sudden disappearance of Pym, only to appear as though they had never diverted their attention with food and fraternization mere pages ago once he pops up again—they don't do enough damage to drag the comic into the gutter by any means.

Although not all of the humor succeeds, some of the best scenes emerge from Gage and Slott's utter fearlessness in playing around with the humor of the comic, such as Norman Osborn's grumpy loathing of magical doors. The issue does hit some unusually well-accomplished notes amongst all its disregard of the serious, including a revelation that's revealed about Hank Pym and his purpose in the universe and, well, everything (sort of). If you can sit back and relax, you just might find Mighty Avengers #30 supremely enjoyable.

Dark Wolverine #79

The recent events of Dark Reign and leader Norman Osborn's new Avengers team has put Daken—the rebellious son of Wolverine who's sworn vengeance against his father—on close watch. As the mutant carries out his duties as a member of the Dark Avengers, the thought of being trapped in his father's powerful shadow continues to weigh heavily on his mind. In Dark Wolverine #79, it's clear that living up to Wolverine's deadly reputation doesn't come as easily as Daken once suspected it would; while Osborn endeavors in frustration to control the mutant's unstable behavior in the midst of dealing with other potentially harmful matters, it may not be Daken who's being kept on a short leash.

Marjorie Liu and Daniel Way pen the issue, but unfortunately the combination doesn't impress. The current storyline involves Osborn's attempts to fix Daken's public image—and thus, his own—by securing and overriding the unflattering execution tape starring the Avenger that was released onto the internet; the premise not only sounds trivial, but the writing follows suit for what quickly becomes a soap opera-esque comic. Way and Liu's writing feels incredibly simple and the dialogue lifeless and choppy, and what could be a complicated expression of Daken's struggle against his father in the wake of the Skrull war instead turns into a melodramatic, shallow flip book. It's not difficult to figure out the writers' intentions to make Osborn more pitiful than the title's main star, but when the reader receives a pathetic slab of scene upon unbelievable scene in the effort of convincing him of Osborn's troubled situation, it just doesn't work. Neither does the fact that half of the issue is dedicated to the group Daken was tasked with taking down; when the central protagonist feels more like a side character than the glue that holds the pages together, there's something wrong with the comic as a whole.

With a stiff and uninteresting plot that can barely keeps its head above water, Dark Wolverine #79 doesn't do Daken and his plight any favors.

You can find these and lots of other Marvel comics over at the Impulse Creations shop.