It’s Reigning men!
DARK AVENGERS #6
WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis
ART: Mike Deodato & Will Conrad
COLOR ART: Raine Beredo
LETTERER: Cory Petit
PLOT:
At a Cabal gathering, a flustered Norman Osborn asks Namor to publicly denounce the Atlantean terrorist cell and lead a retaliatory extermination. Namor indignantly refuses, egos clash, tempers flair, and the meeting dissolves. Norman then asks the Sentry to let his Void personality take over and destroy the Atlanteans in their underwater base, despite having previously convinced him that there is no Void. Norman orders that one Atlantean be spared and paraded through the streets to symbolize the populace’s safety. The press release claims that this individual, the lone survivor of a “suicide bomb,” will receive due process and questioning. The reality? Munches and crunches for Venom.
Back at base, Norman snaps at Moonstone over Marvel Boy’s apparent departure, and retreats to the armory, where he collapses into gobliny madness.
THOUGHTS:
Critics label Dark Avengers as a rehash of Warren Ellis’ Thunderbolts on a larger scale, as if any part of that statement suggests something other than damn incredible comics. Ellis struck gold with this formula and it’d be criminal to kill it after a paltry twelve issues. The concept of a government-sanctioned team of morally ambiguous and not-so-ambiguous bastards and psychos exacting brutal order under the command of a mentally slipping Tommy Lee Jones flat out works. It’s genius. And with issue #6, Brian Michael Bendis finally perfects the flavor.
Not that the writer merely mimics his inspiration without adding anything new. For one, we get twisted interaction between Norman and Sentry, with the latter character not sucking for the first time ever. I knew Norman and Bob’s therapy session from issue #3 was a crock. Norman doesn’t want to help Bob overcome his demons; he wants to suppress them until he needs a decapitation or a mass execution. Norman and Sentry have similar brands of crazy, but Norman has experience in harnessing his insanity and the diabolical cunning to control Sentry through that understanding. Bendis has created nothing so fascinating as this relationship in his entire career writing the Avengers.
The Cabal also keeps getting more and more interesting. The mix of huge personalities makes for entertaining drama and subterfuge, and having this group in place sets up something sinister for the Marvel Universe once Osborn burns himself out. I like how Angelina Jo Loki stays silent, but speaks volumes through facial expressions. Her amused contempt at Emma Frost asking, “are we dismissed?” as if gods and kings were Norman’s to dismiss, makes for an excellent, subtle little beat.
Bendis has fed prisoners to Venom once too many, and he wastes a few pages on Sentry swimming aimlessly, but otherwise this is the best recent Avengers issue.
RATING:
4 out of 5.
REVIEWED BY: CrazyChris
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Haha, reigning men!
Good one. LOL
Hey, I was right! There you go, Jonny. I fixed it!
Nope, no clue, sorry. Maybe you’re posting something that got caught by the spam filter?
As far as I can tell the reason Venom eats people was established in the opening arc of spectacular spider-man volume 2, wherein in it was revealed the symbiote fed on adrenaline. It was subsequently revealed Eddie had cancer which cause him to produce too much adrenaline so he was able to sustain her (similarly petes spider-sense gave out adrenaline so thats how he sustained her)while Mac has had no such help so I can only assume this is the only reason he eats people, it’s the only reason I can think of anyway short of MacGargan being even more messed up then Carnage. I’d give this a 3.5/5, a few good moments yes but I found the main story a tad disappointing and it to be a very quick read.
As far as I can tell the reason Venom eats people was established in the opening arc of spectacular spider-man volume 2, wherein in it was revealed the symbiote fed on adrenaline. It was subsequently revealed Eddie had cancer which cause him to produce too much adrenaline so he was able to sustain her (similarly petes spider-sense gave out adrenaline so thats how he sustained her)while Mac has had no such ‘help’ so I can only assume this is the only reason he eats people, it’s the only reason I can think of anyway short of MacGargan being even more messed up then Carnage. I’d give this a 3.5/5, a few good moments yes but I found the main story a tad disappointing and it to be a very quick read.
Please work please work please work
Chris, do you have any idea why any comments I make relating to the issue refuse to be published but these ones complaining about my inability to do so get published all right?
As far as I can tell the reason Venom eats people was established in the opening arc of spectacular spider-man volume 2, wherein in it was revealed the symbiote fed on adrenaline. It was subsequently revealed Eddie had cancer which cause him to produce too much adrenaline so he was able to sustain her (similarly petes spider-sense gave out adrenaline so thats how he sustained her)while Mac has had no such ‘help’ so I can only assume this is the only reason he eats people, it’s the only reason I can think of anyway short of MacGargan being even more messed up then Carnage. I’d give this a 3.5/5, a few good moments yes but I found the main story a tad disappointing and it to be a very quick read.
Please work 🙁
As far as I can tell the reason Venom eats people was established in the opening arc of spectacular spider-man volume 2, wherein in it was revealed the symbiote fed on adrenaline. It was subsequently revealed Eddie had cancer which cause him to produce too much adrenaline so he was able to sustain her (similarly petes spider-sense gave out adrenaline so thats how he sustained her)while Mac has had no such ‘help’ so I can only assume this is the only reason he eats people, it’s the only reason I can think of anyway short of MacGargan being even more messed up then Carnage.
I’d give this a 3.5/5, a few good moments yes but I found the main story a tad disappointing and it to be a very quick read.
Damn, it does now, anyway my two cents
As far as I can tell the reason Venom eats people was established in the opening arc of spectacular spider-man volume 2, wherein in it was revealed the symbiote fed on adrenaline. It was subsequently revealed Eddie had cancer which cause him to produce too much adrenaline (and similarly Spidey’s spider-sense was gave out adrenaline so thats how Pete sustained him) so he was able to sustain her while Mac has had no such ‘help’ so I can only assume this is the only reason he eats people, it’s the only reason I can think of anyway short of MacGargan being even more messed up then Carnage.
I’d give this a 3.5/5, a few good moments yes but I found the main story a tad disappointing and it to be a very quick read.
Er…testing? This won’t let me post a response 🙁
As far as I can tell the reason Venom eats people was established in the opening arc of spectacular spider-man volume 2, wherein in it was revealed the symbiote fed on adrenaline. It was subsequently revealed Eddie had cancer which cause him to produce too much adrenaline so he was able to sustain her while Mac has had no such ‘help’ so I can only assume this is the only reason he eats people, it’s the only reason I can think of anyway short of MacGargan being even more messed up then Carnage.
I’d give this a 3.5/5, a few good moments yes but I found the main story a tad disappointing and it to be a very quick read.
As far as I can tell the reason Venom eats people was established in the opening arc of spectacular spider-man volume 2, wherein in it was revealed the symbiote fed on adrenaline. It was subsequently revealed Eddie had cancer which cause him to produce too much adrenaline so he was able to sustain her while Mac has had no such ‘help’ so I can only assume this is the only reason he eats people, it’s the only reason I can think of anyway short of MacGargan being even more messed up then Carnage.
I’d give this a 3.5/5, a few good moments yes but I found the main story a tad disappointing and it to be a very quick read.
‘.
Another great review Chris, thank you for the effort. I also thought the Sentry’s swimming scenes were a waste of space, despite how well they were drawn. Perhaps I’ve missed something, but why is Venom being “fed” prisoners? When he did it with the Skrulls, it was to make them talk about Luke Cage’s son, wasn’t it? So what was the point of Venom eating the Atlantean? I know Venom always yakked about eating brains, but wasn’t that more bark than bite (pun intended)? I don’t get it.