Dearly Departed: Dark Avengers

Dearly Departed is a semi-regular column where I look back on recently completed or canceled series.

I have't read that much Thunderbolts material. I love the concept of a series about vilains acting as heroes, so it's all on my list, and has been for a while. But I didn't actually start following the series until Jeff Parker had already been writing it for a while. So when the name of the book changed to Dark Avengers with issue #175 last year, I wasn't as bothered by it as some others seemed to be. I mean, I saw it for the weird, cheap attempt at boosting sales that it was, and I questioned the logic of bringing in a new team when the current roster was so awesome in Parker's hands, but I didn't have too much connection to the title itself. It is annoying that Marvel reused it for a brand new book with a totally unrelated team and concept just a few months later, especially since Dark Avengers only ran for about a year (sixteen issues, published slightly more frequently than once a month). But Parker made a lot of smart decisions when the time came to make the transition, so that the weird volume of Dark Avengers that now exists only as issues #175-190 is accessible to newcomers while still acting as a well-told finale to the larger Thunderbolts epic he was in the middle of telling when the title changed.
     For one thing, he largely ignores that time travel tale in his first Dark Avengers issue in favor of focusing on Luke Cage as he's forced to lead the members of the new titular team. Then in the second installment, Parker switches back to the Thunderbolts who are lost in time, which might arguably be confusing for someone who only jumped on one issue prior and was expecting the next beat in the storyline set up there, but for those readers, there is issue #177. In that third chapter, Parker jumps back and forth between the two teams and time periods, demonstrating what his strategy will be moving forward from that point: even as he develops the plot and characters of the Dark Avengers, he will simultaneously continue to tell his Thunderbolts narrative until, ultimately and somewhat brilliantly, those two stories collide and become one and the same. I suppose three issues could be called too long to finalize a mission statement for a new series, but "new" is a relative term, and in this case, it doesn't really apply. Parker had the unenviable task of establishing the book as something fresh while at the same time maintaining some semblance of what it used to be for the readers who were already fans. So if he took a bit of time to pull that off, I think that's more than forgivable and, in fact, even a bit impressive.
     There's also a tremendous amount of built-in history when it comes to Luke Cage and the Dark Avengers anyway, the details of which I don't really know. Parker glosses over it so he can get to the meat and potatoes of the new story, but the long and short is that they've worked together before, and don't care for one another. It establishes a powerful mistrust between Cage and the team he is meant to be leading, and gives him a reason to bring in Skaar, son of Hulk, another character with an antagonistic relationship with the Dark Avengers since he used to be one but then betrayed them, leading to their incarceration. All of this past hatred is laid out in the opening issue, so that Parker can move on to the mission at hand without dwelling in the convoluted history of the Marvel Universe. And it gives him space to spend the next issue with the Thunderbolts, and subsequent issues with both groups, delivering a fast-paced and high-octane adventure to save the world that reaches across time and allows villains to be heroes.
     The overarching storyline that ties together the first nine of these sixteen issues centers around the Dark Avengers being sent by the same government agency that was in charge of the Thunderbolts program (F.A.C.T.) to the newly-created nation of Sharzhad. Cage and Skaar are told that the mission is to retrieve a kidnapped operative named Wender, but in actuality Wender hasn't been captured, he escaped. He is a tool of the government, he and his twin brother, and the real goal is to use their energy-transference powers to sap Sharzhad and its wicked leader, Sultan Magus, of all power. Not a rescue operation, then, but an invasion/infiltration gig, and only the Dark Avengers know the truth of what their goals are. As with so many illicit government activities, things go awry, and so we see the Thunderbolts, stuck in a dystopian future, learn that the Dark Avengers will create a global catastrophe with their actions. This is how Parker bonds his disconnected threads.
     It's also an excuse to make the Thunderbolts the bona fide heroes of this story, not a role they have necessarily played up to now. As criminals and career supervillains, they're more morally ambiguous in most of what they do, but for this particular arc, their agenda is unquestionably heroic. They are going to go back in time and prevent the Sharzhad cataclysm, putting their own lives very much at risk for the sake of the world at large.
     And they do it, too. Showing up with mere minutes to spare, the Thunderbolts shut down the Sharzhad situation, though they accomplish that by stabbing Wender through the chest with Skaar's giant sword so, even as heroes, they're not the friendliest or noblest bunch. It's a delicious finale, bombastic and sometimes ridiculous, full of Parker's signature humor, and a fitting send-off for the Thunderbolts team. They return to their own time, get to literally prevent an apocalypse, and then disperse. After all, they're still technically criminals, as ridiculous as that seems in light of what they've done. So rather than stick around to take credit for the world-saving, they run off into uncertain but exciting futures. Not dissimilar from the final beat that the Dark Avengers also get, but that comes later on, and I will get to it in a minute.
     Obviously the above is a brief and over-simplified summary of Dark Avengers' opening arc. There is an amazing amount of other shit that goes down: the Thunderbolts battle Dr. Doom in prehistoric and then modern times; Sultan Magus turns Skaar back into his human form and nearly kills him; Songbird and Mach V (the only Thunderbolts who aren't lost in time) spy on F.A.C.T. and discover what they're up to; Hank Pym makes contact with the Thunderbolts trapped in the future through some classic comicbook super-science; there's a whole fucked up world in that future run by clones of superheroes who battle against gangs of hideous, downtrodden mutants; and probably innumerable other bits and pieces I'm forgetting. Point being, Parker crams it all in without the narrative feeling overcrowded, and still finds a way to bring it all together and make it one cohesive whole. The level of effort and creativity he devotes to the book helps sell the reader on the Dark Avengers characters without giving them the full spotlight right away, and provides the outgoing Thunderbolts with an appropriately epic final escapade. It's exactly what Parker needed to do to make the switch from Thunderbolts to Dark Avengers, welcoming newcomers while respecting the established readership, and just generally writing some damn fine and funny comics to boot.
     Once he has properly laid the old title and its cast to rest, Parker writes his only full-fledged Dark Avengers story arc with the remaining seven issues. Sadly, it is less wonderful, though still a good deal of fun. But because the book and cast are still pretty fresh, and this story takes place in an alternate reality, there is a lack of stakes that prevent this narrative from reaching greatness. To Parker's credit, he writes the story like it doesn't matter (but not like he doesn't care, which is an important distinction), keeping it light and action-packed. He revels in the freedom and some of the cliches of having an elseworlds setting, and I happen to be a bit of a sucker for that type of story, so in the end I still think of the latter half of Dark Avengers as successful and good. That it doesn't stack up against the storyline that preceded it is more praise for those issues than condemnation for these.

     As part of the resolution to the Sharzhad incident, the Dark Avengers get teleported away by Man-Thing (a Thunderbolt) when the Quinjet that is supposed to take them back to prison swerves off course and is about to crash. Moonstone (also a Thunderbolt) gets caught in the teleportation when she tries to intercept the vessel in mid-air. The Quinjet crashes in a twisted version of modern Marvel New York, where the city has been sectioned off into districts controlled by warped and overpowered version of popular superheroes. A very dark and power-hungry Dr. Strange, the largest and angriest Thing ever seen, Spider-Man with permanent webs and monster teeth, and hyper-fascist Iron Man, who is literally just Tony Stark’s brain in a floating orb inside a suit of robot armor. These are the rulers of this world, long at war with one another but currently in the middle of a yearlong ceasefire that began when Hulk and Thor killed each other. It’s bleak, y’all.
     The Dark Avengers get scattered a bit, and end up fighting for different sides of the ongoing war, though in truth all any of them want is to return to their reality. Which, of course, they do, after uncovering that the world they're in is really just an A.I.M. experiment, a "sliver reality" created for the purpose of stealing whatever technology or superpowers or what have you were developed as a result of the endless conflict. A.I.M.'s access point also becomes the Dark Avengers' escape route, and the sliver is folded back into the "real"world as if it never existed at all. And therein lies one of the largest problems with this story: its ending is utterly predictable. That the alternate reality will not last for very long is a given from the beginning. Parker fills the issues with some thrilling action, zany super-science, and solid humor, but none of that does much to distract from the fact that the story is destined to largely undo itself in the end.
     Parker is smart and considerate enough to have some of what happens in the sliver universe effect his real-world characters permanently. And when the series finally ends with issue #190, the Dark Avengers are still together, still on the loose, and have a wide open future ahead of them. So despite the somewhat obvious resolution to the alternate reality story specifically, Parker swerves expectations to a degree by leaving the book very open-ended as a whole. Between that, his exaggerated and terrifying versions of well-known characters, and the consistency of Parker's signature humor and fun-loving narrative tone, the final seven chapter of this series manage to be highly entertaining. They're not as enthralling or sprawling as the arc they follow, but taken on their own, they're still better than most current cape comics.
     Before I close, I'd be remiss as all get out if I didn't actually discuss the Dark Avengers as separate characters. Though they work toward common goals together consistently in this book, and are therefore easy to discuss as a group (as I've done thus far), the specific roles they play in the stories vary, so they're worth examining as individuals. They are Trickshot, Ragnarok, Toxie Doxie, and Al Apaic, villainous knock-off versions of Hawkeye, Thor, Scarlet Witch, and Spider-Man respectively. Also joining them in this book is U.S. Agent, the man who once filled in for Captain America. Though all of these characters were established well before they joined this book, I personally had no experience with them ahead of time (except a few issues of West Coast Avengers that had U.S. Agent in them), so my impressions are based entirely on Parker's interpretations and developments.
     Trickshot's easily the least interesting member of the team, because he ends up being a bit one-note. His whole life seems to revolve around trying to outdo his brother, the real Hawkeye, but he's not nearly as cool or as talented. So he comes across as this very lame, weak, pathetic dude, trapping himself in the shadow of a sibling who isn't at all concerned about him. He does have some good laugh lines, though, since he refuses to take anything seriously, but his few humorous moments don't make up for an obnoxious personality.
     On the opposite end of the spectrum is Toxie Doxie, who Parker wisely chooses to refer to by her real name, June Covington, most of the time. June is intelligent, meticulous, and always thinking ahead, and it makes her more complex and compelling than anyone else on the team. Also, her powers seem to be limitless. Because she gets her abilities through genetic modification, and is herself a brilliant geneticist, she is able to upgrade her powerset more than once over the course of this series. And as the smartest and most powerful Dark Avenger, she becomes the de facto leader, helped considerably by her mind control powers. I would very much like to see what the team turns into under her guidance, which is essentially where Parker leaves them at the end of his run. Technically U.S. Agent is in charge, but the implication is that June has control of his brain, so she's really the one steering. That's a tense and possibly volatile dynamic, and it's a shame Parker didn't get to anything with it beyond the initial set-up.
     U.S. Agent himself is not that impressive in this series, a fairly standard, Boy Scouty do-gooder. He's arguably the moral center of the group, but since nobody really listens to him, that's not really true. Ragnarok is in a similar place, doing little of merit and leaving only the faintest impression. He even expresses feeling a lack of personal identity toward the end of the book, something Parker tries to remedy by giving him the hammer of the deceased Thor from the sliver world. Ragnarok is a cyborg clone of the real Thor, so he has some legitimate Asgardian physiology that the alternate Mjolnir recognizes, changing his appearance and boosting his powers exponentially. The long-term effects of this are never seen, though, since the shift comes only one issue before the book closes. So Parker does a lot for Ragnarok's potential, but doesn't get to actually see it fulfilled.
     Finally, there's Al Apaic (whose name gets spelled in a lot of different ways depending on who's talking in which issue, so...I'm just going with the one from the recaps on the title pages). He claims to be a god, and it's probably true, but like I said, I don't really know the details of any of these people's histories, and Parker doesn't waste time relating them all to me. Whatever the case, Apaic is quite powerful, able to kill Dr. Strange with a poisonous bite. He's also almost as smart and fast-thinking as June, making him the second most interesting Dark Avenger. Sadly, he's kind of repetitive in his dialogue, much like Trickshot, incessantly reminding everyone he is a deity and demanding respect that he'll never get. Not as sad as Trickshot wanting to one-up his estranged brother, but still a futile and annoying personal goal.
     They're an eclectic bunch, and they bring a lot of different combat strategies to the table, which keeps the action in Dark Avengers dynamic and visually pleasing and surprising. And they are all basically assholes, except for U.S. Agent, who's a good guy but so damn dead serious all of the time that he sort of comes across as an ass anyway. But the point is, having a team of selfish, immature villains be the star of your book is not the easiest thing to do without being grating, but Parker finds inventive ways to swing it. Sticking them in a world that's not their own, where the people who should be heroes are instead far more evil than any of the Dark Avengers themselves, allows the reader to root for them even if we don't care for them that much. A fine line to walk, but Parker never stumbles. And though the series is far superior when the Thunderbolts are still in it, it keeps up its breakneck pacing and comedic sensibilities throughout, so it's always a decent read even when it's not firing on all cylinders.
     Do I miss it now that it's gone? Not tremendously, but I certainly would've stuck with it if it hadn't been canceled. And should the Dark Avengers ever get another shot at a series of their own, I'm bound to give it a try no matter who the creators are, because Parker---and some really great artists like Declan Shalvey, Kev Walker, and Neil Edwards whom I've criminally neglected in this post---made them strange and fascinating enough for me to want more. I'd like to know if June maintains her sway over U.S. Agent, and what she does with that influence. Does Moonstone stay with this team, or does she go off on her own like the rest of the Thunderbolts got to do? And who does Ragnarok decide he is, now that he has a real magic hammer and not some kind of bizarre rip-off? They're not the world's strongest characters or the best team I've ever seen, but they have a special something, a unique blend of charm and abrasiveness that draws me to them anyway. So I hope they do get a chance to star in something again, but either way, I'm glad for the brief run they had with Jeff Parker at the helm.

Pull List Review: Dark Avengers #189

One issue from the finish line, Jeff Parker gets to have some ludicrous fun as he prepares to bring this title to a close. What I most like about Dark Avengers is that its total isolation from the rest of the Marvel U means the stakes are relatively low, but in a way that's freeing. Because all of the bad guys are just alternate reality good guys, and the primary good guys are real-world bad guys, it's easy to avoid getting overly wrapped up in plot details and, instead, let yourself go along for a wild and entertaining ride. Not that the details are missing or contradictory or anything, but Parker embraces and celebrates how little this title "matters" by being as zany as he pleases. Tony Stark is a brain in a floating bubble living inside his Iron Man suit. The Thing wants Reed Richards dead more than anything, but refuses to do it himself because they're best friends. Dr. Strange's torso literally eats Iron Fist. It eats him.
     If there is a problem here, it's that the supposed main cast of the book mean almost nothing. Moonstone, as she has always been, is an exception. Her confident personality and leadership shine though, and she continues to be the only character whose fate concerns me. Even Skaar, while I am warming to him, could definitely get left behind in this dark world and I wouldn't miss him. The rest of the team continue to underwhelm, even though the fight they're in is highly enjoyable. They could be any collection of super-people right now, doubly true because they're teamed up with a group of heroes from another reality. There is, however, some solid work done with Ragnorok, who finally wakes up so he can tear Iron Man apart and then, briefly but effectively, expresses a lack of self-identity. It's an interesting route to take with this character, who has always been the poor man's Thor and, now, seems to want to step out of that shadow and make a name for himself. And it looks like he might get that wish when, at the end of the issue, he grabs the Mjolnir of this world's Thor and transforms into...something or someone amazing. It's possible I am meant to recognize the character he becomes, but I don't, yet I'm no less interested to see what he does next. It could've been quite the gripping final page if it wasn't punctuated by a seriously anti-climatic panel of some A.I.M. ships floating around. But one weak beat at the end doesn't ruin what is generally a good time of a superhero action frolic.
     Neil Edwards is still on pencils, and seems to be having as much fun as Parker. I especially enjoyed the stretched-to-his-limits Reed Richards, flopping around as Skaar reluctantly pummels him. The best of the issue's many brawls, though, was Ragnorok vs. Iron Man, a great contrast between a man who just regained his life and one who long ago abandoned his in favor of becoming robotic. Plus it's so gratifying to watch the most dickheaded version of Iron Man ever get torn apart like tin foil.
     I also really liked the effect of having the Dr. Strange vs. everyone and Skaar vs. Richards fights each take up half of a page, above and below one another. It allowed you to either read each page as a whole or read directly across the top line and then the bottom line as you choose, which was a cool and simple thing to do. Unfortunately, the panels had to be very small, and some clarity was lost in the Dr. Strange fight. I'm fairly certain, after reading it something like 6 times, that USAgent deflect a blast of Strange's by tossing his shield the right way after covering it in webbing. This makes the blast hit and kill Clea, so Strange wigs out, but it doesn't matter because by then Ai Apaec has had enough time to jump onto Strange's body and fill him with fatal poison. Why the shield needed webbing, though, is still unknown to me, and I'm not 100% on Strange's powers being rerouted to take out Clea. That's really just a best guess.
     But hey, that's just the top half of two pages, and even then the characters are consistent and detailed, it's just that their actions are a tad unclear. Overall, the issue is just much fun in its pictures as its words. Not the smoothest ride in the world, but no potholes too deep to get out of, either. I'll definitely miss this series when it ends next month, because even without caring that deeply about all of the characters, I love the larger story. And it feels like Parker and Edwards do, too, that they're enjoying their time in this bizarre reality. It's a playful comic hanging out beyond the borders of continuity, and the world needs more of those types of books, not less.
6.5/10

Pull List Review: Dark Avengers #184

Ok, I loved this issue, but before I tell you why, I have to nitpick a little about some lettering/editorial problems I noticed. At one point, I'm pretty sure there is an entire word missing. Pym says, "I find myself instead on other projects in the lab," and I have to believe the word working belongs in there somewhere. Also, just a few pages later, a dialogue balloon that's clearly meant for Pym is given to Toxie Doxie, actually linked to her previous line. This is really sloppy stuff, and even though the rest of the issue soared, I was jolted twice out of the same scene by these easily-catchable mistakes. It's a shame, and I wouldn't even bring it up except that in both instances it broke the rather enjoyable rhythm of my reading experience by confusing me and forcing me to reread the guilty panels a few times before figuring out what was going on. Without those interruptions, I might well have loved this more than I already did, so it matters, even if these seem like tiny mistakes.
     Alright, that's out of the way. Let's sing some praise, shall we?
     What do you do when you finally wrap up an expansive story about a team lost in time, and have to start a fresh arc with an almost entirely new cast? Why, you make them a team lost in a parallel universe, of course! It's a brilliant move on Jeff Parker's part to drop the Dark Avengers in an even darker alternate reality, one where they are familiar with many of the faces but don't know the rules of the game just yet. It certainly ran the risk of being too similar to the time-tossed Thunderbolts we've been following in this series for a while, or even just being too reminiscent of the innumerable other parallel universe superhero stories that've been written over the years, but it's to Parker's credit that he creates a fresh and full enough new reality to avoid those problems. His meaner, more militant Iron Man and Dr. Strange are both given just enough time and attention to make them understandable but still intriguing. Acting as generals in an endless turf war, they are both gruffer and more direct in their language than the versions we're used to, which make them sound and act more like classic villains than heroes, though I suspect the truth is more nuanced than that. But it's great and efficient characterization from Parker, who also continues to write an intelligent, daring, and very funny Moonstone, as well as already appearing more than comfortable with Skaar and Toxie Doxie. Oh and his dark Hank Pym is great, very unsettling with his whole detached (because of mind control) attitude.
     Also yay Tigra! I hope she gets to do more stuff. Also Agamotto Alert will be the name of my dance music project, if I ever start one.
     Speaking of Agamotto Alert, the page where that goes off is a serious artistic feat, the most impressive panel in a generally quite well-drawn issue. Neil Edwards is a good fit for this new universe. His design for dark Iron Man (actually, the whole fleet of Iron Men) was excellent, a strong way to kick the issue off, and the small yet important changes he makes to this world's Dr. Strange help set the appropriate mood of lurking creepiness. The massive floating eyes don't hurt that, either.
     There's some really strong color work from Sotocolor as well, like Moonstone being lit in bright reds while Skaar, further behind her, is still his solid green. And, again, the legion of Iron Men, each with his or her own color scheme yet still fittingly uniform. The book is called Dark Avengers, the arc is called "Darkness," and the colors underline that darkness without feeling the need to become obscured. It's a carefully-struck balance that I appreciated here.
     Where art and story most successfully come together, though, is in perhaps the least important scene of the issue (though I expect that it'll be more significant down the line). Janet van Dyne is stuck in her tiny form, and so her husband has her on a microscope slide so he can experiment on her and try to bring her back to normal size. The panels of Janet fleeing a protozoan and subsequently sobbing amidst a mess of particles were my favorite part of this issue. I can't even pinpoint why...it certainly starts with an attention-grabbing image, and the conversation between Janet and Hank is very sad and interesting, but I think it's just a matter of the overall effect being something greater than sum of its parts. I just really dug that scene, and hope it's not the end of this Janet's story.
     Any worries I had about the final, decisive shift in cast for this book have been firmly laid to rest. I was looking forward to seeing some USAgent action this issue, but didn't miss him when he never showed up, because Parker gave me plenty of brand new characters to enjoy, while keeping up the solid work he's been doing all along with the members of the titular team. In many ways, Dark Avengers #184 is the beginning of a new series, but it's one I'm already glad to be reading.
8.5/10 

Pull List Review: Dark Avengers #177

I'm not sure how he accomplishes it, but Jeff Parker fits more into a single issue of a modern comicbook than pretty much any other writer I'm aware of. Maybe that's not fair, because it's not like a whole lot of complicated stuff actually goes down in Dark Avengers #177. One fight ends and another begins. But Parker does bring us the next chapter in two distinct stories, each with sizable casts, and both are excellent and manage to give every single one of their characters at least a small moment to shine in their respective roles. That feels like a major accomplishment in this age of intense decompression.

For the time-lost Thunderbolts, we get the resolution of the team picking up a similarly displaced Dr. Doom and then see them once again move through time without any control over where they end up. In other words, despite being only half an issue, it's a complete installment of this time travel saga, beginning when they arrive in one new era and ending as they land in another. And the fighting they do in the meantime is a blast, most notably when Troll and Mr. Hyde get to tear through Doombots like tissue paper. Meanwhile, we learn at least some of the details of the Dark Avengers' mission, and while their story is less action-packed this issue, Parker does a good job of giving each of his new cast members a chance to display their skills and/or personalities. Plus he builds up what promises to be a formidable villain with numerous powers and tricks in Sultan Magus. So still very much a full and entertaining story, even if nobody got blown up or magically transported to Hell.

Kev Walker and Declan Shalvey are always strong on this book individually, and splitting the art duties does nothing to deter that. They fit together seamlessly, both of them bringing a style that matches the series' tone: lighthearted, high-powered, balls-out superheroics. Probably the best visuals came in the scene with Man-Thing, solemnly surrounded by butterflies, but there is strong stuff on every page. I suppose my other favorite image was Luke Cage's not-so-subtle smirk as he said, "Dark Avengers...Dark Assemble." Not too difficult a joke to think up, but one that sticks the landing here in large part due to the strength of the art.

Dark Avengers is sort of two books right now, because despite its recent name change the story from Thunderbolts continues to progress and develop in interesting ways, even while a whole new team sets off on a seemingly disconnected mission. But both books are hilarious, hard-hitting, and gorgeous, and they each have compelling stories being well-told that make me eager to come back for more. Of all the titles Marvel has decided to double ship, this one may be the most fitting. And the most fun.
8.5/10

Pull List Review: Dark Avengers #176

This title has some really incredible artists, huh? Declan Shalvey has been doing great work in his own style on the book for a while, but Kev Walker shows up and blows up every time he's on art duties. From giant sharks to a tattered Dr. Doom to, more than anything else, his thorough and impressive Man-Thing, Walker captures the size and spectacle of this issue without sacrificing one shred of detail. When Moonstone and Satana threateningly stare each other down and Satana is surrounded by flame, the tension and danger of the moment come through, but Walker still makes it fun, somehow. The same is true of Man-Thing's appearance. As he rises from the depths he is a powerful and terrifying presence, but it still feels right when he says, "What up?" This blend of a fun and lightweight tone with more serious images is perfect for Dark Avengers, and seems to be just what Jeff Parker's script is aiming for as well.

Man-Thing's dialogue is probably the strongest example of that mixture. Having him speak in a universal language allows Parker to give him the biggest joke lines and the most serious pieces of information. Man-Thing returning with a new intelligence is a delicious addition to the constantly-shifting cast of this book, and already his relationship to the rest of the team is fascinating. I'm excited to explore his new personality (or personalities). And the issue has a lot to love even before Man-Thing's arrival, creating some friction within the Thunderbolts because of all the uncontrollable time travel they've been up to. That time travel problem also finds its resolution in Man-Thing, only to immediately be complicated anew through the revelation that Dr. Doom is now in the mix. Both of these beats work well and keep the continuing saga of the time-lost T-bolts fresh without having to, yet, tie a bow on it and/or send them home.

If you weren't convinced by the last issue, Dark Avengers #176 should set your mind at ease that the change in this book is in name only. Luke Cage and his new team are nowhere to be seen here, and I appreciate that Parker continues to do exactly what he was already doing with this series in spite of the new title and characters. It's a bold decision to not only ignore the only-just-introduced half of the cast but also add another member to the half we see, but Parker sells it with his tight pacing and big ideas. I do find it a bit silly that nobody noticed the man they were rescuing was Dr. Doom, but again, Parker makes it work with all the Man-Thing madness acting as a believably huge distraction. And either way, I want very badly to watch the Thunderbolts go toe-to-toe with a heavy hitter like Doom, so I'm willing to forgive a slight plot hiccup if it gets me there.

All told, this is a particularly fine issue of a consistently entertaining comicbook. You never know quite what you'll get with Dark Avengers, but you can be sure it'll be an off-kilter superpowered adventure of the highest order. 
8.0/10

Pull List Review: Dark Avengers #175

Faced with the challenge of introducing a new title and team without upsetting old fans, Jeff Parker intelligently starts us off with an explanation of where the old Thunderbolts are and why they need to be replaced. Then he uses Luke Cage, who has been one of the driving forces of this series for ages, to transition us into the new world of the Dark Avengers. It is Cage's reactions, first to seeing the team and then to learning of their purpose, that teach the reader everything they need to know about the Dark Avengers as a unit. Even if you haven't read their past exploits (as I haven't) the gist of it all is summed up when they first mouth off to Cage and he then attacks them on sight.

Sadly, the ending is pretty much spoiled by the cover, but it is Cage's reasons for changing his mind about leaving the program that really matters for the the story, not the contingency plan he settles on using. And even if the ending is weakened, the opening completely rules, and makes me really excited to see the new team in action on their first official outing.

That opening is also where Declan Shalvey shines brightest, mostly just because of the Masticore or whatever it was. But Shalvey brings his usual tone of chaotic energy to the entire issue, and the fight scene between the remaining Thunderbolts and the Dark Avengers is a whole lot of rock-shattering fun. The panels where Cage forces his way through Toxie Doxie's blast and then everyone sort of piles on top of each other were particularly enjoyable, as were the expressions on the Dark Avengers' faces while being kept in check by their nanites.

Basically, calling it Dark Avengers and changing the cast doesn't seem to have done much to the ultimate feel of this book. It still has all the humor and off-the-hinges action as it always did, and the characters still have widely varied motivations and moral compasses. I do hope we get the old team to meet up with this new team sooner than later, but I'm not too worried about the time in between.
6.5/10