Dark Avengers #6 - Marvel

I don't know . . maybe I just like the dark nature of this team. Or maybe I just like the twist on the usual super-hero team paradigm. But I really enjoy this book. Well . . first of all . . I love that Mike Deodato Jr has been on this title the entire time. I love his art. And he definitely has a fantastic handle on all of these characters. I love the way he represents Norman . . his facial expressions, and presence. Especially when he goes off on Namor. I bet there's a lot of people that wish they had the balls to do that. Secondly . . I enjoy the story that Brian Bendis is presenting here. Yes it's shaking up the Marvel Universe, and mutating traditional paradigms, but . . I think that's what the comic world needs right now. You see a lot of the 'earth-shattering', or 'life-changing' stories going on out there, but . . a few months later, everything is back to normal. We get all caught up in these big stories, only to see a year or 2 later that the status-quo returns. Sometimes I think it would be better just to skip them altogether, and just step out of the title for a year or so. When you come back, you generally find that nothing's really changed, and the characters are dealing with their normal everyday problems . . the same as when you left. However, it feels to me like Marvel is trying to change that a bit. I'm sure it's upsetting some long-time readers, but . . life is all about change. And I know that comics aren't about real life, and that's probably good because in comics . . people, characters, fall into the same paradigms for years and years and years. A lot of that can be credited to Brian Bendis, and Joe Quesada for taking some chances . . for trying to change the status-quo. I know that not everybody agrees with me . . or them, but . . you can't really argue the effectiveness. It's made the books interesting again . . and exciting. Anyways, I'll get off my soap-box now . . I really liked this issue. I like the fact that this man, Norman Osborn, who is trying to assume this position, and lead these characters through fear and intimidation . . has things literally falling apart at the seams around him. Right now, almost everyone working for him has their own agenda. And really the only thing that they can all agree on is that Norman is an arrogant ass. Also, we're on issue #6 now and we've only seen this team perform together once . . that was in the Hawkeye mini-series. And . . it was a complete disaster. Sure we've seen these guys perform, but mostly it's been on an individual basis. The only thing they've really done together is pose for the cameras. It the same with this 'cabal' that Norman has assembled. He seems to be leading them, but . . I really think they're only putting up with him for the time being. I think they're all secretly hoping that he'll eventually fail, and when he does they'll have a chance to assume leadership and control. I think they all want the same thing . . in those regards. Anyways, we find out that this attack on San Francisco last issue was by a team of Atlantean terrorists. Norman dispatches Bob out there and instructs him to kill them all, leaving only one survivor to be dragged through the streets. When they get back, they give him to Gargan. Also, currently, Noh-Varr is AWOL. He left after he slept with Moonstone and she revealed to him who they're actually working for, and with. And, on the final page, we see the Norman himself is barely holding it together. It seems that the Green Goblin is trying to get back out again. "Oh Norman . . Norman, Norman . . stop kidding yourself. I'm here. I'm always here." I don't know . . like I said . . I really enjoyed this book. I like that the traditional 'super-heroes' are being thrown on their ear. I'm glad that somebody at least has the balls to try to make things different . . interesting.