Dark X-Men #2 - Marvel

First of all . . I absolutely love Jae Lee's cover here of Cloak & Dagger. They've been a pair of my favorite characters since their inception back in the 80's. They haven't always been handled right, but . . I think they're a great set of characters and have fantastic potential. Again, we don't focus on the team this issue, but rather how Norman ended up bringing them together. In the first tale, about Cloak & Dagger, Norman travels down to Colombia because Tyrone and Tandy are there fighting their own personal 'drug war'. Norman appeals to their tumultuous tendencies and need for 'justice' by offering them a chance to be role models. Plus, "Imagine what you'd be able to do with the police permanently off your backs? With the support of an arm of Government who didn't mind what you got up to . . globally? And the intelligence we have?" And, there's only a few ground rules that they have to follow. "Fight some anti-mutant bigots now and then. And do what I say, always." In the end, they don't really have a choice. So they come to an agreement and head back to Alcatraz. This story is by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk. In the second story, by Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman, Norman finds Michael Pointer, Weapon Omega, working a little construction site in Alaska . . I think. Anyways, Michael's trying to make up for all the deaths he's caused when he cut a bloody swath across Alaska, Northern Canada and Cleveland. He even knows how many deaths he'd caused . . "Two thousand, two hundred and nine." He doesn't want to join Norman, but . . it seems that Norman has unleashed some MGH and with Michael's co-workers infected by it . . his presence is putting all of them at risk. Norman appeals to this and offers his and Henry McCoy's help in fixing his problem. Of course he doesn't know that Henry is actually the Dark Beast. For all the problems this guy has caused . . I actually feel sorry for him. Norman tells Henry, "That man's no hero, but he'll make a hell of a warden." Finally we see Norman's offer to Daken to be part of his 'new' X-Men. Norman appeals to his hatred for his father by taking him to the Opera . . Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. Daken agrees to Norman's offer, but he also shows him he's not the mindless mongrel that Norman believes him to be. "Oedipus the King was written by Sophocles, and Athenian playwright who lived between 500 and 400BC. Stravinsky's oratorio was first performed in 1927, I think. Jean Cocteau, the French surrealist filmmaker, and poet, wrote the libretto, before it was translated into Latin. At the story's close, Oedipus realizes that he has killed his father and married his mother and goes insane, stabbing out his own eyes. I'll join your X-Men, Norman. But I am not my father. You do not know me and I am not insane. Insanity is putting on a Goblin outfit and laughing like a lunatic when you throw exploding pumpkins at strangers. Wouldn't you say?" I alway like it when Daken puts Norman in his place. You start to wonder . . who's playing who? This chapter was brought to us by Rob Williams and Paco Diaz. Overall I liked the entire issue, but I think Daken's story was my favorite.