Wolverine #76 - Marvel

Either Daken is a whole heck of a lot smarter than anyone has previously given him credit for, or . . he's a master strategist. Or . . maybe he just likes to play games. We already saw his attempt to set-up Bullseye by nailing Johnny, of the Fantastic Four, with the arrow that he had been shot with. Of course when the FF came busting into the reception that the Dark Avengers were at, it was a pretty easy leap to assume that Bullseye had done something he shouldn't have. Anyways, this issue, Norman lets Daken know that he's on to him. Although Daken is still trying to blame it on Bullseye. He even goes to the extent of going to the Baxter Building himself, alone, to talk to the FF. Daken weaves a pretty good story, and it looks like Reed is willing to go along with his scheme to bring Norman down. However, there's a few things that don't seem right. First of all, Daken had to have known that Bullseye was following him. I can't imagine that even Bullseye is so good that Daken wouldn't have picked up his scent. Plus, I think, Daken is tossing around some of his pheromone magic and putting Bullseye on edge, if not just making him downright paranoid. So, anyways, he also knows that even if Bullseye wasn't on his tail, Norman would be on both of theirs. One way or another somebody would find out where he went. So he goes to the FF and weaves his tale of woe. He wants to get out from under Norman's thumb, plus he doesn't want to turn into the person that he will become if he continues down Norman's path. Boo-hoo . . woe is he! Then to sell it . . he asks the Thing to help him make his exit a bloody one. He says he wants to make it look like they didn't part on good terms. But . . he also sends a text to Norman and tells him to have his camera ready. He does . . and he gets pictures of the Thing and Daken exiting the building through a side wall. Yes it looks the way he explained it to the FF, but . . it also looks like he's trying to gain some points with the 'ol boss by setting up the FF and making them look bad. To which, I'm sure, Norman can use his media acumen to twist into some bad press for the FF . . of which whom Reed is one of Norman's staunchest adversaries. Or . . Daken could be doing this just to score points and get Norman off his back . . and then continue to try to bring him down unfettered. Hmmm! "Which way do we go, George? Which way do we go?" Like I said, Daken is trying to accomplish something here, but just what it is has yet to be determined. Norman really should not underestimate this guy. I thought Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu did a terrific job with this story. It's full of intricacy and deception, and . . a whole lot of misdirection. It'll be interesting to see what Daken's ultimate goal is from all of this. I also enjoyed Giuseppe Camuncoli's pencils. Normally his style wouldn't do much for me, but . . I thought he fit this book well. Overall, I'm really enjoying this Dark Wolverine story-line.