Well, that wasn’t entirely what was expected.
For anyone expecting a big fight between the New and Dark Avengers, this issue is going to disappoint. The cover is in fact, the only place the two teams appear together. However, that said, this was still an enjoyable issue and the conflict actually played out in a way very believable, given Osbourne’s current strategy.
As shown in the preview, the New Avengers are watching the Dark Avengers’ press conference and quickly realise who and what they are, and they’re not happy. With the help of Spider-Woman they try and lure the Dark Avengers into a trap where they hope they’ll real their true identities during the ensuing fight.
Sadly, Osbourne’s ahead of them, and instead sends the Hood and his supervillains, throwing the New Avengers off, as its not who they were expecting to fight. The New Avengers manage to defeat the villains and escape, however Clint decides to take action himself, and goes on television to tell everyone the truth about the New Avengers.
Despite the lack of a fight between the two sets of Avengers, I still enjoyed the issue. Largely for one reason, and that was the dialogue. One thing Bendis does very well is the humourous dialogue, and that’s what I found so enjoyable. The preview included the New Avengers’ reactions to Wolverine’s son, however there’s loads of great little moments and lines like that littering the issue. A particular highlight for me was during the fight between the New Avengers and the villains, where each Avenger is given a page where we follow their thought through the fight. Spider-Man’s internal quipping about his iconic costume, and Wolverine’s “KILLKILLKILL!” thoughts got a chuckle.
Really, the only complaints I can level at the book is that we don’t get the confrontation we were expecting, and the number of guest artists gets distracting at times. If you’re following Dark Reign, then its definitely worth picking up.
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