Dark Avengers #10

If you like Bendis-style Avengers, then this is the issue you have been waiting for. With the New Avengers mucking around with Dr. Strange, Brother Voodoo, and generally hiding and their Darker brothers locked into Utopia (which I actually liked on the whole, but that was Matt Fraction's gig), it was been awhile since we have seen some really good Avengers-style action from Mr. Bendis. In this issue we get a solid mystery (Why are people disappearing in  Dinosaur, Colorado?) and loads of great team interactions. Moonstone and Bullseye start hitting on each other in a way that makes other villains uncomfortable. Venom/Gargan becomes a touchy/feely bleeding heart and everyone on the team immediately complains that he needs his meds adjusted. Norman is hiding inside his Patriot armor and won't come out, with what one can only assume is for Goblin-related crazy issues. Oh yeah, and Ares cuts Man-Thing in half with an axe. Just because.

It is all the great dialogue and interpersonal Avenger craziness and humor that convinced Marvel to turn over all the Avengers reins to him. And Mike Deodata just kills the art in this issue. Better than any of his recent Utopia stuff. The man knows how to tell comic stories and how to really layout an issue. And the looks he draws for Bullseye and Moonstone... Impressively cringe-inducing.

I am not sure what is going on with the Sentry, who seems to be dying or vanishing every issue, made all the stranger because no one remarks on it. I think this suggests some sort of reality altering sort of hijinks (does he keep killing his wife only to bring her back?), which is the sort of thing that makes me nervous in  comic books. It is really hard to write that sort of thing without completely losing the connection to the characters and story. If someone can snap their fingers and raise the dead, then everything else seems kind of pointless or without risk or tension. That is also my concern with the end of this issue, where the big reveal is omnipotent villains. If this ends up turning into a battle on the astral plane or demon dimension or sub space, I am going to be disappointed.