I’ve had quite a sizable beef with Dark Avengers up to this point. For at least half this series so far, it seemed that this wasn’t an Avengers book, but more of a book about the Marvel U reacting to Norman Osborn being in power. I know he’s the principle character of this book, but when I buy an Avengers book, I expect to see the Avengers actually in action. I think we’ve seen the team in action more in other books than in their own title! Luckily that changes in this issue, as we’re getting a Dark Avengers story that I’ve been waiting for.

It looks as if there as if there’s a mysterious foe and even more mysterious disapearances in a tourist trap town in Colorado, and its up to the Dark Avengers to investigate these happenings. It’s good to see the team dynamic in action, as Bendis writes team dialog very strongly. This issue is seems to be a precursor to the conflictthat the team is going to face, but I really like the direction where everything is heading.

Even though I complain about the lack of Avengers action in this book, I can’t fault it for poor writing, since the dialog is always spot on and enthralling. I’m finding a trend within Bendis’ books where he has all the main characters have major conversations around the diner table, and this issue continues that trend with a great brekfast scene. There’s also a dialog with Bullseye and Moonstone heavily flirting with each other, which was so creepy that it sent chills down my spine. If you thought Bullseye was normally creepy, wait till you see the look on his face when he know that he’s a few minutes away from banging Moonstone.

And that brings me to the art. For each creepy scene that Bendis writes, Mike Dedodato Jr. amplifies that creepiness factor by a million. The aformentioned flirting scene sounds skeevy on paper, but when drawn by Deodato, the scene becomes almost terrifying. He also portrays Norman’s facial expressions very well, which is important when drawing this character. His looks of extreme rage and fear are really impactful. The best scene in this book, however, is the double page spread of the Avengers flying on hover bikes to the drop zone, backed by several H.A.M.M.E.R. ships. It looks majestic and terrifying at the same time, sort of like seeing the Super Star Destroyer or the Death Star in Star Wars. They’re both massive and beautiful, though you know when they arrive to your location, you’re pretty much fucked.

Dark Avengers #10 is my favorite issue of this series so far. Not only does it combine the great dialog and dark-yet-epic art like in the past issues, but we’re finally getting that much needed team dynamic and mission that this book requires. A solid fun issue.