Bendis is back and you're gonna be in trouble. Hey la, hey la, Bendis is back.

As disappointing as last week's conclusion to Secret Invasion was (and it was, believe me. I think I even got on my wife's nerves pouting about it), SI: Dark Reign is a great story. It tells, in really clever fashion, the story of what was alluded to in the last couple of pages in SI.

Why would a heterogeneous collection of characters meet with Norman Osborne as he seeks a new status quo? What's in it for a hardened criminal like the Hood? What about the roguish but just Namor? The just-on-the-side-of-good Emma Frost? Here we learn that Norman is attempting to cut a deal with each of the aforementioned as well as Marvel's two greatest villains, Dr. Doom and Loki (maybe Red Skull or Thanos beats out Loki, but it's certainly debatable), in an attempt to consolidate power. The reasons he offers each of them are shockingly logical. He entices Emma by offering safety for the diminishing ranks of mutants. He entices the Hood by allowing his crooks to become legitimate and immune from prosecution. And so on.

The dialogue in this issue is dead-on. Dr. Doom intimidates Emma, and Loki speaks in angry god-speak. If there is a weakness, it is that Namor is portrayed too casually - I enjoy Namor best when he is a pompous ass. However, I am sure that this is intentional, as Maleev has drawn Namor to look like one of my over-40 college buddies that I run into at a reunion. His hair has receeded, and his face is sadly past its prime.

About the art - Maleev is talented and versatile. Occasionally, he draws in a sketchy, less representative style. In SI: Dark Reign, this is taken to extreme. I respect it, but I don't really care for it. Yet it works perfectly for this comic. Somehow, the sadness of each of the characters (especially the Swordsman at the end of the book) brings emotional heft to the comic itself. Alex Ross or Steve Epting would have made a prettier book, but it would have been shallower.

This is the best Bendis book in months. I am excited that Dark Reign is coming. I look forward to Norman Osborne's breakdowns, Loki's treachery, the heroes' resistance, and the ultimate end of the Registration Act.