Dark Avengers #181 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Neil Edwards (pencils), Terry Pallot (inks), Chris Sotomayor (colors)

The Story: We solved all our energy problems and the world’s still ending anyway.  Figures.

The Review: I just caught wind of the upcoming, new Thunderbolts series, which will feature an entirely different cast and set of creators.  While I certainly understand the promise of putting a major badass in charge of some of the most recognizable Marvel antiheroes, I simply think the idea has been tried and tested in Uncanny X-Force.  Besides, I seriously doubt the replacements will be nearly as much fun as the current crew.

Maybe I should amend that last bit and say, “nearly as much fun as the current crew used to be.”  Once upon a time, I looked forward to this series each month because I could depend on it to provide a solid, entertaining read.  Ever since it got rebranded, the energy and personality of the series has steadily declined until it has now become this bloated, overdone mass of inert chaos.

Dark Avengers #180 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Neil Edwards (pencils), Terry Pallot (inks), Chris Sotomayor (colors)

The Story: Boss Cage better hope there’s a generous retirement package waiting for him.

The Review: I’ve made it kind of a maxim here that it doesn’t matter so much what the story is; it’s all about the execution.  I guess I neglected to mention that the story still matters; if you’re working off of weak material, the execution will suffer proportionately.  Parker’s work ever since this title became Dark Avengers must be the first time I’m experiencing a case where his execution is solid, but he’s just not telling a story worth hearing.

Even looking just at the Thunderbolts issues I reviewed, you felt a stronger investment there than here.  Part of the reason was at the time, Parker only had to write these time-traveling two-issue arcs, so he didn’t really have any loftier aim than to have fun and entertain.  Then, too, we had a tighter cast to focus on, so we had more time to listen to them argue and banter, again all for the sake of fun and entertainment.

Dark Avengers #175 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Declan Shalvey (art), Frank Martin Jr. (colors)

The Story: I can’t believe it’s not the Avengers!

The Review: Title changes do absolutely nothing for me, good or bad, unless they come with creative changes—or unless the new title is just plain heinous.  Dark Avengers may strike you as no less silly than Justice League Dark, but it’s no more silly either (and actually, it’s quite a bit less).  And since we have the exact same creative team as when the series was still Thunderbolts, what do I care if they change their name to Dark Avengers or The Kinda Evil, Kinda Not Squad?

Yes, that last one is a joke, but it does get to the essence of the team, no?  Only originally, it referred to the general, moral character of the members.  With the exception of Luke Cage, Songbird, and Mach-V (the fully reformed), the rest of the T-bolts all come with a funky mix of criminal tendencies and heroic aspirations.  This issue introduces a new set of ‘Bolts—and they are still called as such, so you have to question the point of renaming the book at all—and it turns out most of them are just plain villains.