I realize that writer Brian Bendis is the master of extended storylines - after all, he's the guy who took Spider-Man's 15-page origin and stretched it into the first eight (or more) issues of Ultimate Spider-Man.But that's OK - it's his style, and he's very good at it. But it's starting to wear around the edges.
In Dark Avengers, for example, the first issue set up the premise - Norman Osborn recruits villains to disguise themselves as heroes and form a new Avengers team - and then the story launched into a battle between the Dark Avengers and Morgana Le Fay.
That battle has continued for three issues, as Avengers battle armies of demons, and actually manage to kill Le Fay - only she's not really dead, which gets an incomprehensible explanation. There's not a lot of plot going on here, just bad guys getting hammered by spells and demons over and over again - and since they're all villains, we root for no one.
So here we are, three issues later, and they're all still fighting. The story is finally resolved in this issue, but not in a particularly satisfying way.
And would someone please explain to comics writers that dinosaurs and humans did not exist side by side? Gah!
Despite my gripes, there are some nice moments - the final page is quite good - and the art is fabulous. Mike Deodato turns in some stunning pages here, and is really carrying the issue. He should be high up on the list of amazingly talented artists.
I think this series would be easier to handle if we knew how many issues we're in for. Right now, I find I'm losing patience with it - the art is the only reason to recommend it.
Oh, one more thing. The cover scene? Nowhere in the comic.
Grade: B+
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