So, Secret Invasion is over, and Dark Reign has begun. As with Civil War, Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev close things with a one-shot, this time titled Secret Invasion: Dark Reign. I may not be a fan of Bendis, but Civil War: The Confession was a spectacular one-shot with great character studies of Captain America and Iron Man. And Alex Maleev’s art was top-notch as usual. So this one-shot? Blech on both counts. Bendis’ characterization fell flat, especially with Emma Frost. Matt Fraction is going to have to bend over backwards to explain what she’s doing there. But even worse was Maleev’s art, which surprised me. The Hood looked like a hobo, Namor looked middle-aged, and Norman Osborn’s hair continued to not look right, continuing the tradition set by New Ways to Die. What was up with that?
This one-shot perfectly captured everything that’s wrong with Dark Reign going into it. Specifically, the main thing that’s wrong with it is the Cabal itself. As I mentioned in my Secret Invasion review, those people would never work together. There’s a reason why supervillains don’t do the team-up thing as well as superheroes: egos. Dr. Doom and Loki would kill themselves before working with psycho Norman Osborn. And Osborn’s a total loony, more so than even before. I don’t even know how he could run H.A.M.M.E.R. without running around screaming about Spider-Man. So basically… I don’t see how Dark Reign can possibly work. And yet New Avengers and Mighty Avengers both look more interesting than they have been… ever. So, I don’t really know what to expect. I just hope it’s not more of this.
Plot: 7.3 Art: 7.5 Dialogue: 7.9 Overall: 7.3
