Why Dark Reign Is My Favourite Marvel Event Ever (Part II)

[muccamukk]

See Part I for set up and explanation of this. I'll cut straight to the scans.

There is not quite so much punching Norman Osborn in the face in this one, but there is some excellent pwning, and I cheated a little bit and included a few panels from Siege. Siege was essentially one long punch to the face for Norman Osborn, and I enjoyed it, but this one was a real highlight.



So my absolute favourite, after Eli's speech in YA, is the time when Norman Osborn got his ass handed to him by Reed and Sue Richards' kids. Repeatedly. So Norman had sued to like seize the Baxter Building or some such, and shows up with Venom and a bunch of HAMMER flunkies to enforce it. Unfortunately, at that moment the F4 are in another dimension.








Predictably Osborn snaps at the sight of Spider-man, chases the kids around the halls for a while, until the next issue when the gang gets back.


Su then beats the everliving crap out of Venom and the HAMMER Agents (which was awesome, but I have too many pages from this book already), and they fight to a standstill until...







I just adore the Richards' kids.

So over in New Avengers the team's on the run, Luke Cage is badly hurt, and Carol's trying to keep the Dark Avengers off their backs long enough for her team to get away.



(I totally had this as my desktop for ages)


I love you, Carol. I love you so much.

Two issues later, they have Luke back and okay, but Osborn has planted an explosive device/tracking system on his heart. Hank Pym and Stephen Strange team up to pry it out of him, but the Dark Avengers are already homing in on the signal.






So the tie in books around the time of the wrap up of Dark Reign were called The List, which had a single issue for each of the items on Osborn's list, tying into most major titles. It's worth noting that the only one of these he actually succeeded in doing having Daken cut Frank Castle into very small pieces, which only lasted long enough to lead into the delightfully titled FrankenCastle series (yet another reason I'm eternally fond of Rick Remender).

ANYWAY, Nick Fury has broken into the Avengers' base, right up to Osborn's bedroom


Blah, blah, plot happens, Nick steals all Osborn's intel right out from under him, and then...






I think Siege: The Cable counts more as Dark Reign than Siege because Siege hadn't really started yet, so I'm including it. Osborn has tried to set up this super-secret organisation of super powered villains, but having done that, he's having trouble getting them to play ball (go figure). Doom is flat out refusing to do what he wants, so, obviously, Osborn orders him shot.





Of course it's a Doombot. Sheesh. You'd think Osborn would have learned after that incident with the God of Fear in an LMD.

Rocks fall, a good deal of the Tower is destroyed, much running and screaming follows before Sentry kills the bugs.


Okay, and this one is outright cheating, as it's from Siege proper, but hey, very sweet Steve/Tony action, so I'm including it anyway. And Steve really needed to get in on punching the guy, because the whole point of Dark Reign was (if not punching Norman Osborn in the face is fun times for all) that when Steve Rogers is gone, the universe goes to hell. So here's Steve, alive and in the fight again.



With Tony at his side. Forever and ever. Amen.

Thank you all for your time, I hope you enjoyed this tribute to unfettered violence and explosions. This blog will now return to its regular programming.

Comments

[fairestcat]

I totally loved a lot of Dark Reign, and Siege was a great resolution and the biggest punch in the face Norman Osborne could possibly get. I'm really frustrated that they keep bringing him back though. He was an awesome big bad, he got his ass handed to him in a spectacular manner, I'd kind of like a few years off from him now.

Also, that page of Carol punching Osborne is one of my favorites. I love Carol so much.

[muccamukk]

For various reasons, mostly relating to dubious art and too many events, I'm not reading either of Bendis' Avengers titles right now. But I admit I kind of went :/ to see him back so soon. The space between The Pulse and Dark Reign seemed about right to me, why not leave it there? However, others say they've been enjoying the recent bout of face punching, so far be it from me to deny them the pleasure.

That moment was absolutely Epic. Carol is so wonderful.

[surexit]

I did indeed enjoy this tribute to unfettered violence and explosions. :D (Steve and Tony. *___*)

[muccamukk]

Well then. My work here is done.

The one thing Dark Reign didn't have in spades was Steve/Tony. Steve was dead at that point, and Tony was too busy melting his brain to even really angst about it. However, they got back together in the end. I <3 Avengers Prime.

[valtyr]

I'm loving Loki's trollface. And - are the nanobots not attacking him? Loki/Doom 4 lyfe.

And all my love for Carol. Why do people forget how ridiculously powerful she is? (Also, I love the way she's drawn there - her costume looks so much more practical when she's not overflowing it at the sides.)

[muccamukk]

The nanobots do not seem to be attacking him, no. I think the comic ships Doom/Namor though.

Carol's your classic flying brick. I think Bendis really understood that, and made her as kickass as she should be. Thank God for Stuart Immonan. He gave Bobbi pants too.

[nenya_kanadka]

SMACK! I may now have to get to know Carol Danvers. :D

Fury's list! <3 and the kidssss. <3

(It still weirds me out when Fury is white. I know, I know, movie fan, etc...)

[muccamukk]

Carol's both amazing and tragically underused. She's a former airforce pilot now with superpowers, who has lovely slash with Jess Drew, Jess Jones and Wanda.

He's black in Ults too. It's mostly 616 that has white Fury these days.

[nenya_kanadka]

Another person I need to read more of is Power Girl. Can she plz join up with Justice League International for realz, or at least show up on occasion to snark mightily at their silly ways, and possibly hit on Ted? (Or wait, was that Oracle?)

[muccamukk]

Babs hit on Ted, but Ted and Peej got on really well. I haven't read it, but Peej apparently had a great run a couple years ago, with Amanda Conner on art.

[marinarusalka]

That panel with Carol is a thing of beauty. I vote that this should always happen to Osborne from now on: every time he shows up and tries to do something villainous, Carol just punches him in the face.

[muccamukk]

I think that is an excellent plan. They could have three page backups that are two pages of him planning something evil and one spash of Carol punching him. Put it in all the books.

[animate-mush.livejournal.com]

You weren't kidding about that being a fantastic facepunch! I'm not familiar with the universe and the story much - could you explain a bit to me about just what makes it so awesome?

[muccamukk]

I don't know if you've seen the Spider-Man movies, but Norman Osborn is the big bad in them, and completely eyes-rolling basket-weaving NUTS to boot. In the above Luke Cage face punch, he was finally locked the fuck up. Then, as mentioned in my intro last post, when Tony Stark's reputation felled over went boom, someone put him in charge of SHIELD (so now he's got Nick Fury from The Avengers job). Predictably, he uses that power to pick on his enemies in a way that rangers from really fucking petty to relentless.

Since the Civil War Event (less said of it the better), superheroes who are not registered with the government are illegal and must register and either work for Osborn or promise not to use their powers and have a watch dog on them, OR go to jail. Most heroes including the Avengers went underground at that point, and are living in a warehouse trying to take Osborn down. Osborn has set up a team he calls The Avengers, but which are mostly supervillains or people he conned into it. He also stole an Iron Man suit and started calling himself Iron Patriot. This really annoyed the crap out of everyone, which is why the Eli Bradley punch from Dark Young Avengers #4 is so awesome. He just says everything everyone's been feeling for months.

The Carol punch is so great because it really shows that she is a hero who is capable of setting aside personal needs and putting her needs aside in order to protect her team, plus she can, you know, work with a team. Where as everything he claims to be is a lie: He's terrible at running a team, he doesn't know strategy at all, and when you give him a chance to take petty revenge (like going after Carol, who he hates for defecting from his team) instead of a larger goal (like catching the whole team), he always thinks of what he wants most. That's pretty evident in the Luke Cage sequence too. He went out of his way to screw over Luke, with no end game in sight.

[animate-mush.livejournal.com]

First off - thank you so much! Second off - here's what I've written for the blog: you know this material much better than I do, so let me know if this is adequate and accurate.

"Miss Marvel has never been a front-line superhero, but she’s still got her standards. After she defects from Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers, he takes it, well, rather personally. As the “Iron Patriot,” Osborn is pretending to be a hero, pretending to be a leader, and generally annoying the crap out of…basically everyone. When he tears off after Carol, by himself mind, he’s putting his own vendettas before the interests of his team, and even basic strategy. And Carol takes him to task for it, and incidentally proves herself to be ten times the hero he’ll ever be - by giving him the punch in the face he so richly deserves."

Thirdly - how should I do the bibliographic information on this? I have no familiarity with citing comic books :/

Thank you again oh so much!

[muccamukk]

Citation would be New Avengers Vol 1, #58 (I'm 85% sure it's 58. I don't have my comics right now.

Eh, Carols been an Avenger since the '70s, and had her own title off and on, which is pretty front line. Maybe say, "Ms Marvel's never been an A-List superhero..." And "When Norman Osborn takes over the the Government sanctioned Avengers team, she quits to join the underground, and he takes it, well, rather personally," My memory is fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure she quit as he was taking it over, not after.