Dark Avengers Annual

Reviewing Dark Avengers Annual #1.

Those of you hip to comics may know that from time to time a publisher will do an "Annual" for its better selling comics, set aside from the regular run as a stand-alone that may, or may not, have something to do with the on-going story. Annuals are usually thicker than the monthly, and contain within them a single story, which is rare in the world of comics today. In the past, Annuals used a different creative team, whereas Lobdell was writing the monthly, some no-name was given the chance to write the oncely, a good thirty or so pages, and the art was...just awful.

Dark Avengers Annual is different in a few ways in that the regular writer, Brian Bendis, scribed it. Also, Chris Bachalo was tapped to pencil it, a Marvel vet that picked up speed in the nineties. (If you look closely, you can find an early Sandman that he penciled, as well). And let's give a head nod to Tim Townsend and crew for providing excellent inks.

I have limited my comic purchases to a very few titles, but I always give the rack a quick scan. It may be that Capullo, of Spawn fame, called Marvel and told Quesada that all-white covers get me every time. And I'm sure that everything being off center aided the fact that I didn't notice the rag was 4.99 until I got home with it. But look how Bachalo's negative space, employed in the barrel of that space gun, draws your eye right to it. Maybe I did notice it was 4.99, it's hard to say now.

I've enjoyed Chris Bachalo as far back as Generation-X. His style lended to some...ethereal tangibility that I hadn't seen before. Whereas Madureira was too clean, Pacheco was too crisp,... Bachelo was dirty. It may be easy to dismiss the lack of cleanliness of his scenes as stylistic fodder, but think of how many of Stephen King's characters smoke. I don't smoke, I hate smoking, I think it's disgusting, I turn my nose up at it. But, when Lisey smokes, she's a little more real to me. And by that argument, when I have to fend off Venom, I can grip the pipe better if it's rusty.

Another aspect that must be mentioned when talking about Bachalo is his mastery of implied motion. Implied motion is the intrinsic tempo of an image without having to rely on "swoosh" lines, or vibration marks. (That was needlessly wordy, he makes Spider-Man look like he's really swinging somewhere fancy). Not to say Bachalo doesn't utilize these methods from time to time, but he can add a level of motion and intensity that is hard to best. I believe all of this is inherent with the cover image provided above.

Brian Bendis is a busy man, he pens several titles for Marvel, along with all the Events that keep the lights on at the House of Ideas. I was actually a little surprised to see that he wrote the annual. In fact, I thought it was the on-going series until I got home with it, and realized it was an annual. And 4.99.

Bendis has his faults, he once "hung" when he should have "hanged", and twice (to my knowledge) he's placed Langley in West Virginia. But at the end of the day, he does tell a good story. The characters are funny, adult, and have conflicting personalities. Issues like adultery and loyalty keep a crisp tension that gets put on simmer while fighting back the alien horde, which seems to always land Bendis a T+ rating, but that's the audience.

However, all he seems to offer with this tale is the introduction of a new Captain Marvel, or re-introduction, as it were. Throughout, the character who becomes Captain Marvel finds himself puzzled by human inconsistancies (tired) and does alien-y things like eating eggs out of the container (K-Pax). There is pursuit, battle, space-guns, love interests (his strange behavior attracts the attention of some Hot Topic femme, surprise) and metamorphasis.

Bendis does have the skill to paint a fuller picture of the world by letting the reader listen in on what the bystanders are saying about the fantastic events that are taking place, but he also delivers lines like these: "Why are they after you?" "Because I know the truth."

It seems only the extra production cost of another ten pages (vs the average 24) is the only thing that could ramp up the out-of-pocket. In the end it's a needless tale that will only serve to bulk up the Trade. I do enjoy Bachalo, but his work here looks bored.

Usually his color contrasts between the characters and the

back ground make the image pop, but here it looks lazy and rained on, most of the scenes that take place in public could pass for some dream state. And I would have liked a little more thought to go into Captain Marvel's costume design, he looks like the going-to-die guy on the away team.

You're better off to leave this one on the shelf. Take your money and buy a Captain America by Brubaker, you'll thank me when you have that little bit of extra parking money in the morning.

Spoiler: Captain America does show up in this issue, along with Steve Rogers.