Harsh words for Dark Reign

But true. Oh so true. [Link]

But, plotwise, I don't see the point of Dark Reign; it feels like Marvel's creative hivemind has decided "Hey, that whole Police State thing that worked so well with the Initiative? The kids loved that. Why don't we just do that, but moreso?" and then tried to sell it by claiming that it's yet another All-New Status Quo and Everything We Know Is Wrong. Only problem being... it's pretty much the same Marvel Comics that we've been reading for the last two years or so, isn't it?



Don't get me wrong; I haven't missed the whole "Norman Osborn is now in charge of things! And he's evil! And nuts!" schtick - partially because it keeps being rammed down our throats - but... well, hasn't he been in charge of governmental superheroes since the start of the Ellis Thunderbolts? And, aside from the fact that we keep being told that he's, like, crazy and could destroy America just to make Spider-Man frown! and whatever, I don't get why a police state run by Norman is necessarily worse than a police state run by Tony Stark, no matter how sympathetic Matt Fraction tries to make him.

Okay, yes; obviously benevolent dictators are better than psychopathic dictators. I understand that. But in terms of plot mechanics, all this really means is that we have different characters playing the same roles: We have vigilantes who are really good guys but forced to operate outside the law (Still the New Avengers, but we now have Iron Man joining this side), we have good guys operating within the system despite the unjustness of the system (Still the Mighty Avengers and, presumably, the Initiative), and we have bad guys given freer-rein-than-they-should-be by the system (I look forward to the "Dark Avengers Are The New Thunderbolts" t-shirts). There may be an added threat of Osborn losing his shit and going nuclear on Howard The Duck or whoever, but that won't happen until Marvel's ready to finish off this status quo in favor of whatever comes next.

(Hibbs, in his infinite wisdom, pointed out to me that Dark Reign is clearly act III of an overarching "This Is Why The Superhero Registration Act Is Ultimately Wrong" plot that started with Civil War. So, does this mean that the next New Status Quo is really just the old status quo? I hope so, but can't really see what else they could workably do otherwise. I shudder to imagine, however.)

Emphasis added. I find it very hard to like Tony and he used to be my favorite hero. He became a supervillain and the louder the protestations are to the contrary, the more desperate it sounds and the more it has the ring of truth.

I find myself paring my pull list smaller and smaller each time I order. I'm not getting as much joy from comics as I used to. I'm finding a lot of the comics I read to be like Leaving Las Vegas; technically very well done, but certainly not enjoyable. It does make the ones I find joy in that much more sweet.