Okay, so this one shot issue which is meant to kick off the whole new Dark Reign saga and era in the Marvel Universe was a little bit of a poor start in general I felt.
Nothing really happened in the bits where Osborn and his group of fellow evil villians were sat around talking, I mean there was a point to their prolonged conversation and it was a good point as well, its just Bendis didnt need to spend 75% of the book on it, it could have been done in about 3 pages maximum Id say.
However, the dialouge and characterisation I thought was handled very well indeed for the most part of this book, I was more than satisfied with the coversations and how Bendis had written these charcaters to speak and interact. I thought he had done that aspect of the book well... (Youre waiting for my 'but' arnt you? lol)
My only 'but' was the way Bendis had written Namor. Deary deary dear. Aside from being drawn like a cross-breed between Danny DeVito and Robert De Niro in a swimming costume (thanks Meleev, now I have nightmares), I thought that Bendis had written Namor as if he was some perverted teenager or sex offender. That was my major beef here.
The way the group meeting ended with Namor and Dr.Doom was good though, I liked what Doom said to end it all, about the 'war'. That was totally awesome, and it makes it obvious that Bendis doesnt plan to keep Osborn in charge for all that long Id say.
The bit with Osborn and The Swordsman in Thunderbolts Mountain was good, but what Norman did to Swordsman??? Thats a bit questionable in my opinion, and why was there a sword lieing there in the first place?
Whose else would it be other than The Swordsman's himself, so why would he leave his swords just sitting around under rubble.. hmm..
Meleev's art was great in general I felt, especially once it got past the meeting section of the book. But the way he drew Namor was absolutaly terrible and Im surprised it passed through Marvel's editing team.
All in all, what do I say about this issue?
I say this..
It dropped out my hand while I was going to my room and fell down the stairs causing the spine to have pretty much bent in half... but do I care, not really.