snaps: The Sentry - Fallen Sun

... where we find our heroes visiting the grave of the Sentry (hey, he died just a few hours ago!), and reminiscing about the old days, adventures that make us go "huh, when did that happen?" then it dawned on us: the Sentry made us all forget about those times!! just like they do in Men in Black!! because, uh, he's such a heroic figure and all! cool!! uh, where am i again?

Robert's hair is so nice and soft, everyone wants to touch it.



that's dog-speak for "hey, did i bite off your arm?"



ok, what the hell is Daredevil doing here? and does Emma Frost need to attend in her elegant ho costume?



even in fictional character deaths, we get rick-rolled.



huh? how did Rogue become a bearded man? oh, that's Dr. Strange!?! geez, Tom Raney!



the portrait of an artist taking a dump



no. way. was this before or after Remy? so could there be a little Void-ish Marie Reynolds running around somewhere?

point taken

this is why Dark Reign is a much more intriguing "series" (more like an umbrella theme) than say, House of M, or World War Hulk, or even Secret Invasion. they were semi-contained stories to resolve an issue. but then again, we have all of that to thank, to be able to get to this point. Tony Stark now a "domestic terrorist"? how the mighty have fallen. Steve Rogers must be spinning and laughing in his grave.

Dark Reign somehow allows Marvel to fully explore the belly of the underworld beast, with characters we already know and hate (here's looking at you, Osborn). and the ascension of the bad guys wasn't a forced thing, not like a revised reality or time travel anomaly which needed to be corrected. the circumstances seem a bit over the top, and i can't believe Ben Urich is the only civilian questioning the whole thing (its like Fox News took over and everyone is drinking from their Kool Aid).

with a massive campaign of spinoffs and one-shots, Marvel is telling us 'hey, you don't need to buy it if you don't want to' (as is their usual line). i would like them to tell great stories and try to hit it out of the ballpark everytime and not just roll out spinoffs just for the sake of striking while the iron is hot.

Dark Reign: Hawkeye follows the 2nd most interesting Dark Avenger (yes, admittedly, i'd like to see the Iron Effin' Patriot get his comeuppance, after scheming and manipulating his way to eternity) - Bullseye. as we can see, donning Hawkeye's duds is the only thing he has in common with Clint Barton.

Bullseye is the real badass of the Marvel Universe, because he doesn't need a moral compass. even 'savage Wolverine' or 'Hand assassin Wolverine' is still deep down, Wolverine with a sliver of humanity. if Bullseye can kill you by looking at you, he would.

there's something delicious about solo Bullseye stories in this vein, pretty much like The Punisher/Garth Ennis reboot. Daniel Way hit the nail in recent memory (with Ennis co-conspirator Steve Dillon, no less) with Bullseye's Greatest Hits. Andy Diggle has moved seamlessly from Green Arrow to (Dark) Hawkeye, doing a complete 180 degree shift character-wise and it is so much fun. i have high hopes for this limited series. and i think Bullseye is gonna mess the whole gig up for Osborn.

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Dark Reign: Hawkeye #1