Required Reading: Dark Reign: The List

Dark Reign: The List

Neutralize Clint Barton • Eliminate Daredevil • Kill Namor • Kill Frank Castle • Kill Nick Fury • Neutralize Bruce Banner • Control The World • Kill Spider-Man…

Anyone familiar with the progress of Dark Avengers in this day and age will know that Norman Osborn has a control issue or two. The very much alpha type leader (who is about 30 pounds of crazy in a 10 pound bag) is nothing if not methodical and, for the most part, professional in the way he deals with those who vex him. And this is the story of how he deals.

Told in eight parts, it’s a collection of one-shots that make up a loosely defined limited series that deals with Norman Osborn’s plan to consolodate his power and settle his old scores. He’s not at all shy about being candid with his intentions to those closest to him.

Overall the individual chapters stand well on their own in this collection, although some do shine more brightly than others. The noir tone of Clint Barton’s chapter, and the space with which Marko Djurdjevic’s art is allowed to breathe and set the framework of Bendis’ story is a thing of beauty. Rick Remender’s story of Frank Castle’s disassembling is told by John Romita, Jr. with a savage starkness, and Nick Fury’s tale of getting one over on Osborn by Jonathan Hickman and Ed McGuinness is just a guilty pleasure. The Spider-Man story is told in a classical “Spidey” tone that will keep longtime fans happy, and Daredevil facing an off-the-leash Bullseye is a fun ride.

At the end of the day, you don’t particularly need to read this volume of issues to understand the continuity of the Dark Reign saga, but it does do a lot to advance and reinforce the tone and character development of the devils that have come to control the world. There is a delicious process of discovering the cracks in the fragile veneer of sanity in Norman Osborn that is furthered in this book, though. As the events in the Marvel Universe unfold toward the inevitable bad guy smackdown of Siege, it’s great to have a window into the motivations of the extremes that a man who is underneath it all, after all, pidgeon-stompingly insane will go to to try to hold on to his dominion.