Dark Avengers: Assemble (Vol. 1)

Dark Avengers: Assemble (Vol. 1) by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr. consists of isses 1-6 of Dark Avengers.

At the end of the big event Secret Invasion, Iron Man was fired from his position and the job was given to Norman Osborn. Norman Osborn got this job because he became famous as the killer of the Skrull Queen and became a world hero even though he was previously a super villain (Green Goblin). This comic book series tells the story of how Osborn changes S.H.I.E.L.D to H.A.M.M.E.R, takes control of Avengers tower (previously owned by Tony Stark, Iron Man) and forms a new team of Avengers. The new team consists of villains such as Bullseye and Venom. It also consists of some heroes which are duped to believing Osborn is good.

The main reason I found this comic fun was that we get to follow Osborn around. He is arrogant, manipulative and very intelligent. I like reading about an intelligent villain. I've always considered Osborn to be the main villain in the Spider-Man universe, so seeing him in complete control makes for fun reading, specially since the writer, Bendis, likes to write a lot of dialogue.

I like the unstable element of having a psycopath in charge and having an extremely powerful character as a member of the Dark Avengers (The Sentry). I also like to see Doom in a couple of the issues.

A pretty good series. I didn't like Secret Invasion, but this comic is a good consequence of that bad story.

Dark Avengers: Ares

Dark Avengers: Ares by Kieron Gillen and Manuel Garcia. Dark Avengers: Ares issues 1-3.

The God of War Ares is asked to select a few soldiers from H.A.M.M.E.R.'s military to train. Osborn reasons that Ares being the God of War would have a lot to teach. The first issue is a very good one that show us what kind of character Ares is, specially his speech where he talks about how his view of war is so different from Athena's version. The second and third issue involve the specific mission that Ares has to accomplish, which I won't spoil.

I liked the comic quite a bit. There is plenty of humor and it made Ares interesting to me. I had seen the character before in other titles, but he was never that interesting until know. The main thing for me was to see that he is honorable, I particularly like the following quote:
"I am the God of War...The God of Slaughter...Even the God of Murder.
But I am not the God of Sadism."

I think the story was very good. This comic was a pleasant surprise.