The Four Color Media Monitor

The Penn. Express-Times fawns over Marvel's Dark Reign. It may have just begun, but really, it's been going on for more than a couple years now, with possibly no end in sight. Most terrible is seeing how Tony Stark has been humiliated and disgraced by Quesada and company. And one of the most ridiculous things going on now is Norman Osborn's decidedly implausible ascension to high-ranking status in the MCU:

In the final battle with the Skrulls, the entire world watched as Iron Man left the fight and Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin, saved everyone by killing the Skrull Queen.

In the aftermath of the invasion, Iron Man has been fired and Osborn was hired to replace him.

Now one of Marvel's greatest villains is in control of the Avengers, the Fifty States Initiative and H.A.M.M.E.R.

H.A.M.M.E.R. is the replacement for S.H.I.E.L.D., which was disbanded for its failure to defend the planet from the Skrulls.

Sounds pretty lame, and again, we have a case here of defeat for the sake of defeat. As for Osborn, this is just too much - he may be a formidable foe for Spider-Man, but he is far from being the kind of villain who works well as an adversary for major teams like the Avengers. But that's Quesada's mandate, where they see themselves as superior to their audience, and not having to explain anything.

While Osborn doesn't have total control of the Marvel universe, his "Dark Reign" can be found in the following books:

'Invincible Iron Man'

Nobody's fall has been greater than Tony Stark's.

He's been removed from both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers; his multimillion-dollar Avengers Tower has been confiscated by the government and he's seen as a failure by the people.

Now he's become a fugitive and public enemy No. 1 after he stole the only computer files that contained the identities of the registered superheroes.

This character assasination being inflicted on Tony is getting truly disgusting by now.

'New Avengers'

The day after the fight with the Skrulls, the New Avengers meet in their new headquarters with their newest member, the new Captain America.

Soon they are off to find and rescue the daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. Their daughter was kidnapped by a Skrull posing as Avengers' butler, Jarvis.

After exhausting every lead they can, a desperate and exhausted Cage goes to the last man who can help, Osborn.

In exchange for helping find his daughter, Cage joins Osborn's team.

So Luke Cage is being forced to sell out to evil too? This too is perfectly dreadful. And if Bucky Barnes, as the new Capt. America, is now being added to the mess as well, I think that's where everything involving him is likely to go further downhill.

One thing is for certain: it's going absolutely nowhere, and those who buy the wheel hub miniseries or any of its connecting spokes are only going to be spending a whole lot of money on nothing. And with prices now skyrocketing to 4 dollars, I think that's one more reason why the time has come for crossovers to end.

Labels: crossoverloading, Iron Man, marvel comics, msm propaganda