Dark Avengers: Ares #1 *Spoilers*

[seekquaze]

The premise is simple and one I ironially have thought about at times: What happens when you take the rejects of the normal army and ask the most brutal war god in history to turn them into a fighting force? Dark Avengers: Ares is the answer.

Ares's speech in the first few pages displays two things. One, Gillen's understanding of the character. Two, the differences between him an Athena. If you had any questions about the differences between the two the speechs answer it.

The issue is about about picking his team and his unorthodox training methods. As one might expect Ares's picks are pretty much the rejects of the normal army. I liked that Gillen is able to make it clear that Ares is not the dumb brute most people assume he is. He does have his own philosophy of war with rules on how to behave, actions to take, etc. It just tends to exhibit itself in actions that tend to be brutal and straight to the point without any discussion or thinking. Ares is all about action which as we have seen in other titles can sometimes cost him.

The twist at the end sounds like a double-cross to me. I don't want to spoil it, but lets say those who have been reading Secret Warriors and Incredible Hercules will know what is going on.

Overall, I think this was a good issue. By limiting it to three issues it forces Gillen to get straight to the point and not waste any space. So decompression is not a problem. In a single issue we get the team selected, a brief history of each, Ares's philosophy on war, some lessons and the set up for the rest of the series. If it were long we probable would only have gotten half of these stuff in. The only qualm I had was the scene with the sunglasses. That just comes across as out of place to me, but at least even the characters in the book react that way. Thing is no one really want to question Ares.

Artwise, Garcia's pencils present a rough, gritty look. Considering this is both a war story with a particularly brutal war god they work. Overall, I have no real qualms with the art or coloring. The only thing I do have is the look of the female guest star at the end. The gritty look just does not work for her.

Favorite scene: One of Ares's recruits is dumb enough to ask him what relavence does an ancient war god have to the modern world. After demonstrating his knowledge of modern weapon states:

"Consider: the human fist." right before nearly knocking the recruits head off and going into a speech about what he is.

Story: 8.5/10
Art: 8.5/10
Overall: 8.5/10

An interesting bit is to compare Ares in this issue with Athena in the Hercules one. You can use these issues to compare how Ares and Athena approach war. Aside from Ares's speech it is in their methods. It show where Ares tends to be very direct Athena is more manipulative and behind the scenes. She picks single individuals to become powerful and rally the troops. Ares picks a bunch of grunts to become as brutal as him and overwhelm the enemy with fear. Two approaches each with their own pros and cons.

[Gordon Smith]

I think the thing with the ''sunglasses'' is Ares' idea of a private joke that only an extremely learned bookworm is going to catch onto. I caught the gag, but then, I'm kinda a nutter about classical myth.

[seekquaze]

Originally Posted by Gordon Smith

I think the thing with the ''sunglasses'' is Ares' idea of a private joke that only an extremely learned bookworm is going to catch onto. I caught the gag, but then, I'm kinda a nutter about classical myth.

I know a lot about classical myth, but I think I missed it. Could you please explain it to me?

[Gordon Smith]

Originally Posted by seekquaze

I know a lot about classical myth, but I think I missed it. Could you please explain it to me?

spoilers:

The term ''Shade'' is a now seldom-used expression for ghosts, or the spirits of the dead. These soldiers may be living, but they are all cannon fodder and surely destined to die horrible deaths. They are, or might as well be, the walking dead, or in other words, Team SHADE. Ares is using the sunglasses to make that grim point, but they haven't caught on yet.

end of spoilers

[PympMyQuinjet]

The sunglasses scene was probably the most badass page I've seen in a comic in a looooong time.

[berk]

I'm almost always very critical, in a negative sense, of the way mythology is usually handled by both Marvel and DC, so I'm glad to be able to say something positive for once: I skimmed through this at the comic shop and I thought it was far and away the best treatment of a mythological character I've seen from either company in years. Not that it was perfect or that I agreed with every choice the writer and artist made, but the spirit was there, the intent was there. This writer - first I ever remember looking at any of his stuff - has obviously put some serious thought into the question of what it might mean to have a god of war walking the earth in this day and age, and the result looks to me like a pretty good story. Not saying other writers of myth-related series like Hercules aren't asking similar questions, but for whatever reason, the results on the pages of those books just aren't there, as far as I can see. I have some ideas about why that is, but I'll skip the subject for now.

The weakest aspects of this Ares issue for me were the connections with the superhero/continuity-ridden MU and whatever big "event" is currently dominating it; also, I thought Hera came across as rather weak and inconsequential, visually. That's not the impression you want the character - or any other god, for that matter - to be making on the reader, particularly if, as I gather, she's supposed to be the head of the pantheon now. But anyway, I'll be keeping an eye on the next couple issues and unless there's a drastic turn for the worse I'll likely be buying this when it's collected.

[stingerman]

I thought it was good as well and I liked how Gillen portrayed, at least to me, Ares through the eyes of his men in the beginning - meaning I kinda felt Ares was out there/stuck in the past but then when Ares started to describe all the weapons etc we see how he is the true god of War.

Nice explanation of the sunglasses, as well. I was like WTF, lol?

Makes this issue even better.

[Punchdrunk]

Berk,
I 100% agree. This was a great depiction of Ares. Oddly enough, while the references to the MU in general were the weak part of the story, this version of ARES is the most easily integratable into the MU I've ever seen. As an MU character this version fits in even more readily than the one depicted in Oeming's mini.

This left me much more excited about Gillen's upcoming run on Thor than his work with Beta Ray Bill earlier this year.

[Shadowkurt]

I do think it's rather funny that this came out on the very day NASA first launched its newest rocket - which is called the Ares I.

[KieronGillen]

I'll tell you what: it makes it bloody hard to vanity google.

Which is only right.

KG

[Talisman]

I have high hopes for Gillen's stuff. Except S.W.O.R.D. Beast and Agent Brand are in it. 2 of my most despised characters.

[Will.S]

I really want to buy this but man the $3.99 price tag makes it painful.

On one hand I don't want to support the $3.99 price any more than I already have but damn it looks like a good read. My only other beef from what I've seen of the art is that it's a little too sloppy and inconsistent and I would rather have seen cover artist Cary Nord draw it.

[Talisman]

Originally Posted by Will.S

I really want to buy this but man the $3.99 price tag makes it painful.

On one hand I don't want to support the $3.99 price any more than I already have but damn it looks like a good read. My only other beef from what I've seen of the art is that it's a little too sloppy and inconsistent and I would rather have seen cover artist Cary Nord draw it.

I agree on the art and price, but it's a very, very good read. The best Ares story I've read in quite awhile. I'm kind of tired of him getting shoved to the back of the bus for more non-development of lesser characters like Sentry and Noh-Varr.

[FlyingFox]

I just read the Ares mini from a few years ago and honestly the current Ares seems like a completely different character.

[steveg887]

Originally Posted by Talisman

I agree on the art and price, but it's a very, very good read. The best Ares story I've read in quite awhile. I'm kind of tired of him getting shoved to the back of the bus for more non-development of lesser characters like Sentry and Noh-Varr.

While I'll agree on Sentry, Ares has gotten much more face time since Dark Reign started than Noh-Varr.