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The Dark Avengers/ Uncanny X-Men crossover Utopia has really surprised me. I wasn’t expecting to like the series at all. I predicted Marvel would be in trouble without having a major summer event and would really fall behind the anticipation and sales of DC’s Blackest Night. However, Utopia has started out with a really strong and straight-forward story that is wisely less expansive as Marvel’s previous event Secret Invasion.

The plot in Utopia is pretty simply to follow. The anti-mutant group Humanity Now marches through San Fransico and members of the X-Men butt heads in protest, consequently starting a riot. As the situation gets more and more out of X-Men leader Cyclops’ control, Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers are called in to clam the storm. Yet, Osborn is also using this situation as a strategic move to keep the X-Men in check of his power, by introducing his shocking alliance with Emma Frost’s registered Dark X-Men.

One major plot thread that is interesting is the deterioration of Scott Summers and Emma Frost relationship. Both X-leaders have been taking actions behind each others backs for quite some time now, and the consequence of this is finally starting to pay off in Utopia. However, it is the Dark Avengers half of the story that is truly compelling. Though Osborn and his ex-criminal cohorts might play a dirty game, they are actually doing a better job serving the public good then Tony Stark’s S.H.I.E.L.D. Though there are hints that the Dark Avenger’s fatal falls will eventually lead to their downfall in this series, it’s still hard not to fall for Osborn’s charm. The Dark Avengers are like any good Mobster story, you somehow find sympathy for the characters no matter the fact that what you know how they achieve their victories are wrong.

Like I said before, I wasn’t expecting to like Utopia but have been pleasantly surprised. It might even give Blackest Night a run for it’s money not being so convoluted and controversial.

-Jon

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