Issue(s): Dark Angel #9
Cover Date: Apr 93
Title: "Assassination"
Credits:
Bernadette Jaye - Writer
Dell Barras - Penciler
Dell Barras - Inker
Bambos Georgiou - Editor

Review/plot:
The Angel of Death shows Dark Angel that Mys-Tech are tainting the fabric of the universe, although the fabric that makes up her costume is pure.

Mys-Tech are currently fighting dead super-heroes again, still trying to get at Dark Angel's father's soul. It's in Hell now after Dark Angel sent the fragment to it a few issues back.

I'm losing the plot here, but some Wyrd Sisters also agree to help delay Mys-Tech.

But Mys-Tech order the assassination of Shevaun.

While her spirit was hanging out with the Angel of Death, Dark Angel got a cool cloak, but she only wears it when she's not in her real body.

And she wears it when she joins the fight in Hell against Mys-Tech. And Mys-Tech really screw up when they take Mephisto's name in vain.

Dark Angel manages to get to her father's soul and... i don't really know, but she keeps it out of Mys-Tech's hands.

Meanwhile, Mys-Tech have second thoughts about the assassination order on Shevaun.

But it's not easy to recall the DOG (Discover. Observe. Gather.) assassinbots. They've already been deployed, and they've followed Dark Angel's trail to the X-Mansion, since she's been there before.

Dark Angel joins their fight against the DOGS.

And i'm pausing here because next issue is a Mys-Tech Wars tie-in.

The weirdest thing about the Marvel UK titles is how erratic the quality is. The creative teams are constantly changing. Some issues are pretty decent. Others are a total mess.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Next issue is Mys-Tech Wars part 3, although the first half of it actually follows from here directly, kind of like a flashback, while a sequence that takes place after the end of the fight with the dogs happens in part 2.

References:

• Dark Angel found the first fragment of her father's soul in Dark Angel #6.
  
• Her father died in Hell's Angel #1.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

You know, this series really could've been cool. Looking at these scans, I'm somehow reminded of early Dr. Strange stories...

... what? They were similarly weird :)

Dark Angel could have had an interesting niche in the MU as a techno-mystic with cosmic powers at her disposal...

You know what? I'd write such a series. Marvel, hire me, please :)

I remember thinking at the time this was out that Dark Angel looked like something I should check out (I admit I've always been a sucker for redheads), but the wildly inconsistent art and "busy" stories kept me away.

Ugh. I hate this series. It reads like something out of the silver age gone bad: lots of unnecessary exposition, practically no character development, and a nonsensical plot - actually, I can't really decide how nonsensical the plot is because it's so convoluted. The other UK series' I have checked out (Warheads and Death's Head II) are fine, but getting through each of these Dark Angel issues is such a slog. I'm only reading them because I decided to read every X-Men story, and they keep showing up here, even though so far they are almost entirely irrelevant to the story. Why couldn't they have just helped Shevaun test her powers in issue one and then been done with her? (I know the answer is that the X-Men were supposed to help the book sell, but man, if a book that is not remotely related to the X-Men needs to feature the X-Men in 9 of the first 12 issues (and then Excalibur in another) to get people to buy it, maybe it just isn't that good in the first place.

The idea behind the series isn't bad, as fnord and several commenters have noted, but the execution is positively awful. Even the lowest quality stories appearing in the X-books around this time didn't feel like so much work to read through.

Also, why in the world does this series switch out Gambit for Iceman? Otherwise, the X-Men here are the Blue team. What special reason do they have for needing Bobby to come along? It would make sense if, say, they were using the Gold team and wanted to switch out a character for Psylocke, since she is the lone British X-Man. but I don't see any reason to switch Gambit for Iceman, other than maybe Iceman being more well-known at the time. But if that's the reason, why not pick Jean or Storm? I doubt using Iceman was a UK editorial mandate, because the Death's Head II issues used Gambit, and even included Jubilee to boot.