I think it's because love has disappointed him too many times...

[blackruzsa]

So power is all he looks to.

4 scans from Daken #9, with some sniktling bonding time! The last of it.













"Maybe I don't have a heart, Laura. Maybe power is all I have.

All I need."


I wish Laura could make him understand more. Anyway, at least at the end we get another moment of Daken being nice to kids. That's probably the only bit of decency and general goodness he's managed consistently in... ever.

Comments

[sevarem]

Wow, Daken's coming off as... really cliched. His dialogue reads like a paint-by-numbers villain. Quite honestly, I expected more here. Nice visual where they're both going ka-boom, but the dialogue is just painful.

[stolisomancer]

Daken's real superpower is making his writer think he's reciting a deep, soulful monologue.

[sevarem]

Quite so.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

And to convince the writer that Daken's actually clever, instead of just making everyone around him stupid.

[stolisomancer]

Under Liu's pen, he's actually not bad at manipulation and playing a long game, but his inner monologue makes me want to keep punching him until something in his skull goes DING and I win a teddy bear.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Honestly, I'm still waiting for him to do something clever or not cliche. All he ever seems to do is stab people in the back (most who have little reason to trust him), or use the most obvious means possible (like threatening family members).

And what makes it even worse is we don't know what's him, and what's his stupid pheremone powers.

[sevarem]

And I've yet to see what the *point* of the character is either. If he's supposed to be a straight up villain, fine, I can go with that. If he's supposed to be on a twisted redemption quest, even better. As it stands right now, he just seems to wander from place to place, spouting ham fisted dialogue meant to show the reader how dark and clever he is. And it's... just not working.

[stolisomancer]

The point appears to be Angsty Bisexual Main Character + Dark Twisted Past + Dark Twisted Present + Crossover Audience from Best-Selling Romance Novelist Marjorie Liu = Dark Wolverine. There's a certain kind of fan for whom a character like Daken is chocolate-covered crack rocks, and that fan is almost never approached in the mainstream comics industry.

It's an odd approach and I'm glad they're taking it if only because it's such a weird book in today's market, but the book's never really appealed to me.

[sevarem]

Yeah, I can see that and I certainly don't begrudge the readers who are really enjoying the book and the character. It's just that I found him to be so much fun in Dark Avengers that it's really disappointing to see a fun, snarky character turned into a character who spouts clunkers like "caring is a weakness!" I'm waiting for him to strike a pose and shout "the weak are food for the strong!" or something.

[blackruzsa]

He needs to be around other people to be more fun. This solitude thing is not going well for him.

IDK what's gonna happen but I'm scared now; he's going to Hollywood.

[blackruzsa]

I guess I liked him too much in the past to quit him, but even I have to say Daken's character is doing rollovers into one thing or another that people don't like.

[blackruzsa]

Yeah, in the end, where there should have been insight, there wasn't much the conversation led to beyond what we already knew.

[sherkahn]

It's because when he's being honest, Daken is empty inside. Actually, both of them are. Laura is trying hard to better herself and fill her emotional core with other things to draw strength and joy from other than the abuse and pain of others. Daken "retreats" to that state when anything comes close to getting through his emotional armor, clawing away at anything that dares get close to him. Only when he seems to be using others does he pretend to be vulnerable.

[blackruzsa]

... yes, this.

[sevarem]

That may be so, and based on what else I've read with Daken, I believe that. But that's still no excuse for poorly written, stilted dialogue that reads like a ham fisted attempt at DARKNESS.

[blackruzsa]

Well already they're changing writers, so with any luck we'll get better monologue?

[sevarem]

Unless we get Dan Slott writing. ;)

[blackruzsa]

Rob Williams. :)

[sevarem]

Rob Liefield...