Dark Reign is a rare event for Marvel in that there is no central "event" storyline which then branches out into characters' series, like with Siege. In addition to the Siege story arc, there were Siege tie-ins from many of the individual series like Avengers, Thor, etc. This makes it more difficult to collect and follow the Dark Reign, wherein Norman Osborn has become the head of National Security in the US. Only, he's still a villain!

The List is an attempt to collect some of the Dark Reign into one trade edition. It has several different characters' interactions with Osborn, as he tries to cross them off his hit list! Since this is a list of those he wants to have killed, readers should be prepared for a lot of violence and death. The book opens with Ronin's attempted assassination of Osborn. This is an entertaining story, but it is also collected in two other trade editions I already own. The rest of the book was completely new to me, since I don't follow the characters and they aren't on any current (in and around Dark Reign/Siege) Avengers line-up.

Daredevil is first up on Osborn's list. The story opens when the Hand approaches him to become its leader. Yes, this villainous organization wants their nemesis/good guy to lead them. And he agrees because the alternative is even worse. Daredevil is going through his initiation when Bullseye shows up to off him. This story has some great fight sequences and an unexpected ending.

Next, Osborn wants revenge on his former Cabal member-turned traitor - Namor. He has a specially engineered weapon to hunt the Sub-Mariner, but Namor is allied with the X-Men, who won't let him stand alone. This story was good because I don't follow the X-Men at all so I had no knowledge of what they were up to; but, the action should have been better considering the powers the X-Men possess.

Another character I had lost track of since before Siege (since I haven't read Secret Invasion yet) is Nick Fury. Here, he shows up on Osborn's doorstep before Osborn can get to his name on the list. Osborn's bad, but he wants to put on a good show of being a "patriot," so when Nick tells him they need to work together on something, Osborn goes along. He plans to betray Fury, of course. Fury knows this, of course. An excellent cat and mouse story with important revelations that are sure to impact the future.

The next story was BRUTAL, and downright gory. Osborn sends Daken, son of Wolverine, after the Punisher. It does not end well. This story took me by surprise, no doubt about it.

The, the Hulk. Or, perhaps I should say Bruce Banner, who is no longer the Hulk. While I'm left in the dark as to why he isn't the Hulk anymore, I loved this story because it was so good to see Bruce being a badass who outthinks his enemy, has formed a surprise team-up with his son, and creates some tech to help him (just like Tony Stark would). I especially love how the artist draws him with sunglasses to play up the coolness factor. My favorite story of the book.

The next story finally brings me some closure on Marvel Boy (Noh-Varr), a former member of Osborn's Dark Avengers, who I encountered in a brief story in another collection. However, he's just not that interesting. Here, he teams up with Wolverine and Fantomex to shut down "the World" (secret weapon x facility) before Osborn can take it over. *yawn* I just didn't care about the facility, or these characters, and the action was rather lackluster.

Happily, the List ends on a high note when Osborn goes after his highest-ranked target: Spider-Man. This short, but satisfying story has all the sass, sarcasm and one-liners you'd expect from the web-slinger and some solid action.

Overall, The List is a solid collection that provides some oversight on the Dark Reign. Fans who follow the individual comic lines might be disappointed. However, anyone who (like me) jumps from event to event will find this a worthwhile read. Recommended. ( )

Like any cross-title collection, the art and story-telling is a mixed bag since so many creators are involved. There's a loose plot involved - Osborn has a list of eight people to take care of and/or kill, and he systematically goes down the list either himself or using one of his Dark Avengers - but nothing too strong. I don't think that you have to read each title involved here to understand what is going on, but it certainly doesn't hurt, either.

1) Avengers - Clint Barton gets upset and decides to go after Osborn. He runs into some problems in Avengers Tower.

2) Daredevil - Daredevil is a thorn in Osborn's side now that he has taken over the Hand. Osborn gives Bullseye the "gift" of killing Daredevil, which obviously doesn't happen, but there's a high body count regardless.

3) X-Men - Namor double-crossed Osborn, and Norman doesn't want to allow anyone to get away with that. So he somehow genetically mutates one of Namor's ex-wives into a giant Atlantean-eating killing machine. This forces the relocation of Namor's people yet again.

4) Secret Warriors - Nick Fury and Osborn can finally agree on something, but everything's not as it seems. Probably the most difficult for me to follow out of the eight one-shots collected here, because I don't care much for the character of Nick Fury and haven't read much with him in it.

5) Hulk - Anyone who thinks only the Hulk is dangerous has seriously underestimated Bruce Banner's intelligence, especially with his son Skaar by his side.

6) Punisher - Daken and the Punisher square off in a fight that does not end well for one of them.

7) Wolverine - Osborn discovers that the Weapon X program would be awesome to own. Unfortunately for Osborn, Noh-Varr, who has recently defected from the Dark Avengers after discovering just how twisted the members are, decides to warn Wolverine of the impending attack on the facility. Famtomex shows up as well. The reader discovers that Wolverine believes in a god, while Noh-Varr and Fantomex don't. This was probably my favorite of the eight one-shots here. I like Fantomex (he sort of reminds me of Deadpool) and Noh-Varr.

8) Spider-Man - Osborn saves the best for last, but he gets more than he bargains for when he goes head to head with Peter Parker.

Altogether, this wasn't a bad read - some of the one-shots were quite fun - but it's not an essential book for the Dark Reign event. ( )