I did finish Dark Lord, I found the second half of the book much more enjoyable, the issues I had in the first half were toned down, or I became used to them and ignored them, who knows. Great wrap up video, those Spider-man books look pretty cool.
No, I think you're right, the second half absolutely felt like it turned down the gears on that stuff, I think I mentioned as much in my review, It's not just you. Maybe that's a good sign that the next book in the series (combined with reader feedback) will stray further away from those issues.
