Review: Secret Avengers Vol. 1 TPB 1, Spoilers

[captainhammerica]

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Comic books. I love comic books like a crack head loves crack. Sadly, I’m only 10 percent joking when I say that. When I got my first job that paid over minimum wage, but was still living at home with my parents, a large chunk of my paycheck began going towards comics. When you add this to my ten years as a pack a day smoker, I guess you could say I have somewhat of an addictive personality. Anyway I had to go cold turkey on my comics to survive.

Then came the day where Marvel Comics came up with their Digital Unlimited. If you buy at the right promotion you have access to thousands and thousands of digital comics for $60 a year. It became somewhat easy to break away from Marvel with the constant company-wide crossovers that hit multiple titles, and the increasing movie washed universe. However, now that I have Marvel equivalent to a methadone clinic for comic heads like myself, I’ve began backtracking event to event from the last one I remember, Siege. I backtracked to The Heroic Age, and that led me to the first volume of Secret Avengers.

The series takes place after Norman Osborn has had his ass handed to him and his power stripped away, Steve Rogers is back from the dead and takes control of things. Yeah that’s right, Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin. Turns out that putting a mentally unstable CEO in charge of national security is a bad idea, who’d have thought it? *cough* Trump *cough* Anyway even though Cap is back in the land of the living, he’s not Cap, he still lets Bucky Barnes have his identity. Meanwhile Rogers takes control of S.H.I.E.L.D and starts a black ops version of the Avengers, hence the Secret in the Secret Avengers.

The lineup is pretty refreshing, and you have a lot of characters you don’t traditionally see in the Avengers lineup. They even got some of my personal favorites like Moon Knight and the Irredeemable Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady), and one of the space heroes Nova. Ed Brubaker I remember fondly from his run on Captain America, and he nails the character of Steve Rogers perfectly. Running SHIELD is something he was born to do and he steps into the role nicely.

Unfortunately, there are a few hickups with the first story arc. The team’s travels to Mars because Nova goes dark and run aground with the mysterious Shadow Society, backed up by none other than Nick Fury. Nova has become possessed by a serpent crown and runs amuck controlling some of the Shadow Society and of course running afoul with the Secret Avengers. The Secret Avengers have to stop them, which unfortunately is paramount to taking Nova’s fancy new hat off. Which Commander Rogers does by putting on Nova’s fancy old hat. Mission to Mars, I think Hat Off would’ve been a better name for the arc.

The story also back pedals a little and quickly un-do’s some things that make the story potentially great. Nick Fury is actually a sentient life model decoy named Max Fury, who was rescued by John Steele…which I guess would’ve been a dramatic reveal had I know who the hell John Steele is. Seriously, the comic revealed it in such a way where you expect to see Lord Voldemort and it’s actually….maybe the guy who waited on you at Appleby’s once? Also Nova also quits the team for….a pretty much unknown reason. It’s almost like his decision to leave takes place off panel and Captain America mentions it in passing to Sharon Cater…it’s a weird move for a comic.

However, it’s cast and premise have so much potential. The Avengers are a team of heavy hitters that bash the crap out of things in broad daylight, it’s intriguing to see them take up a black ops role. And Brubaker’s run on Captain America makes him uniquely qualified to showcase Captain America and the more secret agent feel of this title. Missed opportunities, but I’m willing to see what this team can do with more.

-- 01 May 2016, 02:49 --

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You know what’s better than reading a good story arc in comics? Reading a good a story arc after the previous arc had been bad. I had some issues with the first installment of Secret Avengers, both in terms of story and in terms of character. But all of those fears have been put to rest after reading the second volume.

Arguably, I think the greatest thing Brian Michael Bendis did with the Avengers during his run was flipping characters and making obscure ones relevant. Luke Cage and Iron Fist were made compelling and given leadership positions, and classic loaners like Spider-Man and Wolverine were brought into the fold. Ed Brubaker carries on in this spirit by using the less than popular marital arts character Shan-Chi and Prince of Orphans for guest characters in this arc, and they instantly feel compelling, mysterious, and likable.

The Shadow Council is at work again and have resurrected Shan-Chi’s evil father, who commands a cult of ninjas dedicated to his cause. However, to fully revive him to his full strength he first has to drain the life from his son. The Secret Avengers engage directly with both the Shadow Council and this resurrected cult, with double crosses and violent hand to hand battles on every page. As I pointed out in my Shattered Empire review, sometimes kinetic motions aren’t always conveyed nicely in comics, and that extends to martial arts fight scenes. Mike Deodato managed to keep the pacing and paneling just right for these scenes though, as well as kept the art visually consistent with the tone set in the first arc, and deserves huge props for that.

I was also worried about the inclusion of two guest characters for this arc. Nova wasn’t exactly handled the best last time around, and I was afraid that other characters on the team (like War Machine, Moon Knight, and Ant Man) wouldn’t get much of the spotlight because of Shang-Chi and Prince of Orphans. For the first couple issues this seemed the case, but before the close Brubaker had managed to find a way to incorporate all of the characters into the arc.

The last two issues of the arc deal with the question I (and several of the Secret Avengers) asked, which was just who the hell is John Steele? Turns out he’s like a suped up John Carter from Edgar Rice Burroughs, a man whose been around since at least the Civil War and bulletproof, and referred by Steven Rogers as America’s first super solider. It turns out that he was also brainwashed and controlled to work for the Shadow Council, and the last two issues deal with Cap….er, Commander Steven Rogers undoing the damage to his old comrade in arms. The last two issues aren’t as compelling or exciting as the five issues before it, but they served as a nice interlude for what I’m hoping is an even better arc.

Like in the last volume though, Shang-Chi leaves as did Nova. While I was disheartened to see him go it also made me wonder if that’s a direction for the series. If that last spot on the Secret Avengers is a rotating spot and that John Steele will fill in for their next arc, only to be replaced by someone else. This could very well be a brilliant way to keep the cast rotating, and if so, I can’t wait to see what’s in store next.

[DFB]

This was the time where there was like 5 or 6 active avengers book wasn't it? I remember people being mad about that (Mainly because that means they'd all be involved in whatever event was coming up) But I really liked that by having multiple books we ended up with atypical rosters like these.
The book started a little slow for me, for whatever reason I don't respond well to Ed Brubaker, but when Warren Ellis picked up the series it really took off. You'll have to keep me updated on your opinions

[Vermont Reviews]

Nice review says

Vermont Reviews

[CHRIS_H_B]

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Comic books. I love comic books like a crack head loves crack. Sadly, I’m only 10 percent joking when I say that. When I got my first job that paid over minimum wage, but was still living at home with my parents, a large chunk of my paycheck began going towards comics. When you add this to my ten years as a pack a day smoker, I guess you could say I have somewhat of an addictive personality. Anyway I had to go cold turkey on my comics to survive.

Then came the day where Marvel Comics came up with their Digital Unlimited. If you buy at the right promotion you have access to thousands and thousands of digital comics for $60 a year. It became somewhat easy to break away from Marvel with the constant company-wide crossovers that hit multiple titles, and the increasing movie washed universe. However, now that I have Marvel equivalent to a methadone clinic for comic heads like myself, I’ve began backtracking event to event from the last one I remember, Siege. I backtracked to The Heroic Age, and that led me to the first volume of Secret Avengers.

The series takes place after Norman Osborn has had his ass handed to him and his power stripped away, Steve Rogers is back from the dead and takes control of things. Yeah that’s right, Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin. Turns out that putting a mentally unstable CEO in charge of national security is a bad idea, who’d have thought it? *cough* Trump *cough* Anyway even though Cap is back in the land of the living, he’s not Cap, he still lets Bucky Barnes have his identity. Meanwhile Rogers takes control of S.H.I.E.L.D and starts a black ops version of the Avengers, hence the Secret in the Secret Avengers.

The lineup is pretty refreshing, and you have a lot of characters you don’t traditionally see in the Avengers lineup. They even got some of my personal favorites like Moon Knight and the Irredeemable Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady), and one of the space heroes Nova. Ed Brubaker I remember fondly from his run on Captain America, and he nails the character of Steve Rogers perfectly. Running SHIELD is something he was born to do and he steps into the role nicely.

Unfortunately, there are a few hickups with the first story arc. The team’s travels to Mars because Nova goes dark and run aground with the mysterious Shadow Society, backed up by none other than Nick Fury. Nova has become possessed by a serpent crown and runs amuck controlling some of the Shadow Society and of course running afoul with the Secret Avengers. The Secret Avengers have to stop them, which unfortunately is paramount to taking Nova’s fancy new hat off. Which Commander Rogers does by putting on Nova’s fancy old hat. Mission to Mars, I think Hat Off would’ve been a better name for the arc.

The story also back pedals a little and quickly un-do’s some things that make the story potentially great. Nick Fury is actually a sentient life model decoy named Max Fury, who was rescued by John Steele…which I guess would’ve been a dramatic reveal had I know who the hell John Steele is. Seriously, the comic revealed it in such a way where you expect to see Lord Voldemort and it’s actually….maybe the guy who waited on you at Appleby’s once? Also Nova also quits the team for….a pretty much unknown reason. It’s almost like his decision to leave takes place off panel and Captain America mentions it in passing to Sharon Cater…it’s a weird move for a comic.

However, it’s cast and premise have so much potential. The Avengers are a team of heavy hitters that bash the crap out of things in broad daylight, it’s intriguing to see them take up a black ops role. And Brubaker’s run on Captain America makes him uniquely qualified to showcase Captain America and the more secret agent feel of this title. Missed opportunities, but I’m willing to see what this team can do with more.

-- 01 May 2016, 02:49 --

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You know what’s better than reading a good story arc in comics? Reading a good a story arc after the previous arc had been bad. I had some issues with the first installment of Secret Avengers, both in terms of story and in terms of character. But all of those fears have been put to rest after reading the second volume.

Arguably, I think the greatest thing Brian Michael Bendis did with the Avengers during his run was flipping characters and making obscure ones relevant. Luke Cage and Iron Fist were made compelling and given leadership positions, and classic loaners like Spider-Man and Wolverine were brought into the fold. Ed Brubaker carries on in this spirit by using the less than popular marital arts character Shan-Chi and Prince of Orphans for guest characters in this arc, and they instantly feel compelling, mysterious, and likable.

The Shadow Council is at work again and have resurrected Shan-Chi’s evil father, who commands a cult of ninjas dedicated to his cause. However, to fully revive him to his full strength he first has to drain the life from his son. The Secret Avengers engage directly with both the Shadow Council and this resurrected cult, with double crosses and violent hand to hand battles on every page. As I pointed out in my Shattered Empire review, sometimes kinetic motions aren’t always conveyed nicely in comics, and that extends to martial arts fight scenes. Mike Deodato managed to keep the pacing and paneling just right for these scenes though, as well as kept the art visually consistent with the tone set in the first arc, and deserves huge props for that.

I was also worried about the inclusion of two guest characters for this arc. Nova wasn’t exactly handled the best last time around, and I was afraid that other characters on the team (like War Machine, Moon Knight, and Ant Man) wouldn’t get much of the spotlight because of Shang-Chi and Prince of Orphans. For the first couple issues this seemed the case, but before the close Brubaker had managed to find a way to incorporate all of the characters into the arc.

The last two issues of the arc deal with the question I (and several of the Secret Avengers) asked, which was just who the hell is John Steele? Turns out he’s like a suped up John Carter from Edgar Rice Burroughs, a man whose been around since at least the Civil War and bulletproof, and referred by Steven Rogers as America’s first super solider. It turns out that he was also brainwashed and controlled to work for the Shadow Council, and the last two issues deal with Cap….er, Commander Steven Rogers undoing the damage to his old comrade in arms. The last two issues aren’t as compelling or exciting as the five issues before it, but they served as a nice interlude for what I’m hoping is an even better arc.

Like in the last volume though, Shang-Chi leaves as did Nova. While I was disheartened to see him go it also made me wonder if that’s a direction for the series. If that last spot on the Secret Avengers is a rotating spot and that John Steele will fill in for their next arc, only to be replaced by someone else. This could very well be a brilliant way to keep the cast rotating, and if so, I can’t wait to see what’s in store next.

With all the Avenger movies out I'm interested in starting to read some of their comics. Haven't read any since a kid. Any ideas where I should start?

[Vermont Reviews]

I have always liked the Avengers comics.

Vermont Reviews

You can start with the newest issue.