Secret Avengers #1
I can admit that I had my reservations about this book. What seemed to me to be a pretty thinly veiled attempt at getting residual attention from Marvel’s incomprehensibly successful “Avengers” film turned out to be pretty much exactly that, but it was good, maybe because of it, or maybe in spite of it. It’s a clever book and it’s a funny book, and that’s about all it needs to be. It’s a bright spot among Marvel’s relaunch, and that’s definitely good enough.
Issue #1 is a fantastic example of how to start in the middle and end at the end. Nick Spencer raises many questions before deftly and handedly answering all of them in a swift manner. The plot of the book requires a bit of looking back and thinking to understand, but once that’s done, it all comes together very well.
As a short recap, Hawkeye and Black Widow are tasked by Agent Coulson to become part of a secret team of operatives for S.H.I.E.L.D. and, as part of that, were injected with a serum that controls their memory, forcing them to forget they were ever a part of any successful mission, as well as allowing S.H.I.E.L.D. to erase their memory at any point during a mission that goes the wrong way.
Spencer demonstrates this nicely in having Nick Fury shoot Hawkeye towards the middle of the book, and letting Hawkeye thing he was just shot in the middle of any normal mission. It’s cold, but it fits the book and the characters. On top of that, the book is riddled with well-placed humor, like Hawkeye’s musings on the change of race that Nick Fury underwent (comparing him to James Bond), and the interaction between Hawkeye and Coulson.
Nick Fury is handled particularly well (referring to Director Maria Hill as “Acting Director”) and playing back with Hawkeye, and Black Widow even gets to have a bit of fun herself.
This book seems primed to set the stage for a more S.H.I.E.L.D. oriented universe, maybe like the one that will be on TV soon enough, and it fits that mold very well. It’s not going to be the best or the deepest comic book run in history, but it has its tongue in its cheek and it’s going to be a hell of a fun ride, and sometimes that’s all you need.
Issue #1 is a fantastic example of how to start in the middle and end at the end. Nick Spencer raises many questions before deftly and handedly answering all of them in a swift manner. The plot of the book requires a bit of looking back and thinking to understand, but once that’s done, it all comes together very well.
As a short recap, Hawkeye and Black Widow are tasked by Agent Coulson to become part of a secret team of operatives for S.H.I.E.L.D. and, as part of that, were injected with a serum that controls their memory, forcing them to forget they were ever a part of any successful mission, as well as allowing S.H.I.E.L.D. to erase their memory at any point during a mission that goes the wrong way.
Spencer demonstrates this nicely in having Nick Fury shoot Hawkeye towards the middle of the book, and letting Hawkeye thing he was just shot in the middle of any normal mission. It’s cold, but it fits the book and the characters. On top of that, the book is riddled with well-placed humor, like Hawkeye’s musings on the change of race that Nick Fury underwent (comparing him to James Bond), and the interaction between Hawkeye and Coulson.
Nick Fury is handled particularly well (referring to Director Maria Hill as “Acting Director”) and playing back with Hawkeye, and Black Widow even gets to have a bit of fun herself.
This book seems primed to set the stage for a more S.H.I.E.L.D. oriented universe, maybe like the one that will be on TV soon enough, and it fits that mold very well. It’s not going to be the best or the deepest comic book run in history, but it has its tongue in its cheek and it’s going to be a hell of a fun ride, and sometimes that’s all you need.
A Look Inside
