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| Not fond of this cover either |
It is no shock I am a fan of Secret Avengers and I was very
nervous hearing about Marvel NOW coming in as it might scrap the book for
perhaps something else. But, I was relieved hearing that it was going to be
coming back with a new writer in Nick Spenser and another roster change-up ;
though upon reading the issue I did wonder if this was the right change to
make.
If anything the book having the word ‘Avenger’ in the title
seems a bit false. Make no mistake; this is a S.H.I.E.L.D. Book from the cast
and the missions, which is not the only real secret the book is currently
hiding. For what it is worth the first two ‘recruits’ Hawkeye and Black Widow
didn’t seem interested in joining and then suddenly all read for the chance a
panel later. Of course we don’t know why the sudden jump but only one of the
many questions the books leaves us with as we get through it. The next plot
point to all of this was that Hawkeye and Black Widow get nanoparticles that
allow memories to be altered remotely. This all sounds pretty comic book super
science which I have no real problems with. So in the end the missions are so
secret they won’t even remember being on them or in the case of poor Hawkeye
why he was in Bubdapest to start off with.
There are two things wrong I feel with this book and to
start out it is trying very hard to connect with the Avengers movie using the
ones who were working for S.H.I.E.L.D. Heck they even manage to make Coulson
here look like actor Clark Gregg even though his first few appearances had him
look nothing alike. But, if anyone is going to see this and expect the same
Agent Coulson we fell in love with in the movies, we are sadly going to be
disappointed. This Coluson along with Nick Fury ‘Jr.’ are out to save the world
and in some way screw over Hawkeye and possible Black Widow. The reveal at the
end to me seems to point to that happening sooner than later.
Spencer writing has never been bad, but never something I
could say has blown me away either. Here is a book that has a lot of dialogue,
and at times very witty, but low on the actually action portion. It is hard to get behind a book that has so
many talking heads and then quick action or off panel action. Art is much
better with Luke Ross though wouldn't mind Black Widow having her zipper a few
inches higher. I often don’t mention this and should but Matthew Wilson on
color for this book did an amazing job and little disturbing job with a scene
involving demon possession!
But, as the book comes to a close I felt more depressed than
I was excited for the future issues. Maybe under has this been promoted as an
S.H.I.E.L.D. book proper my expectations would be different and not blinded by
volumes past. Here this title just lightly jogs in and stands around not doing
much at all and doesn’t have much of a hook to keep me coming back.
OVERALL: 5.0 out of 10
Bryan "BAC" Clendening is a comic book reviewer and sometimes video producer on the internet, you can follow him on Twitter by Clicking Here.
