I was really looking forward to the Siege mini-series and, while it did not live up to all my expectations, it did accomplish its basic objective. With that in mind, I wanted to review one of the new titles spinning out of that series and, just as a result of timing, Secret Avengers turned out to be the one.
Writing a superhero/spy comic series can’t be an easy task because you are trying to combine two comic genres that are polar opposites. On the one hand, you have the superhero action adventure genre, which is all about superheroes in colorful costumes performing incredible feats of daring do. Most of the time these feats are done in full view of an adoring public. Lets face it; there is nothing subtle about Thor punching out Ulik in broad daylight in downtown New York City. The comic spy or espionage genre is all about being subtle; it’s about the hero doing his or her daring do in the shadows, out of the public’s view. In a spy comic the hero may complete their mission and thwart the bad guy before the bad guy even knows that something is going wrong with their scheme. The reason I’m saying all this is because I want to acknowledge upfront what a difficult job writer Ed Brubaker faces with this series.
Now, having gotten that all out of the way, I have to say that this first issue of Secret Avengers is a solid but not spectacular stab at combining the two genres. SPOILER WARNING Ed Brubaker jumps right into the story with Steve Rogers (not Capt. America) and his team out to retrieve the Serpent Crown from the Roxxon Corporation. While, they are able to get the crown, which turns out not to be the actual Serpent Crown, and information on where Roxxon came by it they do not get away undetected. Soon Steve has Nova following up a lead on Mars where Roxxon may have come by the crown. After losing contact with Nova Steve takes the rest of the team to Mars to find out what is going on; leaving Sharon Carter behind to run things while he is away. This is where the teams failure to make a clean get away comes back to haunt them as the Shadow Council shows up to claim the crown. END SPOILER WARNING
While, this issue did not thrill me I was happy to see Steve and Sharon having a successful relationship. So many times, writer just seem determined to keep heroes from have a successful meaningful relationship; as if that would in someway destroy the character. I, also thought, Mike Deodato did a fine job with the art in this issue. I can see many possible interesting storylines that could be explored in future issues of this series. I probably will not be reading Secret Avengers on a regular bases; if you choose to stick with the series you could really be rewarded with some great stories in the future.
Keith Forney