Word Association #2:
‘O’-face
How to Train Your Dragon
Beast wears spectacles in a fight?
Methane
Where’s Black Widow and Ant-Man?
Leave you comments below!
SECRET AVENGERS #2: Secret Histories Part Two
WRITER: Ed Brubaker
ARTIST: Mike Deodato with Will Conrad
COLOR ART: Rain Beredo
COVER: Marko Djurdjevic
PLOT:
Sharon Carter awakens with a headache and a desire to kick some a$$. After locking onto one of the crowns, she flies the ship toward the signal. Back on Mars, the Secret Avengers investigate the Roxxon mining base while trying to find Nova. After a fight with some soldiers under mind control, the team splits up: War Machine and Ant-Man go investigate a building beyond a ridge; Black Widow, Valkyrie, and Moon Knight investigate a well-traveled path; and Steve Rogers and Beast go to find Nova. Ant-man is sucked into a bright light; Steve Rogers and Beast make their way into an ancient temple and awaken…something; and the Three Quasi-Amigos end up finding Nova and getting spotted by him. All the while, flying over the US, Nick Fury (the one who knocked-out Sharon Carter and stole the crown) gets word of energy readings from the third crown and sets a new course.
REVIEW:
I suppose I should reveal my idiocy right now: I had absolutely no inkling that the leader of the gang which jumped aboard the ship in issue one, knocked out Agent-13, and stole one of the crowns, was none other than Nick Fury. Whenever I look at that panel all I really think of is Kobra, for some reason. Eheu!
As for the current issue, I do not think it as strong as the amazing first issue. I believe that part of this stems from the fact that Brubaker ultimately fractures the issue in order to contain several simultaneous actions. Sharon Carter, Nick Fury, and the three divisions of the Secret Avengers team all make for interesting storytelling, but certainly not as strong as if it were the whole team together. The majority of my skepticism for this series comes from the random assortment of team members, and Brubaker had to prove to me that the team could truly work. I found myself surprised that the team did in fact work, at least in issue one, but here there seems to be a bit of a backslide.
The interaction between War Machine and Ant-Man is completely baffling to me, and I question why it was even necessary. Valkyrie seems ever the awkward teammate, like I’m sure Thor was at some time. Moon Knight’s ability to meld so easily with the team raises some red flags for me, mainly because I saw his transition as being the most difficult. Sharon Carter, a favorite of mine, just does not read right to me, and I am quite sure I cannot explain why. Steve Rogers and Beast are, perhaps, the best written so far; Beast with his need to investigate and question everything, and Steve with his natural ability to lead.
The storyline continues to be intriguing and I think that it is a strong idea to put Nova, such a distant/distinct character, smack in the middle of it all. However, this entire issue just read like filler for me. Search, investigate, fight, split-up, search, investigate. I question why some of these multi-pages of a single character (Sharon, Nick) could not be reduced to just one page.
Still, I must commend Brubaker for his consistent strength in combining a serious tone with that of mild humor. Some of these heroes would be rather dry without it!
GRADE:
3.5 out of 5.0 Webheads: Somehow from issue one to the present, the story has lost some momentum.
Ex animo,
Your friendly neighborhood, Spider-Girl!
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Pandora
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
Podbean
Amazon Alexa
Player.fm
Listen Notes
Stitcher
The previous for SA #5 seem pretty good, but I hate to wait that long to finally get some answers on the Nick Fury question.
Thanks for the comments! I’m glad to see I’m not alone in my opinions, Spider Fan!
I agree that SA #2 was not as good as the first. I am a big Moon Knight fan and I agree that his easy transition into the team is baffling. I figured his would be the most awkward of the roster, but strangely it wasn’t. I attribute this to the fact the writer doesn’t know the character very well and is just making him fit. They spent the entire issue of Moon Knight #10 as a Secret Avengers crossover and have Moonie acting like the hated, unwanted stepchild, yet by the end of the book there is this uneasy acceptance of him as part of the team. That to me is far more believable, but I suppose for expediency sake in SA they just made him fit. I also agree that Valkyrie comes across as almost being out of place. I suppose again it is just the writer, as Valkyrie has always been a team player since her Defender days. Can’t speak to Ant Man as I don’t know much about this new character bearing the name. War Machine seems kind of wooden to me and I am not sure what his beef with Ant Man might be, but I hope they will enlighten us soon. Are they just glossing over the fact that War Machine is a cyborg now as the way they are writing him seems completely different to his most recent stint in his short lived solo series. I also like the fact that Nova has been added to the team, though we’ve not had a chance to see how they are writing him yet. I concur that the Beast and Steve Rogers seem to be written the best and most consistent so far.
I am going to give SA a few more issues to see how it plays out before adding it to the pull list or deciding to quit picking it up.
Like Bryan said and like I’ve said several times on this site, Avengers Academy and Secret Avengers are the best Avengers books out there. However, SA #2 suffered from decompression and really did not advance the story.
The most jarring thing was Moon Knight’s dialogue. Granted, I’ve never read any of his books, but I gather he’s supposed to be a loner and has the whole “doesn’t work well with others” thing going on, but he’s just so chipper to show his findings to Rogers. It didn’t sound right.
I’ve been loving Secret avengers. after the dabcle thatw as Grim Hunt, which ruined quite possibly the greatest spidey story ever told, I am looking for new books to replace ASM (which I am never buying again, I have 300+ of the good issues to read anyway when I want a spidey fix). Also, if anyone hasn’t checked it out, Avengers Academy has been surprisingly good.