Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Secret Avengers #1

As part of the whole "Marvel NOW" experience, we now have a new first issue for Secret Avengers - a title that seemed to struggle through most of its existence (the exception being the ones written by Warren Ellis - well worth tracking down).

But I digress. The idea of a team of Avengers that handles the darker operations won't go away, and now a new creative team is trying a new approach.

The only Avengers in this issue are Hawkeye and the Black Widow, and they certainly lend themselves to this sort of story. They're recruited by SHIELD to take part in a covert operation against an unusual threat (there's a nice cameo by Agent Phil Coulson, who had a pivotal role in the Avengers movie).

The story includes the "new" Nick Fury - the newly minted Samuel Jackson version, who is apparently taking the place of the original Fury. As a fan of the original since I was a kid, I can't say I'm crazy about the idea - but it looks like the new status quo.

The art by Luke Ross is very good - dark and moody, a perfect fit for the story.

The story written by Nick Spencer plays out like a spy novel, with several twists and turns, but the story never really comes together, and the shocking twist at the end doesn't really work.

As a friend said a while back, I prefer stories about heroes who act heroically. Not much of that on view here.

Grade: B-

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