Rating: 3.5/5 – A quickly paced and humorous Secret Avengers relaunch.
by ComicSpectrum reviewer Shawn Hoklas.
Marvel just wrapped up the last run of Secret Avengers which I feel was an underrated and under appreciated title. It had a lot of great things going for it, while using the less popular and more covert Avengers to tell the stories. It had close ties to A.I.M. and had a more serious and dark feel to it. So after hearing that Marvel would be relaunching this title with a new creative team of Ales Kot and Michael Walsh, I was a bit nervous about the direction they would take this new series in.
I will say that there’s a lot of potential to this series, although the amount of humor used may turn some fans off who really enjoyed the serious tone of the previous run. After the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. form an alliance to face some of the bigger issues that threaten the earth, S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill has assembled a team of Avengers that can act as a covert squad handling the issues that need a more delicate and exposure free touch. These Avenges include Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Black Widow and new team member M.O.D.O.K.?! Writer Ales Kot does a good job of introducing new readers to the cast, all while jumping around between three main storylines. It’s a quickly paced read that cuts to different scenes even quicker. It’s exciting, but felt a lot more lighthearted than the previous series, until the ending that showed the potential dark side and serious consequences a book like this can have.
Artist Michael Walsh, whose work can be seen on Image’s Zero title, may best be compared to Michael Lark. He has as simple style, using a thick line. His style purposely lacks detail, instead focusing on the character and action, along with facial expressions and layouts. His style also contributed to the lighter tone of this first issue, but it’s a style that meshes well with the story. I’m excited to see how his work will improve and evolve over the course of this series. Although I didn’t feel as though this series started as well as the last series finished, I’m optimistic that it can turn into something special.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas
(shawn@comicspectrum.com)
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I read the first Secret Avengers series, but didn’t try the second. Out of the three, which would you say has been the best? (I know the 3rd just started, but you can base it solely off issue 1)
It really depends on what you’re looking for in a comics series. The 2nd series had a lot going for it and is a very different tone from this one. This is more light-hearted/humorous, so if you like that in your comics then this series is worth a go.
2nd series was far more serious. Between 1st & 2nd I preferred the 2nd. 3rd is too much a different thing (and only 1 issue in) to judge compare to the other 2 runs yet.
Thanks for the input. I didn’t give the 2nd one a chance mostly because of the brain-wiping that they said was happening after each mission. If this one is humorous, maybe I’ll give it a shot