I had some amount of skepticism for each of the four Avengers series that launched as part of Marvel’s “Heroic Age.” Though I was excited for it after hearing the creative team and seeing the line-up, I found myself wondering if Secret Avengers was necessary. I honestly wasn’t sure why we needed this team with all the other ones running around, but it’s a testament to Ed Brubaker’s skill that after the first issue, I was completely sold on the series. It’s since moved to the top of my read list every time a new issue comes out. I may not know for sure where the story is going, but it sure is a fun ride getting there.
Issue #3 starts with a flashback to some Confederates post-Civil War. While I have next to no idea what this has to do with the story, it really shows artist Mike Deodato’s versatility and talent. We then cut back the Ant-Man as he finds out just where that strange doorway from last issue leads to. The answer isn’t entirely surprising, but it is still interesting in its own way and could give the new Ant-Man a chance to show how much of a hero he can be. My personal favorite part of the issue has to do with the Archon, the giant creature Steve Rogers and the Beast were fighting as he becomes a much more fleshed out character in this issue and we even get his origin here, though I find it hard to believe that the Watchers would create such proactive creatures, but that doesn’t have a huge impact on the story. Archon becomes a fun character and, for a bit, I was holding out hope that he might even join the team as a new member, but somehow I doubt it. My only other problem with this issue was the possessed Nova creating an oxygen atmosphere on Mars; I’ll admit I don’t know much about the Serpent Crown(s), but this seemed like a much larger display of power than I would have thought it capable of. Also, for those of you out there looking for a little more info on why Nick Fury is in this as a villain, you won’t find any answers here, though I’m doubting it’s actually Fury.
Mike Deodato really gets some great images to play with here. I really like his design of Archon and he gets a lot more chances to show us the character this issue. I especially loved his action scenes this month as his characters really seems epically powerful, as they should given the context of this series. For the first time, possibly ever, I actually buy Valkyrie as an Asgardian and not some lame imposter like her old Ultimate counterpart. He even gets some chances to draw some Celestials and other cosmic beings and they all look great, with the possible exception of the Watchers, who look even more freakish than they’re supposed to. Doubly impressive is how fun he makes this book to look at it when 75% of the backgrounds are all basically the same. You can only do so much to make Mars look interesting. In this department, props need to go to colorist Rain Beredo for making all the colors fit without appearing too strikingly different against each other. This is a truly gorgeous book.
I’m truly excited to see where Secret Avengers goes in the future. In three issue, Brubaker has made the stakes and the story fun and Deodato is making it equally great to look at it. I’d really like to see all the different plot threads start coming together more and see the team converge some more as they’ve moved pretty far apart in the past two issues, but it definitely hasn’t hurt the book. The pacing is fast and plot interesting and I can’t wait to see where it goes.
Overall: 8.9/10
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