Secret Avengers #7 – Review

by Ed Brubaker (writer), Mike Deodato (art), and Rain Beredo (colors)

The Story: Steve Rogers and friends fight to protect Shang Chi while the Prince of Orphans and Valkyrie journey to Fu Manchu’s tomb.

What’s Good: With Secret Avengers #7, Ed Brubaker proves that Secret Avengers’ massive upshot in quality as of #5 is here to stay.  As I said with last month’s issue, this is what we were expecting from an Ed Brubaker covert ops Avengers book, not bland trips to Mars.  This sudden turn is nothing short of brilliant, particularly in that it brings together everything that Brubaker does so well.

First off, you’ve got your pulp, specifically the kung fu breed that’ll really wet the appetites of fans of Brubaker’s Iron Fist run.  From the bad guy (Fu Manchu) to the sheer amount of awesome kung fu fighting, parts of this issue feel like kooky fun from a bygone era, updated in 2010, and that’s exactly the sort of thing that we’ve been getting for years from quality Brubaker comics, particularly Iron Fist and Incognito.  All told, the martial arts base of this arc continues to be absolutely wonderful.

But it’s not just that; Brubaker also lives up to the conspiratorial, shadowy, covert ops part of the equation, something that was also somewhat lacking in the first arc.  This feels like a Steve Rogers spy book at times, with great mysterious enemies that can only just barely be fathomed.   The Shadow Council is as foreboding as ever, and seeing Thorndrake secretly worshipping some Cthulian statue was delicious.  Better still is the emphasis on Rogers’ keeping the teams activities a secret, something that hasn’t really been broached since the first issue.

I’ve complained last month about the continued lack of team dynamic.  Brubaker, on the one hand, is slowly making it clear that this isn’t a conventional Avengers team; really, it’s closer to “Steve Rogers and friends.”  Regardless, we still get subtle character moments this month of the sort we’ve been lacking for some time.  Ant-Man’s youthful eagerness and consequent sloppiness and Rogers’ tactful encouragement of him were high points, while the Prince of Orphans’ team-up with Valkyrie led to a really neat dynamic that was also all kinds of badass.

All told, this was just the sort of issue that, thematically, brought everything together.  Much like the team-up of Fu Manchu and the Shadow Countil, this issue was a wonderful balancing and mixing of retro pulpiness and shadowy conspiracies that led to the comic I’ve always hoped Secret Avengers would be.

Thunderbolts #150 – Review

By Jeff Parker (writer), Kev Walker (artist), Frank Martin & Fabio D’Auria (colorists)

The Story: The Thunderbolts celebrate 150 issues this month with a tale that finds the team’s heavy-hitters taking on none other than Thor, Commander Rogers, and Iron Man in a brutal grudge match in another dimension.

The Good: After an incredibly disappointing crossover into the equally disappointing Shadowlands storyline, I am thrilled to welcome Kev Walker back and see that Thunderbolts is once again revved up and firing on all cylinders. I’m even willing to forgive him for leaving us high and dry for two months if it meant he was working on this beautiful slab of entertainment all the while. Walker continues to set the standard of quality at Marvel with art that is crisp and expressive as it is unique and wonderful to look at. When I saw his opening panel of Thor, Iron Man, and Commander Rogers, I’d wished to God that Marvel would let him illustrate all of Marvel’s Avengers comics, his illustrations were so dynamic and powerful. Putting it bluntly, the man can draw the shit out of a comic page and the longer he stays on this comic the better we will all be for it.

Parker continues to prove that he is the right man for this job, and he has truly crafted this disparate team into a unique fighting force that I can’t help but like. Reading this issue, I couldn’t help but be reminded of movies like The Dirty Dozen and the strange joy I felt watching a group of utter bastards come to respect each other and learn to work together if not for the Greater Good, then certainly to spite Authority. The rogue in me respects that more about this team than previous iterations, and Parker draws that quality out of the them with great skill and gusto.

Hulk #27 – Review

By Jeff Parker (writer), Gabriel Hardman (artist), Bettie Breitweiser (colorist)

The Story: Under the guidance and supervision of Commander Rogers and Bruce Banner, General Ross continues his quest for redemption by helping Namor put an end to a Scorched Earth initiative that threatens to destroy the monarch’s empire.

The Good: Ever since Parker took control of this book, Hulk has been one of my Must Read titles every month. True, Loeb’s run had a certain childlike, Saturday morning cartoon charm to it that was appealing, if simple-minded at times, and what he did with the book he did well enough…at times. But in a mere three issues Parker has stopped this comic on a dime and steered it in a completely opposite direction, infusing it with a hard-edged, gritty sensibility that is utterly compelling to read. I credit this largely to the wise decision that was made to let Banner take the back seat and focus the narrative on General Ross and his mission to find a role for himself as Marvel’s latest gamma-powered monstrosity. Certain themes have always resounded throughout time and stories, and the hero’s quest for redemption remains one of the most popular.

Hell, I’d argue it’s one of the reasons why we are so drawn to characters like Wolverine, because his quest to make himself a Better Person is something we each see in ourselves. Where was I going with this? Oh right: in General Ross we have a similar character facing a similar struggle, and for me a large part of my enjoyment of this book right now is in appreciating his growth as a character and personal journey as a superhero. Every bit as powerful as Hulk, yet tactically brilliant in a way Banner could never be, Ross is a soldier with no war to fight, struggling to find an objective to achieve and a worthy endeavor to apply himself to. Notice the way he defers to Commander Rogers’s command or speaks about Namor politically as a head of state and it’s hard not to appreciate the tone and direction Parker is taking this book in. The “Scorched Earth” storyline is an effective, if rather routine, storyline with which to hit the reset button and chart a new course. Minimal on plot yet high on action, it’s an accessible jump on point for new readers and seems poised to tell its tale well without necessarily innovating anything.

Secret Avengers #6 – Review

by Ed Brubaker (writer), Mike Deodato (art), Rain Beredo (colors), and Dave Lanphear (letters)

The Story: Steve Rogers and co. look to halt the resurrection of Shang-Chi’s father.

What’s Good: I’m happy to report that the sudden upsurge in quality with last month’s issue continues in a big way this month, with this new story-arc really playing to Ed Brubaker’s strengths.  Finally, Secret Avengers truly feels like a Brubaker comic.  Were the series to have started out like this, I never would have felt disappointed by it.

Secret Avengers #6, and this whole arc by the looks of it, is Ed Brubaker through and through, doing what he does best.  There’s that wacky pulp element that’s present in all of his work; the ninjas, kung fu, and major presence of Shang-Chi and his father, Fu Manchu, make sure of this.  This is that wonderful sort of retro comic goodness that Brubaker does so well.

Moreover, Secret Avengers finally lives up to its mission statement.  The book actually is starting to feel like a real black-ops superhero team, something which all the Mars stuff didn’t allow for.  There’s a wonderful sequence where Steve narrates by outlining a plan, while said plan plays out on the page.  Better still, this plan features breaking into a museum exhibit in a skyscraper, including the mandatory elevator shaft rappelling scene.  It’s incredibly slick and feels like a superhero heist film.

Then there’s the involvement of the Shadow Council, the masked bad guy, the sudden ambushes, the scheming bad guys, and the digging for mysterious artifacts.  All of it leads to an excellent cloak and dagger feel.  The comic ends up being a blend of modern superhero, 70s pulp, and Indiana Jones styled adventure.  There’s just so much to like here.  It’s a beautiful mix of enjoyable elements, all of which Brubaker excels at.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that Mike Deodato continues to truck out excellent work.  Things are dark, as they should be, and the bad guys are foreboding but pulpy.