Captain America #17 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Nic Klein (Artist), Dean White (Colorist)

The Story: A groovy new villain called Dr. Mindbubble makes himself known, spelling insane doom for S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Review: Introducing new elements has got to be hard. Presenting new characters, new concepts and making them stick for new readers must be ready, with plenty of them always ready to be cynical when approaching new things. Not all newer elements to large continuity are appreciated, with words like Midi-chlorians, Romulus and other such ”nice” ideas being conveniently forgotten by many.

However, it can be achieved if done right, with some of the ideas that Rick Remender injected in the larger Marvel continuity being particularly sound. What he brought to the character of Apocalypse, to Wolverine and to some older concepts like Deathlok and the four horsemen are really nice extrapolations combined with new interpretations that did give something exciting to read.

However, just because he did something particularly good once does not mean that he is infallible, with his run on Captain America being an example of this. While packed with some ideas that are decidedly not bad at all, there is a certain shyness in the presentation and elaboration of some of the implications that some concepts have. While it is a traditional storytelling technique to slowly reveal new elements as the story progress, it is never a good thing to make readers wait too long either when it comes to surprises.

In this issue, Remender finally presents readers the character of Dr. Mindbubble, a character that has been teased since his Uncanny X-Force run as a statue in the background. With a rather amazing concept behind his creation, that of injecting a super-soldier serum inside him along with LSD, this creates for a troubled, yet groovy types of villain that could prove to be interesting if handled right. However, while the personality of the villain proves to be a tiny bit fun, there are several problems that don’t exactly make him as good as he very well could be.

Secret Avengers #15 – Review

by Nick Spencer, Ales Kot (Writers), Luke Ross (Artist), Matthew Wilson (Colorist)

The Story: Contracts are signed, extractions are done and the secrets in the pile of mysteries are revealed.

The Review: Everyone has its limits when it comes to patience. While not always the most impatient of man, I can sometime get anxious for things to actually reach their culminating point. In story, in cooking and in a lot of areas where anticipation is key, there is a fine line in the sand when it comes to getting the awaited results.

This is how my general appreciation of this series could be summarized, with plenty of things going on, situations being built yet the climax never came with each issues. To be able to set up a threat and build it to make it interesting takes skill, yet there is slow build and then there’s teasing, which this series has been on the verge of doing in this particular arc.

It seems, however, that it had been a stratagem on the part of Ales Kot and Nick Spencer, who goes all the way in this issue to deliver not only an exciting issue, but also plenty of twists and surprise to amplify the espionage and intrigue part of the series without sacrificing the action and particular identity of the book.

Captain America #15 – Review

by Rick Remender (Writer), Carlos Pacheco, Mariano Taibo (Artists), Rachelle Rosenberg, Rain Beredo, Val Staples (Colorists)

The Story: After the capture of Nuke, Steve Rogers and Marcus Johnson tries to reason with him and understand why all of this happened. Unfortunately, the Iron Nail has other plans.

The Review: We never set out to buy bad comics. Unless someone has some clear enjoyment of really atrocious piece of sequential arts, enthusiasts of this specific art form are always on the lookout for something enjoyable, something a certain level of quality that is always subjective to every specific reader. Looking for familiarity, authors that have impressed us or subjects that interest us, there is always the search for quality and the hope that each subsequent issues in a series turns out to be a good.

It is with that general sentiment that I continued to read Captain America, despite the fact that the arc set after the pretty solid first 10 issues wasn’t nearly as good as the big sci-fi story that opened things up. Rick Remender is usually a writer that is able to bring quality to what he does and Carlos Pacheco is a solid artist, yet there was something missing. With the madness that was imprinted in the story now gone and not replaced, the story in general lost a bit of its luster, which made my patience become a bit thin after a while.

Fortunately, things began to get a bit better in the latest issue, with things staying consistent in terms of quality. With this issue, Remender provides for a couple of neat developments and explanations for some of the concepts he introduced, giving a bit more to his story and the potential direction of the title in doing so.

The first thing he does right here is deepen and actually cement his handle on characterization, with characters like Steve Rogers, Nuke and even the Iron Nail being a tad more defined and interesting in this issue. Giving a more nuanced approach to both Nuke and the Iron Nail, they become more interesting as not everything is as black and white around them, with the motivations and actions of the Iron Nail gaining a bit in credibility thanks to his manifesto, or the fact that Nuke tried to mimic Captain America in his own way in Viet-Nam makes their general action and reactions either a bit more tragic or much more understandable.

Secret Avengers #14 – Review

by Nick Spencer, Ales Kot (Writers), Butch Guice, Joe Rubinstein (Artists), Matthew Wilson (Colorist)

The Story: Mockingbird ”learns” a bit more about herself as the rest of the team are brought to their destination after being captured.

The Review: It’s always rather sad to see something that you can personally admit that it’s smartly made, yet cannot really enjoy to its fullest. You may see the quality behind the work, yet some elements present are in the way of your personal enjoyment. It may be the characters, it may be the style, perhaps even the general tone of the whole thing, yet something doesn’t connect to allow you to make the most of the book.

It is unfortunately what this issue of Secret Avengers amounts to for me, on a personal level. I can certainly see what’s good about the issue, yet there is something that simply doesn’t make this issue as good as some of the previous ones for me.

Something that I can see that is rather ingenious is the way in which Ales Kot and Nick Spencer manage to mix a certain exploration of Andrew Forson through the brainwashing scenes with Mockingbird. Pushing forth the philosophy of the character through the learning process of the manipulated agent, the nihilistic views of Forson becomes rather intriguing, as some of the previous events and some of A.I.M.’s plans becomes that much more threatening in prospect.

Secret Avengers #12 – Review

by Nick Spencer, Ales Kot (Writers), Butch Guice (Artist), Matthew Wilson (Colorist)

The Story: As Mockingbird tries to fake her way through a presentation, some faction within A.I.M. wishes to make a deal with S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Review: I have to admit something right now: I don’t know how to feel about co-writers. Not only do I never really know who came up with which ideas, but it always seem to me that even though it might not show which pages or concepts were thrown by which. There were instances where it was a bit obvious, like with Brubaker and Fraction on Immortal Iron Fist or the extravaganza of talents that was 52, but in a title that plays to both writers strengths, it plays as a bit of a mystery. It makes it a bit hard to see where the strengths and weaknesses comes from which sources.

With the return to the main cast and the real storyline of the book, Nick Spencer brings along Ales Kot with him to write this issue, as the scribe of Zero (best known for his short stint on Suicide Squad) collaborates with him. Does the return to the conflict against A.I.M and the new co-writer makes this comic enjoyable, though?

It’s a case of hit and miss, really, as some of the best aspects of this run are on display here, with some new high and lows showing to spice things up.

Secret Avengers #11 – Review

by Ed Brisson (Writer), Luke Ross (Artist), Matthew Wilson (Colorist)

The Story: A new inhuman has arrived on the scene! It’s a pity he’s hostile to S.H.I.E.L.D. agents though.

The Review: The latest issue of this series was kind of a letdown, with a replacement writer trying to tie-in to the larger Infinity event. Bringing a new character with him, Ed Brisson had the unenviable task of trying to set up the biggest spy agency in this rather colossal event, tying many of its events into its narrative while telling a story. It was, however, a story in two parts, with this issue being the conclusion. Does he actually fares better this time around, though?

In some ways, Brisson does keep around some of the elements that he made work in the previous issue, with Sarah Garza still retaining her great approach at getting superpowers and being thrown in a situation of high stress. The way she sees things and how she tries her best, yet cannot seem to fathom how she should do things is something that shows good characterization.

Not all characters are written as well, though, with Phil Coulson coming of as rather boring with the low amount of dialogue he has and Marcus Johnson who comes off as a poor planner and a bit stiff in terms of characterization. The way Brisson handles Maria Hill is not half-bad, though, showing her more angry and stressed-out scene, which does help in setting the dire situation the world is in right now.

Secret Avengers #10 – Review

by Ed Brisson (Writer), Luke Ross (Artist), Matthew Wilson (Colorist)

The Story: There’s a new recruits for field work at S.H.I.E.L.D. and she’s one of the new inhumans. It’s a pity for her that Infinity is still going on…

The Review: It’s not necessarily the fairest or most positive thing to say, but there is a reason why most people hate even tie-ins. Shoehorning elements or characters important to the main book, stopping the natural narrative flow for elements that will be untouched further along and many more are possible reasons for the general dislike those issues receive. There are some rare cases where it can produce something of quality, like when Jason Aaron took on Black Panther during Secret Invasion, yet those are few and far between.

This is one of those issues, as regular writer Nick Spencer is replaced by Ed Brisson in order to show readers what S.H.I.E.L.D. is doing during Thanos invasion in Infinity. Set right after the terrigenesis, this shows how a young agent gets turned into an inhuman and then gets sent to the field right away. While this concept could actually give way for a satisfying story, this issue doesn’t really use it very well as it rushes along.

Captain America #11 – Review

Rick Remender (Writer) Carlos Pacheco, Klaus Janson (Artists), Dean White (Colorist)

The Story: Returning to present-day America, both Steve and Jet needs to adjust themselves a bit after all these crazy sci-fi adventures.

The Review: ”Bold new direction” are words that many readers are used to hear in the past few years. Whenever a new creative team, or at least a new writer comes in for the ride, those words, or at least synonyms, are pronounced, but aren’t always exactly respected in ways that actually live up to the ”bold” part of the statement.

Rick Remender, however, really went there as he picked up the title from Ed Brubaker, moving away from the espionage corner to something more akin to Jack Kirby: crazy sci-fi. The adventure of Steve Rogers in Dimension Z were a far cry to the political and world-war II inspired stories that preceded them, which did cement the fact that this was an actual new take on the character. However, now that the first mega-arc has concluded, where will Remender go with the character?

This issue do try to answer that question, giving a slower pace with more character moments in order to counteract the high-octane action and ideas that permeated the previous chapter. Remender takes a lot more time with Steve and Rogers, showing how they react to both old and new encounters with Steve being healed by Bruce Banner and Hank Pym, while Jet Black gets interrogated by Marcus Johnson. The weariness of Steve and the impetuous attitude of Jet comes off as natural to their characters, considering what they went through.

Secret Avengers #7 – Review

Nick Spencer (Writer), Butch Guice, Steve Epting, Brian Theis, Rick Magyar (Artists), Matthew Wilson (Colorist)

The Story: Maria Hill needs to take control of an operation that has gone too far, one that had been ordained by Daisy Johnson herself.

The Review: Back in the days, I only had a single thought when it came to S.H.I.E.L.D. as an agency in the Marvel universe: pity. When an antagonist needed to be shown as a big menace, S.H.I.E.L.D. was always there to provide token ”good guys” being beaten badly in order to set up a scope for the story itself. Rarely had I seen a series that took that agency as being particularly effective or being the actual source that is able to solve a problem.* Secret Invasion, Civil War, Marvel Boy, Captain America by Brubaker and so forth all portray S.H.I.E.L.D. as either being antagonistic or just plain ineffectual, which does not bode well for an organisation that is supposed to be the prime spy agency and the thing that binds the metahuman community together.

It’s a good thing then that some authors like Jonathan Hickman, Mark Waid and Nick Spencer came along to go a bit further in showing the prime spy agency as being actually useful or at least active in several parts. While the discovery of S.H.I.E.L.D. thanks to the marvel cinematic universe has been a boon to the credibility of the agency, in the comics format, Secret Avengers has been another huge bonus thanks to its direction mixing espionage, politics and super heroics.

This issue, in many ways, is a great example of just why this series can work, even though it has still some rough spots here and there. One of the best aspect, though, is the fact that they show how ”the spying game” is played, which makes for a pretty effective comparison to other superheroes book on the market and those made by Marvel itself. It’s a fun thing to see that despite the high action, the jokes, the big hero moments and all, there are other scenes which shows that they clearly cannot remain the supposed ”good guys” in the eyes of the world if they go en masse and attack a whole island without any backing from the U.N of the government. It was a very neat way that allow the readers to differentiates just how an agency like S.H.I.E.L.D. needs to work if they can get several important backing and so forth.

Avenging Spider-Man #21 – Review

By: Christopher Yost (Writer), Marco Checchetto (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: Spider-Ock fights some Russians to save the Chameleon in the midst of a battle on a S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier.

The Review: With this story about Chameleon and the Secret Avengers being the first two-parter that Chris Yost has written on his tenure on this title, I had no idea just what to expect. As he had usually done done-in-one issues with a clear beginning, middle and end, I wasn’t sure if he’d still be able to pull it off in the same way he did those tight stories. Now, with the second and final part of this story being here, does Yost uses all the setup he had built up in the previous issue in an effective way?

Secret Avengers #4 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (Writer) Luke Ross (Artist), Matthew Wilson (colorist)

The Story: S.H.I.E.L.D needs to take care of a platoon of sentient Iron Patriot armors, cue Bruce Banner.

The Review: I had another idea on how to summarize this story, one that would not have actually told what essentially happens, yet it would have been perfect in tone: ‘’S.H.I.E.L.D strikes back’’. In the two past issues of this title, we had seen how A.I.M had become a whole new thing, as we were presented to an organisation with a completely new and more focused vision, spearheaded by Andrew Forson, the scientist supreme.

Taking just where the last issue left us, we now get a fascinating concept about giving personality to a suit of armor, giving it sentience in order to accomplish some goals. With A.I.M having done so with the help of Mentallo, they try to create a situation in which S.H.I.E.L.D could look disastrous. This then leads to some scenes that shows just how Spencer can handle this title and how much it differentiates itself from other titles with ‘’Avengers’’ in their name.

Avenging Spider-Man #20 – Review

By: Christopher Yost (Writer), Marco Checchetto (Artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist)

The Story: Spider-Ock gets on a S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier in order to free the Chameleon from their prison, just as the Russian are getting ready to do the same. What are the odds?

The Review: I do have to say it’s a strange time to be a fan of Spider-Man. It’s even a stranger time to begin reading Spider-Man, like I did, just as a big controversial change had been put in the series. While the change from Peter Parker to Otto Octavius has been a rather weird one for a lot of people, it can’t be said that it hasn’t given us some quality stories in both the main title, Superior Spider-Man and its sister title Avenging Spider-Man. While it has been fun to see just how Otto acclimates to the life of being a webhead, it has been a blast to see just how he interacts with the larger Marvel universe as well. Having seen him with the X-Men, the FF and Thor, it has been fun to read how he sees them all and it has given us some surprisingly fun stories to boot.

Secret Avengers #3 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (Writer), Luke Ross (Artist), Matthew Wilson (Colorist)

The Story: Marcus Johnson* and Daisy Johnson visit a weapon exposition, while Coulson and his team investigate an A.I.M base that has been blown up.

The Review: Nick Spencer has fooled me. I freely admit it. I had expectations on how certain elements in this issue were going to play out, which were easily explained by the older work he did for Marvel. I thought I knew what he could throw at me and he easily manipulated said expectations to provide for something far more interesting, which I do believe he actually did twice in a row, the first time being with Taskmaster and now with Iron Patriot.

Secret Avengers #2 – Review

By: Nick Spencer (Writer), Luke Ross (Artist), Matthew Wilson (Colorist)

The Story: Nick Fury Jr. gets to Bagalia and has to rescue Taskmaster from there. Meanwhile, the scientist supreme of A.I.M sets some of his machinations in motion.

The Review: After a debut issue that, despite its share of problems, managed to be particularly enjoyable, Nick Spencer’s version of Secret Avengers continues, bringing us the espionage of the previous issue, while adding some considerable elements and surprises along the way.

Indeed, the way the first issue was structured, we could have easily foreseen that a series of one-shot issues would probably have been the norm for the series, but it seems that the actual plot of the series begins here. From what we can see here, Nick Spencer does give the Secret Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D a particular challenge, rising the A.I.M agency from low-grades scientific criminals to downright menaces, akin to what Jonathan Hickman had done with Hydra in Secret Warriors. As a matter of fact, a lot of things here do look a bit like that series, which should be seen as some high praise indeed.

Secret Avengers #1 – Review

Nick Spencer (Writer), Luke Ross (Artist), Matthew Wilson (Colorist)

The Story: Hawkeye and Black Widow gets recruited to a new covert team for S.H.I.E.L.D. Their first mission: Budapest.

The Review: Marvel Now! keeps on rolling… This week saw the beginning of two new number ones, one of those being the relaunched Secret Avengers by Nick Spencer and Luke Ross. Does Nick Spencer have the same energy as the previous authors of the previous volume and can he succeed with this title?

First of all, this issue shows clearly it is a different beast than Rick Remender’s take on the team, as it is more S.H.I.E.L.D based, getting the whole espionage theme up to eleven during the whole issue. Bureaucracy, double-crossing, advanced technology, brainwashing, the book has it all and seems to have fun with it, which makes for a pleasant experience.

What’s also pleasant is how the characters are handled by Nick Spencer, who seems to get how to write them. I liked how Nick Fury Jr. was all about business in one scene, yet has no qualm talking about James Bond with Hawkeye right in the middle of a mission. Talking about Hawkeye, I do believe that Spencer is using Matt Fraction version here as the basis for the character, something I commend him for. The fun-loving, wise-cracking archer that is shown here is still as entertaining here, yet not exactly on the same level as in his own title. Another thing that deserves some praise would be his use of some of the cast from Secret Warriors by Jonathan Hickman. Seeing Sebastian Druid here was a joy.

The dialogue here is also a joy, as spy-talk is easily mixed with every day conversations with ease. The scene with Agent Coulson is a good example of that, as the much more polite and official agent has a talk with the much more easy-going Hawkeye and the stoic Black Widow, whereas he is talking in much more bureaucratic terms, using some wooden language to ease the both of them toward the subject he has in mind. There are several other moments such as these, yet this one is a shining example of what Nick Spencer can do with dialogue.