I used to have time to read my comics in a coffee shop. Now I have to read them in the bathroom. Then I write reviews of them. I wash my hands in between.
SECRET AVENGERS #2
I thought it might have been a fluke last issue. Writer has a really strong, fleshed out idea for a first issue, has been thinking about it for months and months and it finally hits the page and is glorious and revelatory. Then it comes time for the second issue and it all goes to hell. It's happened before. All too often. The quarter bins at your local comic shop are filled with short run series that started out strong and couldn't sustain themselves. I am, however, pleased as punch to report that this volume of Secret Avengers does not fall into that category.
All the humor and sharp characterization of the first issue is still on hand for the second outing. The stakes are still high and bad things still happen even though there are superheroes on the case. Nobody is naked this issue but that is a minor drawback in the grand scheme of things.
Fury Jr and Coulson are still drifting aimlessly in space after a battle with a villainous robot. They contemplate their fate as well as their relationship as they float ever nearer to oblivion. It's like 2014 Best Picture Academy Award Nominee 'Gravity' but with a lot more bromance. I was around for the debut of both of these guys in the Marvel Comics Universe, and enjoyed the relationship that was established from the outset. But what we get here, so simple yet so poignant and revealing, gives so much more depth to these best friends then you would see if you eavesdropped on them at the local watering hole.
Meanwhile, back on the SHIELD helicarrrier, Maria Hill is still in the crosshairs of an assassin's gun and has even just taken a bullet through her hand as a warning shot. This, also, is one of my new favorite interpretations of Director Hill. She is calm and collected and actually, genuinely empathetic with her assailant, going so far as to apologize to the man who shot her. While at the same time calculating her options for getting herself out of the mess. Fortunately she doesn't have to because MODOK, her new pet mad scientist (and the newest, best odd couple in comics today) decides to sack up and be a hero and save her by sending a mouse with a hypodermic needle full of nerve toxin to save her and incapacitate her assailant. She wastes no time chastising the former villain for taking his time and for leaving Fury and Coulson to fend for themselves.
The third and funniest storyline follows Black Widow, Spider Woman and an uninvited Hawkeye as they race into space to stop the falling satellites ( the original mission). Along they way the ladies get in a pointed shot at the impressiveness of Clint's manhood and he fires back with an 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' reference. They get to the space station, save the day (in an ironically poignant fashion) and all's well that ends well.
Then Hill wraps up the issue with a line that I think will set the tone for this book moving forward: "Rules? This is the Secret Avengers. There are no rules". And there aren't. We've got irreverent yet heartfelt moments in this book that feel truly fresh. A team without any real big names that get the job done. And a title that's moving quickly to the top of my read list every month.
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