Run the mission. Don’t get seen. Save the world.
We were lucky enough to get our eyes on this week’s re-launch of “Secret Avengers” from Ales Kot, Michael Walsh and Matt Wilson in advance of the issue’s release tomorrow, so now I’m going to tell you a little bit about it.
Spoiler-free, of course. I’m not a monster.
Written by Ales Kot
Illustrated by Michael Walshhe all-new Secret Avengers are ready to get started. Are they going to be the world’s most effective secret squad? Or will their personal issues tear them apart? U-DECIDE! Three missions kick off at the same time: one in the space, one on the ground…and one in the air. And no one’s ready. Except for the attackers. Russian spa. Helicarrier. Space station. Falling satellites. A hired hitman with nothing to lose. The Fury. WAIT. Yes. THE FURY. Why is Hawkeye still around? And why are these people chasing him? Why are Black Widow and Spider Woman in a Russian spa? Do questions in teasers excite you? RUN THE MISSION, DON’T GET SEEN, SAVE THE WORLD. NOW!
In recent years, superhero comics have existed in this weird plateau, where they’re seemingly always struggling to remain relevant. Certainly the success of various films has made this a bigger and bigger issue, but the resurgence of creator-owned comics (Image, specifically) has made companies like Marvel aware of what the audience ostensibly wants — and it’s not just superheroes. Add that on top of a current reading generation that has access to the internet and a lot of (mostly) negative opinions to share, and you find yourself practically drowning in waves of reader apathy and related cynical distaste.
As such, keeping up becomes sort of a dance in that way. Marvel will lead with their usual crop of superhero books that have always sold well for them, but they’ve also begun to play around a bit. Marvel has begun to leave room in their line-up for improvisation, for books that break their own self-made mold; something that keeps them “fresh” and “relevant” and other trendy buzzwords. More and more, we’re seeing teams regularly associated with creator-owned comics try their hands at superheroes, with people that don’t seem like they fit into any kind of house style building up a new one.
And it’s with that in mind that we get the book that “Secret Avengers” has become, relaunching for a third time this week.
“Secret Avengers” has always been a hard book to define. Initially a vehicle for Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato to tell exciting sci-fi/thriller stories during the short-lived Heroic Age, “Secret Avengers” quickly underwent various changes as its identity became shifted betwixt different variants of creative teams over crossovers and relaunch initiatives. There was an attempt to bring normalcy to the series with Marvel NOW!, but even Nick Spencer and Luke Ross’ re-imagined take on the team with a new cast of movie-watcher friendly SHIELD characters seemingly couldn’t cut it.
However, when Ales Kot came in at the tail end of Spencer’s run, the book very noticeably shifted. Spencer’s spy games were still there, but the book was a touch lighter, perhaps more energetic; instead of a series with the emphasis on the Secret namesake, it was something with a razor sharp focus towards its endgame. There was less of a focus on wheels on wheels on wheels on wheels (this is now present in “Avengers World,” co-written by Spencer) and the book was given a re-imagined take on the street-level Avengers spy series, starring a team appropriately sanctioned by SHIELD for general shenanigans. There was no great mystery or subterfuge, and the book seemed like a spy thriller that thought it was fun being a spy thriller.
It’s this incarnation of the title that we’re given in this week’s relaunch of “Secret Avengers.” Forget your worries and your strife; it’s time for a new adventure.
“Secret Avengers” #1 picks up at a rather breakneck pace, a book that is very eager to define itself early on, with Michael Walsh (with lovely colors by Matt Wilson) kicking things off in style. It’s easy to call the book “Hawkeye Team-Up”, because that is its closest predecessor; in many ways the book visually builds off of the scaffolding that David Aja established in “Hawkeye,” but Walsh takes what feels like an established frame and layers onto it quite stylistically with different quirks and more function. In fact, taking the book’s influence into consideration, the book is akin to Walsh rearranging all the furniture in your apartment, setting it up in a fashion you’d not even thought of and reigniting the feng shui of it all.
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See, one thing that everyone is clearly aware of is the groundbreaking success of “Hawkeye.” “Hawkeye” being a popular book is not a surprise to anyone, certainly not, but the way in which the book is structured, plotted, designed and finds success in comparison to other books becomes sort of a beacon of potential (they did an issue from the point of view for a dog, for crying outloud). “Hawkeye” is the kind of book where we look at it and point and say, “Yes, this! Do this! More, please!” And so Marvel does, and we get books like “Superior Foes” and now, finally, this “Secret Avengers” #1.
So yes, this book is “Hawkeye Team-Up,” but it’s also so much bigger than that. “Secret Avengers” is a blockbuster version of an indie film, and it really works. Whether it will hit the highs or lows of any other book Marvel is currently testing the water with (such as the upcoming “Ghost Rider” or the recent “She-Hulk” series) is perhaps up for your own personal debate, but it’s clear that the book fits inside of a newly defined space that Marvel has had carved out for its audience, and within that realm “Secret Avengers” now rests comfortably (ostensibly more comfortably than the book ever has with past incarnations).
What’s great about the book is that Walsh clearly has a wide playground here. The book has a fairly diverse cast of characters who seemingly want little to do with one another and are spread out fairly wide; geographically speaking, some events in this issue couldn’t happen further apart. As such, the shifts between spaces and characters give Walsh a unique opportunity to really strut his artistic stuff with this book, giving us different levels of friendship and hatred throughout; he’s essentially redefining frenemies in the Marvel Universe. And Walsh is the type of artist that has certainly created a recognizable palette and style over his numerous projects, so working in a Marvel book with these established properties seems like something that Walsh revels in, just blowing up what you’d expect and pushing the boundaries of what he might otherwise have been able to get away with. It’s not just a ground-level brawl, it’s not a space-faring adventure, it’s not a caper and it’s not a moody talking head book — it’s all of these things blended together and served up ice cold, with fresh lemon on the side.
It’s also interesting to see Matt Wilson’s colors on this book. Many fans who found “Young Avengers” enticing (a book that arguably appeals to the same audience this one will) will note that Wilson has helped establish a very clean and sleek style over the already hyper-stylized and chic artwork of one Jamie McKelvie (as has their collaboration in the past), but Walsh’s style is not as clean. Not only that, but fans of Walsh and Kot will remember their debut of “Zero,” which featured colorist extraordinaire Jordie Bellaire (who had also collaborated with Walsh in the past), so the difference is certainly noticeable. Yet, this new collaboration is perhaps part of what helps “Secret Avengers” feel all the more fresh; rather than play off what we know works, Walsh and Wilson subvert expectations and combine to make something we’ve not particularly seen from either, becoming all the better for it.
Ales Kot on a team book of this nature also works really well. Perhaps even obviously so; Kot’s three issues of “Suicide Squad” before being removed from the book were the three best issues of the series since the New 52 began, and now it’s clear he’s taking that energy and redirecting it into Marvel. The reason this becomes a defining factor is because of how clear the book is being designed in order to stray from any established trends or formulas that exist in the Avengers brand at Marvel right now. This isn’t the Avengers, this is the Secret Avengers, a team that doesn’t even probably realize that they are a team — that’s how secret it is! So despite the word Avengers emblazoned across the cover (perhaps even in spite of), there’s nothing about the book that makes it an Avengers title in the traditional sense, and the book is better served because of it. There’s more freedom here, a better sense of free will to the characters and their destinies outside of the tracks they usually run along, so when a massage parlor turns into a weapons range, it fits right in with the overall vibe of the book that’s clearly still in development.
Continued belowOf course, the book is very much an “Ales Kot comic,” however you want to define it. Fans of his work will certainly be able to pick up on his voice here, both in terms of his humor and his love of deep-seeded elements that hide beneath the surface peaking out at you (as well as an easter egg for eagle-eyed readers). There’s some laugh out loud moments, some parts that are a bit more haunting; Kot plays fast and loose with how we follow the different plates being spun and every character gets a good amount of screen time to help establish their new identities within this series, showing how different this comic seeks to be from its predecessors. That, and there is enough that happens in the entire first issue to sufficiently layer the book for what I imagine is quite a lot to come, and it’s a nice blend of genre throughout. It’s a book that has started by dancing to its own beat, changing all the radio dial presets before landing on a hot new alternative station
The point being: there is a lot of dialogue about the validity of work-for-hire comics vs. creator-owned comics. It’s all important discourse to consider, but sometime it’s not impossible or even improbable that under the right circumstances a superhero team book at Marvel can kick just as much ass as anything else. And that’s “Secret Avengers” #1 by Kot, Walsh and Wilson.
So while relaunches in this day and age often are not the herald of excitement and instead hailed as a necessary evil, it’s undeniable that Walsh, Wilson and Kot use this opportunity to the best of their abilities. I repeatedly bring up “Hawkeye” as a talking point, and I’d wager it’s important to do so; for better and/or for worse, fans of that book will see glimpses of it in “Secret Avengers,” very clearly done on purpose in both specific lines and visual cues. That may mire the book for some and elevate it for others, but the new “Secret Avengers” is not the book it once was — it is the first superhero team-up book as a response to Generation Hawkeye.
“Secret Avengers” lightly builds off of what came before and then tries something new. It tries out something that is more akin to what the average Marvel comic reader of 2014 has been clamoring for, and most importantly? It’s fun. “Secret Avengers” is a heck of a lot of fun, and that’s easily the best praise I can give it.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy
