Written by Warren Ellis
Illustrated by Stuart Immonen– SAVE THE WORLD.
– SOMETHING IS DANGEROUSLY AWRY IN THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY (O*N*E)…
When Warren Ellis’ run on Secret Avengers began, I went gaga over it, and the book positive momentum throughout. Now we’re at the final issue of the far too short run, however, so where does everything stand in the end?
Take a look after the cut for some thoughts on the issue with a look back at the five before it.
How does one ultimately judge a series of one-shots? The inherent point of a one-issue story is to be just that: a story told in a single issue; no more, no less. However, usually (usually) when you look at an entire group of one-shots that are part of a collective whole, things become a tad bit more murky and are judged under different criteria. Now, instead of dealing with the one-and-done nature of the story, we begin attempting to find connecting elements, threads and themes to help define the entire group by — and doing this can inherently cause a few issues.
So what do we have with the last issue of Ellis’ Secret Avengers? To a certain extent, we have a culmination of ideas. This is the only issue which features the entire cast operating as one, and after all of the investigating that the team has done on the Shadow Council over space and time, this issue finally sees them truly confronting a single agent of group. If there is one idea that can be pulled from the overarcing story of this run, it is that Warren Ellis wanted to continue Ed Brubaker’s story without making too much of a dent in it, leaving ultimate resolution to someone else, or even Brubaker himself. Over six issues, we simply have a series of entertaining adventures, specifically designed for attached artists to play up their strengths and yield fantastic results. To that end, the general story of the Secret Avengers – on a case by case basis – can be viewed as a success.
However, the finale of the overall story here seems to take a cue from TS Elliot’s “The Hollow Men,” ending not with a bang but a whimper. There is no final statement given here, no ultimate resolution, but rather very small ones about individual elements: the Shadow Council is in fact bad, Captain America is ethically troubled (but still bad ass), Beast is becoming fairly hypocritical, and Moon Knight hates other people’s faces. Most of the stories so far had the luxury of having a viable conclusion that could be thought upon by the end of the issue (the McKelvie-illustrated issue which forces Beast to murder was a nice one), yet this issue of Secret Avengers effectively just… ends. There is nothing to be extrapolated here or to be taken away after, outside of the acknowledgement of a few clever lines, a few clever ideas, and some great artwork.
To that end, the issue isn’t really all that bad. Sure, it’s disappointing, but it’s only really disappointing when we add all of this extra criteria to it. When we look at it for what it promised to be — a one-and-done — it accomplishes its attack. It runs the mission, and despite people getting seen the world is saved at least for another day. The single most redeeming quality of the book is the art, as the issue, like most of this run, is tailored to the artist. Stuart Immonen proved in Fear Itself that he can cause a mess like nobody’s business, and the issue seeks to be one of the most linearly action-packed issues yet; explosions here, destruction there and lots of great, emotive characters. While there is a noticeable lack of Nextwave to be seen (for dumb fans like me, that is), Immonen has proven himself to be quite a talent within the industry, absolutely great at mixing together the grand and epic scenes with the quiet and more personal interactions.
With that, Warren Ellis and friends leave Secret Avengers, and we all sit and wait patiently for Rick Remender to start doing that voodoo he do so well. This issue was never pegged as any kind of grand finale to the same vein that Brubaker closed off part of his story when he departed; this issue was solicited as, and very much is, just the latest issue of Secret Avengers. However, it is ultimately nothing more than that: Ellis being Ellis, Immonen giving Michael Bay a run for his money, and a somewhat missed opportunity.
Final Verdict: 6.0 – You can get it if you bought the rest, but come back at the end of the month for the Point One issue
