Have you ever wondered what would happen if you took “Wild Children” Ales Kot and “ZERO” Ales Kot and mixed them together and then sprinkled in a little Marvel Universe flavouring for good measure? “Secret Avengers” happens, apparently.
Written by Ales Kot
Illustrated by Michael Walsh
“POST-NUCLEAR”
• A post-nuclear warhead has gone missing in the Middle East. Eighteen S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are dead. Who you gonna call?
• What happens when Black Widow and Lady Bullseye meet? Sparkles. And what happens when you get too many sparkles? Explosions, that’s what.
• While Phil Coulson struggles with his new problem, Maria Hill deals with her old one: MODOK is up to something.
I loved the creative team-up of Ales Kot and Michael Walsh in “ZERO” #1 so much I counted it among my best issues of the year. That’s why I knew Marvel made the best choice possible having the two of them relaunch “Secret Avengers” for All New Marvel NOW!, and this issue just solidifies that. After a two-part introduction to the series that brought the team together in its current incarnation, Kot and Walsh have the team embark on their first mission in this one-and-done story that both captures the tone of the series perfectly and really shows where the two of them plan on taking these characters.
Kot is made up of many strengths. One of the strengths of Ales Kot’s writing, since “Wild Children” onwards, is how he is able to use a sly sense of humour to humanize the characters he writes even in the most dangerous of situations. Another strength of his writing is how good at writing super-spy espionage action he is. “Secret Avengers”, then, might be the most “Ales Kot work” he has written to date, as he utilizes skills from both ends of the spectrum of his work. That would be impressive if he were writing another creator owned series, but it’s doubly so seeing as this is at Marvel. To have his creative voice be front and centre without compromising the continuity of writing and the feeling of a Marvel comic is simply incredible. That makes “Secret Avengers” so much fun to read as not only are you getting one of Marvel’s better comics with an interesting team exploring the corners of the universe no one else dare venture to, but you’re getting another excellent Ales Kot-written comic at the same time.
So not only is “Secret Avengers” a great Marvel comic and a great Ales Kot comic, but who better to provide the artwork for either of those than Michael Walsh? While, yes, much was made of the “Hawkeye”-esque feeling to the artwork, it’s a style that definitely works for the book. Michael Walsh manages to take the style to new places with a focus on small character moments that really allows the humanizing writing of Kot to shine through and make these characters so endearing. Even the unbelievably pointless comic version of Coulson feels almost like an interesting guy in the hands of Kot and Walsh.
But, just as “Hawkeye” isn’t just multi-panelled pages of David Aja-drawn conversations, “Secret Avengers” really gets going when the action kicks off. Juxtaposing the knock drawn brawl between Black Widow and Lady Bullseye with the gunplay action of Coulson while (possible spoiler alert ahead, but I can’t not mention this) Spider-Woman talks down a suicidal bomb shows the versatility of Walsh’s art as he goes from action to comedy and back without missing a beat. For anyone mourning the fact that Walsh only teamed up with Kot for the first issue of “ZERO”, they should be delighted that they are producing a comic just as good on a monthly basis at Marvel.
If you think I’m impossibly comparing this issue to “ZERO” (especially the first issues) a lot, then you’d be right. A one-and-done espionage/action story by Ales Kot and Michael Walsh about retrieving a WMD from a Middle Eastern country; that feels very familiar, right? What makes the two very unique stories is the tone both the writing and art take. While “ZERO” was an almost Kojima-esque take on the horrors of war and the monsters it turns people into, this is a little lighter and more focused on the adventure aspect, even providing some laughs along the way (this is possibly the best use of Spider-Woman in any comic I’ve ever read for that exact reason). Kot and Walsh are very versatile creators, and while the broad strokes of their collaboration can be mapped to this and “ZERO” #1, in truth, the issues are nothing alike.
Continued belowThis is a great issue, that’s all there is to it. Ales Kot channels both what made books like “Wild Children” and “Change” great with his excellent character writing and humour as well as what makes “ZERO” great with how good at spy stories he is in order to write one of his best issues yet. And to make that feel so intrinsically linked to the Marvel universe with spot on characterization of all the characters here is no small feat, but Kot pulls it off. It’s not only the writing that makes this issue great, mind you, as Michael Walsh proves he’s just as versatile a creator as he brings both the action and the humour of Kot’s script to life, all the while making the comic feel entrenched in the Marvel Universe.
If you want a comic that brings the best of Ales Kot and Michael Walsh’s creator owned work and marries it with the Marvel Universe, there should be no reason not to pick this up.
Final Verdict: 9.3 – Seriously, there is no reason for you not to be buying this comic.
