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Review: Secret Warriors #23

By | December 30th, 2010
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Written by Jonathan Hickman
Illustrated by Allesandro Vitti

After the shocking conclusion of “Night”–and the tragedy that has hit Nick Fury’s Caterpillars–we begin our last story arc and jump back in time to see what’s happened to the one team member who was left behind: Druid. Only four more issues until the fiery conclusion of the series that IGN.com calls “the most consistently great Marvel comic on the stands”!

It’s no secret that I’ve been a bit of an opponent of this book recently, especially the very uneven “Night” arc. But some forget that this was one of my favorite series of 2009. With just two issues after this remaining, did the book make a return to form in my mind?

Find out after the jump.

When this series first started, I really enjoyed it because it took a batch of completely new characters as well as a somewhat forgotten but well loved legend and took them on adventures completely unlike the ones we were getting from other Marvel books. It felt fresh, it felt personal, and it felt fantastic.

Then, the new characters ended up not really getting developed, the old legend started getting all of the focus, and the book seemed to lose all of the early momentum. Plus, the art that was such a strong point early on was hampered by weak fill-in artists and what felt like rush jobs.

It very much felt like a tale of two seasons, and I was saddened to see it happen to what looked early on like a new favorite series. With it being officially canceled with issue #25, I didn’t have a lot of hope that this series would recapture any of its former glory.

What a difference a single issue makes.

This issue brought back everything I loved about the series in just one issue. We get an excellent look at lost Warrior Druid (aka Sebastian), as Nick Fury’s lesser known right hand man John Garrett finds him after his dismissal to work him into shape (literally, as it may be). This issue is perfectly paced by Jonathan Hickman, as these two characters quickly have an extensive relationship cultivated together over the period of 16 to 18 pages. It’s pretty remarkable work to tell a story with this kind of impact in such a short period of time, but Hickman knocks it out of the park.

Not only that, but it is weaved together perfectly with the events that transpired in the previous issue, as Druid comes into his own to save the Caterpillar team and to make his mentor Garrett very proud in the process.

This issue is filled to the brim with big moments that shine and subtle moments that stand tall. It’s kind of odd for me to say this, but from a purely written standpoint, I might say this is Hickman’s best issue yet on the series. From where I stand, I think it’s because he gets to focus on a smaller cast instead of having to stretch his efforts across a cast that has not been developed to this point. His strongest issues have been ones that have focused on smaller groups, namely the Fury centric or Phobos centric issues. This one takes that and does an even better job.

Artistically, it feels like Allesandro Vitti has been saving his efforts specifically for this issue. I liked his work filling in for Stefano Caselli early on, but his recent work has felt rushed and a bit uneven. This issue? Top notch work. There are moments where the detail and the depth pushes the power of the scene to an even higher level (see: the subtle power of John Garrett’s faces in the “you’re fat” scene). It’s very, very good work.

I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It was a hell of a return to form for it, and with the 4 Color month in review coming up soon, I can say this is a very strong contender for “book of the month” for me.

Final Verdict: 9.5 – Buy


David Harper

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