The Good
What SECRET AVENGERS does incredibly well is provide a fun story. Writer Ales Kot really crafts something utterly brilliant and fun with this story as the reader sees someone using S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites as space bullets, attacking the Earth.
The transition between issues is fantastic. There's lots of smaller pieces of set-up in issue #1 that comes into play within this second issue.
M.O.D.O.K. is WAY over-the-top, in this issue, and that's the way he should be. He's a pretty silly character, and while he's a brilliant scientist, he's also a giant head, with tiny arms, on spider-legs. Kot really plays with his ego more than anything else, which leads to a comedic effect. He is the stand-out character of this series.
Another big stand-out is Nick Fury Jr and Agent Coulson. Most of the issue is these two co-workers/besties floating around space, chatting. Normally, that's something that doesn't sound exciting at all, but Kot plays this scene off well by really establishing their relationship through the dialogue. There's very few times a chunk of a book is dedicated to male bonding like this, and it's incredibly refreshing to see these guys as not only real people, but as actual friends. It's small moments like this that solidify how awesome this series is becoming.
How can you talk about SECRET AVENGERS without talking about how amazing the art of Michael Walsh, with Matthew Wilson on colors, is? Walsh's work is incredibly versatile. He has a style that works incredibly well with a dramatic and serious tone, but at the same time, his art does wonders with more comedic writing. Wilson's flat colors add so much to the book an individual scenes. This is one dynamite creative team.
The Bad
Marvel is really hammering home these shorter story lines, which we've seen with BLACK WIDOW. A two-part story isn't a bad thing, and it does keep newer readers in the know, but frankly, there's a lot of hope for something bigger.
Tradd Moore's art on ALL-NEW GHOST RIDER is awesome. His art on the covers of SECRET AVENGERS just doesn't work though. It feels too different from the interiors. This complaint really has no barring on the final score though.
The Verdict
SECRET AVENGERS is a combination of one part ridiculous, one part touching, and one part awesome. Kot, Walsh, and Wilson are putting together one heck of an entertaining story with some very dynamic characters. Sure, the book is very S.H.I.E.L.D. heavy, but that's what makes it really cool. While this issue closes out the first story, it spends a lot of time establishing its characters and their relationships to each other, even if the reader is already familiar with them, which is fantastic. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite Marvel books. Overall, I highly recommend this issue.
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