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The DC New 52 has the comic world in a state of pretty palpable fervor. With all the focus on Detective Comics, the onus fell upon Marvel to step up its game. While Spider Island has done an excellent job of holding the spotlight, DC's flagship super team has thrown down the gauntlet this week with the re-launch of the Justice League of America.
And I must say, it's got a lot of potential.
So with the world's most iconic group of do-gooders stepping into the ring, Marvel has only one logical move: Assemble the Secret Avengers.
Prior to this issue, I had only had a cursory interaction with the Steve Rogers-led team, but the first few pages sum up their exploits fairly neatly. The team is comprised of the aforementioned former Captain America, Soviet hottie Black Widow, X-Man-turned-operative Beast, and everyone's second-favorite maniac, the Moon Knight.
Having seen what writer Warren Ellis did in Desolation Jones, I had no doubt he could craft a compelling narrative, but my inexperience with this title had me at least a little hesitant. Any anxiety I had was quickly quelled, however, and not just by the situational realistic dialogue. The opening scene of the book finds the team descending through the crust of the Earth beneath Cincinnati (with a slight jab at the city's lack of a subway transit system) onto what appears to be the roof of a parking garage. Immediately, any reader who has not been following their activities is brought up to speed. They are following traces of Von Doom radiation to a presumably long-abandoned Secret Empire facility that resembles a sprawling metropolis. While this may sound confusing to anyone not in-the-know enough to have read the previous 15 issues (like myself), it is made much clearer through the strategic use of dialogue and a few (very short) flashbacks.
Jamie McKelvie and Matthew Wilson (artist and colorist, respectively) give the Secret Avengers a thoroughly modern appearance, and they fit right in with the high-tech cityscape where they find themselves. There is a two-page spread early on of Moon Knight doing aerial reconnaissance over the Secret Empire instillation that feels like a scene from Inception had a love child with MC Escher, and it's absolutely astonishing. And the cherry red atomic Cadillac (you read that right, the sucker is nuclear) driven by the delighted Natasha Romanoff really pops in contrast to the grays and browns of the urban surroundings.
This is not a team I would have pictured ever finding its way together, but Ellis gives them an excellent repartee with one another. It's a good thing he does, too, because these are four of my favorite Marvel characters.
Commander Steve Rogers may have ditched the red, white, and blue attire (well, the OLD attire at least, his still wears all those colors I guess), but he is still every bit the man he was before he...well, died. He kicks a lot of butt, takes a few names, and his shield even makes a few cameos.
Since the recent Moon Knight revamping, he's rapidly become one of my favorite characters in any publisher's portfolio. Unlike Deadpool, whom I also thoroughly appreciate (perhaps I just have a soft spot for the mentally unhinged), Marc Spector's supposed instability is a point of contention, something that makes him more than just a gimmick. The way Ellis depicts him; he has a degree of self-awareness about his mental state, which is not helped by Beast's categorization of him as "a borderline psychotic who wears a white bag over his head in public." This at first feels like a gentle ribbing, but Spector brings it up again later, indicating that it really hit home.
Ever since the third installment of the X-Men movie franchise, it's been impossible for me to separate Beast's face from Kelsey Grammer's voice. He comes across in this issue as a hairy mutant Frasier, which is a perfect rendering. He speaks eloquently without sounding pompous, uses large words without being confusing, and even makes intellectual quips that require a degree of thought before chuckling. The closing panel of the issue is a real doozy though, a moment between Rogers and Beast that gives the issue most of its potency. It's raw, full of uncertainty and carries with it the weight of the world. Enough cannot be said of how well Ellis has portrayed this team, both as individuals and as a unit.
Not that I don't like the Black Widow as much as the other three, but she is definitely the weak link here. I respect her abilities, and I like her as a character, but she did very little aside from being the driver of the atomic Cadillac (have I mentioned how great that would be as a band name?) for most of the issue. The one suggestion I would give to Ellis (that's right, I know you're reading this) is to include her more. She has a deep and complex history, and is generally a very rich character, but this issue just doesn't show it.
This title may have been under my radar up until now, but I look forward to the next installment eagerly. It may not have the rich history of the JLA, but that shouldn't matter. When you think about it, the JLA doesn't even have that history anymore. New 52 or no, Warren Ellis has given me a substantial diversion from DC for just a little while longer before the rest of the reboots start hitting shelves. With the industry's longevity in the balance, these two heavy weights are going at it with everything they've got.
The gloves are off, and the Secret's out.
