Written by: Ales Kot
Art by: Michael Walsh and Matthew Wilson
Publisher: Marvel
This series is just a fantastic. It really is a great laugh and is quite possibly, in my eyes, the best Avengers book on sale at the moment.
It’s hard to imagine what goes through Ales Kot’s head when he sits down to write. His workload is very heavy at the moment being on 3 books and one forthcoming, but what I find so remarkable is that he is writing books like Zero, where there is pure hardcore violence, incredible action and not a slight bit of humour, and then we have Secret Avengers which is just pure fun, mad adventures.
It’s clear to see that this book has drawn a lot on the success of Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye, and this is definitely not an imitation of it, it has taken the concept and brought it into a team book and created a really dynamic team where each individual character gets their own unique fun and serious moments. Though there are serious moments, this book really doesn’t take itself seriously and some of the info boxes are just laugh out loud hilarious and the dialogue as a whole is just so clever and fun.
It also goes one step further than Hawkeye, and has a real narrative to follow issue to issue. We continue to follow Modok’s investigation into The Fury, Maria Hill continues to be a suspect personality, Coulson is off doing what he does best, and Hawkeye is left with the bum jobs. So while the book attempts to have world destroying, catastrophic issues for these superheroes, it’s just so mad and fun that you can’t help just enjoying the journey and focusing on the wackiness. There is one particular page which really showcases this series and that is the initial page for the fight scene between Lady Bullseye and Black Widow, it was just so wacky and such genius to put it in the book. The last page of the issue is also mad and was really a great surprise, so it will be interesting to see where this story goes next month.
With Kot doing a great job on the writing, it is only fair this book deserves a great art team and Michael Walsh is absolutely perfect for this book. His art is pure fun and really suits the tone of the book and together with great colouring by Matthew Wilson categorically makes this creative team one of the most in-tune and exciting 3-some working in the industry at the moment.
If you are looking for a fun, exciting book which doesn’t get involved with the larger Marvel Universe, in the most part, then this is definitely the book for you. If you are a fan of Hawkeye and are frustrated by the delays and want to see a similar take on that character, then this too is also the book for you. I can’t recommend this book enough as it has so quickly become one of my favourite books on the shelves at the moment, and I urge every hardcore or casual reader to go pick up a copy and I can honestly say I don’t think you will be disappointed.
