Comic To Read This Week: Secret Avengers #1

We’ve seen the world according to Nick Fury, Tony Stark, and even Norman Osborn. Now the Marvel Universe has a new visionary: Steve Rogers. The original Captain America is back from the dead and shaping up The House of Ideas like nobody can. After a final showdown with Osborn’s Dark Avengers at the end of Siege, Rogers has put together his own team of Avengers to be public heroes. However Steve has also formed another team that nobody knows about. A team consisting of some of the best the world has to offer. They stop disasters before they happen. They are the Secret Avengers.

Issue #1 starts off with Black Widow and Valkyrie posing as hookers to steal the mystical Serpent Crown. We’re not told what the big deal about the Serpent Crown is, but we just know that what Roger’s and Co. stole isn’t it. At least not all of it. The team soon finds themselves in space trying to look for their fallen teammate, Nova. This leaves Roger’s lover, and the person who shot him dead, Sharon Carter, back on Earth to hold down the fort. That is until a secret group that has been following the team knocks her out and looks to foil Roger’s A-Team. Did I mention these bad guys are lead by Nick Fury?

Steve Rogers may have picked Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, and a bunch of superstars to be The Avengers, but his roster for his secret team is much more interesting. Beast has left X-Men to be the smart guy of the group, and War Machine is the pilot and bad ass. Ant-Man is the resident funny man, while the dark loner Moon Knight rounds out the group. This is a team full of characters you never thought would work together, and I love it. You’ve never seen Nova or Moon Knight on a team, and never in the same situations as Steve Rogers and War Machine. I’m very interested to see how the group dynamic will unfold, and who will bump heads; maybe even bump uglies.

I love Ed Brubaker’s writing, from Uncanny X-Men to Daredevil, so naturally anything that seems interesting I’m going to check out. I feel like he has plans for this oddball group and I can’t wait to see what comes next. Mike Dedato’s art is pretty straightforward, and I’m used to it after his run on Uncanny X-Men. He doesn’t have any special style to his work, but that just means he gets criticized less, but I’m sure praised less as well.

Let Bendis have the popular kids in The Avengers. If I know Brubaker, he has a few twists in store for Roger’s covert team. I’m sure by the end of his run another team member is bound to put on the Nova helmet, and I’ll be there gitty with excitement.