Secret Warriors

Secret Warriors 7-19, Dark Reign: The List - Secret Warriors, Siege: Secret Warriors

This may be the most consistently good thing Jonathan Hickman has written.  (A quick glance through his bibliography seems to confirm it.) If I didn’t have to go to bed at a decent hour, I would have happily kept reading tonight.  

Hickman likes to jump around chronologically with his narratives, starting with the aftermath, cutting back to show the events that led to that point, flashing back to give some backstory to a key character, then running two of those storylines in parallel, etc.  It works well on an issue-by-issue basis, but it makes for an uneven overarching plot - Things chug along smoothly through issue 16, as Fury, Hydra, and Leviathan build up their respective forces, doing everything they can to sabotage the efforts of their opponents.  But then Hickman takes a massive aside with the Last Ride of the Howling Commandos arc.

It’s very well written, and the juxtaposition of the HC’s reunion and their final fight against Hydra makes for some poignant moments.  But it feels like an odd time to disrupt the Hydra/Leviathan conflict just as it was heating up. Also, I’m unclear as to why Fury doesn’t take a breather and let the other two groups tear each other apart for a while.  The loss of practically his entire command and two helicarriers doesn’t seem worth one Hydra base. Judging from the end of issue 19, I’m not sure Fury thinks so either.

Garth Ennis would write some amazing Howling Commandos WWII stories.  

Phobos kicks ass.  And I love the relationship he has with his dad.  It’s built on mutual respect and love, and it makes me want to re-read the Ares miniseries.  Maybe after I finish this title.

Due entirely to the MCU, I keep waiting for Agent Jasper Sitwell to betray Fury.  

Caselli must love drawing Gorgon.  He’s so damn good at it.

Jim Cheung’s triptych cover is really sweet too.

Still crazy after all these years.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Pretty good