Secret Avengers Revisited

A few posts back I wrote about my disappointment with Marvel's new Secret Avengers title.  One of the things that bothered me, which I don't think I mentioned, was the Nick Fury character.  I couldn't understand why he was acting the way he was in the story as it seemed totally out of place.  Granted, I don't keep up with all the events in the Marvel universe, but it seemed odd.  Issue five cleared all that up and has redeemed the series for me.

Titled "The Secret Life of Max Fury," this stand-alone issue explains (maybe -- you know how these things go) just why Mr. Fury seemed to be acting out of character these past few issues.  In fact, the story goes back about ten years to explain these things.  And while it was no action-packed fisticuff orgy, it was a highly interesting story (which some totally fitting art by David Aja, who is fast becoming one of my favorites) of intrigue and suspense that sets the stage for future stories that seem like they could be incredibly promising.  At this point I'm glad I gave the book a chance, as I get the feeling I would be missing out on some prime Avengers stories had I dropped it.

Of course, everything could go wrong and writer Ed Brubaker could be replaced for some reason and all his storylines handed to an intern.  That would be disaster, but we all know things like that happen in the world of comics.  Hopefully, for the sake of this title's fans, that won't be the case here.

The (Not So) Great and Secret Show

I was excited to put Secret Avengers on my subscription list.  I liked the idea of an Avengers team that went in to do the dirty work and stop problems before they happened.  I liked the team, as it has a few characters I really like (Moon Knight and Black Widow come to mind) and some I definitely enjoy (Beast, Valkyrie).  When I had the first two issues sent to me, I sat down and read them after letting them sit for about two weeks.

I was ... disappointed.

The story, which deals with a search for a new Serpent Crown, was lackluster at best.  The characterization was non-existent.  These could have been any characters, quite honestly.  It seemed like it was a thorough waste of potential and money, and I almost dropped it from my pull. Why waste the time?

Well, long story short, I have not dropped it yet.  I am going to give it a chance.  Sometimes it takes a few issues for a creative team to get into their rhythm.  My fear, however, is that this title will never realize its full potential.  By the second issue, when the team goes to Mars, I thought there could be possibilities ... and there were some ... but not enough.  What will the next few months bring?  I'm not sure, but if the writers don't let the characters shine (which should be anyone's reason for reading this), they will have a dead series on their hands, and they will be losing readers at a record pace ... myself included.