Secret Warriors #8

Crossovers as a general rule don't bother me, mostly because they don't work.

The idea of a crossover (in the mind of the publisher) is to get you to pick up a copy of a comic you might otherwise not buy, in the hopes that you'll add it to your list.

The most crass crossover is the one that forces you to pick up that comic in order to get the full story being told.

Years ago, I was susceptible to it, but one of those mega-events broke me of the habit. I don't remember which one it was - "Worlds at War" in the Superman books, maybe - but after reading a particularly weak story, I decided not to fall for it again.

So now, if there's a crossover, I just miss the issues of the story I don't collect, and use the story gap to decide if I want to keep buying the comic I did collect. (In the case of Superman, I dropped all those titles for years.)

Which brings us Secret Warriors, which took part in a crossover and I didn't even realize it. This issue begins with Nick Fury a prisoner of Norman Osborn and his Dark Avengers. Fury was apparently captured in a recent issue of Thunderbolts, a comic I don't buy.

Of course, I don't need to buy it - the paragraph above tells us everything we need to know to bring us up to speed on the latest story. (You can also get the info from Marvel's boring-but-useful recap page at the front of each comic.)

This issue focuses on the (dysfunctional) relationship between Ares and his son, Phobos (who is a member of Fury's Secret Warriors team), and that part I enjoyed a lot.

Actually, the whole book is good, although small doses of the mysterious spy discussions goes a long way. But there a few good "woo hoo" moments, and the issue ends with a heck of a cliffhanger.

I like Alessandro Vitti's art - it's dark and grim, with some solid dramatic scenes - but the art doesn't always seem to quite match up with the script (though I'm not sure if the artist or the writer get the blame there).

Still, it's a fast-moving story with some great moments.

This comic seems to be flying somewhat under the radar, but it's very good, and well worth following. Can't say the same for all of its crossovers, though.

Grade: B+