While I certainly like comics that tackle cosmic stories, I have to admit that I prefer them to have at least some kind of basis in the real world.And yes, Marvel Earth is different from our Earth - but in this issue of Secret Avengers, the team flies a spacecraft to Mars (that part's ok) where they discover a mystery that's linked to the ancient Serpent Crown (still ok) and some other strange crown-like artifacts that are linked to it and having a strange effect on others (still ok). But all this takes place in a massive dig that an Earth corporation is managing on Mars! (That beeping noise is the alarm on my "baloney" meter.)
I suppose, given the scientific advances evident on Marvel Earth, one could make the argument that such a thing is believable - but for me, it takes us way outside the real world, where we're lucky to land a working probe on Mars that can motor around the general vicinity.
I could have bought into an alien race digging there - the Kree, the Skrull, whatever - but I don't buy this. So, long story short, this comic already has a strike against it in my book.
Getting back to the issue - we have the Secret Avengers splitting up into teams and investigating the mystery on Mars, which involves lots of fighting, tracking, energy blasts, enslaved minions and a big mystery man.
The art by Mike Deodato and Will Conrad is mostly good, though there seem to be an awful lot of dark shadows and silhouettes going on here. Perhaps they're going for mood, but the end result is: it's sometimes difficult to figure out which character is which.
We're still early in the story, and writer Ed Brubaker has plenty of time to bring this one home - but so far, for me, this series is on shaky ground.
Grade: B
2 comments:
I enjoyed your post Chuck. Deodato's art was very dark and shadowy in Dark Avengers, too. I guess it can work for "Dark" because it is just that: dark shades. For "Secret" you deal more with...well secrets, things in the shadow which we don't quite understand because it's a secret. So for me the art and coloring is ok. I posted about this book, as well. Check it out.
http://365daysofcomics.blogspot.com/2010/07/secret-avengers-2.html
Dom, I usually enjoy Deodato's work, so I was surprised that this issue didn't work for me. Perhaps it's the team-up between him and another artist that threw this one off for me? No idea, but I was surprised.
And I didn't really care for the new look for Moon Knight - he just doesn't seem right without his cape, though as you say on your blog, there are logical reasons to not wear it in space.
Post a Comment