The title is ambitious. Billed as, “the Avengers as you’ve never seen them before,” the first issue launches the Avengers, or more correctly, the Secret Avengers in a bold new direction. Designed by Steve Rogers, the former Captain America, to be a team of individual black ops agents, a little bit stealth, a little bit strike force, the non-team is forced to come together earlier than the hero formerly known as Cap would have liked. You see, one of Rogers’ special operatives, Nova, is M.I.A. at multi-national Roxxon’s Mars dig. And Rogers, who doesn’t have a nifty new code name yet to go with his sharp new costume, needs the entire team for the Mars rescue.

The team consists of a core of some of the Avengers best: Steve Rogers, Black Widow, the Beast, and War Machine, and is augmented by the additions of one-time West Coast Avenger, Moon Knight; Ant-Man III (Eric O’Grady), in what looks like a mash of classic Ant-Man and Irredeemable Ant-Man gear; Valkyrie, Asgardian demi-goddess, classic Defender, and Lady Liberator; and the aforementioned Nova, complete with the Xandarian Worldmind and the powers of the entire Nova force at his disposal. Now, when the Secret Avengers lineup was revealed a month back, being a longtime Avengers reader, I confess to having some reservations about all of Moon Knight, Ant-Man III, Nova, and most particularly, Valkyrie, who just seemed out of place on a stealth team. How would they work? Would they have chemistry? What is their reason for being an operative? But I have to hand it to Brubaker. Bringing a team of solo operatives and special agents together under the auspice of a Martian situation and Rogers’ initiative to deal with 21st century threats, a.k.a. “threats too big for most to acknowledge,” vs. “villains in masks and the insane dictators with nuclear weapons,” and to take on “the threats that hide in the shadows,” just works.

One of the main reasons the team gels right off the bat is that Brubaker shows us what’s going down, he doesn’t tell us. Some might say this is rule #1 of a well-written story, but I’m surprised at the number of writers working in the industry today who break this rule on a regular basis. From the issue’s opening scene, featuring the Black Widow and Valkyrie on a stealth operation (yes a stealth operation with Valkyrie!), to Rogers’ entrance and subsequent reveals of the team’s operations with the Beast and Rogers’ flame, Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Sharon Carter), to the team’s mission de-briefing and Nova’s amazing scene on Mars, there is a lot of action and drama for what is generally a set-up issue. And did I mention the over-the-top surprise ending? I’ll just say it’s serialization at its best and leave it at that.

As exciting as the story is, Mike Deodato and Rain Beredo’s art is right there with it every step of the way. While other Avengers titles have had their artistic moments, the shuffling of Marvel’s “young gun” artists has led to an inconsistent depiction of recent Avengers teams. The one exception was, notably, Deodato and Beredo’s Dark Avengers, where they really solidified Norman Osborne’s band of renegades and outcasts into the team that infamously took the country by storm. In Secret Avengers, Deodato and Beredo fuse their Dark Avengers style with elements of Steve Epting’s Captain America, when Rogers is working behind the scenes, and elements of Andrea Divito’s Nova, when Nova’s on Mars. The result complements the tone of Brubaker’s story and is a perfect fusion of artistic styles.

There are many other things to like about these Avengers as well. First, everyone is in character. Fans of Captain America, Nova, X-Men, Moon Knight, Thunderbolts, War Machine, and the Black Widow titles will all feel seamlessly at home. Steve Rogers, the Widow, the Beast, and War Machine all know each other well. And in fact there is a great moment between Rogers and the Beast that illustrates this perfectly. (Old Avengers fans will appreciate this). And Moon Knight, Nova, and Ant-Man could well have walked right out of their own titles and over to Secret Avengers. The continuity with the characters and between art and story is great and much appreciated.

Second, Moon Knight and new members Ant-Man III, Valkyrie, and Nova each bring a little something to the team. For Moon Knight and Ant-Man, that something is a quest for redemption, a second chance. Something the Avengers have long been committed to, as some of their best members, like Hawkeye, the Scarlet Witch, and the Secret Avenger’s own Black Widow all started out as villains. But what makes things interesting in this case is that Moon Knight and Ant-Man are so different from each other, they are going to handle their second chances differently. For Valkyrie and Nova, that something is their personalities. As much as many old Avengers fans would like to see a halt to the non-stop additions to the Avengers roster, writers are always going to want to bring new characters onto the team to bring in new energy and move stories and team dynamics in new directions. And that is exactly what Brubaker does here. And of course with Nova, we also have a space-based Avenger, which is something the Avengers haven’t really had in any meaningful way, unless you want to count Starfox. I didn’t think so.

Third, there is a real excitement in the air. Nova’s scene is very dramatic, but the drama there may even be eclipsed by Agent 13’s scene. That’s that over-the top surprise ending I told you about earlier. Additionally, greater forces are at work that we have yet to discover. And fourth, it’s great to see the non-team concept from the old Defenders series updated and used so well here. Not only are the Secret Avengers a team of heroes who don’t want to be part of a team, they are also a team that will take on the threats others are not aware of or set up to, just like the old Defenders. It will be interesting to see how Brubaker handles the lineup over time in this regard.

Last, the way the issue opens mid-story, begins filling in the gaps, and paces us between layers of plot and drama and plenty of solid Avengers action showcases Brubaker and Deodato’s skills as master storytellers. They do not bog us down with unnecessary exposition and backstory or deconstructed visuals. Although there have been many questions surrounding the team and their motivations, some were answered immediately in this issue, and I’m sure the rest will be revealed over the due course of the story. Now, if you had doubts that Brubaker could pull off a team book, don’t. Brubaker is fresh off telling the origins of the Marvel age and of the Invaders, Marvel’s first super team and in some ways the inspiration for the Avengers, in the Marvels Project limited series, where he handled multiple characters artfully.

If you’re new to the Avengers, Secret Avengers #1 is a great entrance point into the Avengers mythos. And if you’re an old Avengers fan, buckle up, this could well be the best Avengers yet. On the Avengers Forever scale, this one gets six out of five stars. I’m a tough grader, but it’s that good. And yes, this sure looks like it’s going to be “the Avengers as we’ve never seen them before."

	Greg Orzech
	By the time Greg was fifteen, he had amassed a comic collection that included almost all of the first 200 issues of the Avengers. Though an on again, off again love affair with comics took him off course at times in the 80's and 90's, the 1998 volume three Avengers relaunch brought him full circle with the Avengers.