Secret Warriors is a great series from Marvel. The book offers the best take on Nick Fury in years. The first trade, Secret Warriors Vol. 1: "Nick Fury: Agent of Nothing", offers great dialogue and action. This book is so good it shouldn't be a secret.
Read more after the jump.
Read more after the jump.
To understand Secret Warriors you must understand Nick Fury. Fury first appeared in the World War II combat series Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, as a cigar-chomping NCO who led a racially and ethnically integrated elite unit. (May 1963 - Dec. 1981). In 1965, Strange Tales #135 (Aug. 1965) gave a new take on Fury, who became a colonel was a James Bond-esque Cold War spy for the covert organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division) against its nemesis HYDRA (and featured great art by Kirby and later Steranko). In addition to being an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury continued to make appearances in the other Marvel books, from Fantastic Four to The Avengers. By the 80s and 90s, Fury and had been converted into a Macguffin guest star. Want Spidey to go to Europe? Fury would show up with an assignment. The fact that Daredevil needs information that the reader knows could be fixed with a convenient cameo. (I also don't want to even guess how many times Marvel has killed him or crashed his Helicarrier in the name of summer events).
I should also mention that he has been played in the movies by both Samuel L. Jackson and David Hasselhoff (and if that is not a statement, I don't know what is). Of course, when Marvel created it's Ultimate Line, they created an all new-all different Nick Fury--master manipulator and chess player rather than a spandex wearing superspy and even used Mr. Jackson as the reference model. Eventually, that characterization became more dominant in the main Marvel Universe (616 for you uber-geeks).
So where is Fury at the beginning of Secret Warriors? If you don't follow the Marvel Comics Universe, let me bring you up to date real quick. Fury secretly recruited several superheroes (led by the mysterious Daisy "Quake" Joihnson) to infiltrate the country of Latveria (Doc Doom's country. When the public found out, Fury became a pariah and went deep deep underground. There was an intervening Civil War (with Fury manipulating behind the scenes for some secret agenda) that resulted in the death of Captain America. Then, there was a Secret Invasion of Earth by alien shapeshifters called Skrulls. No one saw it coming . . . almost--Nick Fury was ready. He discovered the plot, which was why he went underground. Daisy secretly recruits a new team of "caterpillars", young, untested superhumans, whose existence is known to Fury alone. Nick Fury and his team of Secret Warriors arrive and rescue the defeated Young Avengers and Initiative members before withdrawing from the battle. Long story short, with Fury's help the Skrulls are vanquished (and he has the best line of the series. "My God has a Hammer.") But, the war had an unintended consequence, bad guy (and former Green Goblin) Norman Osborn became a hero and was given total control of the 50 state Avengers Initiative and has become a Dark Reign of terror. Osborn dissolves Shield and creates Hammmer and forms Dark versions of the X-Men, Avengers, and Young Avengers.
Now, Fury is on the run again--this time from Hydra, Osborn's villains, and his former Agency. Moreover, Fury has discovered a startling secret involving a connection between SHIELD and Hydra that makes him question everything he knows about his past. Once again, the Secret Warriors take up his challenge.
The Secret Warriors are: Nick Fury, Quake (who has been revealed to be the daughter of Mister Hyde); Phobos (the son of Ares); The Druid (the son of Doctor Druid); Slingshot (the daughter of the Griffin); Hellfire (the grandson of the Phantom Rider); Stonewall (background unknown Bendis has revealed that his father is a "major Marvel icon" first name "Henry"); Eden Fesi (who trained with Gateway).
The Trade includes Secret Warriors #1-6 and material from Dark Reign: New Nation and is subtitled "Nick Fury: Agent of Nothing." I almost didn't read this book. I'm not really that interested in the whole Dark Reign storyline (and even dropped Wolverine, which I consistently had collected (in its various incarnations) since 1988 when it became "Dark Wolverine"). I only got this hardcover because it was fifty percent off from DCBService.com. While I really like both Brian M. Bendis (who plotted) and Jonathan Hickman (who scripted), there are just too many out there.
I was surprise to discover that this book has almost nothing to do with Dark Reign. Instead, the story focuses on Fury's battle against the forces of Hydra. Granted this story takes place against the backdrop of Dark Reign, but that's all it really is. There are some nice Fury character moments, which show him to be the bad ass that he is. The book has some great dialogue from Fury. My favorite is the updated version of the Death Star independent contractor speech from Clerks featuring Enron (which is a subsidiary of the evil Roxon Corporation in the Marvel Universe). Readers also get to see the power that Fury wields in the Marvel Universe. Plus, the last page reveal made me curse out loud. Plus, the art by Stefano Caselli is fantastic. I am definitely glad I bought this book and will keep going when volume two comes out.
I was surprise to discover that this book has almost nothing to do with Dark Reign. Instead, the story focuses on Fury's battle against the forces of Hydra. Granted this story takes place against the backdrop of Dark Reign, but that's all it really is. There are some nice Fury character moments, which show him to be the bad ass that he is. The book has some great dialogue from Fury. My favorite is the updated version of the Death Star independent contractor speech from Clerks featuring Enron (which is a subsidiary of the evil Roxon Corporation in the Marvel Universe). Readers also get to see the power that Fury wields in the Marvel Universe. Plus, the last page reveal made me curse out loud. Plus, the art by Stefano Caselli is fantastic. I am definitely glad I bought this book and will keep going when volume two comes out.
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