Weekly Comic Book Review

By Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev (Creators), Jonathan Hickman (Script), Stefano Caselli (Art), and Daniele Rudoni (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: I’ve made no secret about how much I love what at Bendis, Hickman, Caselli, and Rudoni are doing with Secret Warriors. Their series is good, very good…and it looks to get even better as time goes on.

The Story: Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos infiltrate and attack a H.A.M.M.E.R. dock in order to some nab some helicarriers. There’s one problem…Kraken, one of the heads of HYDRA, knows of the plan.

What’s Good: If you can get past one glaring issue (which I’ll get to), you’ll have one hell of a time with Secret Warriors #5. It looks incredible most of the time and reads far better than most action heavy comics as the Howling Commandos, Hydra, and H.A.M.M.E.R. collide on a former S.H.I.E.L.D. dock. In short, the latest issue of Secret Warriors is a great example of a creative team at the top of it’s game.

Jonathan Hickman does a superb job of handling the dialogue for the Howling Commandos (especially Fury and Dum Dum Dugan) and the heads of Hydra. With the Commandos, Hickman writes them in a way that makes you truly get a feel for who they are (as a group) and what they stand for. Gruff, dedicated, and no-nonsense, you’ll have little difficulty buying into the idea that the Commandos actually have a shot at getting away with the Helicarriers despite the thousands of troops manning the dock. As for Hydra, Hickman shows that he has it in him to really establish Hydra as a true threat. The brief Hydra meeting is chilling and does a nice job of setting the tone for how dangerous the heads of Hydra truly are.

There’s a whole lot to like about what Stefano Caselli and Daniele Rudoni deliver in Secret Warriors #5. The characters look great and the action is fast, fluid, and frantic in all the right ways. The highlight though, is easily the true introduction of The Hive. The segment that shows the head of Hydra doing, well, what it does, is insanely cool and slightly disturbing (in a good way).

What’s Not So Good: So… That glaring issue I mentioned early in the review? It’s that the Secret Warriors are given exactly one page in the latest issue of their series. While it’s great to see Fury, Dugan, and the heads of Hydra duke it out, I still feel as though the titular Secret Warriors have been woefully underdeveloped. The first arc of their series ends with the next issue and I barely have their names straight, let alone their team dynamic or final roster. While Jonathan Hickman’s storytelling/character decisions are far from crippling, they are still somewhat annoying considering that, five issue in, his cast of unknowns remains a cast of unknowns.

Conclusion: Lack of Secret Warriors aside, the latest issue of Secret Warriors delivers the goods. I highly recommend it!

Grade: B+

-Kyle Posluszny