A smaller, and tighter team of Secret Avengers (Steve Rogers, Beast, Black Widow, and Moon Knight), discovers Von Doom radiation, which has connection with time travel, in an abandonded (or so they thought) and lost underground city.
The Good
It's weird, but it feels like this book took 16 issues to get off the ground. I love the fact this issue is just four members of the Secret Avengers, and 3 of them do not have any super-powers (I don't count Steve Rogers as having super powers). I love the fact this issue deals with the "unknown" or a world hidden within our own. These guys aren't out on the open anymore or on Mars. They're saving the world out of sight from things humans don't know about.
Beast annoys me. That's what I like about him though. He's a happy-go-lucky brainiac who doesn't mean to show off but occasionally and unknowingly does. I feel like he's being represented much better in this issue than the others. This story is pretty cool, and although the ending of the issue may not lend itself to it, I hope the team can revisit this underground city or its makers.
I'm very excited to see Warren Ellis on this book, and I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that he'll make this book the Marvel version of Planetary because this book really has that feeling to it. Seriously though, it would be so cool.
The Bad
Weird transition from issue 15 to 16. The tone and the feel of the book has really changed.
So Steve Rogers is leading this team as himself AND he's Captain America? Did I miss something?
The Verdict
Hooray! The covert-ops Avengers book finally feels like a covert-ops Avengers book. I love the fact that, for right now, it's a four member team, and the fact that most of them don't even have any super-powers. This book has a cool Planetary feel to it, and finally, Beast comes off as Beast on the page. I am a big Ellis fan, so it will be interesting to see where he takes this team. There's no real downside to this issue other than Steve Rogers being Steve Rogers here and Cap everywhere else. I highly recommend this issue.