Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Secret Avengers #25


Whoops, was that supposed to be a big reveal that Ant-Man has been taken over by the Descendants? If so, it seems a tad obvious. I’m fine with it, because the other characters don’t know about their mole, but it wasn’t exactly a shocking reveal to the reader. Still lots of potential for later storylines, though.

It’s interesting that Rick Remender is writing about this city of evolving robots. That concept, along with the whole “sleeper” idea (humanoid robots out there interbreeding with humans) is remarkably similar to a series I’m reading. The Ware Tetralogy by Rudy Rucker has got a lot of similarities to the whole Grandfather/secret underground city vibe. Is it a case of zeitgeist that I’m reading both of these at the same time, or what? That said, Remender’s individual robots are pretty unique, especially the one who births tiny versions of her opponents out of eggs on her back!

Remender does some interesting trimming of the core cast too. Venom finally shows up, and boy, is Flash Thompson a smarty pants. He’s cracking jokes and generally pretty damn confident on his first unapproved Avengers mission. I did like seeing Val’s annoyance at him slowly increase. So he’s on, but the original Human Torch seems to be out for awhile, as he sustains enough damage to be put in suspended animation for awhile. And of course, Ant-Man Eric O’Grady is still around too, he’s just not himself anymore. This is a pretty killer line-up.

Gabriel Hardman kicks butt once again, with his gritty, dark style a perfect match for the title. I look forward to seeing him draw some more “classic” villains, as the robotic Descendants don’t really feature enough variance or color to really pop for me. Based on how good the Deathlok-Avengers look, I think Hardman will excel when he gets more villains too.

Good

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