Secret Avengers #33

So this is the official debut of the Black Ant, correct? I enjoyed Rick Remender’s revealing look into the mind of a Life Model Decoy. Admittedly, this is a particularly selfish one, since it is Eric O Grady, but I still enjoyed it when he confessed that heroes who sacrifice themselves always regret it. At least so far, it seems like Eric is just fine with going along with the villains. Assassination and kidnapping are pretty declarative actions!

Is Max Fury actually dead? I’m not a fan of a long-term villain who is just a robotic clone of the hero (Cyborg Superman excepted), but still, that seems awfully abrupt for the main villain from Ed Brubaker’s excellent run at the start of this comic.

I like the odd team-up of Captain Britain and Hawkeye dealing with the undead Avengers. I never bought for a second that Capwolf and all those other monsters could actually be good guys. Those designs are begging to be villains! I always say entrusting the undead with anything important is always a mistake.

Father and the Descendants really mop the floor with the short-handed Secret Avengers. I have to think Remender is going to have his pet character Flash Thompson/Venom save the day again. After all, he already defeated the big bad guy AND got to sleep with the hot, immortal, Asgardian goddess. It’s a good thing Remender’s pet Venom is so likable.

Andy Kuhn is a solid penciller. He tries to ape Matteo Scalera’s scratchy pencils and he mostly succeeds in giving the art a uniform look. The design work on the undead Avengers is strong, as is the core team. I still find the Descendants a bit too hard to tell apart, but I’m getting there.

Good