It’s been no secret that I have been fairly critical of Secret Avengers, something that has surprised me considering my love of Brubakers work, however as the first arc reaches what looks like its conclusion, I still can’t help but feel like the series is missing something.

I am willing to forget the mystery surrounding the Nick Fury doppelganger, as assumedly this will get touched on in a near issue. But what disappoints me is that while this book carries a whole lotta swagger and style it doesn’t have the substance or plot to support both the story ideas and pace that Brubaker is trying to set.

What annoys me the most is how much Nova has been wasted as an asset. When Secret Avengers first got announced I was initially concerned about the characters place, but then I became very excited about the prospect of such a cosmic level hero joining a very grounded team –especially when it opened up the ideas of what sort of problems they could be dealing with. But he was wasted, completely wasted – whether this was by cause, or whether Brubaker hadn’t planned on Nova having to rush off for the Thanos Imperative, either way some seriously good story beats feel like they have been missed and abandoned in a reckless attempt to tie up a quirky first arc.

Valkerye continues to annoy, she comes across as a very static one-dimensional character, and truly the rest of the team is on the sidelines so much that this may as well have just been a Captain America mini series or an arc in Steve Rodgers: Super Soldier. Steve does quite literally the impossible, and the day is saved after a series of farfetched events finally comes to a close.

It’s a shame because the art is beautiful. The action is drawn magnificently through great use of layouts and panelling. Deodato’s work is still some of the best around, he makes the battle look a hell of a lot more epic then it really is. It’s his wonderful art keeping me coming back every month, how he can pack so much detail and extravagance into every panel is a mystery to me. 

It’s looking less and less like an Avengers book every issue, hopefully the next arc will actually utilize each team member and if it does bother introducing anyone remotely exciting into the team, hopefully Brubaker wont instantly shun them. I’m very quickly loosing faith in his ability to write a team book, hopefully Brubaker will find the missing ingredient and add it into the mix quickly because my patience with a boring title only grows so thin before it breaks completely.