Review: Secret Avengers Vol. 2- Iliad

Quick Summary

Pros: The thrills and suspense of the previous volume continue. The main narrative becomes more interesting than before, adding more hope for the next volume. The artwork looks good and pairs well with the story.

Cons: The narrative flows poorly in a few places.

Overall: This collection builds on the solid foundation of its predecessor. The story here is more exciting, more thrilling, and generally more interesting than before. It answers questions from the previous collection while also introducing new ones, giving fans more of a reason to return. Readers who enjoyed the story in the previous volume should continue reading with this one.

Story

Secret Avengers Vol. 2: Iliad, by Nick Spencer, takes the successes already present in this series and builds upon them. This is partly accomplished by further explaining how things happened in the first volume. It is also accomplished by ramping up the tension and interest surrounding the action and political maneuvering. However, it is primarily accomplished by elaborating upon the ever-growing battle between S.H.I.E.L.D. and A.I.M. Not every piece of the collection is amazing but the majority of it is fun and pretty entertaining.

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The core of Iliad maintains the dramatic spy maneuverings and tense action of its predecessor. The Secret Avengers are forced into several intense situations where any slip up could spell doom. This keeps things interesting and keeps the read tense.

However, Iliad goes beyond its predecessor by enhancing nearly everything around the spy maneuverings. This volume details S.H.I.E.L.D.’s internal power struggles, with Maria Hill ousting Daisy Johnson as director; further elaborates upon what is happening on A.I.M. Island, as it becomes clear they are working toward some lofty goals; and explains some of the specifics behind the Secret Avengers’ memory implants, showing how a metahuman reorganizes their memories by hand. In addition, larger narrative elements about the battle between S.H.I.E.L.D. and A.I.M. become more critical, as both organizations take dramatic moves against each other. All of this helps make the series, as a whole, more interesting and further builds up excitement for future volumes.

Iliad closes with a tie-in to the Infinity (Review) event, written by Ed Brisson. This tie-in is a unique look at what would happen if a regular S.H.I.E.L.D. desk employee was forced to suddenly enter the overly brutal world of S.H.I.E.L.D. field work. This concept gives the adventure a unique twist and allows it to work well in a book that is slightly critical of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s actions.

My only minor complaint with Iliad is that the presentation of events is somewhat strange. The book jumps from flashback to the present and, occasionally, to a hallucination or dream. Then, the series is interrupted by a tie-in that is relevant to this comic’s themes but only loosely relevant to its narrative. It makes the volume feel slightly too convoluted and introduces some unnecessary frustration.

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Art

The artwork in Iliad, from Butch Guice and Luke Ross, is mostly positive and contributes to the success of this collection. Like the previous volume, Iliad contains artwork with dark inks and gritty visuals, creating an atmosphere that matches the darker tone of the book. However, the real draw here comes from some of the unique structures seen throughout the collection. The pages in this book are laid out in a way that helps emphasize the complex nature of spycraft, giving visual clues about tactics used to distract or outwit opponents. There are also pages where the structures help demonstrate the storytelling themes of a given moment. The only artistic low points come from a few places where characters faces look strange and a chapter where the colors mentioned in the dialogue do not match the colors shown on the page. Besides these few negatives, this is a good looking book that works well with the story.

Continuity

Secret Avengers Vol. 2: Iliad continues the story started in Secret Avengers Vol. 1: Reverie (Review).

The story here continues in Secret Avengers Vol. 3: How to MA.I.M. a Mockingbird.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• Secret Avengers #8 starts by showing a number of events from Mockingbird’s life. These include:
  • Her time as an Avenger, specifically as a founding member of the West Coast Avengers. Her time with this team began in West Coast Avengers #1, collected in Avengers West Coast Epic Collection: How The West Was Won.
  • The time she spent traveling through time. This took place from West Coast Avengers #17 to West Coast Avengers #23, collected in Avengers West Coast Epic Collection: Lost In Space-Time.
  • Her time spent as a Skrull prisoner. This time is revealed in Secret Invasion #8, part of the Secret Invasion event.
  • Her fight against Dormammu in New Avengers Vol. 1 #54, collected in New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection Vol. 5. 
• Secret Avengers #9 references a number of recent events from S.H.I.E.L.D. history. These include:
  • A problem with Latveria, a reference to the Secret War event.
  • Problems with Norman Osborn and S.H.I.E.L.D., which started at the conclusion of Secret Invasion event.
  • The mention of a “Hulk op”, a reference to the recently established relationship between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Hulk. This relationship started in Indestructible Hulk Vol. 1- Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Review).
• Eden joined the Avengers in Avengers #1, collected in Avengers Vol. 1: Avengers World (Review).
• A reference is made to a time when Norman Osborn was hunting Tony Stark and Tony was forced to delete and then backup his brain. This happened across Invincible Iron Man Vol. 2 #8-24, part of which is collected in Iron Man by Fraction & Larroca: The Complete Collection Vol. 1.
• Secret Avengers 10-11 are tie-ins to the Infinity (Review) event.
• Secret Avengers 10 makes a reference to the events of Avengers Assemble #20, which is also part of the Infinity (Review) event.