It looks like ‘Secret Avengers’ has tagged out of ‘Avengers vs. X-Men’. With this issue, the band is back to their old tricks dealing with the more delicate, covert missions that the main Avengers can’t handle alone.

In this story arc called ‘A Council of Masters’, the team has to deal stop an all new Masters of Evil under the leadership of Max Fury, who is looking to assemble the Serpent Crown, the Crown of Thorns, and the Crown of Wolves to achieve some sort of epic power. With The Human Torch (wait, he’s alive?) out of commission and Beast, Captain Britain, and Hank Pym off on other missions, it’s up to Hawkeye, Black Widow, Valkyre, Venom, and a mind-controlled Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady).

With this issue, we’ve returned to the dark nature that we’ve come to get used to in this title. Artist Matteo Scalera really brings out a dark and gritty style onto these pages. It’s extremely fitting considering the seedy underbelly that the Secret Avengers are dealing with in this story. This is extremely apparent when Flash Thompson reverts to the old look of Venom to face Taskmaster. Scalera’s Venom looks as gruesome as ever, and I really dig it.

As far as story goes, I am a fan of Rick Remender. I think that his dialogue and action make Venom just as vicious as he looks, while still showing a flicker of a softer side. I also like seeing Hawkeye as a leader. We don’t see that as often as we should, but I guess we’ll be seeing it more once his own title drops next week (which I will be reviewing, so keep an eye out!). He’s come a long way since West Coast Avengers, people!

I’m definitely interested to see where this arc leads considering that we’re not even sure if it’ll be around by the end of AVX and the start of Marvel NOW. Regardless, I think it’s worth checking out right now so we can enjoy it while we have Remender behind the wheel.

Verdict: Buy

SECRET AVENGERS #29
Written by RICK REMENDER
Art by MATTEO SCALERA & MATTHEW WILSON
Cover by ARTHUR ADAMS & PETER STEIGERWALD