The underground’s despair grows when Captain America gets a new weapon on them.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Nick Spencer
Art: Leinil Francis Yu
Color: Rachelle Rosenberg, Sunny Gho, Rod Reis
What They Say:
The unworthy, the untrusted, the unstable — this is their day! BEWARE THE SECRET EMPIRE!
Content: (warning, content sections may contain spoilers)
Another week, another Secret Empire issue. By this point, our conflict here is in full swing. The bid to collect the pieces of the cosmic cube and hopefully restore cap to his senses has failed, and now Captain America has found the location of the Underground base. Things in the Darkforce Shielded New York are shown to be as bad as ever, with Kingpin even trying to be a good guy. Black Widow’s red room is falling apart, and Spider-Man and the group are rapidly coming to realizations they don’t like the looks of very much. The race for cube parts, however, has faltered. Captain America has arrived, and the Odinson is leading the attack. Tony and the others have settled on the idea that someone tipped Hydra off, and as the turncoat is revealed, the Underground meets its biggest foe yet-The Incredible Hulk.
The concept of this issue is a desperate stand against Hydra’s assault. The Odinson seems to resist his orders somewhat, but the Hulk runs rampant through the base. The concept of showing just how overwhelming Hydra’s might has gotten s on full display. Cap’s not holding anything back, and he wants these insurgents dealt with. soon, Cap is in the battle to fight Iron Man himself. The Hulk seems to be lost and dead again as the two clash, and the battle and the concept here has turned into a retreat and a rout. Cap’s forces have defeated our heroes, and they’ve got to get away if they want to stop Cap. It seems like hope might be lost for bringing old Steve back, and Black Widow holds no such ideas. We’ll soon be getting a much different tactic used here, and we may have already seen the result.
In Summary:
It’s safe to say things are desperate at this point. It’s also safe to say the characters of Captain America and Hulk are still being pretty disrespected. This is exactly how an evil Cap would act, but the thought is just ludicrous, This isn’t Captain America, and the fact that Banner Hulk was resurrected just to be brainwashed and attack the good guys? It’s heartbreaking as a Hulk fan. Storywise, there are some positives this issue however.
The desperateness and hopelessness of the situation is presented full force here, with Cap assaulting the Underground and Black Widow planning an assassination of Cap. New York is seeing surprising people step up to help out, and one can only wonder what happened with Steve at the end of the issue. The biggest question to be dealt with next issue is: Will Spider-Man be the one to kill Captain America, like in the vision Ulysses gave? Or will Black Widow prove that vision wrong and do things herself. Things are coming to a head one way or another, and we’ve only got three issues left. The issue is written rather well actually, with the book flowing and reading quite nicely.
The art is consistent, and the team has managed to make everything look quite good this time. Many themes pop up here, with Hopelessness, despair, and resolve all fitting in where you can see them. The Hulk’s attack is done well and in good Hulk fashion, and Hawkeye’s despair and feeling like he deserves this fate is also a rather nice touch, like the Hulk is coming back to haunt him. The biggest problem here is that the impact of the ending of the event that’s coming up is being disrupted by the call of Marvel Legacy. It shouts over this event and makes it hard to really care too much about the outcome. This is a solid issue in a very lackluster and character-destroying event, and the writers need to think fast to pull the book out of this nosedive. Pick this up only if you’re already invested in it or you feel it is needed to prepare for legacy and Generations.
Grade: C-
Age Rating: T+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: July 19th, 2017
MSRP: $4.99
