Secret Avengers #13Nick Spencer begins his stint as the writer of Secret Avengers. Judging by what he has done with the special point-one issue and this one, I’m going to be sorry to see his run cut short.
Secret Avengers Ant-Man, War Machine, and Beast arrive in Washington to fight the Serpent’s forces leveling the city. After Beast saves a young lady from the armed forces, he’s told that the commanding officer needs to speak with him. Begrudgingly, he complies. He’s told that a representative from Mississippi has holed up in the parlor while the rest of Congress has left. Knocking this particular congressman, Beast goes to get him to safety, but it isn’t so easy. Lenny, the congressman, doesn’t want to leave. He and Beast talk about their past and why he never really wanted to be in government. After he mentions being a history teacher was his true passion because he could help bring history alive, the monuments of presidents and ghosts of heroes join the battle to stop the Serpent’s Nazi machines. This leads Beast to realize that Lenny is a mutant, but has hidden it very well. Lenny persuades Beast to help him send a broadcast to the world to show that they should find hope in someone not running away from all the terrible attacks. Lenny recites the Gettysburg Address, but at the end, the signal is lost as one of the Nazi machine destroys the Capitol.
I have to admit that the first impression I had seeing Abraham Lincoln, dinosaurs, and George Washington coming to life to fight back was “that’s kinda silly”. However, finding out shortly thereafter that Lenny was a mutant that could either warp reality or bring things to life, my opinion quickly changed. After that, the book suddenly changed. The result was a surprise. One I didn’t expect the new kid at Marvel to pull off so quickly.
Fear Itself gets its influence from the trying times this world is going through. Gas prices are ridiculous. There’s war in the Middle East. Countries are overthrowing their governments. In the U.S., there’s a political civil war raging leaving neither side willing to listen or like each other. We’ve all been affected by a crumbling economy and so few people just don’t know what tomorrow will bring.
In this issue, Spencer depicts a tired, old black man in Congress who isn’t ready to give up the good fight to people he made promises to nearly a decade ago. On top of that, being a mutant certainly doesn’t help him either. He knows that he must still do what he promised, but he also knows that he has the power to help the overrun military and provide some hope to the scared citizens believing their leaders have deserted them. He doesn’t see this as the chance to lead, or necessarily inspire, but a chance to show the world that not everyone has run off whimpering.
I have to say this is an incredibly powerful and important comic. Spencer uses the Gettysburg Address specifically to show that even during one of the worst moments in our nation’s history, we came together as a nation to honor the fallen and to honor the ideals that our country was built on. We shouldn’t be a country in which the leaders do everything they can to run and hide. We should be a country by the people and a country that, unlike so many others, have the power to know when we should fight, when we should make a change, or when we need to pause and give our gratitude to those who have fallen for us.
Yes, a comic taking place in the middle of all out war can pause for a moment, and still be as powerful as anything going on in the main story.
A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATINGProsConsNick Spencer knocks one out of the park and for a second straight issue provides quiet poignancy. While I spent no time in the review on Scot Eaton's art, I can say it is incredible.None. This is about as good of a comic about the human condition as any out there. Rating100% All Fear Itself reviews:Fear Itself: #1 | #2 |Fear Itself: The Home Front: #1 | #2 | Fear Itself: Spider-Man: #1 |Journey Into Mystery: #622 | #623 |Invincible Iron Man: #503 | #504Avengers: #13 |Secret Avengers: #13 |For more visit our Fear Itself tag @ acomicbookblog.com/tag/fear-itselfYou might also like...
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Invincible Iron Man #504 ReviewBy BlogsdnaTagged with: Avengers Fear Itself Secret AvengersLeave a ReplyClick here to cancel replyYour name (Required)
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This post was added on 25 May 2011, 12:14 by Geoff Arbuckle who has contributed 407 posts to this blog.
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