The purchase of ten.

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

I had to put off buying comics so that when I did make it into my LCS last week there was three weeks worth waiting for me. I still couldn't afford to clear the shelf so I selected just ten. Ten comics that I thought would be the best among all comics that came out over three weeks. I bought Avengers Academy #1, Secret Avengers #1, Booster Gold #33, Justice League: Generation Lost #s 2 & 3, Green Lantern Corps #48, Green Lantern #54, S.H.I.E.L.D. #2, Brightest Day #3, and Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1.

Mostly, I was right. There's some blessed good reading in that list. Avengers Academy and Hawkeye & Mockingbird were both stellar first issues. The end of issue reveal in Avengers Academy #1 was nearly as good as the reveal at the end of Thunderbolts #1. Booster Gold appears in three of the ten comics. His own title ties in with Generation Lost without be "required" reading, although I'd still highly recommend it. The two GL titles were both very good, even if the editors of the two titles don't seem to have talked with each other about using Atrocitus. I still don't pretend to completely grasp what is going on in S.H.I.E.L.D. but I sure look forward to finding out. Brightest Day has from the get-go had me interested in characters that I've never cared about before.

Which brings me to Secret Avengers #1. What a let down. Firstly, it was over very quickly. The other nine comics took time to read and provided me good entertainment for the price. This comic, one of the only three with a cover price of 3.99$, just didn't last long enough for the price they're asking. Of the heroes in the comic, the only ones I have a large interest in are Steve Rogers and the Beast. I have no interest in Moon Knight, Valkyrie, or Ant-Man. The others fall in between but lean more towards the "no interest" end of the spectrum. Now, Brightest Day has overcome my lack of interest in its characters from issue #0 and I'm fascinated to find out what is going to happen to them. Here...not so much. Not at all, even. So, I'm not hooked. Even worse, I'm repulsed. Steve Rogers, of all people, is leading a black ops team? And Hank McCoy is going along with it? I don't buy it. Well, I did buy it but I won't buy more.

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

Out of all the Avengers launches, Secret Avengers was, by far, my favorite. I don't see Cap's team as black ops at all and, given Hank's recent outburst at Scott about the X-Men's true black ops team, I don't think he would join Steve's team if he saw it that way. They are certainly the low profile team and will act, I think, more like a new SHIELD spy unit. Academy was a bit too much angst without enough leavening fun for me.

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

I'll retract "black ops" since that seems to indicate lethal methods. Let us, instead, us "shadow ops." Sharon Carter calls them that in the story and Rogers doesn't correct her. It still seems out of character for Rogers and McCoy. And McCoy's reaction to the X-Men's black ops team is exactly why I think he doesn't fit with this group.

[Philip Portelli]

I think it's more about subtlety than hardcore super-hero battles. It should focus on intrigue and hidden foes and secret agendas. It should be the first strike team of Avengers!