It’s the penultimate issue of Secret Avengers (vol. 1) and Rick Remender turns the action up to 11. Most of the Avengers are in lockdown as Father and the Descendants enact their plan to turn every human in the world into a robot hybrid, so it’s up to a few brave heroes to face them off by themselves.

Robots! Monsters! Space! Explosions! Quips! Doctor Who references! Boy, if this issue of Secret Avengers didn’t have it all! As Rick Remender starts heading towards the conclusion of his run on the series, it seems he’s given a new definition to the saying “firing on all cylinders.” There’s more action, intrigue, and suspense than I could ask for and more actual audible laughs than I’d ever expect. This is a hell of a comic.

Rick Remender starts his final arc on Secret Avengers ”Rise of the Descendants” with a bang, that starts to bring together plot lines not only from the beginning of his run but from the beginning of this series. Plus, things get a little spooky when Hawkeye and Captain Britain take a journey to Earth-666. What think you of an undead Celestial?

The Secret Avengers’ bout with Abyss and all that it has possessed comes to a head in this issue! Is Venom going to be enough to take on the entire army of possessed villains? Will Black Widow stop the possessed Hawkeye? Will they both succumb to Abyss? There’s a lot on the line in this issue, and it’s all pretty exciting.

The Secret Avengers have definitely been in better situations. A team that split up, has a mole, and is up against an entire army of super villains all possessed by the evil Abyss (and lead by a souped up Taskmaster)? And Venom’s the only one able to deal with it? Yeah, the team’s chances are looking rather dire right now. But that’s what makes it exciting, right?

The Masters of Evil, lead by Max Fury, continue along with their plan to obtain the three mystical crowns in the Red Light Nation of Bagalia and it’s up to the Secret Avengers to stop them. But first, there’s a little battle between Venom and Taskmaster to be settled. It’s a high-octane issue that doesn’t skimp out on the story.

Read on for my review!

Rick Remender returns to the main story in his run on Secret Avengers and takes the available members of his team and investigates the “Red Light District” nation of Bagalia; a nation where villains thrive and anything goes. On top of that, we have Max Fury, the living LMD of Nick Fury who is leading the Shadow Council, heading a new and greatly expanded Masters of Evil team. Frankly, the Secret Avengers seem like they’re waist deep right now and there’s no easy way out.

Read on for my review!

Rick Remender ties the Secret Avengers into Avengers VS X-Men as he sends a team of heroes into space to deal with the oncoming threat of the Phoenix head on!

Remender’s been doing wonders on this series so far, but will an event tie-in slow him down? Read on to find out!

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artists: David Aja, Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano

Secret Avengers is a comic book that should’ve been awesome from the start. Writer Ed Brubaker has been doing a fantastic job with Captain America for a long time, and to have him write about a new covert ops Avengers team headed by former Captain America Steve Rogers sounds like a perfect fit. While the first issue was promising, the next three were very underwhelming, to the point where I was considering dropping the title after the completion of the first arc. But now, issue #5 comes out and I’m perplexed. This issue was great, definitely the best in the series thus far, but it was also very atypical. Not only did it have a different artist, but the story also focused on a couple of characters who are not even members of the team. The question is, will the quality hold up when it’s back to business as usual next month?