Secret Avengers, Volume 3: How to MA.I.M. a Mockingbird

Secret Avengers (2013)

by Nick Spencer, Jackson Guice (Writer), Aleš Kot

Mockingbird is undercover, infiltrating Advanced Idea Mechanics...but as her deception crumbles, can she escape before the High Council of A.IM. discovers her true identity? As Maria Hill gets a mind-bending offer from a rogue A.I.M. operative that you'll probably recognize, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Fury plumb the organization's depths. But when A.I.M. strikes and takes out the team, Taskmaster and Mockingbird must go full stealth mode as the entire A.I.M. Island searches for them! As A.I.M.'s secrets are spilled, Forson's wild card is revealed, a traitor at the heart of the group comes to light...and Mockingbird faces a crossroads that threatens to tear her apart.

Collecting: Secret Avengers 12-16

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Nick Spencer is a comic book writer known for his creator-owned titles at Image Comics (Existence 2.0/3.0, Forgetless, Shuddertown, Morning Glories), his work at DC Comics (Action Comics, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), and for his current work at Marvel Comics (Iron Man 2.0, Ultimate Comics: X-Men).

Reviews

[Lono · Rating 4 out of 5]

In preparation for Ales Kot’s run on Secret Avengers, I thought I should pick up the last volume of Nick Spenser’s run since Ales co-wrote the issues collected. It shows. Kot’s quirky fingerprints are all over this bitch.



This volume seems like something of a lead in for Ales’ 3 volume stint on the team. It puts most of the pieces in place so he can hit the ground running with Secret Avengers Vol 1: Let’s Have a Problem. Really loved MODOK’s introduction in this one. The back and forth between him and Maria Hill was ridiculous throughout. I think Ales does a really good job of riding the line between cornball and serious with this book. That’s tough to pull off for anyone in my opinion. Taskmaster’s also good for a few laughs. Hawkeye, Nick Fury ("Sam Jackson" Fury that is), and Black Widow are all pretty much by the numbers. I think I prefer Nick as an agent as opposed to the SHIELD director. Hawkeye’s true to form and appears to be taken right from his own current, super-popular solo title. Most of the book, as the title implies, focuses on Mockingbird. Not a fan of hers, but the rest of the ensemble cast gets enough face-time while taking on A.I.M. to make up for it.



The art was decent. Never a fan of Butch Guice or Luke Ross. Not my brand. But whatever, it certainly didn’t suck.



This collection (along with Anne and Chris’ reviews of the first book) is pretty much a guarantee that Ales' 3 volume run on the Secret Avengers that follows this is gonna kick some ass. I’d say pick up this book if you’re plannin’ on reading those collections. It doesn’t seem like you need to read Spenser’s 2 previous volumes to get the idea as to what’s going on here (I didn’t) and it’s a good preface to Kot’s take on the team. Now I’m even more fuckin’ stoked to keep on with this title. Bring it.

Get this review and more at:

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mockingbird is trapped on AIM island posing as a scientist,

MODOK is trying to join SHIELD,

and the Secret Avengers are trying to escape with their lives.

All part of a day's work as an Agent of SHIELD.

I don't want to recap this volume because all of my prior disappointments remain. This entire series was just subpar. It was like watching someone use smartphone as a hammer...I guess you can hammer nails like that, but I wouldn't. I'm done reading the series, so I'm relieved. It was like Heroes from season 2 on, I kept waiting for it to get better, but it just couldn't or wouldn't.

2.5 out of 5 stars

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good. A well written spy story in the Marvel Universe, with a few twists and villains you don't see much of. This is also the best work from Butch Guice I've ever seen, improved on more by Matt Wilsons colours.

Secret Avengers was a Marvel NOW book I wasn't initially interested in, but it turned out to be one of the more consistently good titles.

[Lono · Rating 4 out of 5]

In preparation for Ales Kot’s run on Secret Avengers, I thought I should pick up the last volume of Nick Spenser’s run since Ales co-wrote the issues collected. It shows. Kot’s quirky fingerprints are all over this bitch.



This volume seems like something of a lead in for Ales’ 3 volume stint on the team. It puts most of the pieces in place so he can hit the ground running with Secret Avengers Vol 1: Let’s Have a Problem. Really loved MODOK’s introduction in this one. The back and forth between him and Maria Hill was ridiculous throughout. I think Ales does a really good job of riding the line between cornball and serious with this book. That’s tough to pull off for anyone in my opinion. Taskmaster’s also good for a few laughs. Hawkeye, Nick Fury ("Sam Jackson" Fury that is), and Black Widow are all pretty much by the numbers. I think I prefer Nick as an agent as opposed to the SHIELD director. Hawkeye’s true to form and appears to be taken right from his own current, super-popular solo title. Most of the book, as the title implies, focuses on Mockingbird. Not a fan of hers, but the rest of the ensemble cast gets enough face-time while taking on A.I.M. to make up for it.



The art was decent. Never a fan of Butch Guice or Luke Ross. Not my brand. But whatever, it certainly didn’t suck.



This collection (along with Anne and Chris’ reviews of the first book) is pretty much a guarantee that Ales' 3 volume run on the Secret Avengers that follows this is gonna kick some ass. I’d say pick up this book if you’re plannin’ on reading those collections. It doesn’t seem like you need to read Spenser’s 2 previous volumes to get the idea as to what’s going on here (I didn’t) and it’s a good preface to Kot’s take on the team. Now I’m even more fuckin’ stoked to keep on with this title. Bring it.

Get this review and more at:

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really entertaining and well-written spy story in the heart of the Marvel universe. This has been a really good series, much better than I had thought it would be.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Mockingbirds story. She has been sent undercover and has been captured. Meanwhile Modok wants to work for Shield.

A fun story with lots of twists, they definitely put Mockingbird through the ringer. A very good read.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collects Secret Avengers (2012) issues #12-16

This is a great finale to Nick Spencer's run on "Secret Avengers." I actually think this is the best of the three volumes. The story revolved around Mockingbird, but also featured Hawkeye, Black Widow, Nick Fury Jr., Maria Hill, and M.O.D.O.K.

It's another huge battle with A.I.M., and there were so many twists and turns that I'm not 100% sure what happened in every scene. This is one of the better spy books that I've read, full of some fun political intrigue, backstabbing, double agents, and sleeper agents.

From all indications, this book ends in a way that directly sets up the new run on "Secret Avengers," written by Ales Klot (who was also credited as writing this script with Nick Spencer).

THE SMALLEST OF SPOILERS BELOW:

The epilogue to this collection was one of my favorite parts of the book. Without spoiling who was involved, three Marvel heroes (previously unconnected as far as I know, other than the fact that they have all worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. at some point) come together and we find out that they now consider themselves free agents. It is as if they are forming a new group...the Secret Secret Avengers (credit to my friend, Daniel Butcher, for coming up with this name for the new group).

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nick Spencer's Secret Avengers has been excellent throughout, and this final volume brings their adventures on AIM Island to a spectacular close. The wheels within wheels that Spencer has been spinning all come crashing down, with betrayals, double-crosses, and plot twists aplenty packed into the five final issues of the series. It's a shame that the most important plot points will likely be forgotten, such as the final fate of Mockingbird, Winter Soldier, and Daisy Johnson, but it does seem that MODOK's new status quo is continuing into the next incarnation of this series. The art is superb from both Guice and Ross, the pair have tag-teamed very well across this series, and whilst it's a shame to see it go, it does come to a satisfying conclusion.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

To a certain extent, I feel like this comic outstayed its welcome. Spending 16 issues on a single, pretty tight storyline was overkill, and it was obvious by this volume that what there was to say had already been said. There were still nice moments of humor in this volume, and the occasional surprise, but it wasn't enough to make it very memorable.

Despite that, this version of Secret Avengers also managed to have an overly abrupt ending. It just stopped.

Overall, Marvel's constant reinvention of Secret Avengers has gotten tiresome. Of all the writing teams on it, only Remender has had the opportunity to tell a really complete story, and even that was a short run. I'm not sure I'm ready to give it another try when Marvel has failed at the comic so often.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well... I can't speak as a first-hand witness, but it seems like Kot was brought in to tie up some very, very loose, disconnected ends. Thankfully, he succeeded admirably, bringing a long overdue sense of humor to the proceedings, as well as sense of adventure in terms of writing and not feeling like there's a delicate plot that's in danger of being upset.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wreszcie. Secret Avengers spod pióra Spencera osiągają poziom jaki by się chciało od początku serii. Szkoda, że w tym rozdaniu jest to też ostatni tom. Wojna S.H.I.E.L.D. z A.I.M rozkręca się i wkracza w decydującą fazę. Supreme Ruler... a przepraszam, High Council Forson zamierza raz na zawsze pozbyć się wrzodu na tyłku, jakim okazali się zabójcy Tarczy.

To co rzuca się w oczy praktycznie od razu to humor. Jest go naprawdę dużo i co najważniejsze, jest udany. Bawiło mnie tu wszystko, co w założeniu autora miało taki fun dawać, więc za to duży plus. Taskmaster kradnie tutaj większość scen, aczkolwiek w pewnym momencie zakrzyknąłem: "Ej, jak to tak". Musicie wiedzieć, że w szeregach tych dobry jest ukryty, a raczej uśpiony agent, który ułatwiał sprawę złowrogiej organizacji.

Naturalnie łatwo się domyślić kto, co i zacz, ale nie o to tu chodzi. Fury, Barton, Romanoff w pewnym momencie trafią w łapy wroga, ale jak zwykle wszystko jest kontrolowane, Banner i Rhodes będą musieli stawić czoła nie lada problemowi i zostaną w praktyce wykluczeni z dalszych walk. Ubawiła mnie setnie kwestia innego antagonisty, który pojawia się na łamach tego tomu i chce się układać z Marią Hill, tak aby coś ugrać dla siebie. Coś niebywałego. To też dobry wątek komediowy, któremu warto się przyjrzeć. A gdzieś tam na uboczu działa sobie jeszcze dawna szefowa Tarczy, panna Daisy, który zaczyna do czegoś formować własną ekipę.

Jest tu dużo udanych mrugnięć do czytelnika, kreska wygląda świetnie. Jest tutaj mroczno, miejscami duszno i na pewno zaskoczyły mnie rozwiązania wątków pewnych postaci. W ogóle miałem niezły ubaw, a przecież o to chodzi. Druga seria Secret Avengers dobiega końca. Początek miała nad wyraz opieszały, ale rozkręciła się należycie. Dlatego też postanowiłem uhonorować ostatni tom mocną "czwóreczką". Naprawdę warto.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like in a good spy movie, everyone's cover is blown, everybody betrays everybody else and there's a score of twists that keep the reader entertained, like the mind manipulation bit.

AIM approches SHIELD with an offer of peace presented by their leader MODOK (so many acronyms). They don't like Andrew Forson and would rather work for SHIELD in exchange for immunity.

Meanwhile, Mockingbird is found out. She is the one whose memories were scrambled the most. Forston himself planted the mind wipe technology before she worked for SHIELD. It effectively created a new personality in her, one that was loyal to Forston. Now he has her remember the deeds she carried out while in the Cult of Entropy, but it's a slow process with her original personality as Barbara trying to gain control.

The good guys try to rescue Barbara, but she gets separated from them while fighting the bad guys. She kills Forston and goes into hiding. The rest of the team quits and Maria wipes their memories.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole third volume of this series had a punny title for the arc that pretty much made sure we understood that Mockingbird was going to survive this whole thing. And that was sort of important since she (and a few other characters) appear to "die" in this comic. But yeah, we know superheroes are a lot hardier than that.

With Infinity out of the way, we're properly focused on the core story, but it still didn't feel all that satisfying. AIM is being AIM, but other parts of AIM still want to be AIM and Maria Hill is back in charge of SHIELD. The missions continue but the stakes don't feel all that real and I'm not sure if we got a satisfactory end to why Black Widow and Hawkeye stayed onboard this long.

Very weird run. Not the best use of the Secret Avengers concept despite the relatively strong start.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand, this was a lot more fun than the previous volumes. On the other hand, it was complete nonsense. There's double-crosses and double-double-crosses. Characters get shot and killed but don't actually die. Everybody's manipulating everybody. And MODOK wants ice cream.

The art felt better, even though these are the same artists. The tired old MODOK looks amazing. Taskmaster gets some great facial expressions even though he's wearing a mask. Really, I think the writing was better. There's some humor. There are some really well-staged scenes. It was a fun read. But it ends with a feeling of "what just happened?"

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nick Spencer's run ends here and he ties most things up and it's better than last volume but it's still jumbled. Mockingbird, if you couldn't tell by the title, is the focus for the most part and she was wonderful. Bobbie has been through so much it continues here. She deserves better. We do get a better explanation of the memory wipes but the timeline and reasons are still sketchy at best. Also, there is a death (kind of) that seems pointless especially considering the ending. The artwork by Butch Guice continues to be delightful. Overall, really good idea but there was too much left up in the air and silly decisions.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at my local BAM over the weekend because
A- The recent 8 issue Mockingbird run is my favorite comic series
B- Even though this was Volume 3 (and I’ve never read volumes 1 or 2) was on clearance for TWO CENTS.

So, did I really know what was going on plot-wise? Not exactly, although I was able to get the gist. It interested me enough that I’ll track down the first two volumes and read those.

Moral of the story? Mockingbird is still awesome, and always buy the book when it’s only two cents.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

[review for volumes 1-3]
The art is the best thing about this series. Otherwise, there are some good ideas here but it seems unnecessarily complex. Maybe it's just me. {volume 3] The bit with Mockingbird pushes this to 3 1/2 stars. It's ends without things being tied up, but I didn't feel strongly enough about it to pursue the story further.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird and kind of fun. It moves a little too fast and has too many moving pieces. A tighter focus would have made it shine.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to like this book more, but I am deeply deeply confused about Mockingbird’s backstory (which was the whole reason I picked this up).

I need to go back to volume one and two again.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a while, Secret Avengers was possibly the strongest Avengers title, if not the quirkiest. It was ostensibly a covert team then a SHIELD team with a lot of Steranko/Kirby zaniness.


This book is the connective between the previous runs which included Brubaker, Ellis, Remender and Nick Spencers runs with Ales Kots--where it really went off the rails.

The plot on this arc feels like it came from Spencer, but the foibles are largely Kot's.

[J'aime · Rating 5 out of 5]

This third volume of the series moves at break-neck speed. Plot threads are untangled at the same time new threads are woven and there is non-stop action. Mockingbird is discovered by AIM, but she may not be who anyone thinks she is. MODOK surrenders to Maria Hill in a bid to exchange information for the chance to develop stuff for SHIELD (and his own personal agenda, no doubt). Various teams are sent to AIM installations that turn out to be traps. And Daisy is working with the Winter Soldier?!

I was blown away when I read the Secret Warrior Omnibus because it was so well-written, with a foundation carefully laid through many events over time. This series has that same magic. There is so much going on in Secret Avengers that it is pure joy to read and too good to miss. It’s unpredictable and intricately plotted, with clues laid early on that take time to come to fruition. The characterization is spot on and the action is precise and perfectly executed. Overall, I can hardly wait for more. Highly recommended!

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

In all fairness to this book, it *is* volume 3, and presumably some shit went down in volumes 1 and 2. I really just picked it up because I've been wanting to read Ales Kot's Secret Avengers run since I enjoyed his short stint on the Suicide Squad, and he co-wrote this volume in preparation for his run. And it was on sale at my local store, $3, hard to beat that.

However, I really had no idea what was going on this entire book, especially with Bobbi. The quippy dialogue was fun, especially with M.O.D.O.K. and Taskmaster, and taking the piss out of Hawkeye, but whatever was happening was difficult to understand. I couldn't even tell if A.I.M. Island was a good secret base or a villain's base.

Wouldn't recommend unless you've read the previous volumes and enjoyed them. I'm still interested in picking up Kot's solo run, but I really think I'll only do it if I see it for a good buy.

[Alex Sarll]

Read out of order, thanks to the vagaries of the London library system; but before the library system got so much better with comics, that was the best result you were likely to get for a series you weren't buying yourself, so I can't complain too much. Bridging Spencer and Kot's runs, written by both, it would have made much more sense in the days when a book could just be handed over gently, without the need for a bogus new Issue 1. Kot's mad ideas meld with the more noir tone of Spencer's run, and both are happy with the action side of things, but for me the strongest scenes were those with secondary characters sat on the beach, gazing out into the sunset, wanting to somehow become one with the scene...and unlike when I feel that way, succeeding.

[Sean Kennedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

And so Secret Avengers comes to an unwieldily, over-convoluted end - and then ties things up to almost make you really care about the characters after fifteen issues of there being barely any heart in it at all.

I feel that's missing from a lot of Marvel titles at the moment - and the ones that were successful are coming to premature ends, such as Hawkeye, Young Avengers and the first run of Captain Marvel. I'm looking forward to Black Widow, Rocket Raccoon and Ms. Marvel but overall Marvel seems to be floundering somewhat.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked all 3 volumes and Secret War. But this volume wasn't nearly as good. It was too subtle, too confusing. It just wasn't absolutely clear who was actually controlling the mission. Or how many missions there were. And with Mockingbird supposed to show up on Agents of SHIELD, I wonder if we are going to see some of Secret War as well.

[Anchorpete · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not sure why the average rating of this book is a 3.6. I think this book is a real gem. I am not really sure what the hell happened with Mockingbird, Task Master or Mentallo, but besides that ambiguous ending, which led to a lot of confusion, I think the book was excellent. All of the Modok stuff was great.

[Silas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume is not terribly clear due to its sloppy art style and convoluted plot. It had decent action scenes, but the characters felt a bit off throughout, and I guess they were trying to set up something with Mockingbird then had the series end abruptly. Overall, this was an okay volume, but not exceptional in any way.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork is good, but has a slightly 'off' taste to it, The storyline is a bit hard to accept (Mockingbird deep undercover and apparently hypnotized . The rogue A.I.M. agent who comes to Maria(S.H.I.E.L.D

[Izabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extra star for Mockingbird calling out some mansplaining!

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything featuring Maria Hill and M.O.D.O.K. is golden ("M.O.D.O.K. enjoys ice cream."), but outside of that, the book is a bit of a muddled slog. The art is uniformly nice, though.