Secret Warriors, Vol. 3: Wake the Beast

Secret Warriors (2008) (Collected Editions)

by Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Stefano Caselli (Illustrator), Gianluca Gugliotta (Illustrator)

Nick Fury quietly moves his forces into place as the war between the armies of Leviathan and the armies of Hydra kicks into gear. Also, the long-awaited origin of the mysterious Hive, and we finally find out who the father of Stonewall is.

Collecting: Secret Warriors 11-16

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

144 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 2010

About the author

Jonathan Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for creating the Image Comics series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as working on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, FF, and S.H.I.E.L.D. titles. In 2012, Hickman ended his run on the Fantastic Four titles to write The Avengers and The New Avengers, as part the "Marvel NOW!" relaunch. In 2013, Hickman wrote a six-part miniseries, Infinity, plus Avengers tie-ins for Marvel Comics. In 2015, he wrote the crossover event Secret Wars. - Wikipedia

Reviews

[Terence]

The stage is being set for all out war between Hydra, Leviathan, and S.H.I.E.L.D..

After volume 2 I wasn't sure if I'd read Volume 3 Wake The Beast. I read a bunch of reviews to determine if it would be worth my time and I was convinced enough to give it a shot. The tense preparation for battle is definitely visible in this volume, but Daisy and her secret warriors are mostly hanging out in preparation.


This volume gave a big glimpse of Gorgon and that dude is quite the mixture of awesome and terrifying.



I'm still waiting to see why people speak so highly of Secret Warriors, but Wake The Beast is definitely an improvement from the last volume.

[Subham]

The Secret warriors are going about their day and carrying missions for Fury and there are secrets which they dont wont know for a while and also Druid is of the team. The bulk of this volume focuses on the origins of Leviathan and their leaders Orion and Magadon and then we look at the war between Levathan and Hydra and a new Hydra Council forms after a certain betrayal, they go to war and Fury knows its time to strike. But there maybe a mole inside his team after all and its gonna come to haunt Daisy.

This was such a great volume and has so much things in it and focuses on Daisy and shows her struggles as a leader and like fleshes out other counter-intelligence organizations and Fury is written the best here, he is the man whose secrets has secrets and you get such James Bond vibe from him the way he is and Hickman knows how to create dramatic moments and also great fleshing out of origins of Gorgon, Contessa and Viper. The art is fantastic and the next volume is gonna be even better.

[James]

This book is weird. Not in a way that a bunch of wild crazy stuff went down but in the sense of directly after reading it, I’m having a hard time saying what went down. Crazy right? Anyway, the Leviathan group and Hydra meet up and it goes left into a big battle. The leaders escape but not without casualties from both sides. Nick Fury figures now is the time to strike and gets all his teams ready. I’m still not even sure why Fury is going after them in the first place or why half of anything in this book is happening. However, there was a very interesting story beat at the last page that harks back to something that happened in the previous volume. Should definitely be some serious story arcs spinning from that.

[RG]

3.5* Solid but ia getting a little weird.

[Brandon Daniels]

When many-maybe most-folx talk about Jonathan Hickman’s comic work, they focus on the big concepts, big moments, and, of course, the charts. But, less often do people talk about his knack for snappy dialogue and pacing. I think he’s actually maybe one of the best writers of dialogue in comics, but it is more-often-than-not a specific kind of dialogue, most easily illustrated by his many “great men gathered around a table” conversations(and it is almost always men.)

He’s clearly a student of Bendis’s, who is more well known for his dialogue, and Bendis, of course, created this series. But I actually think Hickman’s pacing is often better. He’s far less verbose, and his words often vary more weight. Bendis is a more quippy, and he’s aiming for something closer to naturalism, whereas Hickman’s work feels more cinematic.

This arc may be the most emblematic of Hickman’s work to make this point. It’s very much a people-talking-in-rooms story, and I certainly see why some may be turned off of that, specifically in a superhero comic. It’s more of a tv thing, best suited to actors who can add nuance and charisma to a dialogue-focused story. But, I think Stephano Casselli does some of the best “acting” in comics, which really makes this book such a successful and incredible collaboration. I really hope we can get a creator owned series from these two at some point.

My main criticism is that the last issue is a fill in issue, and, while it’s fine, it really shows why Casselli is needed to make this work as well as it does. And I’ll also add that the coloring here by Sunny Gho is a big step down from the colors by Daniel Rodini in the first trade. It’s muted and sucks the life out of what is already not the most dynamic of stories. It seems intentional; it is, after all, a story that primarily takes places in dark rooms on military bases, but Rodini manages to imbue scenes with more dread, and he was able to add even more life to Casseli’s very lifelike pencils.

This series is less of a superhero comic than it is a spy thriller with some superhero elements. And the dialogue and acting is some of the best I’ve read in a comic series.

[Aaron]

I can tell Secret Warriors is shaping up to be a series I absolutely love. In this 3rd volume, it really feels like Hickman fully takes the reigns, living in the characters and conspiracies he's created and getting out from under Bendis's shadow. It's starting to feel more like each character is a real person, rather than just an empty vessel with a superpower or a weird Hydra mask.

Also, I love Hickman's writing of Nick Fury. I think it may be the best I've ever seen. Often, Fury is depicted as a larger-than-life, unstoppable force of espionage and trickery. He's always 30 steps ahead of everyone to a degree that makes him unbeatable. Not so in Secret Warriors. In this, he's a human being who can make mistakes. He's an extremely smart, vigilant, and cunning human being, but he's still a human being. Being able to see his flaws and shortcomings really brings him to life, and I can't wait to see where else Hickman takes him.

Hickman's shifting team dynamics are another impressive aspect of this series. The groundedness of the characters and mystery allows for a lot of questioning of their plans and missions, rather than having the characters always trust and love each other and just blindly jump into battle. Everyone measures all of their options and questions their comrades (on all sides, good and bad) in a way that I find very realistic for a book about spies, even if these spies can, say, cause earthquakes with their hands.

[ScottIsANerd (GrilledCheeseSamurai)]

This volume is the biggest wind-up of a massive uppercut to the face EVER!

You can just feel it coming. Shit is gonna rain!

Also, Nick Fury is a son of bitch! We already know this...but damn.

[Arno Callens]

Much like Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., that looked at this book a lot during its first three seasons, Secret Warriors is at its best when it's not overly bothered with the rest of the Marvel Universe. God Of Fear, God Of War was a misstep in this regard, but Wake The Beast gets things back on track. Both heroes and villains, both on S.H.I.E.L.D and Hydra's side, get fleshed out as the two draw closer to war. In the middle of it all Leviathan rises, to add another mystery of intrigue and fear to the proceedings. Wake The Beast functions mostly as set-up for what has the potential to be a bananas finale, but it gets us invested and interested in the characters, not in sales or Marvel Comics' stock.

[Mike]

Excellent tale, great intrigue, double-dealing, politics of unsaid or unanswered questions, and a fine unfolding of mysteries within mysteries.

I'll admit, I was skeptical that Hickman would be able to take over from Bendis and deliver a tale as enjoyable and action-packed as we'd been treated to.

Turns out I must've been living under a rock (or perhaps Hickman's reputation has been well-hidden) - I'm enjoying the hell out of this storyline (comparably so to Brubaker's work on Captain America), and I truly hope thus is plotted out for a few more years. In really looking forward to Hickman's forthcoming ideas and execution, and I hope the art stays at this standard as well.

[Mitchell Friedman]

Lots of plot elements were explained in this one. Well explained is a strong word. Lot's of plot element details were added. And in the end I found out that I really didn't care. Not about the good guys. Not about the bad guys. Not about any of the teams. Or technology. Just a whole bunch of whatever. Art and text were fine but didn't really help.

[Pturingan]

The series is getting better and better.

[Daniel Butcher]

Look Matt...Hickman!

[Scott]

Kinda just runs in place, and seems to set up things that aren't going to pay off in the short term.

[Travis Pipes]

my favorite volume yet. love the focus on characters. gonna miss Caselli’s art though.

[Comics Instrucciones de uso]

Después de un gran primer volumen y un no tan gran segundo volumen, uno esperaba que en este tercero (tengo entendido que en español Panini sólo publicó los dos primeros volúmenes) Hickman rebotara hacia arriba para recuperar el ritmo, pero sólo lo consigue a medias. Además, en muchos momentos el libro reúne a tantos personajes que seguir la lectura requiere esfuerzo (quizás esto fue lo que llevó a Hikman, más adelante, en libros como "Secret Wars" o "X-Men", a iniciar cada historia con una didáctica lista de los personajes involucrados). Lo que sí está claro es que ahora, a la lucha de Fury contra SHIELD e Hydra se ha unido un tercer grupo: Leviatán, que a su vez también está en guerra contra Hydra. Ahora bien, ¿por qué luchan? Para eso hay que retrotraerse al primer volumen (ese es otro defecto de este libro: no se va recordando -como es común en los comics de superhéroes- de qué va la historia, pensando en los lectores nuevos): Fury, quien fue expulsado de SHIELD, descubrió que Hydra ha estado manejando todo desde décadas atrás al punto de que él mismo, sin saberlo, había estado sirviendo a Hydra. De modo que quiere recuperar SHIELD y derrotar a Hydra (para eso fue que formó su grupo de "Secret Warriors"). ¿Y qué quiere Hydra? Bueno, Hydra, como cualquier grupo de villanos clásico, sólo quiere destrucción y muerte. ¿Y qué quiere Leviatán? Derrotar a Hydra y poder resucitar a Orión. Entre todo este enredo, vemos los conflictos internos de los Secret Warriors, que es lo mejor del libro. Daisy quiere liderarlos, pero Fury -como siempre-, es un ogro y le impone condiciones que no la satisfacen. Entre medio, ella inicia un romance con J.T., y ocurre una serie de traiciones entre Fury e Hydra, entre Hydra y Leviatán, y entre los propios miembros de los Secret Warriors, que lo mejor llega al final, cuando el libro deja la bandeja servida para el cuarto volumen. En fin. El libro es tan convulso que incluso hace difícil explicarlo. Pero aún así se disfruta, por el tono de thriller de la historia, y porque Hickman es Hickman.

[Matt Graupman]

Nowadays, my taste in comics skews a lot more towards the indie side than the superhero side. Still, I like to check out so-called "mainstream" Marvel and DC stuff on occasion, to see what's going on, particularly when I can pick up a trade for cheap (in this case, I got the book for, like, $2 at my local library's used book store). Sometimes I'm wowed by what I read, sometimes not. "Secret Warriors, Vol. 3: Wake The Beast" was a case of the latter.

Obviously, jumping into a storyline with the third volume as your starting point isn't a great idea. That said, even if I had read the first two Secret Warriors trades, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to follow the plot much better. The general gist is that Nick Fury is trying to assemble teams of soldiers to stop two warring factions of bad guys, Hydra and... some other group (I read this thing only about 3 hours ago and I've already forgotten the other group's name), from acquiring a mysterious Box that'll do something bad, presumably. I dunno, it's all pretty standard rock 'em, sock 'em-type superhero stuff, with a little military jargon mixed in. On the plus side, goddammit the art in this sucker is nice. It's got a chunky, vibrant style that evokes Joe Madureira mixed with Eric Canete; it's really, really, REALLY great.

In general, I think superhero comics don't really have much to offer me. That's fine. I know a lot of people will dig this series, I'm just not one of them. I'll still probably check out some random mainstream stuff here and there but, as for Secret Warriors, the only lasting impression was the art and I'll definitely try to track down more of the artists' work.

P.S.- I just remembered: the other group of bad guys was called Leviathan. I think. I'm pretty sure.

[Rocky Sunico]

This book was a little middle of the road and focused a bit more on the maneuvering between Hydra and Leviathan versus our SHIELD heroes. It was helpful to learn a bit more about these rival organizations but again our core team didn't get a whole lot of development beyond someone getting kicked off the team by Nick Fury and Daisy finally getting into a relationship under unusual circumstances.

Still trying to understand what exactly to make Viper the new Madam Hydra, especially in the form she now manifests in. But still interested to see where this goes since Fury is finally making a move.

[Seth Daub]

a good dive into the backstories of the various villains headlining this book. i enjoyed this a ton.

i find the gorgon and the kraken to be very very interesting. i loved getting some insight into their backgrounds and their lives before being what they are now.

also, nick shakes up the team of the secret warriors in a surprising way. nick fury takes no shit from anyone and i love him for that. he’s about his mission, but he still cared about his team a lot.

9/10

[Brandon]

The big war between Nick Fury, Leviathan, and Hydra is starting, and this whole volume is preparation. Lots of stuff happens, lots of twists, but these are all supporting characters rooted in mystery and conspiracy and I'm generally not familiar enough with their histories to be surprised at any big status quo changes.

[Benji Glaab]

4.5 Stars

The writing is getting better, and I'm really starting to love the cast. The cliffhanger drops are great there is serious impact along the way.

Hickman definitely writes a damn good Nick Fury. Cold as shit and does the dirt to lead from the front.

There is some questionable art in the last issue, but even that couldn't ruin a good story.

[Judith Groen]

This was sort of confusing to read. I don't know most of the badguys and their origin and their beefs with eachother. I liked the Nick Fury team gray, black and white stuff but the Hydra / Leviathan stuff was not all clear to me. I got the general idea though.

[Benja Calderon]

Leviathan hace sus movimientos, HYDRA se ve comprometida
Los Secret Warriors llegan a conocer mejor el panorama general y uno de sus miembros es dado de baja por Fury. Relaciones comienzan a formarse y tambien llegamos a ver las diferentes traiciones que existen entre cada grupo

[Trevor]

A third enemy faction enters the mix, Leviathan. Fortunately, it hates Hydra as much as it hades Fury and the two mostly attack each other. Meanwhile, there's a traitor within Fury's ranks, and Fury is still an asshole.

[Dee Robb]

Storyline is getting a bit disjointed and splotchy, but I am still enjoying it.

[Matt]

Collects Secret Warriors issues #11-16

It took three volumes, but I'm finally starting to care about the characters and the story. There was some good stuff here.

Final rating = 3.5 stars

[Bekka]

TW for violence, guns, death, mentions of Nazis.

[Patrik Hamberg]

The plot thickens … ish. Ok, but … yeah. I’ll continue.

[Gary Lee]

The Great Marvel Readthrough, pt 398

[Joe Young]

Jonathan Hickman - writer
Alessandro Vitti with Gianluca Gugliotta - artists

5/5 stars

H.Y.D.R.A. is a big, secret terrorist organization that is run by a group of super-villains. There's Gorgon, a superhumanly tough ninja whose gaze can turn a person to stone, Baron Strucker, an old, evil nazi super-scientist with a glowing death-hand, Kraken, a mysterious hulk in strange armor whose super-power is "helping people become what they are supposed to be", Hive, a crazy octopus-alien hybrid thing(s?), Madame Hydra, a lady, and Viper, a lady with green hair. So there's this OTHER big, secret terrorist organization called L.E.V.I.A.T.H.O.N. that has been planning some kind of war against H.Y.D.R.A. for ages, and their first move is to attack Gorgon and kidnap Viper. So the rest of the H.Y.D.R.A. leaders are freaking out because they're used to being the ones making sinister attacks on unsuspecting foes, and they begin planning a counterattack. There's also this secret group of renegade ex-soldiers who are trying to take down both H.Y.D.R.A. and L.E.V.I.A.T.H.O.N. being led by Nick Fury. Everyone spies on everyone else, there are tons of awesome fights, hot babes and hunky dudes make out, there are twists and turns that make you yelp with delight and the ending leaves you desperately wanting to read the next installment. This is a great comic book, folks. Highly recommended.

Jonathan Hickman is a terrific writer of comic books. The art in this collection is top notch as well, kudos to Mr. Vitti and Mr. Gugliotta.

[Andy]

Volume 3 of the series is an excellent example of an "Act II". By this, I mean that it is similar to Empire Strikes Back in the Star Wars series. This is where the drama of tensions must be built to where they are almost exploding. Hickman does a good job of doing this. While "Empire" was my favorite movie of the original Star Wars trilogy, Hickman brings so much good stuff to the surface without conclusions. Too many loose threads. else. While surprises abounded, the lack of conclusions in this volume might disappoint some readers. As a work in a series, This was something that had to be done so that the story could continue to move forward. THe brilliant art Allessandro Vitti and Gianluca Gugliotta continue to amaze and stupify the reader. With its faults however, the story still intrests the reader to find out what is going to happen.