Drastic times call for drastic measures.
The fact that we're getting a new chapter of Secret Empire one week after the last one certainly helps to offset this series' chronic pacing problems. More importantly, Secret Empire #7 directly addresses those problems as it explores the dramatic fallout of Hydra's attack. While hardly perfect, this issue features some of the most emotionally affecting moments of the series so far.
With Cap having attacked Hawkeye's hidden desert base and further damned himself in the eyes of the Avengers, Black Widow finally takes it upon herself to assassinate the man who was once among her closest allies. This only heightens the overarching conflict between Widow's pragmatic approach to saving the world and the idealism of her younger comrades. This issue also finally delves into the lingering mystery from Civil War II - is Miles Morales fated to kill Steve Rogers? Can he prevent that terrible future? Does he even want to at this point?
All of this highlights one of the the overarching conflicts of Secret Empire - that clash between the mistakes and pragmatic solutions of the old generation of heroes and the idealism of the younger generation. Nick Spencer continues to maintain a fine balance between bleak desperation and hopefulness in his writing. And again, this issue represents the biggest emotional highs of the series so far, with several characters making critical decisions and suffering the immediate consequences of their actions.
The addition of the Punisher to the mix doesn't hurt, either. Spencer finally follows up on that reveal from several issues ago as he puts Frank Castle in direct conflict with Natasha Romanov. Their violent battle is a lot of fun to see unfold, but Spencer also succeeds in fleshing out Frank's role in this war and justifying his decision to side with Hydra. It's actually a little funny to note how often the Punisher unexpectedly becomes a standout player in Marvel's annual crossover events (Civil War, Original Sin and now Secret Empire).
Andrea Sorrentino returns for this issue, and his striking page design is a major reason why the Punisher/Widow fight works as well as it does. The collage effect is handled very nicely, and there's a brutal energy to those pages that complements the script well. Unfortunately, not all of Sorrentino's pages fare as well. The opening scene in particular lacks Sorrentino's normally strong sense of composition and design, playing out as a series of repetitive, talking head-centric panels. The transitions between Sorrentino and Joshua Cassara's art also tend to be fairly jarring, as their styles don't mesh particularly well.
As usual, Rod Reis' work on the Vanishing Point scenes exists in stark contrast to the rest of the book, but that's by design. The problem with these scenes is still that they seem to keep hitting the same beats without moving forward or making it clear how literal this subplot actually is.
The Verdict
Secret Empire is improving as it moves closer to the big climax. This issue finds most of its success in exploring the divide between Marvel's older, pragmatic heroes and the younger, more idealistic generation. The heavy focus on the Punisher doesn't hurt. But inconsistent art quality remains one of the main, recurring problems with this mini-series, and that problem doesn't seem to be lessening with time.
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