Can the Avengers keep hope alive?
Secret Empire has lost some of its early momentum in recent installments. Issue #4 in particular served as a weird diversion for the series. There, writer Nick Spencer spotlighted Ultron in an issue that read like a pleasant diversion than a crucial chapter of the main story. But luckily, the series manages to right itself as it reaches the halfway mark. Secret Empire #5 succeeds on a winning combination of strong character work, dramatic plot twists and solid artwork.
The hunt for the Cosmic Cube fragments continues to be the catalyst propelling this conflict along. One of the reasons this issue works as well as it does is that Spencer doesn't treat the quest itself as the end-all, be-all of the story. In one particularly self-aware moment, Spencer even has one of his characters refer to the fragments as a "MacGuffin." The point is more to use the increasingly hopeless and futile nature of that quest to explore the toll this conflict is taking on the Avengers. It's not just the scope of Secret Empire that sets this series apart from many recent Marvel events, but the sense that it actually is having a deep, lasting impact on our heroes. And not for the first time, the series begs the question of whether the eventual fallout, not the conflict itself, is truly the most compelling element of Secret Empire.
There are a number of memorable character moments in this issue, both big and small. Spencer continues to call back to Jonathan Hickman's Avengers and Secret Warriors work in fun ways, with one of the highlights of this issue being a brief but dramatic showdown between Hercules and the Gorgon. The issue opens with a strong scene between a captive Black Widow and Viper, one that highlights the treacherous nature of Hydra's new regime and Natasha's increasingly murky place in the superhero community. Cap himself fares well here, with Spencer taking full advantage of the opportunity to dig in deeper with Steve Rogers and explore both his quiet determination and arrogant overconfidence. But no scene stands out more than the one focused on the Odinson. Finally, Spencer both establishes and justifies the reason why the fallen thunder god would throw his lot in with Hydra, and it makes for a terrific, if depressing, moment for poor Thor.
Issue #5 again features three artists working in tandem. Andrea Sorrentino, Rod Reis and Joshua Cassara succeed individually, if not quite as much as a cohesive unit. Not that Reis really needs to blend in with his fellow artists, given the ethereal nature of the Vanishing Point scenes and how purposefully divorced they are from the rest of the conflict. Cassara stands out more in this issue, bringing a grim, unsettling tone to the early pages and the interrogation sequence. Sorrentino's bold page designs are as eye-popping as ever, with Sorrentino bringing the same epic, surreal flair to Black Panther and Wakanda he did to Namor and Atlantis earlier in the series. One of Sorrentino's great skills is his ability to use brief spurts of vivid color to highlight key moments in the narrative, and that's clearly on display in this series.
The problem, as with previous chapters, is that Sorrentino's style isn't one notable for its subtlety, and that occasionally works against the book. As enjoyable as the Gorgon/Hercules battle is, the small, dense panels don't do much to capture the ferocity of that fight. Nor is it even entirely clear what's happening in those panels right away.
The Verdict
It's good to see Secret Empire building steam again as the series reaches the halfway point. Issue #5 helps push the narrative forward again, even as it devotes most of its attention to showcasing various heroes and villains and the ways in which this conflict is burdening them all. From Thor Odinson to Black Widow to Cap himself, there's plenty of strong character work to go around, and the (mostly) strong visuals help keep the story humming along.
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