Secret Warriors wants to be a good book. Marvel wants it to be one of those books which, like the Bendis-penned Avengers titles, really ‘matters’ in the shared universe. Jonathan Hickman appears to want it to be a Nick Fury book.

And you know what?

If it was a pure Nick Fury book, I’d be more into it. Even with the ‘everything you know is wrong’ approach of the book – S.H.I.E.L.D. has always been an arm of Hydra! The Contessa is part of the group that controls Hydra! Fury has a network of ‘caterpillars’ waiting to be activated! Fury, Contessa, Strucker and a bunch of others are all part of the Zodiac! – it could be a good book, if that was what it was sold as.

But no, it was sold as a book about Fury’s team of ‘caterpillars’ and now, nine months in, we still don’t have much of an idea who these characters are and why they’re willing to throw their lives away following Fury. The exception to this are Daisy, who seems to fill the role previously held by Maria Hill – ie, be shouted at, have short hair and serve as exposition – and Phobos, who provides a convenient tie to Osborn’s Dark Avengers team through his father.

The other guys? I really have no idea – I can’t even remember their names, truth be told.

The fact is, no matter how much back matter and diagrams Hickman throws in the back, this is not a particularly good book. Sure it’s ‘integral’ to the Marvel Universe but it’s dull and more than a little smug. Back matter and what I’m sure is a well-plotted arc doesn’t make up for the fact that the comic itself does a poor job of (a) selling its characters and (b) explaining the plot in the pages of the comic itself.

The murky coloring of the art doesn’t help either.

I had high hopes for the book but frankly, it’s a stinker.

Nice covers, though.