A can of matter the size of a football, mined from a broken universe, would be enough to turn the Earth into a sun. There are people, hidden from the view of the world, who would do that either to hold the planet to ransom -- or just to die knowing they took everyone else with them. And right now there are just three people -- Steve Rogers, The Black Widow and Shang-Chi -- between us and total annihilation, trapped on a space station in the No-Zone...
Warren Ellis can always be counted on for a strange bit of MacGuffin magic, but this issue pushes it up to eleven, giving us a very close-up view of a very small three-man operation, giving the Secret Avengers something that the first few issues seemed to lack: a clear purpose and strategy. Under Brubaker (and don't get me wrong, the book was good) there was no real differentiation between this team and the other Avengers branches, but Warren sets these issues aside with a wonderful opening sentence: "There are missions that no one will ever find out about. Unless they lose..." Secret Avengers #18 is an uncomplicated but attractive issue, hitting all cylinders in both writing and art, featuring a character in the midst of a well-deserved but somewhat unexpected renaissance, earning 5 out of 5 stars overall. It's just that fine a comic book, folks... Read Full Review
Warren Ellis and David Aja are two of my favourite creators, and I can't imagine a better combination to pull of Secret Avengers. There is so much here that allows both gentlemen to work to their strengths: Ellis' technobabble-y dialog and Aja's beautiful kung-fu sequences both shine. Read Full Review
The comic is smart, fast and sharp as can be. Highly recommended, especially if you're a fan of Ellis' work on Planetary. Read Full Review
Bad cover aside, this was a great issue. But, that really shouldn't be too surprising when you combine a Grade A writer and allow him to do done-in-one stories and a Grade A artist. Read Full Review
If you picked up this book, prepare yourself for one hell of a comic book treat. If you skipped over Secret Avengers #18 on your trip to your local comic shop today, remedy that mistake posthaste. Read Full Review
We now have three of the six planned standalone Ellis stories, and I have to say that as a reader they are a welcome change from many of the superhero comics I read. Whenever I read one-shots, I tend to lower my expectations quite a bit thanks to the limitations of 22 pages, but these issues go a long way toward proving that a great standalone comic is entirely doable. I will take as many of these as I can get. Keep 'em coming Marvel. Read Full Review
Writer Warren Ellis even gives us an appearance by Arnim Zola (a perfect villain for this type of story), the return of the Beast (who is given most the of monologue necessary to explain the situation), and a fun cameo by Reed Richards which allows the comic to end with Steve Rogers delivering a joke. Worth a look. Read Full Review
Had somebody like Moon Knight filled the role Shang-Chi occupied here I'd probably have enjoyed this one even more, but alas, that didn't happen. Hopefully next issue is another decent one as Ellis' lame duck run on this title slowly marches onward. Read Full Review
This isn't an issue of Secret Avengers. It's an issue of Warren Ellis' Weird Superhero Ride. Read Full Review
Shang chi is thrown into this issues roster of Avengers (along with Steve and Sharon) allowing artist David Aja to play around and show off his skill. Aja's use of negative space in particular wowed me as it shows his strong grasp on compostion and knack for figures
Without David Aja, this issue fails. The setting is a space station and most of Secret Avengers 18 is full of Kung Fu sequences. Aja makes every gravity-less Kung Fu fight eye candy
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