When a friend becomes an enemy – review of the comic book “Secret Empire”

Thanks to the Kobik Cosmic Cube, Steve Rogers sided with Hydra and now intends to take power in the USA. Will a group of superheroes manage to stop their current friend?

The time will come!

The Secret Empire is a continuation of the Marvel event of the same name. After the events of Avengers. Deadlock – Attack on Pleasant Hill and Captain America. Steve Rogersthe recipient receives the best in the history. The aforementioned Captain America takes over SHIELD and implements his plan – to build an empire for Hydra. He manages to eliminate such heroes as Captain Marvel, Guardians of the Galaxy and Defenders from the game. Thanks to the tricks and help of Dr. Faustus, among others, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Punisher or Odinson. He also manages to strike a non-aggression pact with Wakanda, Atlantis, and the X-Men group, and imprison most of the Inhumans. So there are a handful of heroes left, led by Iron-Man and Black Widow, who can try to counter him. However, time is working against them. If Steve finds all the parts of the Kobik Space Cube, the world will change forever!

Intrigues and fights

The Secret Empire , published in Poland by Egmont, consists of the issues of Secret Empire # 0- # 10 . The volume was also supplemented with Captain America # 25 and Secret Empire Omega. Nick Spencer is responsible for the script of all titles. As the publisher informs us, before the creator became involved in the world of comics, he was involved in politics. And it is clearly visible. The comic book is not only an adventure in a superhero style, where good fights evil, but also a lot of intrigue, plots and making deals. Steve Rogers is shown here as an exceptionally cunning strategist. First, he manages to get rid of most of the opponents, and then he cleverly manipulates the rest. Sometimes it acts with a request, other times with threats and blackmail. Either form works, and he soon seizes power over the United States. Of course, he has the entire Hydra army and a few spies at his disposal. However, most people start to listen to him not because of violence, but mainly because of propaganda spread by the media and in schools. People are more and more willing to shout “Hail Hydra!” and they unscrupulously attack those who do not want to submit to the Captain. Admittedly, it looks very real, especially since we can see exactly the same situation in many countries in the real world. However, leaving politics aside, one should also pay attention to an interesting adventure. There is a split among the few heroes who choose to oppose tyranny. Black Widow gathers her group and wants to solve the problem by force. In turn, Iron-Man and his henchmen set off into the world to find the rest of the Kobik Cube. Steve Rogers, meanwhile, watches everything from the sidelines and waits to make his move. Everything is interwoven, of course, with fights and unexpected twists. So as you can see, the scenario who do not want to obey the Captain. Admittedly, it looks very real, especially since we can see exactly the same situation in many countries in the real world. However, leaving politics aside, one should also pay attention to an interesting adventure. There is a split among the few heroes who choose to oppose tyranny. Black Widow gathers her group and wants to solve the problem by force. In turn, Iron-Man and his henchmen set off into the world to find the rest of the Kobik Cube. Meanwhile, Steve Rogers watches from the sidelines and waits to make his move. Everything is intertwined, of course, with fights and unexpected twists. So as you can see, the scenario who do not want to obey the Captain. Admittedly, it looks very real, especially since we can see exactly the same situation in many countries in the real world. However, leaving politics aside, one should also pay attention to an interesting adventure. There is a split among the few heroes who choose to oppose tyranny. Black Widow gathers her group and wants to solve the problem by force. In turn, Iron-Man and his henchmen set off into the world to find the rest of the Kobik Cube. Meanwhile, Steve Rogers watches from the sidelines and waits to make his move. Everything is interwoven, of course, with fights and unexpected twists. So as you can see, the scenario especially since we can see exactly the same situation in many countries in the real world. However, leaving politics aside, one should also pay attention to an interesting adventure. There is a split among the few heroes who choose to oppose tyranny. Black Widow gathers her group and wants to solve the problem by force. In turn, Iron-Man and his henchmen set off into the world to find the rest of the Kobik Cube. Meanwhile, Steve Rogers watches everything from the sidelines and waits to make his move. Everything is interwoven, of course, with fights and unexpected twists. So as you can see, the scenario especially since we can see exactly the same situation in many countries in the real world. However, leaving politics aside, one should also pay attention to an interesting adventure. There is a split among the few heroes who choose to oppose tyranny. Black Widow gathers her group and wants to solve the problem by force. In turn, Iron-Man and his henchmen set off into the world to find the rest of the Kobik Cube. Steve Rogers, meanwhile, watches everything from the sidelines and waits to make his move. Everything is interwoven, of course, with fights and unexpected twists. So as you can see, the scenario Black Widow gathers her group and wants to solve the problem by force. In turn, Iron-Man and his henchmen set off into the world to find the rest of the Kobik Cube. Steve Rogers, meanwhile, watches everything from the sidelines and waits to make his move. Everything is interwoven, of course, with fights and unexpected twists. So as you can see, the scenario Black Widow gathers her group and wants to solve the problem by force. In turn, Iron-Man and his henchmen set off into the world to find the rest of the Kobik Cube. Meanwhile, Steve Rogers watches from the sidelines and waits to make his move. Everything is interwoven, of course, with fights and unexpected twists. So as you can see, the scenarioThe Secret Empire is well thought out and addictive. It’s just a pity that the ending itself is a bit predictable. After numerous plot twists, it looks quite pale and does not match the created story. Fortunately, the epilogue compensates for this shortcoming and announces further unusual events in the Marvel universe.

The dash is not the same as the dash

As already mentioned, the Secret Empire was made up of several different notebooks. Therefore, we are dealing here with drawings by several artists. Andrea Sorrentino put the most work into the creation of the comic. In addition, we can watch here shots prepared by Daniel Acuñe, Steve McNiven, Leinil Francis Yu and Jesús Saiz. In addition, Rod Reis was responsible for the prologues. For this reason, the reader can compare several different styles. Let me start with what I liked at least. As always, these are drawings made by Sorrentino. I have already had contact with this Italian artist when discussing the Old Man Logan series. The computer technology he uses does not appeal to me at all. The characters are too vague here, not to mention the moments when a fight takes place. The frames he creates are chaotic and you can often get lost in what you see. The rest of the artists give us a more typical comic book, where the pictures are placed in standard squares and rectangles. In their works, they also use a lot of colors, being able to emphasize the emotions tormenting the characters or the drama of individual scenes. The whole thing pleases the eye and is understandable for the reader. The works by Reis look the most interesting. This Brazilian draftsman created frames using painting techniques. You can see the use of watercolors here, making each frame suitable for cutting, enlarging and hanging in a frame on the wall. It’s a pity

Opportunity for the MCU?

Already during the Attack on Pleasant Hill, I was considering whether the story involving Kobik could be transferred to the big screen. It would certainly be difficult, but not impossible. Let’s start with the fact that the Secret Empire event is full of champions who haven’t had a chance to appear in the MCU yet. However, the creators would probably cope with this. They would introduce a few heroes, and probably skip the rest, as was the case with Captain America: A War of Heroes , which, compared to the comic book prototype, was heavily reduced. It is also known that in Avengers: EndgameTony Stark was put to death and Steve Rogers heavily aged. However, in this story, Captain America also started as an old man, and he was rejuvenated by Kostka Kobik. Iron-Man, on the other hand, is only a hologram. So it would only be enough to persuade the actors to re-impersonate superheroes. The bigger problem would be with the Black Widow who plays a big role in the story. So the writers would have to figure out a way to resurrect Natasha. The Secret Empire has a lot of potential and I think it could be transferred to theaters. It would be even much easier than filming the Secret Wars event , which has already been mentioned several times in the media.

Up and down

Secret Empireis a good comic, addictive, but also has a few drawbacks. The script is full of intrigues and twists. The heroes have to really struggle to achieve their goal. There is also no lack of realism and references to the modern world. Unfortunately, the endgame itself fails because of its predictability. Fortunately, the author rehabilitates himself in the epilogue, leaving the “gate open” and forcing the viewer to wonder what will happen next. The graphic layer is also difficult to unambiguously assess here. Beautiful images are intertwined with correct frames and not very delightful drawings. Superheroes portrayed by different artists look different every now and then. The action is also carried out in a different way. At times, chaos sets in, making us guess what is actually happening at the moment. Fortunately, there are only a few such situations, and ultimately more good shots here. While not everything is perfect, every Marvel fan should reach forSecret Empire . It is a title and an event not to be missed. And who knows, maybe it will be screened one day?