Synopsis:
Hawkeye awakes to find himself in Budapest, with soldiers pointing guns at him...and three bullets in his chest. He is taken to a man (Andras Bertesy) with strange symbols on his forehead, who begins torturing him for information (despite Hawkeye's repeated insistence that he has no idea where he is), using various methods such as truth serum and telepathy, all of which seemingly prove Hawkeye is telling the truth. The villain is about to leave Hawkeye to bleed to death when Black Widow arrives, guns ablazing, to rescue him.
The two heroes are then introduced to Nick Fury Jr by Acting Director Maria Hill aboard the Helicarrier, who also informs them that if they are captured by the enemy, or go AWOL or fail their mission, then they will activate the memory implants. Fury Jr briefs them on the mission, they are to stop Hungarian arms dealer, Andras Bertesy, from selling Al Qaeda cells Darkforce Dimension Energies that he's been cultivating, which includes teleportation among its many abilities.
We flash forward to Fury & Hawkeye pursuing an underling of Bertesy's in Budapest. Hill informs them that the transaction is final, meaning the man their after is their last shot. After Hawkeye stops the man with an arrow, Fury intimidates him into handing over the coordinates for the cell's target. He then shoots the man in the head, to which Hawkeye protests to, but Fury assures him that he didn't kill him as the bullets have built-in healing factor tech. Another man suddenly shoots Hawkeye in the chest. Clint urges Fury to go and carry on the mission, while Fury assures him that Black Widow will get back to him.Back in the present, Widow unties Hawkeye. He asks her if "their guy" got through, to which she responds that he did, but not alone. In the White House. An Al Qaeda terrorist teleports into the Presidents office, only to be surprised by Fury, who tells him his brothers sold him out before he guns the man down.
Four hours later, on board the Helicarrier, while observing Hawkeye in the medical bay, Fury & Hill talk about the mission's success. The story flashes back to the point where Hawkeye was shot. It turns out it was Fury who shot him, as part of the objective. The memory implants altered Hawkeye's memories as well as erasing them...
Thoughts:
Nick Spencer has a great handle on the characters involved with this series, Phil Coulson in particular looks and sounds a lot more like his movie counterpart (which is one of the few problems I had with Battle Scars). The memory implants are an interesting idea to explore, whilst at the same time being very disturbing and I'm intrigued to see what else Spencer can do with this concept. Luke Ross's artwork is a great fit for the shadowy, gritty places this comic takes us to.It's nice to see S.H.I.E.L.D becoming more prominent in the Marvel U again, this issue also clears up the confusion as to who the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D actually is. Putting all this aside however, the tone of the issue is very monotonous. There's also something lacking in the group dynamic, though that's forgivable as there are other members joining as soon as next issue. While this is a rocky start to Secret Avengers, this is only the start and the series will hopefully improve with future issues. Given that the next one features Taskmaster, I'm seeing that as very likely...
