It's a preview on multiple levels.

[thanekos]

So now that John Steele's been reintroduced and the Shadow Council's been established as a threat, Brubaker's off Secret Avengers.

Nick Spencer's on for four issues, taking the cast through Fear Itself, and then Warren Ellis's coming in for a very, ah.. spiritually successive six.

Perhaps the latter's why last month's Point One issue wove semi-realistic espionage dynamics together with universe-specific concepts, featured competent protagonists working under a very specific methodology, and was self-contained overall.



The latter was the beginning, the former was the end; one set up the story's conflict, the other provided a sort of resolution to it.

Considering the first's scope, Negative's presence in the second was interesting; if nothing else, it speaks to how relatively successful he is as a new villain, turning up in books entirely unrelated to him (To Serve And Protect's Anole/Rockslide story, One Month 2 Live) in his function as Chinatown mobster.

It's in that capacity Spencer'll be writing him during the Cloak and Dagger mini, so I thought this also a preview of that.

If it's an accurate enough one, then, he'll definitely be letting a bit more of that Martin Li affability bleed through..



(Those are the most casual his Inner Demons've been yet.. the most eyehole-y, too.)

..tempered with a bit of his darker side, of course.



(I take it he didn't spring for the flamethrowers?)

Perhaps given to a little less mercy..



..but definitely to a quick hand.

(What, no shadowy charge-up of the blade?)

Yes, he should definitely be a fun Cloak and Dagger foe, combining some of Spencer's favored traits in the writing of main villains as he does: urbane subtlety, wearing suits, and ruthlessness.

(The would-be Cap was also pretty good, though definitely more misguided idiot. Loved the panel that followed his "YOU'RE A CORRUPT SUPERCOP, CAPTAIN AMERICA!" rant..)

Comments

[feyandstrange]

ooooh thanks for reminder, must start picking up Secret Avengers when Ellis takes the reins.

[drmcninja]

I love Mr. Negative. He is what the Hood should have been, a dangerous, but under the radar gangland leader. He's the kingpin before Fisk got all famous. It makes me sad that such a potentially great character as the Hood was ruined, but then again, we got Li. I think I'll call that a scratch.

[lieut_kettch]

Chase really shouldn't leave his Fistigons lying around.

[long_silence]

He's been in a coma in a hospital for like a year now.

[darkblade]

What are you talking about? They just got backfrom 1908.

Didn't they go to 1907?

[long_silence]

I actually liked some of the post-Whedon stuff. The Secret Invasion tie-in was good for Xavin development, the Molly-Fest Destiny story had teen dancing, Moore's run had a Karolina/Xavin kiss, and I thought people didn't give Immonen's run enough of a chance to find its footing (her writing does generally confuse me a lot on initial reading but her recent Wolverine and Jubilee miniseries was a lot better in that regard).

Re: Didn't they go to 1907?

[darkblade]

The Secret Invaison tie-in and Molly-Fest Destiny were good.

Unless I'm severely mistaken they kissed before Moore's run even back in Vaugn's run and defidently in Whendon's run. My biggest problem with Moore's run wasn't his fault but he had no idea what to do with Klara so she was just kind of there.

My Immonen's run was not only did it not end it didn't end on a cliff hanger that heavily resembled the Cliff hanger of the Teen Titans cartoon.

Re: Didn't they go to 1907?

[long_silence]

They had kissed before. But they had a nice pretty splash page in the Moore run. It was the only thing I cared about in his run.

That's exactly what I'm talking about in the Immonen run, it ended on a cliffhanger because Marvel canceled the book before she even got to finish her first story. It never even had a chance.

[tsunamiwombat]

I'm dissapointed, I was longing for a villain with healthy and comradatory relationships with their workforce. Mr. Negative seemed like a real nice guy to work for if you didn't mind working for a ruthless killer.

[tsunamiwombat]

Right up until he killed him, that is.

[01d55]

Well, if you don't mind working for a ruthless killer, it follows you don't mind the possibility that you're gonna get ruthlessly killed.

[arilou_skiff]

Well, to be fair, he didn't just kill him for failure, he killed him for ratting him out.

That' pretty much standard procedure.

[tsunamiwombat]

Are those supposed to be Surge's gauntlets?

[long_silence]

I think the kid in L.A. line was referring to Chase Stein of the Runaways. Surge and the X-men live on Utopia which is off the coast of San Francisco.

They do look more like the Fistigons, and in Whedon's run Chase retrieved new versions of the gauntlets which could generate electricity and shoot rockets, in addition to being flame throwers.

[lonewolf23k]

I think not charging the knife before stabbing with it makes sense, if he's trying to avoid getting the murder directly connected with him. With all the tech available to guys like SHIELD, why leave behind traces of your unique energy signature to track?

[eyz]

Darn', Mister Negative looks amazing here!


..and why is he popping up everywhere lately??