Deron Generally
Deron Generally
Secret Empire Uprising #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Derek Landy
Art by Joshua Cassara
Colors by Rachelle Rosenberg
What does the world’s deadliest spy do when she teams up with a group of young heroes who want to stop HYDRA’s takeover of the United States? Send them on an American Idol style audition for the HYDRA Youth Choir. I’m not sure if this issue is trying to be amusing, because it’s not. Black Widow meets up with Ironheart, Wasp, Falcon, Viv Vision, Hulk (Amadeus Cho) and Spider-Man (Miles Morales) to see which of them can carry a tune well enough to join the HYDRA Choir.
I can honestly say that I share the opinion of the characters in this issue, it’s a lame idea. As Wasp and Amadeus infiltrate the choir, there are throw away stories about Amadeus possibly being discovered by the super powered groups of bullies brought in to protect the location, Wasp trying to help out another kid who’s being bullied and the rest of the teams inability to follow simple instructions in the face of the deadly new world they find themselves in.
I can venture a guess as to what Marvel was trying to do with this Secret Empire Tie-In, but there are too many parts of it that don’t work. The first being Black Widow. The writer should have titled this issue Wasted Widow because that’s exactly what she was. At no point in this issue did I really feel like this story was necessary either on its own or as part of the overall storyline of Secret Empire. Nothing in it seemed to resonate with the overall plot and it seemed more an exercise in telling the reader where certain characters are in the overall narrative than a coherent story with stakes for anyone involved.
