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Secret Empire: Brave New World #2
Publisher: Marvel
Writer(s): Rodney Barnes, Fabian Nicieza, Paul Allor
Artist(s): Juan M. Frigeri, Will Robson, Brian Level
Colorist(s): Erick Arciniega, Tamra Bonvillain, Jordan Boyd
Cover: Paulo Sigueira & Marcio Menyz

Whenever there’s an event we will get the inevitable anthology tie-ins that focus on the smaller moments that take place while the major action is happening in the core title. This also gives some spotlight to the lesser known or just other characters that would get very little face time in the main story. Secret Empire is no different as the tie-in Brave New World continues that formula and we are treated to three different stories here by various creative teams.

First up is an offering that introduces the new Patriot to the Marvel Universe and ties directly to the introduction of Rayshaun back in Secret Empire #1. Writer Rodney Barnes delivers what ends up being a solid tale of Rayshaun attempting to find his place in this new world while doing something positive to help those who have been hurt by Hydra. As good as this is it would have been a little better had Barnes had more room to tell this story. Especially when you have a legacy character like Patriot coming back and it looks as if Eli Bradley is out of the picture now. The art is another great effort from Juan M. Frigeri and Erick Arciniega on colors. But even if you don’t agree with how Patriot was introduced you have to give it to the creative team for making the best of it and delivering a solid story to kick this issue off.

We get a Hydra Bob story that is pretty much slapstick and comedy that didn’t impress as much. Actually the art from Robson and Bonvillain is great and could have moved everything along without the dialogue. The second part of Paul Allor’s story is an emotional time for Namor as he’s imprisoning former allies and worried about assassination attempts. But Allor gives us more time with the original Human Torch and Toro before bringing back a familiar face. The art from Level and Boyd captures the murkiness and mood of the underwater land and gets even better when the action kicks in.

Since the Hydra Bob story really wasn’t my thing I’d say that those four pages could have been divided between the first and last stories for a better issue. But if that’s your kind of story then you might enjoy it more than I did. Overall this is a solid issue that pretty much has done what the other anthology tie-ins have.

Infinite Speech
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