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Secret Warriors #3: Review

Apr 2009
Jonathan Hickman, Stefano Caselli

Story Name:

(no title given)

Review & Comments

Rating:
4.5 stars

Secret Warriors #3 Review by (August 27, 2019)
HCMPC was mentioned in Fury's files in #1. Next issue we'll learn that it stands for Howling Commandos Private Military Company.

Dum Dum Dugan wasn't involved in Nick Fury's Secret War and he remained as a Director of SHIELD. But after the debacle of Secret Invasion SHIELD was disbanded and replaced by Norman Osborn's HAMMER. Dugan was replaced by a Skrull before and during the Invasion. The only time we've seen the real Dugan since then was at Wasp's funeral in Initiative #20. the last time we saw him before being replaced was in the Agents Of Atlas series soon after Civil War I.

Val de Fontaine was also replaced by a Skrull and hasn't appeared since then. She was replaced before Dugan, and hadn't actually been seen before then since 1998's Fury/Agent 13 2-shot which brought Fury back from a previous 'death'.

I have already documented the next storyarc (#7-10) as a crossover with the Dark Reign Thunderbolts. In #10 I explain a link (invented for this series) between Gorgon and Phobos via their swords.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Secret Warriors #3 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
2 weeks after last issue in the Cocoon base Daisy Johnson (Quake) summarises what they know for the rest of the Secret Warriors. In #1 Nick Fury discovered that SHIELD was always controlled by Hydra, and the team saw Hydra retrieve a large box from the SHIELD storage facility Black Ice. Later a satellite took a photo of what we saw last issue in the Hydra base Gehenna in New Zealand - a meeting between Baron Strucker, Viper and 3 others around that box.

Next day 1 of the others led an attack on the Torch, a SHIELD base now used by HAMMER - and the Hydra Agents called her Madame Hydra, which used to be Viper's designation. (Daisy wonders why Viper is no longer Madame H - although truthfully she seems to have dodged between the 2 noms-de-guerre frequently of late). Viper herself was seen 3 days later in the Tokyo financial district. A week later the 2nd unknown led a raid on a SHIELD weapons factory Barracuda. His men had squid-things on their heads. 1 of them was captured and the squid removed. Before he died the kid, a missing college student, named his boss the Hive. The last member is possibly the Hydra agent Kraken, but no-one knows anything about that guy (but we who read last issue know that *is* who it is).

Hydra has attacked all of SHIELD's shadow facilities except the Dock, now controlled by HAMMER, and the psi-agent base Red Worm. The Warriors next mission is to get the agents out of Red Worm and destroy it before Hydra get there. JT James (Hellfire) wants to know if they're going to fight Hydra if necessary this time, not run away like in #1. Fury has been listening to the meeting and says it's up to team leader Daisy what they do.

Nick got an encrypted message from old flame and fellow ex-SHIELD Agent Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine agreeing to meet for dinner. We now follow him to Tamaya in New Mexico where Val turns up late. They verbally spar then pull guns on each other. She admits to still being in the spy game but claims to be 'self-employed'. She taunts Nick about having lost everything. But she still came when he called. Over the meal Nick says he may have lost SHIELD but he's doing something important now. But he suggests that when it's over he may retire to be with her. She doesn't believe it - he'll always find a new cause. But he should realise that there is no good vs evil anymore - the world is more complex now.

The Secret Warriors have reached Red Worm near Zzyzx, California, but the place has been overrun by Hydra. They see Kraken and another man who Daisy recognises as the supposedly-dead Gorgon (whose body we know from last issue was in the box in #1). They have revived and taken prisoner the psi-agents. But 3 of them were brain-damaged by the hasty revival and Gorgon kills 2 of those with his sword. He's about to kill the 3rd when Quake orders an attack. Kraken arranges a teleport retreat to Gehenna with the prisoners, leaving the troops, but Gorgon elects to stay and fight - there's someone he wants to meet.

Sebastian Druid gets close to Gorgon but is kicked away. Hellfire is there too and calls for backup. Superfast Slingshot (Yo-Yo Rodriquez) leaps in with her quarterstaff, but Gorgon is faster and chops off her forearms. Quake tells Stonewall (Jerry Sledge) to get Yo-Yo and orders a retreat. She blasts Gorgon with her vibration power, and then turns to follow the others.

But now it's Phobos (young Alexander Aaron)'s turn to stay behind. He turns his fear power (as the son of Ares, God of War) on the foe. But Gorgon says he's died and been reborn, so he has nothing to fear. Alex runs after the others, and Gorgon says "1 day I will kill a god". (I take it that Phobos is the person he wanted to meet.)

Back at the dinner Val says she *will* wait for Nick. But she reminds him that last time he went off to do the right thing (Nick Fury's Secret War) he left without a word and never came back to SHIELD and her. "Next time ..." she says, but Nick's phone goes off and he gets up and leaves. So she wearily ends with "Next time you should bring flowers".

The call is from Quake in their plane. Yo-Yo's badly hurt and Daisy doesn't think she'll make it to New York. So Fury redirects them to a nearer 1 of his secret bases. And he gets in his flying car to join them.

The destination is Inside Straight, the replication facility possibly in Arizona (this issue and next refer to it as base #8, but #1 listed it as #22, with #8 as the Playground in the Middle East). They hand Yo-Yo over to 3 LMD doctors, with 'faces' covered with 'eyes' and medical appendages projecting from their heads. Jerry goes with her. (This begins to fulfil Alex's prophecy last issue that Yo-Yo will be injured and Jerry will look after her.)

Later Daisy reports to Nick that her condition is stable. She apologises for screwing up the mission, but Fury is more concerned about the surprise involvement of Gorgon. He says they'll need to recruit a replacement. But the team is now on the bench until she's trained them better. He has another plan to deal with Hydra.

After she's gone Nick makes a secure call to HCPMC and gets Dum Dum Dugan and tells him he's got a job for them. After Dugan rags him (like Val) for not making contact since Fury left SHIELD, they get down to business.



Stefano Caselli
Stefano Caselli
Daniele Rudoni
Jim Cheung (Cover Penciler)
Jim Cheung (Cover Inker)
Justin Ponsor (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Dave Lanphear.
Editor: Tom Brevoort. Editor-in-chief: Joe Quesada.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.


Plus: Gorgon (Tomi Shishido), Hellfire (JT James), Kraken, Madame Hydra (Val de Fontaine), Phobos, Quake (Daisy Johnson), Sebastian Druid, Secret Warriors, Slingshot (Yo-Yo Rodriguez), Stonewall (Jerry Sledge).

> Secret Warriors: Book info and issue index

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