Marvel comics have certainly taken cues from real-world events in their stories before, but they’ve never been quite so on-the-nose as the 2017 crossover event Secret Empire; which saw the various heroes scattered and divided, helpless to stop a fascist ideologue and his militant supporters from rising to power and taking over the United States Government. It was particularly controversial at the time because the invading army was Hydra (Marvel Universe stand-in for the Nazi party) and their figurehead was a malevolent Captain America; albeit a reality-bending mind-wiped version thereof.
It’s an intriguing hook; but the 10-issue event-series had a number of critical faults counting against it. Firstly, in chronological order; Secret Empire is really the third event in a loose trilogy, behind 2016’s Avengers: Standoff and Civil War II, and so new readers may struggle to get up to speed on some fairly outlandish premises that were previously established in those titles. On the other hand, any readers with an awareness of recent Marvel events are likely to be disappointed by a first act which basically follows the same ‘disparate band of rebel heroes’ template that was the basis for many other storylines over the last decade (including House of M, Civil War, Dark Reign, Age of Ultron and Secret Wars).
Disappointingly, the sprawling storyline doesn’t really fulfil the original promise of exploring any topical political themes, and the middle act settles into a fairly standard ‘quest’ to assemble a number of obligatory macguffins. There’s other lazy writing too; with certain characters aligning to the fascist government (particularly Thor and the Punisher), despite both having fairly well-developed moral compasses that would have put them at odds with any totalitarian state or dictatorship. Writer Nick Spencer does manage to bring the plot into focus a bit more for the final act, with the inevitable rallying of the remaining heroes when all seems lost, for a last ditch battle to save the day. It’s a rousing and action-packed climax, which at least ticks all the boxes for blockbuster entertainment. If you can find it cheaply (e.g. on comixology the digital collection is regularly on sale), I’d strongly recommend reading this concurrent to the collection of Captain America comics, covering the respective titles with Sam Wilson (#22-#24) and Steve Rogers (#17-#19); which supplement the main story with some more political interludes, and provide some badly needed characterisation for those who are respectively the main protagonist and antagonist of the whole story.
If it helps to convince you any further; the event has served as ground zero for a couple of Marvel’s strongest new relaunches. Captain America (2018) sees the original star-spangled Avenger returned to his senses, but now having to face up to the consequences of the failed takeover of the US. Ta-Nehisi Coates’ plot has plenty of action, while hinting at such lofty themes as escalation and retaliation across the political spectrum. In terms of low-key supporting cast and the political-thriller tone, this title feels like a deliberate call-back to the classic Ed Brubaker run from 2005 onwards (including Winter Soldier and Death of Captain America), and with career-best art from such superstars as Leinil Yu, Alex Ross and Adam Kubert; there’s a real chance that this might even surpass that highpoint for Cap.
Although it’s not an official companion title, The Punisher (2018) relaunch also follows a character who is in search of closure following the events of Secret Empire. In this case, Frank Castle isn’t looking for redemption, instead he’s thirsting for revenge and he’s hunting down Hydra’s high-command to get it. I’ve greatly enjoyed Matt Rosenberg’s previous two Punisher arcs (War Machine and War Criminal), and he carries over the same fast-paced, ultra-violent, blackly comical tone here. The first two arcs, World War Frank and War in Bagalia (hmmm, I’m starting to see a pattern here) put a fresh spin on lots more familiar action tropes, and are about as good a time as I can remember having with this character.