Book of Doom: Secret Warriors #3

The thing about Nick Fury is that he always works better when he’s lurking around in the background. The trouble with that, however, is that it makes him an incredibly compelling character; one that you would like to see more of.

Fury is a character that’s built to fill in holes, smooth over rough patches, and advance the plot. He has access to a super-intelligent network that can pretty much figure out anything and everything (except, of course, that which the protagonist seeks). He is the hero’s best friend. He has all the right answers, and he always knows what to do next. So Fury is a real badass who’s handy in a pinch.

Unfortunately, that’s about the only time he’s handy. The rest of the time, he’s apparently caught up in the drama of playing father-figure to the amateurs around him, and slogging through failed relationships. That’s the kind of stuff we don’t want to see Fury involved with. When something goes wrong, he says “I’m on it,” disappears, and gets to work getting his hands dirty. He doesn’t get told off by children and the go somewhere to sulk; it’s just not becoming of this jack-of-all-trades.

Even if the writing were better, Fury’s “solo” adventures would still lose that trademark Fury appeal, because suddenly he’s yanked out of the shadows and, in the light, his flaws are exposed. He can’t afford to have his flaws exposed.

I didn’t read the first two issues of the series, so I don’t know why he’s herding children around, and I don’t know who ex-flame Contessa is, and in the end, I don’t want to know. This all despite the fact that I picked the series up because, yes, I did want to know.

That’s just the thing about Nick Fury.

Doominator chimes in:

So I’ve delved into the third issue of a series. You don’t delve into a third issue. It’s an unwritten rule. It’s the scene in a movie before the final fight. It’s walking in during the recouping. It’s waking up an hour into it and realizing that you slept through the previews and everyone is looking at you. It’s many other similar analogies. It’s the “this is intriguing, buuuuuuut …” with your only guidance being the recap page. I think there was a recap page. There was a recap page, right?

Well, there’s a good thing the issue did. It caught me up to speed. But it’s the speed of saying “holy crap, guess what we just did” and then somebody standing there jumping like a small child and someone
just showing the video. It’s a lot of characters I know nothing about, but had I read the previous issues, I might know, might care. But I don’t care. It’s a guy with a bad goatee and some indistinct people lousing about, likely former SHIELD agents. I know this movie is good, or ok, but I have better things to do on this Saturday afternoon than watch it, mid-channel surfing. It’s a reminder that I should go out, get some fresh air, take a walk in the park, be productive or at least pretend to be productive.

I walked in during the wrong scene of the movie.