Written by: Jonathan Hickman & Brian Michael Bendis

Artist: Stefano Caselli

Color Artist: Daniele Rudoni

    Secret Warriors was forced on me. Back during the whole Secret Invasion spect/debacle, my dose of (almost) classic avengers fun, Mighty Avengers, was supplanted with stories of Nick Fury and what he had been up to, and recruitment of yet a new group of characters (yawn) that were derived from older characters (yawn yawn). Of course there was the eventual announcement that this new group would have its own title (no surprise) and it would likely have been nothing more than a blip on my radar, but for the writer, Jonathan Hickman.
    Hickman wrote what was probably my favorite new series in 2007, The Nightly News, and had followed it up with some very interesting stuff. it was different and had quite the unique style. At first i was interested, but unsure of how he would do with Superhero comics. Having read some of his follow up series', i felt there was a good chance he could bring an interesting take on the usual superheroics, so i became genuinely excited for Secret Warriors. So really, I was in a way forced to read it...
    As a first issue it does what it needs to. Characters and locations are introduced, and the initial series hook is set up. Nick Fury discovers that S.H.I.E.L.D. was all along an agent of Hydra. Not a new concept for certain. the mostly good Nick Fury Vs. S.H.E.I.L.D. 20 years ago treaded the very same water, however it's a reasonable hook that could have a lot of meat to it.
    The discovery is made via an old datacore and through this we get a chance for Hickman's graphic abilities to shine. In a manner similiar to The Nightly News, the issue is almost half made up of some of these files. Even the cover is reminiscent. In addition, Caselli's artwork is quite good. Each character looks different from each other and his faces are very expressive. We'll just have to see if he can actually manage to draw smiles.
    I would say that together, these things make up for some strong possibilities. I enjoyed the issue, but it wasn't entirely the slam dunk i was hoping for. The pieces are there, however for a strong series and i look forward to reading more. For me this scores a solid 4 out of 5