Created on April 20, 2012 and written by MQuannBoyd
Category: Comic Book Reviews, Image Comics Reviews

Rating: 4/5
Publisher Name: Image Comics
Publisher Website: http://www.imagecomics.com

Writer: Johnathon Hickman
Pencils: Ryan Bodenheim
Number of Pages: 22
Price: 3.50
Color: Color
Safety Content Label: PARENTAL ADVISORY – 15 years and older. Similar to T+ but featuring more mature themes and/or more graphic imagery.

Publisher’s Blurb:

A man gets shot in London, a law firm gets broken into in Washington, an accountant gives away the password to his computer, and something put to sleep 20 years ago awakens. What’s the unsavory relationship all these things share, and how could it bring down two of the largest governments in the history of the world?

Review:

What is it about a mystery that keeps one coming back for more? One could say that it’s which one doesn’t know, it’s information that might in fact be useless, but it’s something that needs to be discovered. It’s simply wanting to know the unknown. Secret, much like the title suggest has abundance of perplexity going for itself from the opening page involving a home invasion, to the end of the first issue to keep one entangled.

Without giving anything away (like I even know what’s going on at this point), Jonathan Hickman dangles the proverbial carrot in front of the reader and ask them to take the bait. Perhaps a better analogy, is that Hickman’s a poker player who is not letting on that he’s holding a Royal Flush and he’s simply biding his time until all the other players at the table either fold their hands or reveal their cards before he lays down his own cards. With this first issue, Hickman has a strong poker face and in many ways is daring the reader to guess and/or jump to conclusions about where the remainder of the series is headed.

Speaking of trying to figure out where the series is ultimately going, Secret, brings together an ensemble cast on par with many Hollywood films such as Pulp Fiction or The Usual Suspects. Much like Hickman’s recent work on FF, there is a wealth of colorful characters packed within the 22-pages of the comic, from Grant Miller, a employee of Steadfast Security Holdings to Roger Dunn, the poor unfortunate sap who losses a tooth thanks in large part to a home invader and a pair of needle nose pliers.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention one issue that I had with Secret that relates with the plot of the story, more sufficiently, the fact that there are a few moments that come across as cliché. One such moment has to deal with the character of Mrs. White and her the action she takes in the issue to move to plot along. Without getting into spoiler territory what Mrs. White executes (i.e., breaking and entering) in this issue has been done countless times in both movies and television. Now, I’m more than willing to give this particular issue the benefit of the doubt as the comic has great potential to turn those clichés on their ear and do something that is bold and exciting.

Overall, Secret, has a lot going for it in terms of storytelling as well as the art direction and the use of muted colors and tones throughout the issue which gives the comic a distinct style. There also appears to be a short and long con at play which possibly plays into foreshadowing of where this story is eventually going. Secret is conceivably more than the sum of it’s part and I look forward to the next issue to see what Jonathan Hickman has up his sleeve.

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About the Writer: MQuannBoyd (35 Posts) M. Quann Boyd has published two fiction short stories, “The Love Movement” and “Hate... Reasons to be Happy,” and a non-fiction research article, “Hip-Hop of the Gods: the Five Percent Nation's Influence on Rap Music.” Recently, M. Quann Boyd has been a contributor to XboxExclusive.com with reviews including: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Spider-Man: Edge of Time and LA Noire. Currently he writes the blog, 3hree's Man Cave and the soon to be released Blossoming Bushido.

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