This book continues to be full of win. Aaron keeps up the excellent storytelling, answering just enough existing questions to leave us satisfied while introducing enough new ones to keep us engaged.
We learn a lot about Nick Fury here. At some point, some shadowy group that included Howard Stark offered Nick the job of secretly protecting the world from alien threats. He accepted, but also kept up his day job at S.H.I.E.L.D. Given the fact that he's aged, he clearly swapped out his S.H.I.E.L.D. self with a L.M.D. at some point, though it's unclear if he actually controlled said L.M.D (or said army of L.M.D.s, in all likelihood). A philosophy professor could probably teach an entire class on the question of identity using Nick as a case study. Aaron implies that Nick might've killed the Watcher in order to hush up his activities (since Uatu was the only one that knew about them), but it seems more likely that the assassin is actually also after Nick.
But, as I said, we still have questions. First, we don't know why Nick sent the teams to find the "victims" of his activities in the first place. Couldn't he have just approached them directly about his connection to the Watcher's death, whatever it turns out being? It seemed like Nick didn't want them to discover that he was behind the murders, but, if that's the case, why send them to find the bodies in the first place? Also, if Nick didn't kill the Watcher, why would someone want both of them (Uatu and Nick) dead?
The good news is that Aaron delivers all this information -- and raises the new questions -- in an organic way. It never feels particularly expository, since it makes sense that Nick is telling his story to the assembled heroes. Moreover, I loved how Aaron uses their responses to Nick's story to show who they are as characters. Dr. Strange claims that Nick couldn't have committed these "crimes," Emma disagrees with that assessment (without showing any real disapproval), and the Punisher doesn't even see them as crimes in the first place. Great stuff.
With the announcement that the Winter Soldier is getting a new series to become the Earth's protector, it's pretty clear that he's taking up Nick's role, one that works well for a guy trying to pretend to be dead on Earth. But, it also leaves open Nick's fate. With his son working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and Bucky taking over his galactic responsibilities, do we really need Nick Fury anymore? I guess we'll see.
**** (four of five stars)
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