Secret Warriors #1

Brian Michael Bendis and Jonathan Hickman's new series Secret Warriors was advertised with the promise of "a secret that will break the internet [sic] into tiny little pieces." (via) As it turns out, the secret has a lot of possibilities for a superhero/spy comic book, but the execution is a little shaky at this point.

The story is told in a non-linear format, but basically Nick Fury, the former head of S.H.I.E.L.D, goes back to an old secret base and hacks a computer to find out that H.Y.D.R.A, long-time enemy of S.H.I.E.L.D, has apparently infiltrated and may secretly have been running S.H.I.E.L.D before it disbanded. And now H.Y.D.R.A. may be running H.A.M.M.E.R, which replaced S.H.I.E.L.D and is under control of the U.S. government. (I'm going to stop typing the dots in the acronyms now, because I feel stupid. - RD)

My question: why is Nick Fury just finding out about this now? If all he needed to access the secret database in the secret SHIELD base was his secret username and secret password, as badass and super-spy as he's supposed to be, why doesn't he know all this until after the fact? SHIELD doesn't even exist anymore. Fury's final line of the comic, "I've been working for the bad guys the whole time," is a nice cliffhanger, but unless they can give me a good reason why he didn't have access to the database, or how the HYDRA involvement was hidden even from the head of the organization, I don't buy it.

Later, Nick Fury breaks into the White House to talk with the President - presumably Obama, but kept in shadow throughout - to tell him all about these old SHIELD bases and the information and/or technology still in them. Fury then rejoins his spy kids and tells them to stake out one of the old bases. HYDRA agents are expected to appear and do their best to collect intel from the base. If HAMMER shows up, Fury says, it's proof that the administration is on the up-and-up, without HYDRA control.

I don't follow this logic. Double bluffs happen all the time in spy world. Nick Fury should expect them with his morning coffee. The President could easily send HAMMER agents as well as or in place of HYDRA agents, if in fact both agencies are run by the same people. It would actually be easier to send HAMMER in whether the good guys are corrupt or not. HAMMER has been reacquiring SHIELD technology since they took over, so they would cause far less comment if they simply moved in and set up shop. The presence of both organizations means nothing; the President, knowing that Nick Fury informed him of the SHIELD base for a reason, would assume that Fury would be watching him and send HAMMER agents regardless of HYDRA's involvement. This is Espionage 101, and I just can't believe that Fury hasn't already thought this through.

I'd like to see where it goes, and I expect a lot from this writing team. In the future, I hope the story explains itself a little better.

- JC