I read this in the individual issues, as opposed to in the trade.

As the New Avengers entered into the Heroic Age with a magical story, so the Secret Avengers started out with a Cosmic story, and a well written one. Brubaker is very good at writing Steve Rogers, and I was pleased with how well he handled Beast and Valkyrie as well (though it would have been nice if he'd gotten an "Oh my Stars" or two). I'd have preferred Scott Lang as Ant Man over Eric O'Grady, but he still works out well. ( )

I love huge, dark, universe-threatening story lines and this was one of those. The serpent crown reminds me of some old Avengers comics but I don't think there was a connection because Cap didn't say, "Hey that's the crown from ...." Anyway, Cap getting to wear Nova's helmet and having the power of the Worldmind was pretty sweet and also interesting to know there's a Nick Fury out there who's part robot but not just a life model decoy. ( )

Norman Osborn’s gone, Steve Rogers has come in to clean up the mess he left. But he still thinks a black ops team is a good idea, so maybe devils have the odd good idea after all. Brubaker and Deodato make this one a lot of fun, opening with some aftershocks from Fear Itself and a plot spanning two worlds. The action is fast and flavoured with the right amount of wit and Deodato’s art is slick, enhancing the inevitable action sequences and coming up with a few memorable images. Despite the lack of any of Marvel’s heavy hitters a fun first outing. ( )