Seven Secrets #4 Review: Relentless Application of Craft

In true Stan Lee fashion, you should get caught up on the deal: an ancient organization fields some of the best trained, most skilled clandestine operatives in the world called Holders and Keepers to protect seven suitcases, each holding a secret that cannot be revealed to the world.

Last issue, the protagonist Caspar (son of a Holder and a Keeper forbidden to keep him) completed his training and became the latest Holder to join their numbers after his father's death. The only problem is that a mysterious man called Amon (no, not Noatak, the blood bending cult leader who terrorized Republic City) has led an organization called the Seekers (no, not Starscream and the Decepticon air group) to invade, intent on seizing the secrets.

Writer Tom Taylor has created a wonderful dance of disparate and desperate parties focused on a MacGuffin that, honestly, should likely never be made clear. There's a shocking standoff scene with a revelation that deepens the stakes for the players involved, and that's nice to see too. Likewise, the high powered artwork from Daniele Di Nicuolo, Walter Baiamonte, Joan Moldez Oday, and Ed Dukeshire doesn't get too in-depth with its global locales but presents these panels in such a striking, unexpected fashion that the moments they depict draw in the reader. As well, they have a great sense of how to make an action scene really pop, with great facial expressions and fight scenes. Overall, there is a relentless application of craft that gives Seven Secrets #4 such a mythic, effective feel.

Every single issue of this series so far has been top-notch, and Seven Secrets #4 shows that the trend doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon. RATING: BUY.