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Summary
With commonalities like globe - clip stories , action - tailor storytelling , and visual style , the undercover agent and superhero genres have long been well - matched . Since the 1965 reintroduction of Nick Fury as a science fiction - powered espionage submarine in the varlet of " Nick Fury , Agent of SHIELD " by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby , the humans of spies and secret federal agent has become a regular basic of superhero fabrication .
Since then , DC and Marvel have each developed their own fictional spy government agency , Checkmate and SHIELD , and other superhero titles from beyond the Big Two ’s universes regularly integrate fly-by-night government organizations that seek to control and corrupt the superhero biotic community . The compounding of the two writing style frequently brings out the best fight scenes in strip and complicate the morals of story that are often black and white .
10“Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD” from Strange Tales (1967)
by Jim Steranko
Taking over from Lee and Kirby ’s ravel , Jim Steranko ’s boundary - pushing spy saga quiz the limits of the Comics Code censorship with its depiction of sex , violence , and psychedelia - inspired art . Steranko also build up on Kirby ’s use of photomontage , take exception Marvel ’s ' 60s readership , and crusade the format artistically with the comedian ’s first four - page spread . Steranko employ a distinguishable sense of conception and purpose of space that riffs on surrealism , blear the line between eminent and depressed art . His work was famous for valuing visual storytelling without depending on legend , and defined the Nick Fury and supporting cast of SHIELD agent that have come to form the backbone of the Marvel Universe .
9Sleeper (2003)
by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Set in the WildStorm creation , Sleeper , bylongtime collaborators Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips , follows undercover agent Holden Carver as he is reluctantly placed as a forked agent inside a criminal organization run by the supervillain Tao . Holden act upon for International Operations , a secret inspection and repair organization that has also yield Holden a healing factor and the ability to baulk pain and transpose it to others with a pinch . Holden ’s military position is complicate by the fact that he hates his power and wants to get disembarrass of them , and briefly after going undercover his handler John Lynch falls into a comatoseness . With no way out , Holden becomes romantically involved with another villain andfinds himself confused over his true loyalties .
8"The Winter Soldier" from Captain America (2005)
by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting
Brubaker took Steve Rogers in the dark management of a political thriller , seeing him in noirish conflict with former KGB members and the Red Skull . His run onCaptain Americaalso revises the WWII era of Captain America ’s adventures through flashbacks that humanize his back cast more than late authors . With Brubaker ’s first arc , “ The Winter Soldier , ” he and creative person Steve Epting go under Cap on the eccentric of a cryptical assassin intend to have disappeared at the destruction of the Cold War . Brubaker also makes use of Marvel elements like the cosmic third power to deepen Steve ’s poignancy , asthe magic spoil Steve ’s memory amid a confederacy .
7Checkmate (2006)
by Greg Rucka
In the wake ofthe OMAC Project , Greg Rucka quiz the limits of superheroic morals inCheckmate , which sees the UN regroup the titular undercover agent establishment to be run by half humans and half superhumans . The softly feuding Green Lantern Alan Scott and Amanda Waller take leadership of the chemical group , with the eternal sleep of the organisation ’s leaders rounded out by Batman ’s former bodyguard Sasha Bordeaux , JSA alum Mister Terrific , and several Waller - ally alumnus of the Suicide Squad . The serial publication pits theold - school idealism of Scottagainst the misanthropic hawkishness of Waller . Every international conflict Checkmate faces becomesan chance for Waller and Scott ’s several side to get in advance .
6Secret Warriors (2009)
by Jonathan Hickman and Brian Michael Bendis
Spinning out of Brian Michael Bendis ’ run onMighty Avengers , Secret Warriorssees an on - the - run Nick Fury assemble an surreptitious team of outcasts with raw superpowers , includingAgents of SHIELD ’s Daisy Johnson . After Fury divulge that SHIELD has been quiet taken over by the fascistic group HYDRA via bivalent agents , the serial chart the spymaster ’s movement with his squad , Team White , to take down HYDRA from the outside . atomic number 27 - created by Bendis and Jonathan Hickman , and written by Hickman , the serial sweep the Marvel Universe and plumb deep into characteralong a twisting narrative of betrayals and secret story .
5Batman Incorporated (2010)
by Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison’sBatman Incorporatedsees Batman build up out his allies into an international web of Batmen . As the mysterious undercover agent organization Leviathan comes after him , the raw Batman Inc. start its globe - trotting probe into the unavowed story of the spy mesh . Kate Kane is sent to unveil the unavowed past of the first Batwoman Katherine Webb , Stephanie Brown fail undercover in a prep school for supervillainesses , and Knight and Squire investigate the island of Cold War weirdy Doctor Daedelus . The run features a liquidator ’s row of artists , including Chris Burnham , whoseexpressive characters and observational panel layout add humanity and zaninessto an already spectacular , high-pitched - conception book .
4SHIELD (2010)
by Jonathan Hickman, Dustin Weaver, and Christina Strain
Jonathan Hickman and Dustin Weaver ’s epical two volume ofSHIELDsee the secretive spherical security organization ’s origins , and how its first major test result in a conflict that spanned prison term . The story sees a Machiavellian and apocalyptical Isaac Newton as loss leader of the Brotherhood of the Shield . Newton believes the world will end in 2060 , and faces an inner rising led by the hopeful Leonardo DaVinci , who still thinks humanity can determine its destiny . The differing philosophy create a civil warfare within the Brotherhood , endanger to break the society that has guarded Earth since the Renaissance .
3Grayson (2014)
by Tom King, Tim Seeley, Jackson Lanzing, and Collin Kelly.
After faking his expiry in the wake of being outed as Nightwing , Dick Grayson is sent secret by Batman into the spy organization Spyral . Entering the murky humans of superheroic espionage , Dick ’s loyalties to Batman ’s missionary work and his newfound partners are prove . One of Tom King ’s breakout ferment , the serial sport many King stapleslike refreshing old stories with an aroused clout and structurally dense storytelling . Tim Seeley compliments this well with a preference for large - than - life genre ideas and a great voice for clowning . ArtistMikel Janin ’s work on the series is standout , with exciting layouts , balletic action , and the aphrodisiacal characters on the stands .
2Black Widow (2016)
by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and Matt Wilson
The squad behind theDaredevilrelaunch in the 2010s used 12 number ofBlack Widowto drive home a beautiful spy thriller set in the Marvel Universe . turn back some ofChris Samnee ’s finest action penciling , and beautiful , stark economic consumption of colours by Matt Wilson , the book favors visual storytelling to the stop that Samnee receive a story credit alongside writer Mark Waid . The story adopt Natasha Romanoff as she goes on the run from SHIELD , stealing a file containing links to her yesteryear . Without her allies , and with enemies both older and newfangled on her behind , Nat must unscramble herself from a past of misdeeds .
1The Wild Storm (2017)
by Warren Ellis and Jon-Davis Hunt
The Wild Stormreboots and streamlines theWildStormuniverse into a single scientific discipline fiction espionage thriller . The story follow two rival spy organizations , International Operations ( IO ) and Skywatch , as well as the applied scientist Jacob Marlowe who works discreetly to take down the two feuding groups . When IO researcher Angela Spica saves the liveliness of Marlowe with engineering IO secretly stole from Skywatch , the cold war between the radical menace to break out into subject dispute . Jon Davis - Hunt ’s blind drunk , elaborated penciling lends itself to accurate , posed fight shot , which complement the stripped - down aesthetic nature of this anti - genre superhero tale . The paneling in the serial oscillates between dense to decompressed , create a unique control of pace .
