Volume Three collects issues 33-37 and ends Rick Remender's run on Secret Avengers. The robotic evolutionaries, The Descendants, initiate their plan to create the Singularity where humans and robots merge by releasing a nanite gas. Half the Secret Avengers are blown up while the others travel to Dimension 666 to collect an Orb of Necromancy from undead Avengers. There's an epic battle on the streets of New York that involves Spider-man and the (real) Avengers make an appearance. This volume ties up the story arc deftly: there's a real sense of a fitting conclusion.

Other writers would have taken the Singularity and the "life" of the robots far too seriously - but Remender uses them to tell a great story not to carry out any metaphysical posturing.

There's a lot to enjoy about this volume - all three in fact: Remender's odd-ball humour and comic use of minor characters, how he writes dialogue between characters (particularly the banter between Captain Britain and Hawkeye) plus Matteo Scalera's art. If I have any reservations it's that the first chapter (issue 33) is drawn by Andy Kuhn and a little too blocky and cartoonish in comparison with Scalera (though I like Kuhn's layouts better and do like his art a lot).


SCORING 
✩✩✩✩✩ = Awful.
★✩✩✩✩ = Poor.
★★✩✩✩ = Average.
★★★✩✩ = Good.
★★★★✩ = Very good.
★★★★★ = Excellent.