Midtown Comics Monday Podcast: Brian Michael Bendis

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SIEGE is coming! It’s all been leading up to this universe shattering four issue limited series from the superstar team of Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel! Following the events of Dark Reign: The List, Norman Osborn sets his sights set on Asgard and nothing will stop him from completing his mission. But what does he want? How do Loki and Thor figure in? And just how does this relate to the inner strife between the Cabal? Marvel’s greatest heroes unite against the deadliest threat they’ve ever faced, but even they have no idea what’s coming next. It’s time for the most jaw dropping comic book event of the decade begins in December with Siege: The Cabal and continues in January’s SIEGE #1!

Spider-Woman Motion Comic Concludes Today!

The pulse-pounding final battle between Spider-Woman and her Skrull foe is here—only one can survive! The chart-topping Spider-Woman Motion Comic concludes its groundbreaking season as the New York Times Best-Selling team of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev (Halo Uprising) bring Jessica Drew to the end of her first mission as new Agent of S.W.O.R.D.—but, when the dust clears, she might wish she’d never signed up!

Click here right now to purchase the fifth episode of Spider-Woman on iTunes!

The epic conclusion you’ve been waiting for is here! Don’t miss a single episode of the Spider-Woman Motion Comic by subscribing to a season pass, available on iTunes by clicking here!

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You may recall from earlier in the week, I loved me some Giant Sized Old Man Logan. I even went so far as to suggest that the mini-series could be the best–or at least my favorite–comic of the year.

But then I read the rest of my weekly pull, and remembered just how good Greg Rucka and JH Williams’ run on the Batwoman-centric Detective Comics has been. The previous issue wasn’t as good as their stunning first issue, but this latest–issue #857–was great. Stellar art, excellent action, and a tense, tight plot involving weapons of mass destruction, jumping from planes, rapid-fire character development, and plenty of face kicking. I still couldn’t care less about the Question backup story, though, which I suppose could be considered a knock against the book as a whole.

Another comic contending for book of the year is Fantastic Four, which I started reading again this year for Old Man Logan-mastermind Mark Millar’s run, but I’m definitely staying for the Hickman. New writer Jonathan Hickman (along with artist Dale Eaglesham) has actually one-upped Millar’s think big, then go bigger approach to the FF with what has so far been a great ride, with a focus on Reed Richards learning that maybe there is such a thing as doing too much good. or maybe just too many Reeds doing all the good.

We can’t forget Marvel Zombies Return–yet another good time that I’m having with a mini, and this one is weekly! I won’t pretend this book is in contention with any of the above for “best of the year,” but it has been a blast. True to it’s name, it is a definite return to the twisted fun of the original Marvel Zombies series.

I loved Amazing Spider-Man #606, too. I know for some it may feel like the creators are just repeating beats from old Spidey continuity, which might be considered a step back. But I missed the boat on the original Spidey/Black Cat episodes from back in the day, but I’ve always liked the idea of that relationship, enjoyed the way it was recently reimagined in the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, and welcome it back to the comic proper. Black Cat has a fun personality to read and, as far as drawings go, she’s not too hard to look at either. It’s also worth noting that Mike McKone’s artwork in this issue is right up there with the rest of my favorites for the week.

Speaking of great artists and spider-themed spandex, I picked up the print version of the Brian Bendis/Alex Maleev Spider-Woman on a whim. See, I tried watching the motion comic version–which was the whole big deal about this comic in the first place (it was  written and layed out specifically with the motion comic platform in mind), and I didn’t like it. I couldn’t get through more than a minute of the motion version…something about the slow pace and the not-what-I-expected voice acting turned me off right away. I guess I just like my comics on paper, though, because reading it the way comics were meant to be read left me liking the book just fine. I’m a fan of Bendis, even if all his characters sound the same and all his books are decompressed. I’m an even bigger fan of Bendis when he’s writing for Alex Maleev, who manages to compliment the scripted mood, character beats, and bursts of action so well. I’m willing to stick around for a few issues just to enjoy the creative collaboration, even if I don’t know that I particularly care all that much about story they’re telling.

I also don’t care all that much about the plight of the Marvel mutant,these days, but I do think Matt Fraction is, at the very least, writing the best Cyclops I’ve read in a while. Uncanny X-Men has been on the cusp of droppage for a while, but there’s always some clever twist or strong character moment that tricks me into caring just enough to come back the next month. Fraction’s Cyclops won me over for at least one more issue.

Robert Kirkman will get me back for another issue, too, for Invincible, but this week’s issue #66–focusing on Invincible’s dad spilling secrets about the dwindling Viltrumite empire to Allen the Alien–was all exposition and quite dull. It’s all big important information that will be relevant later (you know, when characters get back to punching faces off), but the issue felt like a space filler.

And speaking of space fillers…what happened to my one-time favorite comic–Mike Allred’s Madman?! I picked up issue #17, which I think is the last issue of the current series, before some sort of relaunch I absolutely will not buy. What a self-indulgent load of boring, unentertaining blecch. The art is beautiful and playful and quirky as always, but it’s the writing that kills it for me. I am so happy Allred has taken to doing more work-for-hire art in the Marvel and DC Universes, because either I grew out of Madman or the book has just gotten dumb. I guess if you read it as a lost chapter to Red Rocket 7–rather than a relevant or representative part of the usually adorably awesome Frank Einstein’s–you might not hate it as much as I did…but I didn’t like RR7 all that much either. C’est la vie.

That’s all for this we…Oh, I almost forgot–New Avengers #57. The fact that I forgot it, even though it is in the stack of books I keep looking over at as I write this, doesn’t reflect well on it, but I promise, I didn’t dislike it. But it was only an okay read. Despite a ton of characters, good and evil, getting all sorts of sreentime (pagetime?), and assorted subplots related to Dark Reign threading through this book each month, not all that much of anything ever happens in this series. It is the worst example of Bendis’ bad habit for decompressed storytelling. Stuart Immonen is a welcome addition to the creative team, illustrating Bendis’ ongoing epic about the kitchen table in Bucky Barnes’ safehouse/Avenger’s HQ. If I were pinching pennies, this would definitely be another very droppable book, simply because it feels like it goes nowhere each issue, no matter how good (or okay) each issue is. 

That is all for my week in comics. How was yours?

Brian Michael Bendis on The Sound of Young America from Jesse Thorn on Vimeo.

Plot-wise, the scenario for the Dark Reign one-shot is similar to the Illuminati’s — a peak into the initial meeting of a clandestine group of power players uniting to secretly manipulate the Marvel Universe. Only difference is, the members are a decidedly more villainous mix: Norman Osborn, Doctor Doom, Loki, Emma Frost, The Hood and…

…some overweight, stubbly-faced bum who seems to be hitting ineffectually on Emma Frost?

Is that supposed to be Namor?? I’m sorry, but that is probably the fattest, fugliest Sub-Mariner I’ve ever seen. Panel after panel I kept looking at this chubby-faced bozo and wondering if Bendis decided there was one last one Skrull still running around, and he was impersonating Namor. Also unrecognizable: Norman Osborn on Maleev’s cover. I thought that was Pete Wisdom or John Constantine or somebody there in the middle. How are you gonna draw an Osborn, especially Norman, without the trademark crazy-cornrows-coming-to-a-point-in-the-forehead hair??)

Further adding to Namor’s complete lack of regality was the trademark Bendis-speak coming out of his mouth. Not saying this kind of snappy banter doesn’t work for some characters, but when you have the likes of Namor, Doctor Doom and Loki all sitting in the same room talking in the same “um, exactly” voice — that’s just not working for me. (In fact it really takes me out of the book).

But setting aside the aforementioned absurdities, I do think Bendis gave a believable, and interesting, explanation as to why Norman Osborn called this particular “cabal” together, and what each of them has to offer, and gain. There’s even a fairly cool little exchange between Doom & Namor. So despite the fact that parts of this book were cringe-worthy, I am looking forward to seeing how all Dark Reign stuff this plays out — I’m just glad there’s I don’t have to read any more of it by by Bendis & Maleev.

The following review is excerpted from Comic Book Revolution (click here to read CBR’s full review)

Art: 5/10
Story: 4/10
Overall: 4.5/10

The Good

Let’s see. What was enjoyable about this issue? Well, this is the last Secret Invasion tie-in issue that we will have to suffer through on New Avengers. That is most definitely a positive thing.

Also, New Avengers #47 does catch Luke at a seminal moment in his life where the fact of him becoming a father and having to take care of his own child makes him examine his relationship with his own father. This is actually an incredibly realistic and common reaction to becoming a parent. Bendis does succeed in properly conveying the heady mixture of excitement and fear of being a new parent . And naturally, new parents begin to gain a better understanding of their own parents.

This issue offers offer a candid look into Luke’s relationship (or lack thereof) with his father. And the flashback scene showed me a more appealing Luke Cage that had a bit more depth than the stereotype that Bendis usually gives us when writing Cage. As far as a Luke Cage story goes, this was a pretty solid little tale. However, I would still criticize it for being way too slow and dull.

The Bad

However, the fact is, and I confirmed it once again by looking at the cover, that this is New Avengers #47 and not Luke Cage Special #1. And since this is an issue of the New Avengers I do actually expect an Avengers related story that actually stars the Avengers. I know that may make me sound like a raving lunatic and a madman, but I stand by that statement.

And that is the biggest flaw with New Avengers #47 and it has been a reoccurring defect on this title. I cannot be the only person who honestly purchases an issue of the New Avengers with the expectation of reading an Avengers story starring all of the Avengers. Or at least a good portion of them.

Instead, Bendis gives the reader yet another in an extremely long line of spot-light issues where he focuses solely on one or two characters. And the real reason for that is because Bendis cannot write a team title. And deep down inside Bendis knows that. Bendis’ strengths lie in solo titles like Ultimate Spider-Man and Daredevil. That is where his writing style flourishes and produces wonderful reads.

However, on team titles, Bendis crumbles under the weight of having to deal with more than two characters. Bendis is simply not capable of juggling a large roster of characters. And Bendis is not able to properly plot short-term, mid-range and long-term plotlines that involve all the members of the team like writers like DnA are able to do over on Guardians of the Galaxy.

New Avengers #47 is rather boring and dull for long stretches at a time. There is absolutely no action at all. And that is fine as long as the story offers a dense plot with strong character work and dialogue. However, that is most certainly not the case with New Avengers #47. For the most part this is an extremely talky issue where most of the dialogue borders on mere rambling.

I continue to be summarily unimpressed with how Bendis writes Luke Cage. With the exception of a few moments in the flashback scene when Luke tries to see his father, I find Bendis’ Luke Cage unappealing. Ever since the events of Civil War, Bendis has written Cage as being dumb and a bit of a crud.

We have seen Luke kicking women in the vagina. We have seen Luke place his wife and baby daughter in danger over and over due to his pride of not wanting to be registered. We have seen Luke being verbally abusive and physically threatening toward his wife. And we have seen Luke cursing in front of his baby daughter. Bendis has succeeded in making Luke look like a classless guy.

And Bendis seemed to go a bit overboard with making Luke the stereotypical dumb and clueless new dad. Luke refers to his daughter as “it.” I have never heard a new dad do something that dumb. It gets tiring that men are almost always portrayed as the idiot new parents while the mother is somehow genetically predisposed to know everything about being a parent. The scene would have been funnier if it had been Luke, the big bad tough guy, correcting Jessica about how to hold the baby, soothe the baby, etc.

New Avengers #47 was an extremely boring and dull issue to look at. And much of that blame is placed on Bendis since he did nothing at all in this story with the artists in mind. It is incumbent upon the writer to try and think of some scenes that can showcase the artist’s talent or that would be fun for the artist to draw. That is not the case in this issue as it seems the majority of the pages are the standard 9 panels per page layout. For the most part, this issue was nothing but static talking heads.

Overall

New Avengers #47 was nothing more than pure filler. It was blatantly obvious that Bendis was just stalling and wasting panel space until Secret Invasion concluded so that the Dark Reign plotlines could be kicked off in full force. Unless you are a huge Luke Cage fan, there is absolutely no reason at all to waste your money on this issue.

For more reviews, scans, story recaps and news visit Comic Book Revolution!

The following review is excerpted from Comic Book Revolution — click here to read CBR’s full recap & review

Art: 6/10
Story: 3/10
Overall: 4.5/10

The Good

What a fittingly unimpressive finish to an over-hyped, over-blown and unoriginal big event. Having said that, there were several positives to come out of Secret Invasion #8. I am glad that Henry Pym, Dum Dum Dugan, Fontaine and Jarvis are all alive and well. I like each of those characters, in particular Henry Pym, and I was not thrilled when they all turned out to be Skrulls.

I have enjoyed how Bendis has handled Nick Fury’s character throughout Secret Invasion and all of the various tie-in issues. And my enjoyment of Bendis’ handling of Fury continues with Secret Invasion #8. I thought it was a great move by Bendis to have Nick Fury give Dum Dum and Fontaine the cold shoulder and simply teleport away from the scene without a word. It certainly seems that Marvel is making Nick Fury their version of Batman since Nick is the resident trust-nobody dick.

This scene was a great way to establish the fact that Nick Fury is going to assume a position on the fringe and operate independent of every other agency and group in the 616 universe. This scene was a subtle yet proper segue into Nick Fury’s new direction in the Marvel Universe on Secret Warriors where Nick is going to work in the shadows and outside of the law and government in order to combat Norman Osborn’s Thunderbolts and the cabal of villains that we saw at the end of this issue.

Of course, it will come as no surprise to any regular Revolution readers that what I enjoyed the most about Secret Invasion #8 was that Marvel finally removed Tony Stark from overseeing the Initiative and removed him as the Director of SHIELD. Thank God.

I have been not so patiently waiting for this moment since the minute Marvel completely screwed over Tony’s character during Civil War. Hopefully, writers like Bendis can now leave Tony alone and Iron Man fans can get back to enjoying a more entertaining and classic version of Iron Man that is true to his roots and his continuity.

Bendis did a fine job setting Norman Osborn up as the “hero” of the Skrull invasion in the eyes of the media by allowing Osborn to get the dramatic kill shot on the Skrull Queen. I absolutely love that Marvel is sliding everything under the direction of Norman Osborn. It is an excellent decision to place the Avengers, the Fifty-State Initiative and SHIELD’s old jurisdiction and duties under the Thunderbolts Initiative and under Osborn’s singular control.

Osborn is a wonderful classic Marvel villain and is the perfect character to place in charge of an “evil” government agency. And writers can now easily and relentlessly kick around Norman Osborn without having to resort to distorting his character like they have been doing with Tony Stark over the past couple of years.

The ending to Secret Invasion, while anti-climactic, without a doubt serves as a great lead-in to the next big event in Dark Reign. The fact that Norman Osborn has gathered together a cabal of villains is of no surprise at all. However the members were a bit surprising.

Doctor Doom was a predictable choice. The Hood was also painfully predictable since that is one of Bendis’ pet creations. Namor was a bit of a surprise. However, Namor has always straddled that line between hero and villain so I like his insertion into this group. Emma Frost was most definitely a surprise. This cabal of villains is an interesting flipside of the Illuminati.

In the end, the best aspect of Secret Invasion #8 has nothing to do with Secret Invasion itself. Instead, it is the next event in Dark Reign and all the titles that will spin out of the aftermath of Secret Invasion. Dark Reign, while not a terribly novel or surprising concept, most certainly has the potential to be an entertaining event that should spawn plenty of enjoyable stories.

I am certainly excited about several of the titles spinning out of Secret Invasion. I am looking forward to Agents of Atlas. This is an intriguing collection of characters and this title should provide plenty of enjoyable action adventure stories.

I am also looking forward to Secret Warriors covering Nick Fury and his newbie metahuman recruits. I have enjoyed how Bendis has handled Fury’s character up to this point and I have always thought that placing Bendis on a Nick Fury title would be a good idea. And the best part is that Bendis will be co-writing Secret Warriors with Jonathan Hickman. I hope this means that Bendis can help with plotting but leave the actual dialogue to Hickman which should help with Bendis’ obvious weakness with writing team titles.

Bendis will be kicking off a new title called Dark Avengers. While I have little interest in Dark Avengers and I question the need for a third Avengers title, the good news of Dark Avengers is that it means that Bendis will be leaving Mighty Avengers to write Dark Avengers.

And the even better news is that Dan Slott will be taking over Mighty Avengers. I am beyond ecstatic. Finally, we might actually get an Avengers title that focuses on the Avengers. And Slott is a wonderful choice to handle this team title. This title should dramatically improve. Now if we could just get Bendis off of New Avengers then I would be in heaven.

The Bad

Secret Invasion has had a paint-by-numbers feel to it since the beginning and the finale was thin, dull and predictable. It seemed like Bendis had his standard issue checklist that he got from his Big Events 101 class and simply went right down it and checked off each plotline that had to be concluded.

The biggest technical flaw to Secret Invasion #8 was the horrible decision by Bendis to deliver this final “climactic” issue in the past tense via narration from two off panel characters. This passive technique robs the issue of any energy and also removes the reader from the immediacy of the scenes as we know that everything has already been wrapped up and the Skrulls have been defeated. Instead of the reader feeling like they are experiencing the action live and as it is happening, the reader feels like they are watching the events in this issue on television in a documentary done well after the events have concluded.

I was largely unmoved by Janet’s death. It was not particularly interesting, well developed or dramatic. And Janet did not die in a particularly heroic fashion. And the impact of Janet’s threat as a last resort doomsday device was a total failure since Thor was able to dispatch her with relative ease and in short order.

I guess Bendis felt like he had to kill someone in this final issue and that Bendis chose Janet since her death would have “impact” since she is an original Avenger. And also that Janet’s death would not set off a fury of protests from fans since Janet has never been a particularly popular character with your average reader.

The ending to the war with the Skrulls was so rushed and way too easy. And the worst part was that we saw very little fighting at all. Instead, we simply saw the aftermath of the heroes dismantling the Skrull Armada. The vast majority of how the heroes won was simply told to the reader by the two off-panel voices narrating this issue. This was about as unexciting a victory in a war story that I have read.

The revelation that all the heroes and SHIELD agents who had been replaced by Skrulls were alive and well on one of the Skrull ships was another far too convenient ending to that plotline. The excuse that the technology that allowed the Skrulls to perfectly replicate a human required the Skrulls to keep that human alive seemed like a bit of a cheat. Similarly, the resolution to the disaster over at the Baxter Building was also too easy and convenient.

Now, I am a big fan of Hawkeye so I am glad that Mockingbird is not actually dead. I guess that Bendis has felt guilty for mishandling Hawkeye ever since he took over the Avengers that Bendis felt the need to give Clint the gift of having his wife back. But, the fact remains that I could have cared less about Mockingbird coming back to life or not. This had little impact on me. Honestly, has anyone been clamoring for Mockingbird to be brought back to life?

And Mockingbird being brought back makes me wonder just how far back do these Skrull replacements go? Mockingbird died in West Coast Avengers #100 and that was in 1993. So does Marvel now have a get out of death card for any character that died in the Marvel Universe since 1993?

I love how somehow Bendis has Thor blame everything on Tony. Bendis went so overboard with his misrepresentation of Tony Stark’s character and Thor’s condemnation of Tony was so heavy handed that this scene became absolutely laughable and comical.

Tony’s reaction in the scene with Maria Hill during Norman’s press conference was also just silly and out of character. All Tony does is just sit there in the dark in a chair and all he is able to utter is “What?” Please, Tony has never been presented in this fashion. Tony is a ultra-Type A personality with a mind that never stops calculating his next several moves.

(And another problem with this scene is that we have already seen during the Knaufs’ run on Iron Man: Director of SHIELD how much Tony hated running SHIELD and how he often wished that he could leave it all and return to running his own company. Tony also had already been placed under arrest by the government and stripped of his command of SHIELD during the Knaufs run. Tony had been expecting at some point for the government to end up replacing him. So, Tony’s speechless reaction by Bendis simply exposed Bendis for his lack of knowledge of anything going on outside of his own titles and his obvious lack of research before writing this issue.)

In the end, I found Secret Invasion’s ending to be an incredibly small payoff given the amount of hype and the length and scope of this big event. Even though I like the concept of Dark Reign and the possibilities that it presents with the various new titles and the general direction for the Marvel Universe, this was still an incredibly underwhelming payoff for such an overblown and overhyped event like Secret Invasion.

The long and the short of it was that the entire point of Secret Invasion was so Norman Osborne would be put in control of SHIELD’s jurisdiction, the Avengers and the Fifty-State Initiative and then, in turn, Norman would gather his own cabal of villains. Honestly, Marvel did not need to waste time going through all the ridiculously silly machinations of Secret Invasion just to get to this point. It is like using a flamethrower to light your portable barbeque grill.

Dark Reign could have been easily put in place in a much faster and easier fashion. The Knaufs already hinted during their run on Iron Man: Director of SHIELD how tenuous Tony’s position as the Director of SHIELD was. It would have been easy for the President to fire Tony since the Avengers and SHIELD continuously failed and/or refused to bring in unregistered heroes when they clearly had an opportunity to do so.

I would have found Dark Reign much cooler of an idea if it had been brought into place by something not as overly hyped as Secret Invasion. Marvel built up Secret Invasion so much that the pay-off of Osborne being in control of SHIELD’s old jurisdiction and the Initiative and forming a cabal of villains was anti-climactic and nothing particularly surprising in the least bit. Dark Reign is a rather predictable direction that most readers felt Marvel was going to move toward a long time ago.

Lastly, I am simply not a fan of Leinel Yu and Mark Morales style of artwork. All in all, Secret Invasion was not the prettiest looking big event that I have seen. Having said that, many readers love Yu’s style of art and surely they will enjoy the look of Secret Invasion #8 much more than me.

Overall

In the end, Secret Invasion event was shallow, poorly paced, sloppily plotted, often lacked internal logic and at points suffered from poor research. I am sure it will be quickly forgotten.

But, let’s take this opportunity to focus on the positive aspects of this new direction of the Marvel Universe that Dark Reign presents. While not that original or earth-shattering of an idea, it still should provide for some entertaining stories.

I do appreciate that Marvel was able to crank out Secret Invasion without any real delays. The way that Marvel handled the shipping schedule of Secret Invasion and all of the various tie-in issues was impressive. And without a doubt, some of the Secret Invasion tie-in issues were quite compelling reads that overshadowed Secret Invasion itself.

Also, while I might not agree with everything Joey Q does, that Marvel certainly has a clear direction and purpose in mind with each big event and how they lead into the next big event and the way that they impact the Marvel Universe. Marvel carefully plots out their goals and stays focused and committed to their decisions and to the direction that they are headed in. That is something that DC could learn to do.

For more reviews, scans, story recaps and news visit Comic Book Revolution!

COMIC BOOK CLUB
A Live Weekly Talk Show about Comic Books

Hosted by Justin Tyler, Pete LePage, and Alex Zalben

Tuesday, November 11th @ 8:00 PM

Featuring:
Brian Michael Bendis (Secret Invasion)
Ed Brubaker (Daredevil)
Matt Fraction (Iron Man)
& Jeff Katz (Booster Gold)

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Maybe this is just me, but there’s this one bad joke I or a friend sometimes tell where you hear someone with a unique and crazy voice and remark how you’d love to see that guy do a book on tape. You’d even listen to the Yellow Pages on CD, or something equally ridiculous, just because you love listening to that guy’s voice. Brad Garrett reading Moby Dick. Something like that.

That’s how I find Brian Michael Bendis’ recent Avengers work. The guy can write a story about the average day of an Amish farmer and he’d make it seem readable. There’s something just soothing about his writing. That explains the mixed feelings I have for today’s batch from Bendis, Mighty Avengers #17 and New Avengers #44. Well, the former at least.

On the surface, neither of these comics have much to do with the respective teams. Even when you remove the reality of the characters involved, New Avengers features none of the current New Avengers (Strange left the team) and Mighty Avengers doesn’t feature a single Mighty Avenger.

No, this is part of Secret Invasion. Secret Invasion is the big climax, at least for the moment, for Bendis’ various Avengers runs. More than Disassembled and House of M, every issue has been leading up to this event. So if New, Mighty and Illuminati have been leading up to Invasion, does that mean that Bendis gets a pass for using these two issues and the several before them for Invasion padding? That’s up for debate.

The last few months have existed to expand on the Skrull state of mind and their plans. How do they work and how did they happen? They also show the tragedy of the lead-up. With so many Skrull duplicates in the roles of heroes, we know that something bad is going to go down each time we open an issue. Every issue is another time to read and wait for the other shoe to drop. We knew that we’d see Hank Pym get beaten half to death. We knew that Elektra would ultimately lose. This week’s two issues bring another piece of dread that we hadn’t expected.

Mighty is the lesser of the two issues because ultimately, it doesn’t say too much. It may foreshadow a bit and maybe it’ll be more interesting to look back on after the event is complete, but it’s mostly padding. Entertaining and, at times, disturbing padding. The story, featuring the Skrull doppelganger of Hank Pym goes in a direction few anticipated. Despite the interesting turn of events, we know that things will make a negative turn before the issue is done. It’s only a matter of time.

Of all the issues of Bendis’ Skrull Saga, Mighty ranks as one of the least important. You won’t find answers to any riddles, but it does show the complicated effects of their plan. It shows that Skrulls, much like humans, are diverse in morality. You can’t judge a race by the actions of a few. Or… in this case, maybe you can? Maybe the Invasion will shed some more light on it.

Khoi Pham’s pencils work well for the story being told. There’s even a good use of a television in the background that gives a subtle pinpoint to the timeline. It’s just unfortunate that the final page is a redrawn version of a more high-profile artist’s work and comes across as a hand-me-down.

New Avengers has more to do with the Skrull plans, though nothing too earth shattering. It’s not like the recent issue that explained how the invasion came to be and then paid us off with the revelation that the Queen is Spider-Woman. The story has more to do with how part of the Skrull plan came to be. Explained with dialogue, even Bendis dialogue, it probably would have been underwhelming.

This issue isn’t underwhelming. It’s absolutely horrifying. Several pages in, there’s a part with Dr. Strange that gave me the creeps reading it. The slow realization of what was happening was a huge holy shit moment. What followed only proceeded to make it worse. Then, without the weapon of surprise, the rest of the issue continues to make your skin crawl. It’s one horror after the other.

The Skrulls claim to be going for peace and maybe they are, but the way they go about it is disgusting. It’s an act that’s grounded in fiction, meaning that you won’t see many examples of it in real life, but it’s just so cruel and heartless that it’s appalling. I’ve read this issue three times over and it gets harder to get through each time.

It’s nice to see that Billy Tan is improving as an artist. His work here is by far an improvement over his efforts in Spider-Man: The Other. There are so many panels and details that are just nasty. Considering the story I just described, I mean that in a very good way.

If you’re a completist, you’ll probably pick up Mighty Avengers. Only if you’re into Secret Invasion. If you’re looking for Sentry and Ares blowing stuff up, wait a couple months. Then again, you should already know that by now.

Definitely pick up New Avengers. That one’s a keeper.

New Avengers #44:

Mighty Avengers #17:

The most incredible thing about this book is that there really isn’t a stinker in the five stories that make up this collection, and they all provide actual insight into the goings-on of Marvel’s big summer event. I’m sure that all of the “new” concepts introduced in this are merely teases of stuff Bendis came up with, but each of these stories either spotlight a group of characters without their own book or provide additional context to the events surrounding the main series, bridging gaps and reuniting familiar creative teams. I was really surprised by how much there was to like in this comic, and I’m genuinely concerned that in the deluge of Secret Invasion tie-ins and miniseries this gem might get lost in the shuffle, because this is something we need to see more of.

I’m gonna go through these stories one by one to try to show how broad this book’s mandate is and how well it’s pulled off.

First, Brian Reed and Lee Weeks reprise their low-selling but well-received Captain Marvel miniseries by bridging the end of that comic and his appearance in Secret Invasion #1. Due to the fact that it’s done by that same creative team, it feels less like a continuity patch and more like a natural extension, as it should; Brian Reed is definitely Bendis’s #2 man on Secret Invasion. If you liked the miniseries, you’ll like this; if not, it’ll sufficiently recap what happened and provide much-needed context to his appearance anyway. A really solid story.

Second, Mike Carey and Timothy Green II follow up on Agent Brand’s predicament from the end of SI #1, as well as extending her character from the revelations in Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1. It’s well-executed, if sometimes confusing – there’s a revelation at the end that feels more inevitable than shocking – but it also does a great job of fleshing out Brand’s character and giving her life past Whedon.

The third story is a very fun Wonder Man and Beast story by Christos N. Gage and Mike Perkins, riffing off of the changes in the Marvel Universe since the flexible time period of the Ship o’ Skrullz to today. It’s a strong piece, and although it’s not especially revelatory it takes a good look at the remains of Hank and Simon’s friendship through the lens of distrust provided by the tone and events of Secret Invasion itself. Despite the ‘action’ occurring around it, the focus is largely on the dialogue between the two, and it shines whether the characters involved are real or not. Strong work.

The fourth story is an absolute gem, and gives me way more hope for Secret Invasion’s eventual use of Grant Morrison’s Marvel Boy character. It’s by Zeb Wells and new newuniversal artist Steve Kurth, and effectively bridges Morrison’s original Marvel Boy, Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways, New Avengers: Illuminati #4 and Secret Invasion itself, but most importantly, it actually nails Noh-Varr’s idealistic cosmic punk-rock attitude. Morally ambiguous on the best of days, Noh-Varr should be one of the defining figures of this crossover, and it’s very nice to see him treated with the care he deserves.

The final story is, to my surprise, the weakest – although this is a strong overall package. Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk reprise their low-selling but very acclaimed miniseries Agents of Atlas. While it’s fun, and does provide another neat angle on Skrull motivations, it largely feels like returning to these characters for the sake of returning, rather than because of a new story – and while it’s awesome to keep in the Agents in the public eye, this is the only story I’m iffy about since, unlike the other ones, it really kind of does feel like filler. It’s still an enjoyable read, though, and Agents fans will, I’m sure, be very happy to see the band back together for these creators and characters.

Overall, this is a stunning package, and in fact the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If this is any indication, Marvel seems to have figured out how to put together an anthology one-shot of stories filling in narrative gaps and make it all pretty damn good, and as a result this is really just a great way to spend $3.99 if you’re waiting for the next major tie-in. I thoroughly enjoyed every story in this issue, and I hope that when (not if) Marvel does this again, it’s of similar quality.
David U.’s score:

With Secret Invasion, the issues of New Avengers and Mighty Avengers, whether good or bad, are in a class of their own. After all, Secret Invasion is Bendis’ big cumulative storyline tying together a lot of loose ends from those series. They’re more like extended scenes and extra issues to the miniseries than anything else. Discarding those, I honestly haven’t read too many of the Invasion tie-ins. Yes, Captain Marvel was completely amazing and Hercules is a blast regardless of what story it’s linked to, but I’m not a regular reader of Ms. Marvel and I haven’t picked up Captain Britain yet, so I can’t comment on them.

That brings us to Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? This one-shot, based on five different stories, gives us more details on certain characters and their roles in the series. The five writers, Brian Reed, Mike Carey, Christos N. Gage, Zeb Wells and Jeff Parker keep things extremely competent and diverse in topic, while staying true to the series.

First up is Reed’s follow-up to Captain Marvel. This gives us more of an explanation towards Marvel’s actions in the first and third Invasion issues. When people read the first issue, they initially figured that his programming was making him attack the Thunderbolts. Then Captain Marvel #5 came out and made people think that Marvel was out to kill one or two Skrulls that had infiltrated the Thunderbolts. The brief scene in Invasion #3 outright confused people and forced speculation. Finally, we have a better idea of what’s going on, while looking forward to what his dealings with Norman Osborn will bring.

It answers just enough questions and succeeds in the same way as Reed and Weeks’ miniseries. You may think you know where the story is going to lead, but it swerves you in a way that seems almost natural and a breath of fresh air. Then you have to wonder what will happen next. It cements just what a great character Khn’nr is. He’s a Skrull traitor based on the soul and appearance of a Kree traitor. Now it goes even deeper.

The second story, featuring Mike Carey’s take on Agent Brand, takes place between the end of Invasion #1 and the upcoming fourth issue. It’s low on action, but works in a way to give more background to the invasion lead-in. What really helps out this story is the timing. The last couple issues of Astonishing X-Men pushed Brand into a far more likable character than the first installment of Invasion, adding to the list of easily dropped Marvel characters that Bendis has decided to latch onto. With the latest Astonishing still fresh in our mind, fans should look forward to getting to see more of SWORD’s director. Had this come out a couple months earlier, I doubt it would have come off as exciting.

Gage writes yet another Invasion side-story taking place in the Savage Land after the random dinosaur attack. This time it’s about the Mighty Avengers version of Wonder Man and Beast from the Skrull Throwback Brigade being stuck in an underground cave. The true Beast and Wonder Man are longtime friends, so the obvious distrust burns like a torch. Simon wants to believe Hank so hard, but just won’t let himself. It’s a well-played scene and the ending fits well, but I honestly haven’t read much of the Beast/Wonder Man team-ups in old Avengers to truly appreciate it. Plus I just find Wonder Man to be a tremendous tool. But that’s just me.

Next is a story about Marvel Boy, written by Zeb Wells. Since Marvel hasn’t gotten around to reprinting Morrison’s initial miniseries about the character, I only have his one issue of Illuminati and the mediocre Runaways/Young Avengers crossover to go on. What I get is that he’s a wild card in all of this. Bendis kept it very non-descriptive for Marvel Boy’s brief appearance in the first issue of Invasion #1, where he just says, “Time to go,” and leaves. Okay, now what? Two issues later and nothing’s happened with him. What’s his angle?

This story takes place moments before that throwaway scene, where Marvel Boy’s home, the Cube, is compromised by the Skrulls. While there’s a lot of confusion in the goings on of the story, we at least understand where Noh-Varr stands on all of this. It’s interesting that while Noh-Varr and Khn’nr are each meant to replace the original Mar-Vell in their own ways, they each take a complete opposite stance in terms of the Skrull invasion. I can’t wait to see what happens when they finally cross paths.

The final story features the Agents of Atlas, a mostly-ignored secret superhero team made up of old 50’s Atlas characters. They’d fall into obscurity if it were not for writer Jeff Parker forcing them into nearly everything he writes. The story is more about the idea of a team finally going after Skrulls at their own game. Though the heroes are charismatic and easy to get behind, the story almost makes them look like the bad guys. The Skrulls are shown to not be malicious and the way one of them – the narrator – is dealt with is so harsh and gruesome that you have to feel sorry for him.

Who Do You Trust? is what tie-ins should be. Not only do we stray away from continuity headaches and characteristic discrepancies, but it gives great background to the event and makes you want to read the next issue of Secret Invasion even more than the last issue of Secret Invasion did.

Now give us an Agents of Atlas ongoing already, Marvel. And reprint Marvel Boy while you’re at it!
Gavin’s score:

Pedro: I’ll start.

Mighty Avengers was good but it’s really un-mighty like. I know this isn’t in the scope of the general discussion but it feels like the book got hijacked hardcore for Secret Invasion. I don’t know who are the Bendis fans who only want his “superhero” fare but it’s a weird shift in narrative that just annoys me.

In regards to Captain Marvel, that book took a sweet awesome curve and I really care about the character. I ran into Lee Weeks at the con and he described how happy he was to get a cosmic book like this and even enjoyed the downtime moments in it that were great for his street level style. I don’t imagine that I’m the only one who wants to see what happens to that character.

As Pedro said, the Captain Marvel series went a long way towards transforming a character that had only been remembered as a martyr. What really impressed me was how effectively Brian Reed humanized a character who was fundamentally alien. The most obvious way this was done was through the focus on mortality, a theme that was obvious, but expressed in a remarkably subtle way. It informed all of his actions, even his final act of the mini-series, but Reed didn’t hammer us over the head with it. Speaking of nuance, I also loved the messiah subplot, which paid off in a big way. Two asides: (1) I think that this is the way those ’should superheroes intervene in humanitarian crises’ narratives should be handled – even though we shouldn’t ignore the unforeseen consequences, that’s hardly an excuse for inaction, and (2) Isn’t Reed’s Captain Marvel closer to a Marvel version of Superman than the Sentry is? I think that the ’superhumans trying to do their best in a complicated world’ theme is more interesting than the ‘heroes with feet of clay’ one, and that this series melds the former with the Superman character’s humanist trait.

As far as Mighty goes, I loved the issue, but I still reserve judgment about the series as a whole. Is it just me, or are the best issues of Mighty the ones focusing on a single character (or two)? It’s great to see the story of what Nick Fury’s been doing since the Secret War. In the old days, this would’ve been a few captions filled with exposition, but it works a lot better as a stand alone story. Bendis seems to have really figured out the voices of all the characters spotlighted in this issue. And the art is magnificent. One minor quibble – This story makes a lot less sense if you don’t know some really specific elements of the Marvel Universe, none of which are explained, namely (1)the relationships between Fury and his cronies before the New Marvel era, and (2) exactly when the scene with Fury and the interim director of SHIELD took place. Other than that, it was a great issue.

I didn’t even get a chance to get into the identity themes in Captain Marvel, but I’m sure one of you guys will delve into that one.

David U.: I guess I never weighed in on last week’s Captain Marvel, so let me do that first.

I think what I found really cool about this series is the whole dark-mirror aspect. Despite the fact that Khn’nr is from a species fundamentally opposed to Mar-Vell and the Kree, his origin and mission are almost identical (”Fuck you guys, I’m going native!”). The entire series really comes together well at the end, and not only serves as a nice lead-in to Secret Invasion but also the origin of what could be a really interesting character for years to come. I don’t know if he’ll keep this role, or become Captain Conner or something like that, but I’m really intrigued to see where his story leads and what kind of role he’ll be playing in the overall Marvel context during and especially after Secret Invasion. Brian Reed’s really raised his game with this series, far beyond his work on the early issues of Ms. Marvel, and putting Lee Weeks on a cosmic book was an inspired stroke on Marvel’s part, since it feels at once spacey and weighty, getting across a sense of the fantastic with a gritty edge, much like Yu’s art on Secret Invasion proper. It’s a smart book and a fun mystery that wisely doesn’t pull back on its cliffhangers or talk down to its reader – if you figure it out halfway through, you figured it out, but the remaining issues, and the how, and the why, are all still very intriguing. I’m hoping the Front Line and Spider-Man SI tie-ins follow this standard of quality.

Jumping to this week, Reed also contributes Ms. Marvel #26, a story that loses dramatic impact largely because it’s set right *before* Secret Invasion, so we basically know that Carol gets out of this alive and intact and not a Skrull. As a result, it serves largely to tie up a bunch of ongoing plotlines from Reed’s run, including the alien background of her ex-boyfriend. While a perfectly fine comic, it doesn’t really contribute much to the overall picture of Secret Invasion (although I may very well retract that statement when this arc wraps up next issue).

And then there’s Mighty Avengers #12, the first part of the return of Nick Fury and a story clearly meant to go in New Avengers (where it was originally announced). As a result, this book goes from day-glo superhero funhouse to gritty, street-level depiction of the early stages of the Invasion, a change that, for people only following Mighty, will be extremely jarring. However, it’s difficult to think of a way to really distinguish these books based on their previous themes at this point; Secret Invasion has united the two plotlines so thoroughly that it’s difficult to see how the two books could, in the context of Secret Invasion, be distinguished. So, what we really have here is part one of two of Secret Invasion: The Return of Nick Fury, and on that level it’s pretty damn good.

Bendis’s promises of rewinding the clock were no claim; this literally rewinds the clock to the end of Secret War and takes us to two weeks before the Breakout in New Avengers #1, for a total period of five and a half months. This timeline is laid out very plainly. Bendis’s Fury is a character we haven’t seen in years, and it’s great to rediscover him; his patented blend of world-weary pessimism and an unyielding drive to protect always make him an interesting character to watch, and Bendis gives him a tough-love attitude that really resonates with me, especially in the scene he shares with Maria Hill, which I thought was exceptional.

What I’m wondering about the final spread is this: Are these A) Potential Skrulls? Maybe red for thinks they are, blue for no? or B) Potential Avengers recruits? I’ve long thought that Nick Fury engineered the Breakout and the heroes who helped there, and with this issue ending two weeks prior it certainly gives him enough time to form the first iteration of the New Avengers (a group remarkably similar to the posse Fury put together for Secret War).

Joe: As someone who has a bare inkling of what a kree even is, or no idea what the hell nega-bands are, the story felt very solidly held together by the simple thread of someone deciding who they are. Which is somewhat of a feat, because on my second read through, I realized that this was basically an exposition issue. However, Reed managed to dress the story in religious imagery, add meaning, and explain everything I feel that I need to know about Captain Marvel. I also want to add that Lee Weeks’ layouts were really solid, and he the inks, colors and overall production of the book were done in such a way that the various pieces of art didn’t clash in an overt way.

Possibly the most interesting thing that Brian Reed does in the book is the way dramatizes the memory implant scene. We discover a side of the Skrulls that isn’t the sneering, cackling evil shapeshifter, but the Skrull who just has a job, and wants to get home as quickly as possible to his wife. Reed and Weeks manage to create a bright comic that touches interesting themes without bogging it down with didactics by filling it with a few every-day moments.

Mighty avengers, is also mainly an exposition book. I felt that it wasn’t as successful. Spy action was to be had, but as someone who has been following those books, this was 22 pages that may have been better left unsaid in the full scope of the story. It was everything I had assumed Nick Fury was up to. While a solid book with great art, the felt pretty empty. It doesn’t say much other than ‘Fury’s on the job’ or that ‘Fury’s been on the job’. But we knew that, or rather we imagined it. It doesn’t really say anything. It’s also an issue of timing. This would have been a great precursor to Secret Invasion, right now we’re in the opening arc, it strikes me a bad move in terms of pacing. It might have even worked in the middle/end right before a ‘Fury Returns’. Right now? The flashback takes all the energy in the room that he’s been bringing with the big book that it was. Ending with the big-board of who Fury thinks is a skrull would have been a great element to have right before this all started.

I also agree with pedro that going from a book with a “KRAZZRAKKKA”, a “FRAKABOOM” AND a “CRASSH” on the same page, to a slow-ish burn spy story told in a style that harkens to the Bendis/Maleev Daredevil run, is jarring. I’m not against such a style change, but it seems to me, that there aren’t clear thematic reasons for doing this, at least none that are clear to me at the moment.

Looking at this in context with what’s currently going on in New Avengers, Powers, USM, and SI, it’s making me think that Bendis may need a break and hit something new. While still solid, a lot of his work feels lacking in the danger, audacity, and energy that crackled in his previous work. I think he may be too comfortable in his chair as king of the Marvel’s writer’s room, as this should have been shot down by his editors. He’s such a great writer that I feel loathe to push praise on an otherwise decent book. This is the man that wrote Alias & Daredevil in a way that will forever live on shelves.

He’s so comfortable in his abilities to stage a solid spy drama, he relies on Maleev to bring drama, intesity, and incredible art to the story, that he’ll manage to wow some of us for now. I don’t want to say he’s phoning it in, because I don’t think that’s what’s going on, I just think he isn’t on his A game. His B game is still good but… a year from now, no one will remember Mighty Avengers #12.

And as Jamaal often says, we shouldn’t lower our expectations just because we’re in love with the medium. ‘Okay’ doesn’t cut it.

Paul: I don’t have much to say about the writing in the Captain Marvel mini that hasn’t already been said. Reed managed to make me interested in a character that, upon his initial return, I saw absolutely no purpose for. This is an actually meaningful event tie-in; Captain Marvel’s return has been validated by the existence of Secret Invasion.

One interesting aspect of the art of the comic is how it shows how much influence an inker has on the art of a book. Weeks had a grand total of five different inkers over the course of the mini, each with a distinctive style of inking, and no issue really looks the same. Gaudiano’s soft inking style and Butch Guice’s heavy use of blacks are nothing alike, and both are in turn entirely distinguishable from Klaus Janson’s looser, bolder lines. Honestly, this was a little jarring to me, although it’s still preferable to (unintentional) artist switches in the middle of a mini or storyline. Also, while I don’t mean to put down Lee Weeks’ otherwise excellent pencilwork, the comic did bring up an issue I have with not just this comic, but with the visual look of Secret Invasion and how it’s in stark contrast with its themes and writing style; Skrulls inherently look really, really silly. While Captain Marvel himself looks iconic and understated enough to work in an attempt at a mature superhero story, Weeks unfortunately opted to go with the aliens’ traditional look of little big-eared green men in purple bodysuits, and it feels very out of place considering the tone of the comic. It made the scene with the Skrulls in issue 5 that Joe was referring to more comical than Reed probably intended for it to be. It was still a good scene, but it was visually awkward.

That’s not to say it’s impossible to draw Skrulls with a more appropriate look for the story. Alex Maleev did an amazingly effective rendition of one of the aliens in Mighty Avengers #12; It looked genuinely alien and unsettling while still maintaining its distinguishing Skrully characteristics. I swear that man manages to up his game with everything he draws.

As for the issue itself, I’m a little torn. It was a very good issue in itself, but I agree with the sentiment that this simply didn’t feel like an issue of Mighty Avengers. Like David U said, this was originally billed as a story in New Avengers, and it would fit in a lot better there, but Bendis is already doing another Secret Invasion storyline in that comic. On the other hand, I prefer Bendis writing this sort of thing to what he was doing in the first eleven issues of Mighty, since he’s a lot better at it, and I think he himself would agree. You could make the case that Mighty Avengers is him trying to move out of his comfort zone and write a big, bright, whiz-bang superhero comic for once, but despite amusing individual scenes the book overall feels a little hollow to me.

I do disagree with Joe that this issue was unnecessary or poorly timed. For one, I think it’s important to remind people who Nick Fury is and what he does after he’s been absent from the comics for so long. He’s going to be returning in the pages of Secret Invasion and will probably be a major player, so building up to that return is a smart move. It also adds new layers to the two characters he informs about the threat, particularly the second one, since it’s revealed they knew more than we were actually let on to believe. As for the timing, I’m not sure what difference it would have made to show Fury contemplating things before Secret Invasion started instead of after the first issue came out. The event isn’t over yet, and there are still plenty of unresolved mysteries and hidden Skrulls; Having this storyline in Mighty Avengers run concurrently with Secret Invasion feels like an intentional decision to build up the character in time for Secret Invasion #4.

Chris: In addition to being a fun read, I think the Captain Marvel mini gives us a good look into how the Skrulls might be prosecuting the “hearts and minds” side of the “Invasion”. It will be interesting to see how much of the events surrounding Mar-Vell/Khn’rr were orchestrated by the Skrulls, because if only the sleeper agent properly “awoke”, this would have been a brilliant propaganda plan.

Whether or not they planned his escape and “return” in the midst of Civil War “Captain Marvel” returned, messiah-like, right as all of the other (human) heroes were fighting like rowdy schoolchildren. Throughout CW and World War Hulk, Marvel stayed above the fray, and he garnered more good will as he stopped Skrulls posing as Cyclone/Cobalt Man from killing lots of civilians. The Church of Hala serves as “his” propaganda arm, and in general Marvel becomes a more trusted and beloved hero than anyone in the Initiative.

Now imagine that same hero turning around and telling people to trust the new Skrull “visitors”. It almost makes me wonder if we shouldn’t be suspecting a second wave of infiltrated Skrulls, based not on their “ability to do the most damage” a la Duggan and Jarvis, but based on who could garner the most good will for the colonization. Of course, most of the people who fit the bill (Thor, Captain America, Reed Richards) seem kind of off the table. Still, a nice wrinkle and a mini-series that far exceeded everyone’s probably minimal expectations for it.

As for the discussion of whether the Fury story belongs in New or Mighty Avengers: I get the impression the difference between the two books will be largely academic for the bulk of the crossover. I think it’s really smart to relegate plot points like this over to the Avengers books, where people reading them are likely relatively steeped and interested in the backstory and greater ‘universe’ instead of trying to integrate it into the main event mini-series, where it’d likely bog things down or be explained too briefly for anyone’s satisfaction. I enjoyed it as a background story, and look forward to adding “Nick Fury’s Glamour Shots” to the ever-increasing Bendis OCD Listmaking required to try to guess future plot points. Seriously, why would Fury be looking at Hydro-Man or Gargoyle? Is that like when you buy a pack of baseball cards looking for Don Mattingly or Kirby Puckett, but you end up with a bunch of Odibie McDowell and Rick Rhoden cards instead? Is it a private joke? Viral marketing? Damn you, Bendis!

The book was quite good, and went in some surprising directions. Bendis did a great job of revealing shocking surprises (everything you thought you knew was wrong!), and introducing new, compelling mysteries for the future. What’s more, he did in a way that would be satisfying to long-term and novice readers. If you’ve been reading Marvel Comics for the last twenty years (reluctantly raises hand), the plot fits in perfectly with established continuity and character. At the same time, he doesn’t overly rely on the distant past when building this story. The Skrulls who are the villains of this piece are not the same ones who have plagued the Avengers and Fantastic Four for the last forty years, so you don’t have to really know how they lost their ability to shape change, or how they got that power back.

However, I would still argue that one would have to be familiar with Bendis’ previous work (his run on New Avengers, the Secret War and Illuminati miniseries), and I would imagine some other books as the series progresses (Silent War, Namor, etc.) to fully appreciate the story that Bendis is telling. I would actually go further than that and say that one isn’t fully reading the story he is telling without following the subplots in the titles named above. I think it’s the equivalent of watching the second half of a film and claiming to have watched the entire film. The only reason that people don’t commonly think this way is because of the nature of the comic book marketplace, which encourages consumption in periodical form rather than ‘graphic novel form’. I’m sympathetic to the needs of the marketplace, and the imperative that publishers feel to put out books in this format, but until I get a financial stake in the business, any notion of ‘accessibility’ is somewhat beside the point to me.

Getting to the theme of the story, I must admit that I’ve always been skeptical of claims that any super hero comic book resonates with modern-day events. Every time Pedro sends me a link to some mainstream interview where the interviewer or the creator claims that “this is just like Issue ‘X’”, I roll my eyes. But what impressed me the most about the issue was how deftly Bendis drew parallels to the War on Terror. The Skrulls, like our antagonists in the Middle East, have had many low-level conflicts with Marvel heroes for decades. Because we always figured that human ingenuity and pluck would always prevail, we never took them very seriously. As a part of that, we never felt any need to learn anything about their history, culture, or ethnic divisions. We caricatured their strangeness, and interpreted all of their qualities through the prism of our own experience. They were just like people, you see, but with lizard – like skin. They changed shape, sure, but we minimized their non-human qualities. What struck me most about the first issue was how foreign they seemed. This wasn’t a futuristic version of humanity, but something completely alien. This idea was really reinforced by Yu’s brilliant art and the repetition of the “He loves you” phrase. It’s amazing because it’s utterly confusing. Almost like the confusion that people have about those would massacre innocents in the name of God. Who did not accept the “end of history.”

I don’t have the time now, but someone can write an entire essay about the similarities between post-Cold War America and post-Civil War Marvel U. Or between Francis Fukuyama and Tony Stark.

featuring the 4thletter! and Funnybook Babylon gang! David U, David B, Jamaal, Gavin, Chris, and Joe

Secret Invasion hit this week, and I’m sure that you’re already clued in about the spoilers. I gathered up some friends and we decided to take a look at the issue. All of us enjoyed the issue a great deal, and you can check out a couple of reviews from Gavin and David U here. Despite that, a few of us had some issues, so we ended up with plenty to talk about. 3500 words, in fact. It’s lengthy, but give it a read and talk it out with us in the comments.

Look for more SI coverage at PCS in the coming weeks. This has been Marvel’s most interesting crossover yet, so we’re gonna talk it out and see if we can get some predictions in.

There were a couple things that impressed me about this issue- the pace and the continuity. The issue really feels like a slow burn, despite a fast-paced start. Bendis hits the ground running, but ramps up the speed toward the end of the issue until you’re finally hit with something like one “Oh, snap!” moment a page for the last dozen or so pages. It’s a neat trick and shows that Bendis has really learned his lesson from House of M. Setup is good, but getting right into the action is much better.

The continuity surprised me in how little of it you had to know. Maybe Joe can speak to this better than I can since he’s newer to comics than me, but I felt like the reveal of the kidnapped (?) heroes was done in a way that made it plain that these are older, or alternate, versions of the heroes we’ve been following. I don’t need to know about the Civil War or House of M or whatever for Secret Invasion to make sense.

David U.: I think what Bendis is doing continuity-wise, actually – and it’ll take a few more weeks before I can say for sure, but – is doing as much as he can to make Secret Invasion a standalone story, while moving all of the continuity-based revelations to the Avengers books. If you just want to follow the main story, SI #1-8; however, if you’ve been reading Avengers since NA1 and want to know how it all fits together, then the Avengers books will provide those revelations and context.

Also, Civil War #6 is now Completely hilarious when you consider the fact that Hulkling went to the West Coast, pretended to be a SHIELD agent, got the Skrull pretending to be Hank Pym alone, knocked out the Skrull, and then pretended to be another Hank Pym, who was actually a Skrull in the first place, probably laughing his ass off.

Gavin: Anyone else notice the use of foreground silhouettes? Every single revealed Skrull got one. Here’s a list of those who also got one:

- Bald dude at SHIELD that kind of looks like the guy from Cloud City.
- Wolverine, twice
- Johnny Storm
- Thunderbolts, Johnny and the Richards kids when reacting to explosions, so that may not count.
- Someone standing next to Spider-Man. Wolverine again?
- Sentry

I’d think I’d be on to something, but the F4 part probably tosses a wrench in it.

David B.: I’m pretty sure that Wolverine was the guy standing next to Spidey, but we’ll let the images here tell the tale. It’s an interesting theory, but I’m not sure if it holds up since the F4 also get silhouettes. We’ll find out next issue, I think.

Am I the only one who wouldn’t mind Wolverine being a Skrull? Again? It was pretty awesome the first time it happened.

My two front-runners for Skrulls in the Avengers were Spider-Woman and Black Widow, due mainly to their actions in Mighty and New Avengers, but now I’m not so sure. The first thing Spider-Woman does is call the Secret Avengers and fill them in, which is either her being very straightforward about the invasion or her playing mind games as a Skrull infiltrator. She did call them right in front of Jarvis, which is fishy…

Gavin: I still think Spider-Woman is a good guy in this, despite being a Skrull. Somebody has to be in stories like this.

People think it can’t be Wolverine because he’s already been impersonated. If he turns out to be a Skrull, it would be very Scream. Like in that movie, the boyfriend was made the #1 suspect and shown to be a red herring, only for him to turn out to really be one of the killers. It would definitely bring this whole event up another level by having someone truly major be a Skrull. Pym doesn’t count.

As for Sentry, that’s a scary concept. The guy is a walking personality disorder already. What happens when he realizes he isn’t even himself? If he is one, it would be cool if Lindy figured it out and that’s why she was warning Iron Man a few issues back.

I really like Secret Invasion based on its potential. This isn’t a thing where they say it will change the Marvel world and in the end it probably won’t. Everything has to change. Cop-out is impossible.

Joe: Never say Never.

I did enjoy the hell out of Secret Invasion #1, I must say. It was a wild roller coaster ride, Bendis seems to mesh really well with Yu on this one. The action comes in quick and heavy, and doesn’t waste anytime with exposition. There are Skrulls, no one knows who, and bam lets go

The only qualm I have about the book is the reveal of the wayback avengers that are clones, time-doubles, or Skrulls, Leinil’s Yu’s awesome drawings of the old school style avengers distracted me from the groan I experienced on the second go around.

I don’t think this is particularly similar to the Clone Saga (Spider-Man storyline), or even the LSH clone plotline (which is only remembered by Giffen, the Bierbaums, and I) chiefly because Bendis seems to know how he wants to resolve it. The reason you get the bullshit endings of the other storylines is because no one knew how to end them, and they were developed for extrinsic reasons (people didn’t like the sad Spider-Man/LSH).

Joe:This is going to end (as I see it) one of 3 ways, since we’ve all seen this story line before:

Option 1 – BSG Rip off: They are revealed to be a Skrulls, the question is to they even know. They get discovered or found out, and it’s simply a storyline lifted from Battlestar Galactica. Or, They don’t know that they are Skrulls, but are, and get replace by the way back avengers, again somewhat lifted from the way back avengers.

Option 2 – Classic Marvel Style: They’re time shifted, They fight along side the avenger against the Skrulls, and it ends with Bucky shaking Steve Rogers’s hand in a tearful goodbye.

Option 3 – Clone Saga part 2: They’re clones, and they stick around in continuity for a while, confusing the hell out of everyone for the next two years, when it finally gets ret-conned or mostly dying and just bringing Steve Rogers back.

Those are the only options I can see, and they all look pretty stupid, and very crappy-crossovery, to me. But I think I’ve figured out what’s been bugging the hell out of me about the whole Secret Invasion thing. I went through this whole process of guesswork and shock revelations last year with Battlestar Galactica, and it was done so masterfully over there, that I feel like the whole Secret Invasion thing might have too much of a re-hashed feel for me to get too excited about it. Maybe a bit like trying to watch Law & Order after an episode of The Wire. Law & Order’s a great show, but it’s not really grounded, and doesn’t have the emotional impact for me that The Wire does.

I don’t know… I really hope Bendis has a 4th option I have thought of.

Still though, I don’t want to take away that the writing bristles with fast paced energy, the art is fantastic, and that despite all my conjectures, I do want to know what happens next… Needless to say I am staying tuned, I’m just bit wary at where this is all going, because I have a sneaking suspicion of a BIG FAT COP-OUT ENDING.

David U.: Honestly, the best comparison in terms of previous event comics is DC’s Millennium, which had nowhere near the amount of proper build-up this had and was also really crappy. I also don’t suspect a cop-out ending, largely because I don’t recall the cop-out endings to anything else Bendis has done other than maybe Disassembled.

Joe: As far as following the events of Battlestar Galactica… One is about genocidal religious-zealots space aliens that can look just like us, and one is about genocidal religious-zealots space robots that can look just like us. You can’t deny that there are at least common themes here. HEY LOOK! They infiltrated the defense organization of the planet/colonies and shut down our Battlestars/Iron Man, our most powerful defense, by hacking our computers! Oh, and it’s partially an allegory about the war on terror!

Look, it’s not a new story, it’s been done by plenty of people before Battlestar (see Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and I’m not accusing Bendis of cribbing, but to not see that this plot-line isn’t something we’ve seen before is willful denial. But, we’re here to see how the Bendis cover version of the body-snatchers plotline is played out with the Avengers backing him, and that’s fine. That’s the setup.

The point I was trying to make is that the ship full of time-displaced/ clone/Skrully heroes is that doesn’t strike me as a story that can go anywhere interesting. Instead of ACTUALLY dealing with the trust & identity issues inherent in a Secret Invasion, we’re going to get the throw-back heroes. It seems that it is in itself a cop-out.

If it is a mix time-displaced/clone/Skrull retro-heroes, it would take a few exposition heavy issues just to explain the damn thing, let alone resolve it. Reed Richard splayed out in silly string was fucking dramatic and shocking. The super-friend Avengers back from some secret war in space, not so much.

For my money, they’re time-displaced, and you all know how much I hate stupid time-travel plots. The more I think about the retro-heroes the more I get depressed about the series.

Joe: Despite loving the art, and liking the story so up to this point, the whole retro-heroes thing really sticks in my craw. It strikes me as a bad idea, one that’s going to end stupidly. If the next issues doesn’t deal with the retro-heroes, I’m going to say, “what happened to the retro heroes”, if it does, I’m likely to say, “why are we spending all this time dealing with retro heroes?”. I don’t like the retro-heroes direction that this is going in so far, even less so the more I think about it. Truth be told, since I’m going to have to hear about the Secret Invasion for the next few months, I hope I’m wrong.

But, I never said that I’m bailing on this book, I’m just saying that I don’t currently see where the retro-heroes story line could possibly go that’s of any interest to me. Bendis has surprised me in the past, and I’m staying on in hopes of being surprised.

As a fan of the medium, can I enjoy the art, layout decision, scripting decisions at the panel/page level even if I think the overarching story is (or in this case might be) crap?

There’s so much more going on in this book than the simple plot, Leinil Yu’s doing some fantastic work at the page panel level. Bendis is doing some great scripting at the page panel level. The way that the retro-heroes were revealed was great, stack of 7 smaller and smaller horizontal panels, followed by a wide of the retro heroes coming back from an regular old adventure, cutting to close ups of the new-heroes. Exquisitely done. Everything packs a punch.

As far as continuity:

-Who the hell is Khn’nr? -And also I have no idea who is Captain Marvel is (this one doesn’t look like he’s gonna say shazam!), or Marvel-Boy or his cube…

So I guess the concept of this being devoid of continuity is out of the water… but there were still 37 pages of the 40 that I was able to understand so I guess I should be thankful.

David U.: These are aspects that will be introduced into the main series later, I’m talking about it from the point of view of someone who’s been keeping up with this story extensively. You’re not criticizing the book, you’re criticizing my comments about it – everything you need to know about those characters is laid out (Marvel Boy is a terrorist, Captain Marvel is acting weird).

Chris: Captain Marvel (or Mar-Vell) was a military leader and hero of the Kree civilization, who are traditional nemeses of the Skrulls. He got cancer somehow from fighting Nitro (the exploding guy who blew up Stamford and was the Gavrillo Princip of Civil War) and died about twenty five years ago our time.

Captain Marvel came back during Civil War, apparently time-displaced from a period after he got cancer but before he died. He got put in charge of the Negative Zone Prison, but apparently quit that job and is currently featured in his own mini-series, where it’s currently posited (by a Skrull) that he is actually Khn’nr, a Skrull sleeper agent. The final issue of the mini hasn’t come out yet, but I assume that his connection to the government’s Negative Zone prison is tied into his attack on the Thunderbolts. Whether it’s as an agent of the Skrulls or not, who knows…

Marvel Boy is Noh-Varr, another Kree who’s apparently from an alternate dimension. He showed up on “our” Earth back in a 2001 mini- series by Grant Morrison and JG Jones, which I imagine will be the subject of some sort of Event Interview pissing contest in coming months. Like the Skrulls, he wants Earth to serve as the new throneworld for his people’s empire. He’s barely appeared since his mini-series, popping up in the Young Avengers/Runaways Civil War mini, but more importantly in issue four of Bendis’s Illuminati. In that story, the Illuminati appeal to his better principles, pointing to Captain Marvel as an inspiration for peaceful Kree-Human relations. This pep-talk seemed to get through to him at least a bit, which means I imagine he’s going to run across potential-Skrull Captain Marvel at some point.

I agree these two introductions were a little opaque to a fresh reader, but one hopes that Bendis will develop and explain both characters and their motivations more in the next seven issues.

Jamaal: Why would it be good for Secret Invasion to be divorced from continuity?

David B.: I think that it’d be a good thing to be divorced at least a little so that it reads better as a standalone story. Civil War bugged me because characters would switch allegiances in another comic, and then suddenly appear on the other side in the main event book.

I’m sure that some of that will come into play during the course of the series, but I don’t really expect to see a continuity trawl that doesn’t at the same time include a flashback that’ll explain everything you need to know.

I guess I was a little off on the continuity point, but I was close. Joe not knowing just who Captain Marvel and Noh-varr are is a pretty good start. I do feel like Bendis did a great job setting the stage in terms of introductions. “Here are the Avengers. They don’t like the Secret Avengers. Here’s the Fantastic Four– Susan is the mommy.” And so on.

Looking at the characters who appeared out of the ship, they can be divided up into two big factions, and then one for remainders.

Avengers prisoners:Old School Thor, Leisure Suit Wonder Man, Non-cat Beast, Old Hawkeye, Classic Iron Man, the Vision, Scarlet Witch, Mockingbird, Captain America, and Old school Ms Marvel. X-Men prisoners: Dominatrix Emma Frost, Phoenix, and Wolverine.

The leftovers are Spider-Man, Classic Luke Cage, Old (or maybe Waid/Ringo-era) Susan Storm, and Jewel.

I think this is a clue as to when the Skrulls may have started infiltrating the world. The X-Men prisoners are kind of clearly a reference to the Dark Phoenix Saga, but I don’t know Avengers history well enough to place that team.

Jamaal: I think the X-prisoners (assuming they’re prisoners), come from that era, but it’s not necessarily tied into any plotline (even though the Emma Frost part kind of skews things – how the hell did she end up with that group). I would actually tie Jewel and Cage in with the Avengers, because these versions of the characters were around during that era of the Avengers (so they may have been abducted/copied during that time period).

There’s something that’s very meta about the retro-heroes part of this story, though. Do you guys think that this works apart from the meta text?

David B.: Meta in what way? In terms of showing the present day vs the Silver Age?

Jamaal: It offers false hope to disaffected fans. Or at least is consciously toying with that possibility. Think about all the:

- drastic changes in a character’s personality
- mysterious deaths and rebirths
- drastic changes in character appearance and/or costume
- popular characters that are commonly guest stars in other people’s books

Over the last year, fans have developed theories about the identity of Skrull sleeper agents. Any one who was acting ‘out of character’, or had a ‘mysterious change’ could be a candidate, especially if that character was involved in a storyline that the fan didn’t like (like Civil War). I think that Bendis is tempting those fans with the notion that everything that happened in the last few years (Civil War, House of M, Disassembled, OMD) was part of a Skrull plot, along with some of the little things that old-school fans used to complain about (Beast, Phoenix, Sue Storm). Now, I think that he’s going to burst everyone’s bubble with issue 2, but it makes me wonder if the development works in the context of the story itself.

Not to speculate (because Chris might beat me up), but the selection of heroes seems completely random otherwise.

Chris: The only real connection that seems to exist in the line-up is that it very tightly mirrors the cast of the Avengers circa issue 200 or so, in the Michelinie era.

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/avengers/200-1.jpg

Check out the cover: Jocasta and the Wasp are unaccounted for, and I guess Hank Pym but he’s off being a Skrull elsewhere. I don’t have a great recollection of this run, but I don’t recall anything particularly “cosmic” going on, and Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye both had moved on from the costumes they’re wearing here, so I don’t know if this is really a connection or not.

The whole group of people is pretty clearly not from the same ‘moment’ in the era either, as the Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel costumes had been discarded by the time that Emma Frost or Mockingbird debuted.

It’s also interesting to note that the leaked script (which was what Huxford had, not spoilers, a script) has a lot of changes, but describes the heroes coming out of the ship as “Spider-Man with web armpits” and “Wolverine in his Hulk 181″ costume as well.

Remember in the first arc of New Avengers, where they ended up in the Savage Land? They end up getting captured and strung up naked in a laboratory. Spider-Woman mentioned this in the last issue of Mighty Avengers, actually.

Anyway, while held captive the Savage Land guy (the one in cahoots with the people who broke everyone out of the Raft) gloated over being able to “continue my experiments on [their] unique biology”. With the exception of Spider-Woman, every single person hung up there (Luke, Cap, Iron Man, Wolverine, Spider-Man) are in the boat of Retro Heroes.

Maybe that means nothing, but the first issue of SI took place right by that bunker where they were held. I have to assume it’s going to be brought back up.

David B.: Oh, I just realized something– Spider-Woman can’t be a Skrull. She’s been secretly working with Fury this entire time.

David U.: Unless Fury knows she’s a Skrull that’s a sleeper, or knows she’s a Skrull that’s turned.

Also, God I hope script leaking doesn’t become the new vogue in comics.

Secret Invasion #1
Brian Michael Bendis, story
Leinil Francis Yu, pencils
Mark Morales, inks
Laura Martin, colors
Leinil Francis Yu, Steve McNiven, Gabrielle Dell’otto, covers
Marvel Comics

David U.: It’s really, really, really, really promising. Despite growing organically out of years-long ongoing storylines in the Avengers titles, Secret Invasion #1 manages to please both devotees who’ve been waiting for this and the new reader looking for a succinct hook, a la Civil War. With deftness and economy that I honestly wasn’t sure Bendis was capable of – as much as I love his writing – the scope of the situation and threat are clearly laid out and the characters introduced in a manner that seems harmonic with Bendis’s trademark polarizing dialogue. (I love it.)

Leinil Yu does an extraordinary job on the art, and softened by Mark Morales’s inks and Laura Martin’s colors, it looks like an appropriate middle ground between the styles of both Avengers books. Additionally, Yu’s punctuality is a huge sigh of relief for an event like this, as it’s highly unlikely for major delays to hit this title – and the quality won’t suffer.

A lot of intriguing mysteries are set up, and Bendis’s decision to have a double-sized first issue (a lesson he claims to have learned from negative fan response to House of M #1) pays off in spades by giving him the space to set a mood as well as substantially move the plot. Highly recommended.

Gavin: Brian Michaels Bendis has had a habit of writing events that miss, yet somehow hit at the same time. The issues for Secret War came out so sparingly that it had completely lost its luster by the time the last issue arrived, but it reads really well in trade form. House of M is also an excellent full story, but it was split into eight uneven parts and felt pointless for a time. Now we have Secret Invasion, which may just be Bendis learning from his flaws and making what has potential to be an amazing event finale.

It took until the end of the first issue of House of M for the shit to hit the fan. Here, it’s barely halfway through the first issue. I think what makes this issue work so well is that we go into it knowing that we aren’t going in it looking for any real answers, but looking for what questions we are supposed to ask. And believe me, there are plenty of questions. One of which, coming from a cliffhanger, reminds me of Kitty Pryde’s recrent, “Yeahbutwhat?” reaction from Astonishing X-Men, only multiplied by seventeen.

The other cliffhanger, while not totally surprising, is still shocking just due to the grotesqueness of the scene. Cliffhangers and mysteries aside, there’s plenty of things to love about Secret Invasion #1. Not just the beautiful Leinil Yu art, but the characterization Bendis always brings to the table. Avengers vs. Avengers has been done a lot over the past few months, but this is the first time it feels real. Maybe it’s because this time we see leader vs. leader and the New Avengers don’t have Strange to hide behind. Here’s hoping Bendis can keep up the momentum.