The Pullbox

Secret Invasion is Marvel’s latest big summer event, and so far, it’s started out just like its predecessors: World War Hulk and Civil War: Bad Ass! But will it continue and finish as strongly as it began?

Here’s a SPOILER FILLED review of the latest issue of Secret Invasion as well as my theories as to where it’s headed…

I’m of the opinion that Civil War ended the only way it could, and it was great. But like many other fans, I was somewhat disappointed with the entire last issue of World War Hulk. I found it to be anticlimactic, at best. Many people felt that way about Civil War too. And so the general fear in the Comic Geek Community is that this event, like the previous two, will be great up ’till the final issue, and that’s where it’ll fall apart. I definitely hope not, because its been great so far.

Secret Invasion #2

Written by: Brian Michael Bendis

Pencils: LEINIL FRANCIS YU

Inks: Mark Morales

Colors: Laura Martin

The first thing that jumps out at me about this title is the artwork. Yu’s artwork is incredible in this book. I’ve been a fan of his since he first started on New Avengers, but somehow his art on Secret Invasion is so much better. It may be Mark Morales‘ inks. I think they mesh really well with Yu. Yu has such a raw, jagged, rough style, that when he inks himself, its good. But when you get an outside inker to smooth out his edges, it becomes so much better. Martin’s colors definitely help even more. The book is downright beautiful.

Moving on to the writing, Bendis is firing on all cylinders. I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed by a Bendis title, and this is no exception. In fact, I think he’s at the top of his game. Especially since he’s been planning this for… who knows how long? He’s been planting the seeds in New Avengers and Mighty Avengers since the beginning, and the effort shows.

RECAP: SPOILERS AHEAD

The issue picks up where #1 ended: in the Savage Land with our heroes (the New and Mighty Avengers) facing off against old school versions of themselves including Phoenix, Beast, Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, the White Queen (Emma Frost), the Invisible Woman, the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Thor, Mockingbird, and the Vision, among others.

It doesn’t take long for both groups of heroes, each assuming the other is a group of Skrulls, to engage in battle. Once again the Sentry is deflected by throwing his paranoia into his face. For as much as I love this awesome character, I hate how easily he’s defeated time and time again. In fact, it only took one page, made up of 8 panels to defeat the Sentry. Earth’s Mightiest Hero? The Battle continues. Ronin, who is actually Clint Barton (the original Hawkeye) takes charge of the situation and starts taking out the other side one by one, starting with the other side’s Hawkeye. Before he can finish, a huge dinosaur comes out of the jungle and breaks up the fight, killing a few of the fighters including the old-school Hawkeye and Spider-Man, who were both Skrulls.

Turns out some of the heroes that came out of the ship were Skrulls, and others were not. We get confirmation that Mockingbird was definitely not a Skrull, and she assumes the Captain America on the ship is the real deal. Meanwhile, the Skrull ship shows up in NYC and dozens of crazy ass looking Super Skrulls come out.

It should also be noted that Tony Stark’s armor has been incapacitated, but he’s hard at work building something to beat the Skrulls with.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

This issue was great. The dialogue was so much fun, including the two Spider-Men bantering. “Ugh! Tell me I’m NOT that annoying.” – “You are.” – “(I Know.)” Classic. The issue definitely puts the idea into your head that Captain America’s death was all Skrully, and the true blue Cap was on that ship… but personally, I don’t think so. Every time we’ve seen Skrulls die, we’ve seen them revert back to their Skrully look. The Captain America that died, did not become a Skrull afterwards. So I don’t think they’re going to pull that on us. I do, however, think Phoenix on the ship was the real one. It’ll be great to see her back without it being a temporary “back from the dead for one storyline then dead again” scheme. It would be great if she stuck around for good.

To wrap up… Ms. Marvel’s ass is amazing. Read this book, and all future issues.