Now that Marvel's Secret Invasion event has reached a conclusion of sorts, 
the publisher is readying the requisite collections of each storyline for mass distribution. Having obsessively lapped up every issue and crossover over the last eight months, I can now offer some insight into which trades are worth your time.
After the success of the Civil War event in 2005, and the ubiquitous "Whose Side Are You On?" tagline, Marvel upped the ante with the "Who Do You Trust?" campaign, instigating an internet blogstorm of shapeshifting shenanigans and inspiring more than a few Who's-a-Skrull? pools (congratulations Greg; now I can finally get all this crap out of my garage). Midway through the series, after the main revelations had occurred, Marvel encouraged the nation to "Embrace Change", both through a series of clever Skrull-next-door house ads and a 30-second TV spot aired on ESPN2. I was admittedly caught up in the excitement. The concept was exciting; the
build-up was intense. So now, in retrospect, was it worth it?
First, a bit of background. The Skrulls are a green, pointy-eared, rocky-chinned, shape-changing alien race created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as an early nemesis for the Fantastic Four in the 1960s. In the decades since, the Skrulls have popped in and out of continuity, usually as part of galaxy-spanning cosmic sagas centered in either the Fantastic Four or Avengers universe. In the wake of the destruction of the Skrull homeworld, the Skrulls have been planning an invasion and conquest of Earth, adopting it as the new central world in the Skrull empire. The strategy: a new, undetectable sleeper agent taking on the form, powers, and memories of heroes and villains all around the world. These Skrull agents have been infiltrating our society for years, earning trust, accruing power, and setting the stage for the full-scale invasion to come.
Series writer and event architect Brian Michael Bendis had explained that the seeds of this event had been planted five years earlier, during his Secret War miniseries and memorable "Avengers Disassembled" arc, but the powder keg was officially lit in the now-famous New Avengers #28 when, during a battle with the Hand, their leader, Elektra, was killed... reverting back to her true Skrull-y form. The fact that neither Wolverine nor Dr. Strange had been able to identify the infiltrator's true nature led to immediate suspicions: who else is a Skrull? What does this mean? What happens next?
The answers to those questions fueled the Secret Invasion hype machine for over a year. Anybody could be a Skrull, and the incendiary revelations in the final issue of Bendis's New Avengers: Illuminati series as well as the first issue of Secret Invasion itself created a collective gasp of fanboy astonishment. It means the Skrulls are not the green-skinned punching bags we thought they were for decades. And what happens next is a portentous wave of distrust paving the way for full-scale invasion.
Fun, yeah? So like any good comic book event, we've got plenty of crossovers an
d tie-ins. And if you're a dutiful collector or diehard fan -- or just need an easy means of beautifying that home bookshelf -- you're going to purchase the entire set of paperbacks and recreate a pretty little planetscape with the interlocking spines of the various trades. If you'd rather save time and money just reading the bits of Secret Invasion that are good, pay attention. That's what I'm here for. Besides, the point of this blog is to get more people reading comics; if I have any casual readers picking up the goofy Fantastic Four limited series or, worse yet, Jackpot (the goddam stupidest member of Spider-Man's Brand New Supporting Cast) tussling with a Super-Lame Skrull soldier in the Amazing Spider-Man tie-in, I may immediately lose any credibility and sorely jeopardize the plan of encouraging a widening comic book readership.
Step one: The Infiltration
The stories leading up to the miniseries proper are some of the best parts of this whole epic, and Marvel conveniently collected the key issues in Secret Invasion: Infiltration this past summer. The stories, however, are patched together somewhat out of context. A few issues from the three different Avengers series, a few from Illuminati, and the campy origin story from Fantastic Four #2, originally published way back in 1961. What you should do instead, in order to appreciate the buildup of paranoia while treating yourself to a crazy couple yarns by Bendis and Leinil Yu, the duo behind Secret Invasion, pick up the two collections that lead up to the Skrull party: New Avengers Volume 6: Revolution and New Avengers Volume 7: The Trust. Ninjas, Civil War repercussions, the return of Hawkeye, and a Skrull plot revealed! All stitched together with Bendis's snappy dialogue and Yu's intense artwork. Read these two books, already available, and if you're not jazzed up about the big Invasion, then you get to stop right here. Once you're hooked, however, take a gander at this list of Secret Invasion trades and proceed with fervor. 
the publisher is readying the requisite collections of each storyline for mass distribution. Having obsessively lapped up every issue and crossover over the last eight months, I can now offer some insight into which trades are worth your time.After the success of the Civil War event in 2005, and the ubiquitous "Whose Side Are You On?" tagline, Marvel upped the ante with the "Who Do You Trust?" campaign, instigating an internet blogstorm of shapeshifting shenanigans and inspiring more than a few Who's-a-Skrull? pools (congratulations Greg; now I can finally get all this crap out of my garage). Midway through the series, after the main revelations had occurred, Marvel encouraged the nation to "Embrace Change", both through a series of clever Skrull-next-door house ads and a 30-second TV spot aired on ESPN2. I was admittedly caught up in the excitement. The concept was exciting; the
build-up was intense. So now, in retrospect, was it worth it?First, a bit of background. The Skrulls are a green, pointy-eared, rocky-chinned, shape-changing alien race created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as an early nemesis for the Fantastic Four in the 1960s. In the decades since, the Skrulls have popped in and out of continuity, usually as part of galaxy-spanning cosmic sagas centered in either the Fantastic Four or Avengers universe. In the wake of the destruction of the Skrull homeworld, the Skrulls have been planning an invasion and conquest of Earth, adopting it as the new central world in the Skrull empire. The strategy: a new, undetectable sleeper agent taking on the form, powers, and memories of heroes and villains all around the world. These Skrull agents have been infiltrating our society for years, earning trust, accruing power, and setting the stage for the full-scale invasion to come.
Series writer and event architect Brian Michael Bendis had explained that the seeds of this event had been planted five years earlier, during his Secret War miniseries and memorable "Avengers Disassembled" arc, but the powder keg was officially lit in the now-famous New Avengers #28 when, during a battle with the Hand, their leader, Elektra, was killed... reverting back to her true Skrull-y form. The fact that neither Wolverine nor Dr. Strange had been able to identify the infiltrator's true nature led to immediate suspicions: who else is a Skrull? What does this mean? What happens next?The answers to those questions fueled the Secret Invasion hype machine for over a year. Anybody could be a Skrull, and the incendiary revelations in the final issue of Bendis's New Avengers: Illuminati series as well as the first issue of Secret Invasion itself created a collective gasp of fanboy astonishment. It means the Skrulls are not the green-skinned punching bags we thought they were for decades. And what happens next is a portentous wave of distrust paving the way for full-scale invasion.
Fun, yeah? So like any good comic book event, we've got plenty of crossovers an
d tie-ins. And if you're a dutiful collector or diehard fan -- or just need an easy means of beautifying that home bookshelf -- you're going to purchase the entire set of paperbacks and recreate a pretty little planetscape with the interlocking spines of the various trades. If you'd rather save time and money just reading the bits of Secret Invasion that are good, pay attention. That's what I'm here for. Besides, the point of this blog is to get more people reading comics; if I have any casual readers picking up the goofy Fantastic Four limited series or, worse yet, Jackpot (the goddam stupidest member of Spider-Man's Brand New Supporting Cast) tussling with a Super-Lame Skrull soldier in the Amazing Spider-Man tie-in, I may immediately lose any credibility and sorely jeopardize the plan of encouraging a widening comic book readership.Step one: The Infiltration
Captain Marvel is a decent six-issue limited series that bridges events in both Civil War and Secret Invasion. The hardcover edition is already available, and the paperback hits the direct market on January 14. Recommended primarily for completists, but if you give it a look prior to reading the main series, you won't be deterred.
Secret Invasion: Home Invasion collects the webcomic about a girl who begins to discuss, via her MySpace blog, all the strange and creepy things her brother's being doing of late. He's a Skrull and this book is bullshit. Avoid.
Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? contains material and short stories that tie together various character groups and plot threads, making them part of the larger Invasion scheme. This trade doesn't come out until late March, so by then you won't really care what the Agents of Atlas were doing, or what Skrull Beast and Wonder Man were discussing whilst scrambling through tunnels in the Savage Land. Step Two: The Invasion
This is the fun bit: the main storyline and the essential tie-ins. Everything in this section is written by mastermind Brian Michael Bendis, and they're clearly the product of years of planning and orchestration. Say what you will about his dialogue or pacing; Bendis is a master when it comes to writing a team superhero book (not an easy task I assure you; many of my favorite writers have produced Assembled Flops or Legions of Lame Stories) and pulling off a major crossover event. 
Secret Invasion hits comic shops on January 7. Leinil Yu has been one of my favorite up-and-coming artists for a few years now, and seeing his skills displayed in this titanic battle between the Skrull invaders and all the heavy hitters in the Marvel universe -- including the long-awaited return of Nick Fury and his brand new Howlin' Commandos, as well as a celebrated reunification of Marvel's "Big Three" (the real Thor, the Winter Soldier/Captain America, and Iron Man) -- is pretty exciting. Of course you want to see how this plays out... but it is, ultimately, just a big battle. A battle rife with sexy plot twists (including a killer final page), surprising developments, moments of singular tragedy and comedy, but a big battle nonetheless. An event of this scope requires more than one book and, to accomplish the task of bringing the entire epic to life, a task too immense for one artist, Bendis is matched up with a number of accomplished storytellers in the following four collections.
The New Avengers Volume 8: Secret Invasion, Book 1 is already out in hardcover; the paperback (with planetscape spine art!) is in comic shops on February 25. Collecting #38-42, this book is the brains behind the brawn. As with the New Avengers companion to Civil War, this book provides insight into the lives of individual heroes and how the Invasion is affecting them, as well as giving us important background into how the Skrulls accomplished their diabolical scheme.
Mighty Avengers Volume 3: Secret Invasion, Book 1 will be released next week in hardcover and early March in tra
de paperback. Here we learn what Nick Fury has been up to since disappearing following Secret War, and get individual stories explaining the whens, wheres, and hows of some of the key Skrull character replacements.
New Avengers Volume 9: Secret Invasion, Book 2 will be released in hardcover on January 9. This picks up (obviously) where NA Vol. 8 leaves off, and is filled with important revelations, including the possible complicity of some of Marvel's major players.
Mighty Avengers Volume 4: Secret Invasion, Book 2 finishes the series of back-stories on Fury and the Skrull infiltrators. After all this time, we're dying to know: how'd they get to Elektra? Also provides key plot developments concerning Captain Marvel and one of Marvel's most interesting new characters, Noh-Varr. This collection won't hit stores until January 21.
Step Three: The Crossovers
Secret Invasion was billed as an important universe-wide, title-spanning event. In reality, it's pretty much just an Avengers joint, and that's okay. The X-Men are overrated. However, in an effort to effectively string together all the other heroes and villains (and sell a boatload of "Secret Invasion"-stamped books), Marvel has given us a plethora of crossover books, most of them only necessary for completing the previously-mentioned bookshelf vista. The following list is organized Buy, Borrow, and Burn. Should be pretty self-explanatory.
Buy
Secret Invasion: Inhumans is a four-issue series written by one of the Heroes screenwriters, Joe Pokaski, and is the only self-contained story
worth a damn. Whether or not you have any foreknowledge of the Inhumans (part of the Fantastic Four's supporting cast for decades), this is a great read, and the best use of the characters since Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee's decade-old miniseries. Black Bolt, leader of the Inhumans, was one of the first characters captured and replaced by the Skrulls, and this series details the royal family's attempts to get him back. Plus, it provides a key link to the next great cosmic drama (a vastly underrated corner of comic book continuity) in the Marvel U: War of Kings.
Borrow
Avengers: The Initiative Volume 3: Secret Invasion shows us what happens in Camp Hammond when one of the key players in The Initiative turns out to be a Skrull. Full of b-list reveals, the return of Morrison & Millar's Skrull Kill Krew, and the majesty of The 3-D Man, who's a lot like 3DChain, but without the beard and social drinking skills.
Secret Invasion: Black Panther collects Jason Aaron's three-issue "See Wakanda and Die" storyline. Aaron's a great writer (Scalped, Wolverine) and the Panther is kinda bad-ass, so this showdown between the nation of Wakanda and a cocky Skrull commander is worth a look.
Secret Invasion: Thunderbolts isn't written by Warren Ellis, and that's a shame. The prolific genius who reinvigorated the title following Civil War wrapped up just prior to Secret Invasion, so the task of fleshing out Norman Osborn's integral role in the Invasion is left to Christos Gage. Here it seems like he's just following editorial instructions and doesn't have room to add too much to the characters or their motivations. That'll be Andy Diggle's (Losers) job later...
Nova Volume 3: Secret Invasion, like Inhumans, has more in common with the cosmic cast of characters and the Annihilation events than anything in the post-Civil War or post-House of M world. It's not a bad thing, but if you're not already reading Abnett & Lanning's very entertaining Nova or Guardians of the Galaxy series, then these stories of Skrull intrigue light-years removed from Ground Zero do little to enhance your Secret Invasion experience.
Captain Britain and MI 13 Volume 1: Secret Invasion is the work of Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk. While the title was birthed as a Secret Invasion crossover, a bizarre account of the Skrulls' attempts at conquering the center of Earth's magic (England, naturally), it has actually developed into one of my favorite ongoing books. Recommended primarily because it stands alone well and, being the first trade in a new ongoing series, may promote some readership on a title that could benefit from increased sales.
Deadpool Volume 1: Secret Invasion is also the kickoff to a new series, but one with a heavier emphasis on low-brow humor and blowing shit up than... well, just about anything else on the rack. It's amusing, and contains a bit of a twist that ties directly into the culminating events of Secret Invasion.
Secret Invasion: Front Line follows in the tradition of Busiek's Marvels and the two prior Front Line series, one each for the Civil War and World War Hulk events. Following the story from a ground-level perspective, through the eyes and ears of reporter Ben Urich, this version of Front Line doesn't offer as much depth or excitement as its Civil War counterpart, but it does a decent job punctuating the menace of both the Invasion and the forthcoming Dark Reign.
Burn
["Burn" is an exaggeration, of course. One should never, ever burn a comic. And some of these, furthermore, while having no business on the coffee table, might be passably-interesting on the top of the toilet tank. Expectations seem lower when you're taking a shit.]
Secret Invasion: X-Men is another example of a limited series produced for no other reason than to forcibly connect the X-universe to the event at hand (the Civil War: X-Men was similarly unnecessary). The Skrulls over San Francisco assume the west coast of the U.S. is unprotected, then have a bit of a tussle with the X-Men. A shame, too, because the talents of over-worked scribe Mike Carey (who clearly would rather be working on his own mutant storylines or the regrettably-canceled Crossing Midnight) and the muted paints of Cary Nord are wasted here. Throw in some Cyclops bravado, disappointing skylines of my favorite City, and a lame deus ex machina, and you've got my $2.99 times 4. Ugh.
X-Factor: Secret Invasion collects Peter David's X-Factor/She-Hulk crossover that crosses over with Secret Invasion. Cross over to the other side of the bookstore, friend, and buy something else.
Secret Invasion: Thor pits a herd of Skrulls in Asgard (which is in Oklahoma these days, thanks to our pal J.M. Straczynski) against the God of Thunder and Beta Ray Bill. I can't think of any reason why you should read this.
Secret Invasion: Incredible Hercules is perplexing. What perplexes me is why this series is so damn popular. Apparently someone at Wizard decided they liked the direction this book was heading when Herc replaced the Hulk as the central character and hyped the hell out of it. For the crossover, entitled "Sacred Invasion," Hercules and his "God Squad" of immortal Marvel deities take on the pantheon of Skrull gods (including the antecedent to the "He Loves You" mantra on the lips of every fucking greenie for the last eight months). Please.
Secret Invasion: War Machine is actually a three-issue run of the ongoing Iron Man series. With Iron Man dealing with the events of Secret Invasion, Rhodey has some Skrull crap to blow up. That's pretty much it. Recommended solely for my brother, who is one of the few people I know that still thinks Tony Stark had it right.
Punisher War Journal Volume 5: Secret Invasion gets a hardcover treatment for some reason. Stuart Clarke tries to kill Frank Castle trying to kill Skrulls trying to kill everyone. And that old black guy from S.H.I.E.L.D. is still running around.
New Warriors Volume 3: Secret Invasion is a forgettable storyline with pointless characters. I'm pretty sure this series got canceled.
Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four tells us what happens after Sue gets replaced by a Skrull and ships the Baxter Building off to the Negative Zone in the first issue of Secret Invasion. I'll spoil it for you: their kids save the day. The trade throws in some old Skrull crap from the FF's bac
k catalog to make it seem more worthwhile. Don't be fooled.
Secret Invasion: Amazing Spider-Man is missing a pretty important ingredient central to most Spidey-stories. And when the most poorly-designed Super Skrull this summer (and trust me, that's saying something) crashes into Manhattan screaming "Where is Spider-Maaaaan?" we're wondering the same goddam thing. And when Jackpot shows up to deal with the Skrull, he is pissed. I can sympathize.
Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers is solicited as "your two favorite teen teams" coming together to deal with the Skrull menace. There's enough of these guys in the series proper, and they're annoying even in small doses. Don't punish yourself with this mess.
The New Avengers Volume 8: Secret Invasion, Book 1 is already out in hardcover; the paperback (with planetscape spine art!) is in comic shops on February 25. Collecting #38-42, this book is the brains behind the brawn. As with the New Avengers companion to Civil War, this book provides insight into the lives of individual heroes and how the Invasion is affecting them, as well as giving us important background into how the Skrulls accomplished their diabolical scheme.
Mighty Avengers Volume 3: Secret Invasion, Book 1 will be released next week in hardcover and early March in tra
de paperback. Here we learn what Nick Fury has been up to since disappearing following Secret War, and get individual stories explaining the whens, wheres, and hows of some of the key Skrull character replacements.New Avengers Volume 9: Secret Invasion, Book 2 will be released in hardcover on January 9. This picks up (obviously) where NA Vol. 8 leaves off, and is filled with important revelations, including the possible complicity of some of Marvel's major players.
Mighty Avengers Volume 4: Secret Invasion, Book 2 finishes the series of back-stories on Fury and the Skrull infiltrators. After all this time, we're dying to know: how'd they get to Elektra? Also provides key plot developments concerning Captain Marvel and one of Marvel's most interesting new characters, Noh-Varr. This collection won't hit stores until January 21.
Step Three: The Crossovers
Secret Invasion was billed as an important universe-wide, title-spanning event. In reality, it's pretty much just an Avengers joint, and that's okay. The X-Men are overrated. However, in an effort to effectively string together all the other heroes and villains (and sell a boatload of "Secret Invasion"-stamped books), Marvel has given us a plethora of crossover books, most of them only necessary for completing the previously-mentioned bookshelf vista. The following list is organized Buy, Borrow, and Burn. Should be pretty self-explanatory.
Buy
Secret Invasion: Inhumans is a four-issue series written by one of the Heroes screenwriters, Joe Pokaski, and is the only self-contained story
worth a damn. Whether or not you have any foreknowledge of the Inhumans (part of the Fantastic Four's supporting cast for decades), this is a great read, and the best use of the characters since Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee's decade-old miniseries. Black Bolt, leader of the Inhumans, was one of the first characters captured and replaced by the Skrulls, and this series details the royal family's attempts to get him back. Plus, it provides a key link to the next great cosmic drama (a vastly underrated corner of comic book continuity) in the Marvel U: War of Kings.Borrow
Avengers: The Initiative Volume 3: Secret Invasion shows us what happens in Camp Hammond when one of the key players in The Initiative turns out to be a Skrull. Full of b-list reveals, the return of Morrison & Millar's Skrull Kill Krew, and the majesty of The 3-D Man, who's a lot like 3DChain, but without the beard and social drinking skills.
Secret Invasion: Black Panther collects Jason Aaron's three-issue "See Wakanda and Die" storyline. Aaron's a great writer (Scalped, Wolverine) and the Panther is kinda bad-ass, so this showdown between the nation of Wakanda and a cocky Skrull commander is worth a look.Secret Invasion: Thunderbolts isn't written by Warren Ellis, and that's a shame. The prolific genius who reinvigorated the title following Civil War wrapped up just prior to Secret Invasion, so the task of fleshing out Norman Osborn's integral role in the Invasion is left to Christos Gage. Here it seems like he's just following editorial instructions and doesn't have room to add too much to the characters or their motivations. That'll be Andy Diggle's (Losers) job later...
Nova Volume 3: Secret Invasion, like Inhumans, has more in common with the cosmic cast of characters and the Annihilation events than anything in the post-Civil War or post-House of M world. It's not a bad thing, but if you're not already reading Abnett & Lanning's very entertaining Nova or Guardians of the Galaxy series, then these stories of Skrull intrigue light-years removed from Ground Zero do little to enhance your Secret Invasion experience.
Captain Britain and MI 13 Volume 1: Secret Invasion is the work of Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk. While the title was birthed as a Secret Invasion crossover, a bizarre account of the Skrulls' attempts at conquering the center of Earth's magic (England, naturally), it has actually developed into one of my favorite ongoing books. Recommended primarily because it stands alone well and, being the first trade in a new ongoing series, may promote some readership on a title that could benefit from increased sales.
Deadpool Volume 1: Secret Invasion is also the kickoff to a new series, but one with a heavier emphasis on low-brow humor and blowing shit up than... well, just about anything else on the rack. It's amusing, and contains a bit of a twist that ties directly into the culminating events of Secret Invasion.
Secret Invasion: Front Line follows in the tradition of Busiek's Marvels and the two prior Front Line series, one each for the Civil War and World War Hulk events. Following the story from a ground-level perspective, through the eyes and ears of reporter Ben Urich, this version of Front Line doesn't offer as much depth or excitement as its Civil War counterpart, but it does a decent job punctuating the menace of both the Invasion and the forthcoming Dark Reign.
Burn
["Burn" is an exaggeration, of course. One should never, ever burn a comic. And some of these, furthermore, while having no business on the coffee table, might be passably-interesting on the top of the toilet tank. Expectations seem lower when you're taking a shit.]
Secret Invasion: X-Men is another example of a limited series produced for no other reason than to forcibly connect the X-universe to the event at hand (the Civil War: X-Men was similarly unnecessary). The Skrulls over San Francisco assume the west coast of the U.S. is unprotected, then have a bit of a tussle with the X-Men. A shame, too, because the talents of over-worked scribe Mike Carey (who clearly would rather be working on his own mutant storylines or the regrettably-canceled Crossing Midnight) and the muted paints of Cary Nord are wasted here. Throw in some Cyclops bravado, disappointing skylines of my favorite City, and a lame deus ex machina, and you've got my $2.99 times 4. Ugh.
X-Factor: Secret Invasion collects Peter David's X-Factor/She-Hulk crossover that crosses over with Secret Invasion. Cross over to the other side of the bookstore, friend, and buy something else.
Secret Invasion: Thor pits a herd of Skrulls in Asgard (which is in Oklahoma these days, thanks to our pal J.M. Straczynski) against the God of Thunder and Beta Ray Bill. I can't think of any reason why you should read this.
Secret Invasion: Incredible Hercules is perplexing. What perplexes me is why this series is so damn popular. Apparently someone at Wizard decided they liked the direction this book was heading when Herc replaced the Hulk as the central character and hyped the hell out of it. For the crossover, entitled "Sacred Invasion," Hercules and his "God Squad" of immortal Marvel deities take on the pantheon of Skrull gods (including the antecedent to the "He Loves You" mantra on the lips of every fucking greenie for the last eight months). Please.
Secret Invasion: War Machine is actually a three-issue run of the ongoing Iron Man series. With Iron Man dealing with the events of Secret Invasion, Rhodey has some Skrull crap to blow up. That's pretty much it. Recommended solely for my brother, who is one of the few people I know that still thinks Tony Stark had it right.
Punisher War Journal Volume 5: Secret Invasion gets a hardcover treatment for some reason. Stuart Clarke tries to kill Frank Castle trying to kill Skrulls trying to kill everyone. And that old black guy from S.H.I.E.L.D. is still running around.
New Warriors Volume 3: Secret Invasion is a forgettable storyline with pointless characters. I'm pretty sure this series got canceled.
Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four tells us what happens after Sue gets replaced by a Skrull and ships the Baxter Building off to the Negative Zone in the first issue of Secret Invasion. I'll spoil it for you: their kids save the day. The trade throws in some old Skrull crap from the FF's bac
k catalog to make it seem more worthwhile. Don't be fooled.Secret Invasion: Amazing Spider-Man is missing a pretty important ingredient central to most Spidey-stories. And when the most poorly-designed Super Skrull this summer (and trust me, that's saying something) crashes into Manhattan screaming "Where is Spider-Maaaaan?" we're wondering the same goddam thing. And when Jackpot shows up to deal with the Skrull, he is pissed. I can sympathize.
Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers is solicited as "your two favorite teen teams" coming together to deal with the Skrull menace. There's enough of these guys in the series proper, and they're annoying even in small doses. Don't punish yourself with this mess.
4 comments:
excellent post. I'll be picking up the trades you mentioned.
So what's lined up for next years big events at DC and Marvel
Glad you asked: Marvel's next big party kicks off immediately following Secret Invasion. "Dark Reign" will even get the X-Men involved in the Marvel Universe proper once again. Read the last page of the last issue of Invasion and you'll see what I mean.
DC is still experiencing their Final Crisis. Expect a Crisis-in-Review in the coming months. It's been pretty cool.
i was also disappointed in a lot of the crossovers. marvel just threw the "secret invasion" stamp on a bunch of titles to sell more books. some of the arcs (like war machine's) were redeemed by being action-packed, but most of the crossovers were kinda boring with no real ties to the main plot line.
i also felt like the climactic battle in the end was somewhat rushed. it's like they couldn't wait to get to "dark reign" and that bothered me.
all in all, it wasn't a bad jump back into comics for me, but i don't know if i'll be following any of these titles any further.
I'll admit to being pretty intrigued by the Dark Reign event. And I'll be reading all the Bendis-led Avengers titles. And you've got to be pumped about the new Nick Fury book! And Agents of Atlas..? Some good came out of Secret Invasion, fer sure.
But as a jump back into comics, I can completely understand your disappointment. Have you read any of Marvel's cosmic books? Very underrated corner of the Marvel U, and War of Kings is worth getting excited about.
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