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Secret Invasion #1 (of eight) (Marvel - Bendis / Yu / Morales / Martin)

SECRET INVASION IS HERE!! Years in the making, months in the teasing…and it all STARTS HERE!! The shape-shifting alien race known as the Skrulls has secretly infiltrated every super-powered organization on Earth with one goal…full-scale invasion! In this DOUBLE-SIZED first issue, page after page unveils reveal after reveal and shocking moment after shocking moment! Brian Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu leap off the pages of mega-hit New Avengers and deliver a story that will change the Marvel Universe forever.
THE MARVEL UNIVERSE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!

SPOILER ALERT!!! I will be discussing some plot details here, if you don’t want to know, stop reading… but know that Secret Invasion gets a thumbs up! I tell you this “Because he loves you”.

Let me start with the fact I was ready to really not like this book, all the hype, all the drama… as it is an eight part major event series with various spin-off, I really expected this first issue to be rehash and not go anywhere. Not so, major events take place and we get quite a few reveals. Before we get to the meat and potatoes of the invasion, let it be said that the art was good, but just good. It didn’t blow me away, the times I paused slack-jawed when reading this issue, it had to deal with the content of the story not because the visuals took my breath away. No big splash pages or dramatic poses, but somehow I think that was a positive thing because it let the plot speak for itself.

The issue opens with a flashback to right after the destruction of the Skrull homeworld and a secret Skrull cult begins moving to fulfill some dark prophecy. Next we see Hank Pym, Reed and Tony discussing Elektra’s corpse and trying to figure out how the Skrulls were able to get past technological, magical and super-powered related defenses to infiltrate. Spring forward to now, a single Skrull ship is falls into Earth’s atmosphere and crash lands smack dab in the Savage Land. The Mighty Avengers and the Secret Avengers each make a mad dash for it, and of course the both arrive at approximately the same time. Just at a point where true physical conflict between the two groups is about to explode Tony’s armor is struck down by an alien (Skrull) virus. In fact all over the world, major systems (SHIELD, Stark Enterprises, The Raft, the Cube, etc) are being taken offline, there is also a Negative Zone breach at the Baxter Building. The sabotage at the macro-level are all done by Skrull sleeper agents that are in key high-trust positions, there were enough of them that it make the reader step back and go blurry eyed. The question now is, When “Commander Dugan”, “Sue Richards” and “Hank Pym” (three of our infiltrators) set these events in motion, how long have the Skrulls been in place… did they just swap in in the last six hours, have they been there a few days, are these the same beings that we have been following since Civil War or before. I will give Bendis props for being able to set up a little suspense here. Just as the world is going to hell on a security level, the Skrull ship with the full Avengers roster outside of it opens to reveal no less than a dozen of Marvel’s finest (Spidey, Sue Richards, Logan, Power Man, Emma Frost, etc.) all in various classic garb from the 80’s and 90’s. Also in this group are a few characters that twist modern Marvel continuity on it’s ear (Captain America, Iron man, Thor, Vision, Hawkeye, etc.). From this point, we have two options. Either all of these heroes were abducted on the scale from years ago or they are Skrull duplicates.

Let’s look at option one. If all of these heroes were abducted and they are just returning, this literally takes at least the last ten years of Marvel’s history offline. Every X-men plotline, WW Hulk, Civil War, Ragnarok and the death of the Asgardians, the end of the Avengers… all of these would have been somewhat involved with the Skrull plot. That seems a bit much, even for Bendis. A much more likely idea is that while Skrulls have infiltrated, this ship that crashed are filled with Skrull duplicates. Possibly to warn Earth of the coming invasion. At the beginning of this issue we saw that the invasion began from a secret Skrull Cabal, a cult not the Skrull government as a whole. I very much doubt that the Secret Invasion will not explode into a Skrull civil war that Earth is in the middle of.

In any case, I am much more impressed than I thought I would be. I hope Secret Invasion ends as strong as it started!

Issue Grade: A

Another image from Greg Horn and Marvel about the upcoming Invasion

It would kind of make sense for Hank Pym to be a skrull… he was one of the inner circle of the Civil Was (With Reed and Tony)… and truth be told, he no’s not what you call a fan favorite… there, I said it. No one like’s Hank Pym…. I am feeling so much better now

Hey there readers! So I’ve been putting off my full review of Spider-Man: One More Day, just because I can’t bring myself to use that much bad language at a company that I truly love, but I feel is in a creative funk. In my opinion, the Spider-Man character is stuck in the same rut the Superman was in back in the late 80’s through the early 90’s. It seems like every story arc has to be the Big Super Special Spider-Man Event of the Millennium. When really what they need to get back to is good story telling, which can be done without putting the character through the retcon ringer or a series re-boot.

The fine people over at AICN ran a round table discussion on this very topic and it’s a great read. It covers all the angles of the topic and the people involved are everyday Joes to comic snobs. I’ll let you guys choose which one is which.

Clink the AICN link or the more button to read the AICN Comic @$$holes in action

Read the rest of this entry »

JUSTICE LEAUGE OF AMERICA #17 (DC Burnett / Benes / Hope. Backup Story McDuffie / Meyers) Double trouble for the League! First, in the lead story written by Alan Burnett, a mysterious and familiar team from beyond time has infiltrated the Hall of Justice looking for a weapon. Will Black Lightning be their first victim? And wait ’til you see who they are! Plus, writer Dwayne McDuffie begins a very special back-up story exploring what’s wrong with Vixen’s powers. And when her condition worsens, it leads to a new arc and major change for the Leaguer! Heroes never get a break, just ask Black Lightning. We open the issue with BL looking for a little R&R when a group of super-villains are hijacking a private jet to get out of the country. Are they running from? Well if any of you have been reading, or at least keeping up on, Salvation Run then you know exactly what DC’s villains are running from. Not reading it? Well let’s just say the American government in the DCU has taken a page from John Carpenter’s Escape From New York and expanded it to an intergalactic level. So where does a villain afraid for his life run to? They run to the biggest and best do-gooders they can find, the Justice League. Get ready for some sparks to fly between the JLA and some governmental organizations.

The back up story was a great little piece that explores just what is going on with Vixen. Her powers have been screwy for some time. No longer able to tap into the abilities of the animal kingdom, Vixen now takes advantage of the abilities of those people around her. So having people like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman around are great for her abilities. What really throws things off is when she absorbs the abilities of Hal Jordan’s power ring….huh-wha???? Not only can Vixen absorb biological abilities, but also technological abilities. Now this is handy!

DC makes a huge jump in Superman #674. From DC - It’s a time of new beginnings for Superman as art sensation Renato Guedes joins the team! Plus, the superhuman mastermind Paragon is loose in Metropolis, Clark and Lois are hunting for a new place to live after the events of “Insect Queen,” and worse, they’ve got relatives coming to visit — namely, a certain blonde cousin of Lois’s from Smallville. It all sets the stage for a major new addition to the cast in next month’s anniversary issue! Can you say “Chloe Sullivan”? We thought you could… It would seem that the character that made Allison Mack a common name on geek lips will be getting her shake in the real DCU. She will be introduced in #674 but will spotlighted in #675. Smallville / Mack fans shouldn’t go too berserk with joy quite yet. The DCU “Chloe” while being inspired by the Smallville character will have it’s differences. To any long term Supes fan, or even any fan of continuity, it would seem odd that we are now only introducing a life-long friend of Clark’s, who dated Jimmy Olsen that happens to be Lois’ cousin… but with the 52 and the Great Disaster, who knows. The DCU Chloe will clearly resonate with Smallville fans, there will be easter eggs for fans and will even be easily recognizable as Chloe… but don’t look for her to be the Smallville character.

Marvel Press Release - Spring brings love, life and SKRULLS! With just one month left before SECRET INVASION kicks off, check out what the invaders are up to and sneak a peak at the rest of Marvel’s awesome March 2008 lineup. And for the full list, head over to the March catalog! Back on top of the super hero world as a premier member of the Avengers, Ms. Marvel now finds herself at the forefront of the Secret Invasion! Is she fighting on the frontlines or is she part of the Skrull incursion? The Secret Invasion doesn’t end there in March! Two issues of MIGHTY AVENGERS throw Stark’s team into the mix, while big things are a-brewin’ for the New Avengers. And if you need a primer to get ready for April’s SECRET INVASION #1, the SECRET INVASION SAGA is your ticket! The time-displaced mutant Cable is on the run and charged with protecting the most important mutant in existence. Hunted by a relentless enemy, if he fails, he could doom mutantkind to extinction. Good times!

Check it out… anyone else see the Howard the Duck Skrull?

World War Hulk #5 (Marvel - Pak / Romita JR. / Janson / Strain)

Marvel’s blurb: “The millennium’s most massive Marvel smash-fest careens towards its cataclysmic conclusion! Four so-called Marvel “heroes” shot the Hulk into space. Their exploding shuttle destroyed his people and pregnant queen. And the Hulk has taught them what their arrogance has wrought. But now the Hulk faces the puny humans’ greatest champion. And as the terrible battle rages, who will stand revealed as the hero – and who will be proved the monster? Who knows the difference between vengeance and justice? And who will pay the terrible price of anger?”
Who pays the price? We do dear friends, we do. Lets forget to a moment that this book is months late and that we know Black Bolt is a Skrull, because this book allows you to time travel back a few weeks to before we knew that.

Let’s first get into what’s right with the book: First is that the Hulk is not a murderer. I kinda knew that already after the 40 years of back story, but it was confirmed again. The Hulk’s plan seems to suddenly change from wanting to kill the Illuminati, to watching them get severely beaten and blaming the destroying of Manhattan Island on them. We see that Bruce Banner/the Hulk still has a heart and it can be broken Second, the Hulk is the strongest one there is! Hulk is an unstoppable force, the finger of God. The only reason he gets put down by a red laser from a satellite(wtf, Marvel?) is because he chose to be put down. Also, the Hulk can be put down when he wants, but you can’t take him out…..ever.

Now for what’s bad. First, I think Marvel just screwed up the Sentry. He was a guy afraid to step out of his house, let alone use his powers for the biggest throwdown in Marvel 2007. It just seems like they had the character do a 180 to take down the Hulk because they didn’t have anyone else that could. Second, Marvel decided to put their girly pants on and not stick with the idea Illuminati are actually bad guys. NOOOOOOO we find that the real villain, the one who blew up Planet Hulk, is actually one of Hulk’s Warbound. Marvel, you big pussy! Third, it looks like you killed Rick Jones! You suck.

The art is good, but it felt like the book was one big picture of red and orange balls of destruction. For what it was, it was very good. J.R Jr. has, to me, always been a great artist, but colorist Christina Strain made this look great!

So what’s next? I don’t have any plans to read any of Aftersmash, and I wasn’t going to pick up the Loeb / McGuinness Hulk:Red or whatever their calling it. But….the regular Hulk book, The Incredible Hulk, is going to keep it’s focus on the New Defenders. So the only Hulk fix I can get is by picking up another Hulk book. So dear readers, this may be the end of Hulk coverage on ThePullBox. Time and budgets will tell

Issue Grade: C+

Series Grade: B

Annihilation Conquest: Starlord #4 (Marvel - GIFFEN / GREEN) - Here marks the end of my favorite Annihilation tie in book. From the beginning, Star Lord had a “Dirty Dozen” feel to it and it lasted all the way through to the end. Giffen is the legend in his own time who creates a new team for Marvel that I could see getting their own permanent book. That is, if they survive the rest of the Annihilation story. The biggest revel, that I enjoyed, was the creative use of the Uni-Force. My first exposure to the Uni-Force was back when Spider-Man had the powers for a short time. I thought it was cool then and I think it’s pretty darn cool now.

Grade: A

Annihilation Conquest #1 ( Marvel - ABNETT / RANEY) - Whew, I made it! I’ve gone through the tie-in’s and now it’s time for our heroes to start banning together to fight the Phalanx. We get a little bit of Wraith, Star Lord and his squad are still busy planet Alon-Gim. but do see a whole lotta the new younger Adam Warlock. Quasar and Moondragon take some time to explain to Adam just what the galaxy is going through when they’re interrupted by Phalanx warriors. Adam Warlock powers up and we see what a B.A mo’fo he can be. The one thing I found a bit strange was when Warlock powers up and manifests a costume, I thought it looked like a off-color clone of DC’s Shazam/Captain Marvel costume. After a bit of research (thank you Wikipedia) I found that his costume has some things in common with a character called The Magus. The Magus is future, evil, version of Adam Warlock. If this plays into the Annihilation storyline remains to be seen.

The big reveal of the first issue (SPOILER ALERT!!) was seeing who is the one pulling the strings of the Phalanx. When I think of a technological villain in the Marvel universe who wants to enslave all biological sentients AND has ties to the Avengers, it’s a wonder I didn’t see it coming sooner. Ultron is back and on some Phalanx powered techo-steroids! I can’t wait to see how this turns out.

A quick word on the art….AWESOME!! Tom Raney and the rest of the art team turn out one of the best looking books I’ve seen in months. It’s as close to perfect as I’ve seen in a long time.

Grade: A+