Equal Tim(e) For Marvel: Secret Invasion So Far, New Avengers #42 and Mighty Avengers #15
June 30, 2008 – 3:35 am by Tim
It’s fairly obvious from my reviews that I’m the least studious and analytical[1] of the Thunderdog stable of writers (all three of us), but I am trying to get a little better at the critical review, especially when discussing DC and Marvel’s duelling Big Thingies.
(See? I’m getting better already.)
Despite Marvel’s efforts to keep it low-key by only releasing 244 books last week, we did notice that Secret Invasion snuck up on the halfway mark (with the actual mini-series midpoint #4 out July 9th), and felt Marvel could maybe use a hand in spreading the word on the internet. Especially after we couldn’t shut up about the competition’s Final Crisis last Thursday.
(By the way: here’s the part where we warn, “So yeah, there might be a spoiler or two below. Proceed with caution, Person Who’s Read A Little Far Into A Secret Invasion Review Expecting To See Nothing About Secret Invasion“.)
This spring arrived as the Invasion began losing some layers of its Secret, and Marvel posed the one question haunting the Marvel Universe: Who Do You Trust? We’re four months in now, and I’d say the series and its tie-ins are raising still more questions, and at a much faster rate than they’re answering them. I’m not ready to let the ever-filling pool of mysteries drive me to complain…yet. Given his track record, there’s every reason to believe SI architect Brian Michael Bendis will give us not just resolutions, but satisfying ones as well.
I’d love to be able to post concise reviews for New Avengers #42 and Mighty Avengers #15. I wish I could close here by assuring you that both comics are informative without being too heavy on the exposition and add much to the SI tale without being overly indispensable. I’d be happy to end the review with simple praise for the lovely art provided by Jim Cheung and John Romita, Jr., because it is indeed lovely. But I can’t sign off yet, because of the whole “boatload of new questions” thing.
Both Mighty and New Avengers continue revisiting previously established events (though, strangely, the previous issues of each title ended on “To Be Continued” present-day moments, neither of which is picked up this month) and shed more light on the infiltration before the actual Secret Invasion, mostly from the Skrulls point of view. This month, we get to learn an awful lot about the when and how Hank Pym and Jessica Drew got “Skrullswapped”. And with these new tidbits, confirmations and revelations, we also get a fresh batch of questions, sometimes with a side order of slight confusion. Here’s the five biggest on the plate for me tonight:
1. In Secret Invasion #3, why is the SHIELD Helicarrier now adrift in the Bermuda Triangle?
Yeah, hopefully this will get answered in Secret Invasion #4 or elsewhere[2], but… huh? I’m no physicist, and I’m not a huge fan of forcing comics to adhere to The Book-Learned Science, but I doubt the Helicarrier’s got much gliding potential. Certainly not enough to carry it from a couple miles above NYC (where it began its powerless descent in SI #1) to the central Atlantic Ocean.
2. How and when do all these events and reveals and Skrullswaps fit together?
I hope Bendis’ reach isn’t exceeding his grasp the further we go, as many of these overlapping plot points were in fact his doing. Following these two newest updates to whatever passes for timeline and continuity through last week, my baby headache has now reached toddler stage trying to reconcile these, for instance:[3]
Spider-Woman (since revealed as a Skrull) delivering dead Skrullektra to Tony Stark (after the Ultron arc in Mighty Avengers
Tony showing said corpse to his Illuminati (including, prominently, Reed Richards) , then discovering that Black Bolt is actually a Skrull in disguise. Oh, and then they’re attacked by a bunch of Super Skrulls.
The opening pages of Secret Invasion #1, where Reed Richards (obviously the real deal given that book’s ending) acts like this is the first time he’s seen Skrullektra or heard of any sort of Skrull swapping, much less that Skrulls are now undetectable by current methods.
Is Bendis simply trying to retcon/erase a book (Illuminati #5) he just did eight months ago? Or does Reed have short-term memory issues these days?
3. Speaking of Black Bolt… What the hell happened to the humans/Inhumans that were switched out?
My first instinct was that the Skrulls are at war with Earth, and might have some sort of Intergalactic Geneva Convention to adhere to, but there seems to have been a little too much collateral damage involving civilians, and a little too much zeal on the part of the invaders to kill those who oppose them. So should we be flying the flags at half-mast for Electra, Jarvis, Dum Dum Dugan, Jessica Drew, Hank Pym and Black Bolt? For that matter, within 5 seconds of the end of Illuminati #5, why wasn’t any remaining member of the Illuminati (and I realize they stated that the trust issues precluded any of them from working together anymore) on Def Con 4 and at least trying to find out if Black Bolt was alive somewhere?
4. Like DC, why does Marvel even bother with age ratings on their comics?
This is directly related to last week’s books: Both featured a slightly off-putting display of the “pretty much naked” ladies, with Mighty Avengers (and John Romita, Jr.) going a bit further, adding a suggestive serving of ice cream to an already crowded post-coital bed of Hank Pym and a lady who wasn’t his wife. Just like Allen, I’m no prude and certainly wasn’t offended or necessarily even jarred from the tale at hand. But, these comics were indeed both rated “A” (which I’m assuming doesn’t mean “Allen’s gonna shake his head at this one”), so Marvel either needs to pay more attention or admit they don’t pay any and shut off the ratings altogether.
5. Can we really translate the Skrulls’ dialogue?
Nope, doesn’t look like it. So far, it’s been consistent inside single issues, but try and compare, say, Secret Invasion #3 to these current Mighty Avengers and New Avengers (MA and NA have long sections that are helpfully subtitled); they’re not sharing the same “letters” at all. When did Marvel start underestimating our geeky need to learn a new fictional language? If Marvel’s going to assume all their readers are grown ups (see previous question), then maybe expect us to spot this kind of thing pretty easily and give your letterers a little help. It’s only 26 characters, fellas.
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[1]I’m also the least discriminating–I bought three issues of Salvation Run before deciding it was actually neither awesome nor anything approaching it.
[2]And maybe it already has been; Again, we don’t buy every comic (read: most comics) out there, so feel free to let us know if any of our current queries have been addressed. Quoth the D: “That’s fucking teamwork.”
[3]This post is already way too long, so I’m shelving my “Hank Pym in Civil War” related questions ’til I dig out the last two issues of that miniseries.
