Secret Invasion #8 (OF 8)

Everyone and their mother is going to be writing a review for this issue, so why shouldn't I? Haven't written a review in a while, but I felt like this is such a hotly anticipated title, it merits a closer examination.

Here's what I got out of it:

Bendis does not really like the classic fight scenes. He finds them boring. You can see this in the way he structures his various books. He's trying to get away from what you expect. The first seven issues of Secret Invasion build to a fight scene. That fight scene lasts a couple of pages.

And then he skips over it and starts this issue narrated in the present, detailing the fight scene in the past. This is a clever technique. It allows Bendis to drop into scenes at will and pull out character moments. He does this fairly well.

Except... it's missing something. The death of the Wasp, for example. That's rushed over. Sometimes it's okay to give us a classic death scene, to get a little sentimental with it. In his recent column on this very site, Paul Montgomery listed some "Heartbreaking Moments" in comics. Among them was the death of Sue Dibny in DC's Identity Crisis. He included a panel. Janet Van Dyne deserved such a moment. Brad Meltzer may fall too far on the sentimental side, but he knows that those big moments merit attention, no matter how cliche they might seem. I think this was an oversight on Bendis' part. In his zeal to do things "differently," he's forgotten that sometimes these things work for a reason.

This is one point where I give writer Geoff Johns credit. He understands this. He's not afraid of the big moments in his books. And while his stories often feel familiar to me, bordering on cliche, he knows how to make these scenes work.  Bendis, take note.

Now, here's what I liked:

Regardless of whether or not you liked the pacing, this story does come to a definite conclusion here. The Skrulls lost their world, they believe Earth is theirs by divine right. They set up a clever strategy and made their best go of it. But they couldn't beat the combine might of Earth's heroes and villains. Simple enough. Everything does fall into place here, and the story once again changes the landscape of the Marvel Universe. Sure, we've got Previews guides to tell us what to expect, but let's ignore that for a moment. The final reveal in this issue is one that excites the imagination. What does this mean for our heroes? The various teams? The structure of government? It feels like a natural follow-up to Civil War. If Civil War set up a new structure for heroes, what's the next step? A corruption of that structure. If the government has the power to control super-heroes, what happens when that power falls into the hands of the corrupt?

At the end of the day, I think this story will read decently in trade. It suffers from hype, overexposure, and -- quite frankly -- the monthly schedule. Read in one chunk you'll see a big gambit by aliens, heroes stuck, heroes making their escapes, heroes coming together, and a final battle.

It's flawed. This issue could have been spread over two, giving lots of big, glorious moments. Better moments in which the heroes rally, and the tide is turned.  But, overall, I don't think it's a bad story. It's not that poorly executed. It's a decent popcorn comic book that got a little too caught up in the hype.