SECRET INVASION #4 (OF 8)

Review by: Tork

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Price: 3.99

This review contains spoilers, click here to read

I don't think I'll be picking up the rest of Secret Invasion until things in this series get better. This series is starting to suffer from the same thing House of M did. We're entering the second act of the series and honestly, not much has truly happened. By this point in the series, I feel like more should have happened by now. Identity Crisis was already an issue or two into the mindwipe. Infinite Crisis had already seen the Battle of Smallville and the return of the Multiverse. Civil War had already had the infamous Clor fiasco and the reveal of Peter Parker. At this point in Secret Invasion, there hasn't been anything to truly show any real scale worthy of a major alien invasion in this series since the first issue. Bendis does wonders with his style of pacing when it's metahuman murder mystery like Powers or a street-level neo-noir tale like Daredevil but for a giant scale event like this, things should be happening. Instead, this feels, like House of M did, like an elongated and drawn out first act. I mean, the Avengers ARE STILL ON THE ISLAND. Nuff said.

The basic gist of the issue is this:

*Black Widow finds Veranke and Tony. Widow shoots Skrull Phoenix and Skrull Beast. Veranke escapes. Widow shoots up Tony with adrenaline to keep him spry for an hour. Natasha and Wolverine decide to move Tony.

*Agent Brand discovers the ruins of SWORD are taken over by Skrulls as a monitoring point of the invasion.

*Maria Hill's surrounded by Skrulls.

*Reed Richards is being tortured.

*The Commandos rescue the heroes from the New York battle... except Ms. Marvel... who Nick Fury shoots with his Liefelder rifle.

*The arrivals of the Hood's gang, Thor and Cap/Bucky into the fray are teased for next issue.

The pacing of this series is sluggish and odd. Last month's Final Crisis had a first third where scenes seemed to jump to and fro without any real connection (beyond the Skrulls here) or smooth transition, this issue of Secret Invasion felt like that stretched to a whole issue. Like the tie-ins for Mighty Avengers and New Avengers, the series itself seems like it's hiccuping around and lacking cohesion at a point when the plot threads should be starting to point in the same direction.

Unlike the Skrulls in MI:13 looking to capture the Siege Perilous and tap into the magicks inside, the Skrulls here don't seem to working to some visible end beyond "beat up the heroes." Beyond a little psychological warfare with Tony Stark (and Sentry) and the reveal of every agent but Hill on the Helicarrier being a Skrull, it feels like the Skrull plot is 90% "send all the Amazo-Skrulls to wreck things and hopefully we'll take the planet". There's no secret plot to replace the President or to trick the populace into something or anything of the sort. The Skrulls seem to be investing a lot in winning by sheer brute force, which is the exact opposite of what the Skrulls were saying in the beginning. And that stinks.

Overall, I think I'll be dropping this book. I might check it out from friends like I have the tie-ins but I think my frustration with this series is too much to keep shelling out the money to get it. The art from Yu is good but the story itself is just not keeping me interested. Not even the promise of Thor and Bucky is enough unless I am directly told stuff goes down next month. Hopefully, this series will pick up in the last act but for now, this book is going nowhere.

Story: 2 - Average
Art: 4 - Very Good

Comments

RaceMcCloud says:

July 10, 2008 at 3:04 pm

Go ahead and drop it. More Secret Invasion for the rest of us. SI#4 was summer-movie fantastic.

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Neb says:

July 10, 2008 at 3:24 pm

I agree with you somewhat here Tork. While nothing much did happen in the issue overall, I thought there were some interesting things laid down to make it more entertaining. Nick Fury and his crew were fun to read, but it was weird that they left when there were still Skrulls around. I really liked the idea of the villains jumping in. It made me wonder if the Skrulls had planned for them.

Overall, this issue was much better than last, but like you, I still want more from each issue.

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Tork says:

July 10, 2008 at 3:46 pm

I actually thought this issue was a little weaker than last but that’s me. I think I read the Nick Fury scene and just thought "What was the point of that?" which I’ve realize I’ve been doing a great deal since issue 2. Thus, I decided to drop until there’s some forward momentum I can get behind like the Avengers leaving the Savage Land and doing stuff.

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Neb says:

July 10, 2008 at 5:02 pm

I hear ya. The possibly ironic thing is that they may leave the Savage Land next issue. You may be suckered into buying the next one. 🙂

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Tork says:

July 10, 2008 at 5:47 pm

Yeah. But only somebody tells me such.

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Kory says:

July 10, 2008 at 8:24 pm

Sounds like this should have been condensed to a 4-6 issue arc because the common complaint I hear is it’s too drawn out

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FACE says:

July 10, 2008 at 9:51 pm

my bad, Tork. you did mention Carol.

you didn’t find it interesting that she may have been revealed as a skrull?

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xebix says:

July 10, 2008 at 10:15 pm

@FACE

I don’t think she is a skrull. They appeared to be attacking her.

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FACE says:

July 10, 2008 at 10:36 pm

SPOILERS AHOY!

"appeared" you say?

So why does Fury shoot Carol and leave her behind?

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CaptianJack says:

July 11, 2008 at 2:51 am

because, you cant trust anybody. Fury doesnt know who is a skrull and who isnt. he only knows that his crew isnt. him shoting ms marvel just shows the distrust that everyone has for everyone. i may be wrong, but that what i think.

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TehDave says:

July 11, 2008 at 7:08 am

nice review – i think i’m going to be joining you in dropping SI for the same reasons (and the 4 buck price doesn’t help).

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daccampo says:

July 11, 2008 at 12:24 pm

Carol’s not a skrull. If you read the text that goes with it, you’ll see that the point of Fury’s attack is that he doesn’t know who is a skrull and who isn’t. So he just attacks Carol because he can’t trust anyone.

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daccampo says:

July 11, 2008 at 12:31 pm

The only thing I don’t get with reviews like this one is when people talk about plot and how many "events" have happened. Stories do not depend on how many fights or battles are contained within the pages. There are all different types of pacing and stories. Final Crisis and Infinite Crisis are different beasts. They’re not better because "more happens."

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FACE says:

July 11, 2008 at 2:07 pm

just seemed like fury might know something we didn’t the first time i read it. looking at it again, probably not

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Tork says:

July 11, 2008 at 2:24 pm

@ daccampo I’m not frustrated because I think there’s not enough fighting. Actually, it’s somewhat the opposite. When the big fight happened in issue 2 after Ares pointed out it was all a trap, that annoyed me because it felt like an illogical fight just to do it. No, I’m more annoyed about how I feel there’s been very little progression since the end of issue 1. We’re halfway done and the Avengers are still where they were since issue 1. Hill and Brand are still really going nowhere. The New York battle feels aimless and directionless. There feels to be no direction we’re headed towards. I’m not geting the feeling that things are going forward that much.

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daccampo says:

July 11, 2008 at 8:36 pm

@Tork — I see. Personally, I think this feels well-paced for a summer blockbuster, ala Independence Day — only better written. This issue saw the start of Fury’s rebellion, saw Widow, Stark, and Logan regrouping, saw Thor and Bucky enter the fray. There were some good "badass" moments, and think 5 through 8 will be how the tide turns and the heroes now start fighting back. So I had no problems with the pacing. I felt like the first three issues were "you have no idea how bad things are" followed by this issue, which has the heroes start to ACT instead of reacting.

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Tork says:

September 15, 2008 at 5:51 pm

Make it 7-8, now. Heh.

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Tork says:

December 10, 2008 at 1:05 am

Or… not… no turn of tide.

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SECRET INVASION #4 (OF 8)

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