The art was shaky and very inconsistent. It wasn't bad, just inconsistent. That is the only bad thing I can say about this issue. Now on to the good stuff...
If you have not been reading the "DnA" sprawling space epic that is Annihilation Conquest, Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy, shame on you. Well maybe not shame, Marvel does seem to do its best to shove these guys work to the back of the classroom, trying to avoid their potential impact on the rest of the Marvel Universe. Maybe that's because they still write for the guys across the street? Anyway, apparently the time of ignoring the next great space writers is over.
After the Infinity Gauntlet the Marvel cosmic universe kind of took a downturn. I mean they had defeated an all powerful god-like enemy that could control all of the universe. Where do you go from there? Nowhere apparently, for about 15 years. Then Keith Giffen hands you the best cosmic story since (and I argue it was actually better) and a a couple of guys named Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning take one of the stars, Nova, and turn him from a joke to the most badass of badassness there ever was.
DnA have pretty much been left alone in the Marvel cosmos to do what they will and they've turned it into a place with just as much political intrigue and all out action as the terrestrial based Marvel U has ever had.
The one exception was they couldn't touch the Shiar since Brubaker was shaking them up in Uncanny. That may not have been the best of arcs (read: snooze) but it did set up a new status quo for one of the most powerful alien races around.
Well now the gloves are off and DnA have a new toy, so what do you do when you get a new toy? Well you rip it open and smash it against your old favorite toys of course!
Annihilation, Annihilation Conquest, Silent War (yeah remember that one?) and Secret Invasion have all been leading up to this. Black Bolt is pissed. I don't mean he's a little upset that he stepped in some gum or stubbed his toe either. I mean he's so pissed he opened the vault to his psychotic brothers inventions and is willing to use them against, Skrull, Kree and Shiar alike.
Black Bolt finally gets to talk and apparently his vocabulary is a bit stunted thanks to all the silence, but "speak softly and carry a big stick" has never been more apropos. "Now" repeated over and over destroys a load of fleeing Skrull ships. God help us all if the man ever gets a whole sentence out.
As an aside, the beginning few pages of the book is spent on the bridge of a skrull ship with the captain giving orders and revealing his inner monologue. It is hear that DnA made me gain more respect the skrulls and see them as more than just mindless invaders. It took them somewhere around four pages to do what Bendis couldn't in 8 main issues and countless tie-ins.
Back to biscuits, this is one of the most fun times I have had reading a comic in awhile. I remember when Civil War and Annihilation were ending around the same time, and a few of us began getting the fanboy dream in our heads that the Annihilation Wave would reach Earth and the heroes would have to put aside their differences to defend their home and both series would end together. Why they chose the non-ending they went with instead I'll never know, but I'm starting to get that little glint of fanboyishness in my eye again and if anybody can fulfill its wishes, its Abnett and Lanning.