But Ahbay’s review sure was a hell of a lot more exciting to read than SI 6, and that’s pretty damning, ’cause nobody had to spend money on that review and it probably didn’t take nearly as long to write. I really liked a lot of the build-up to in New Avengers and Might Avengers, and some of the tie-ins (especially Captain Britain and Hercules) have been wonderful but yeah, Bendis just isn’t an event writer, is he? We’ve had some good moments, but just not enough to make so much hooplah over.

I’m curious to see what Dark Reign is all about but I’m not that optimistic either.

I’m sorry…if you’re seeing a big 2 page spread of a devastated New York…maybe it should look…I don’t know…devastated? If you don’t know what that looks like, check out any of countless recent disaster movies or the WWHulk series you published last week!

If the Skrulls can whip out superskulls by the millions with ultimate powers (a Galactus Skrull…really?) and no weaknesses (hey Bendis, it’s called balance…make ‘em blow up after 5 minutes or something). Why didn’t they use these guys to stop the Annihilation Wave that destroyed the Skrull Empire. Hey..maybe a reference to said destruction…that’d be all old school Marvel..you’re supposed to be into that kind of thing.

I went into S.I. with both eyes wide open, eager for some “non-continuity-erase-magic-button, continuity fixing” (think about it, Pym wouldn’t be a wife-beater, Cat-Beast would NOT be the “real McCoy”, dumb character flaws could be FIXED, SOME Wolverine crap could be nullified, decades of bad 2nd tier character crap could be undone, etc…), only to find that it’s (for the most part) a select few heroes who were replaced, maybe a YEAR ago.

I expected a TON of intrigue and suspense and clandestine cloak and dagger (not the characters) noir-type actual MYSTERY! I expected to have the rug pulled from under my feet by AMAZING REVEALS that showed a Marvel who were still the mavericks of the comic publishing world, and who would, unflinchingly reveal that a few fan-favorites were SKRULLS for a decade or so!
Deep-sleeper-cell Skrulls, who may not have even KNOWN that they were, in fact, Skrulls (and as such, keep at least a veneer of “heroism” to someone’s favorite charater (lest they jump off a bridge, or take a rifle to the town clocktower because their fave character had been a skrull for years and their collection is now “all a lie”)…

***THERE ARE GOING TO BE SOME SPOILERS HERE, so if you’re “WAITING FOR THE TRADES”, best to move on to the NEXT comment***

That Captain Marvel mini points to it all pretty well.
I bought and read and enjoyed it THINKING that it was a time-tossed Mar-Vell, only for it to be a Skrull who truly believed that he WAS the hero and as such, rebelled AGAINST his own kind because THAT is just what Mar-Vell WOULD do…
I enjoyed that to no end.
It was ballsy. It was bold. It was pretty GOOD.

Unfortunately, AFTER that mini, the treatment of that character spiraled the drain (and now he’s gone), but it was EXACTLY the kind of thing that I went INTO Secret Invasion EXPECTING!

So… 6 issues in, we have a lapsed time of, what… a few HOURS?
An over-night perhaps?

Damn.

No hero (except Pym) has REALLY been all that affected (OK. Spider-Woman. But considering that she was a character in limbo ANYWAY, who was last seen years ago with NO POWERS and NO LONGER a tie to the name of Spider-Woman, it was all a good lie).
NONE of the damn “70′s” heroes from the ship have panned out as being replacements.
THAT is a big steaming pile of shit for the overall sense of “OMG!” that we were PROMISED going into this.

To this point, I have no doubt that, SURE there will be repercussions, ramifications and ret-cons after this is all over, but no where NEAR what it really SHOULD have been.

I actually used to DEFEND JoeQ’s tenure because he was trying to bring back a M.U. that was edgy.
A world where “Hero A” and “Hero X” might NOT be so instantly chummy-chummy “let’s team up” because they no longer really KNOW who the other guy is or where he stands on costumed adventuring (ala Civil War).

I applauded the entire exercise of “break it all down – then rebuild”.
Far better than the “seen it all for the last 30 years, it’s stale now” meal that comics have been serving up most of my comic-reading life.

But, thus far…?
S.I. is a let down.
In nearly all manners.

There HAVE been a few great spots (most, if not all, in some of the ancillary books), but the main mini’s actual performance and execution is poor.

I don’t doubt that Bendis and co. HAD some GREAT stuff in their heads.
I do NOT doubt that AWESOME ideas were tossed around and hastily scrawled into notebooks for later execution.
BUT, the product doesn’t REFLECT that.
I’ve worked in similar fields enough to know that sometimes, there just isn’t enough room to fit it all, and some stuff gets cut.
Sometimes, there’s only so much room for word-balloons on a page, and some stuff gets lost in the rush.
But, that’s NOT the case.
We have PLENTY of room.
Just jettison some of the flotsom and refuse that is bogging down this story.
Multiple double-page spreads of nothing.
Multiple giant panels of wide-eyed red-herring close-ups (so, one comic has Spider-Woman with GREEN eyes and everyone was pointing to that as a clue, and NOW she suddenly has BLUE eyes in this issue – even though the whole magilla of the body-snatching means that they have to BE that person down to the last genome and NO CHANGES can occur, lest they be found out).

I had a thought, this issue, when they mention that “WASP” might be a last-ditch ace-in-the-hole for the Skrulls… and it was a BAD thought.
So, Marvel, realizing that they COULD have made Pym a hero again and NOT have been the guy who slapped Janet around that one time, but they missed the opportunity to do so, realize that “HEY, we’ll just say that the WASP has been a Skrull forever. THEN, Hank would only have bitch-clapped a Skrull invader!”
But THAT STILL means that Hank would be a wife-beater, because he DIDN’T KNOW that she was a Skrull at the time. Which is just as bad.

So, I’m truly hoping that they DON’T try this trick, and IF she’s a sleeper agent, has only been one for a short time.
Probably has to do with the “growth serum” that “Hank” gave her a little while ago.
Maybe it makes her explode (like the mouse in that old movie “The Mouse that Roared”) and will take out the heroes in cosmic fire or something.

OK. I’ve long ago entered into “Rambling Rant County – Population : Me”.
Just thought I’d share my own disappointment (not frustration, because I really don’t “care” all that mush about it, but as a fellow creator, I see SO MUCH LOST POTENTIAL) in this “event”.

Can they pull it out of the fire in 2 more issues?
I don’t think so, since they’re ALREADY announcing some kind of follow-up story called “DARK REIGN”.

We’ll see.

X_the_Phantom-Longbox__

I’m kind of in the same boat as you; I like Secret Invasion just fine despite not being very impressed with it. My only criticism is that Bendis manages to write a comic where technically a lot happens, yet it still feels like nothing is happening.

I added a link to the review – he’s really a very fun guy to read, review-wise.

Or am I not supposed to?

Regardless, nice review. I read my comics in much the same way as this…trying to see both the craftsmanship and the pure vanilla awesomeness of a cool story. It gets confusing for a while, and sometimes I just cave in and just see comics as they are: stories you’re meant to enjoy on its own.

However, I don’t agree with your comparison (or something) of Yu’s art to the ‘kinetic’ style of Miller or Romita. Both artists are great on their own, but they’re too scratchy and sketchy and cartoony for my taste. Yu’s tangible and realistic take on comics, however, is. Of course, that’s just my opinion. Maybe you meant how they draw action scenes? In which case I totally agree on Miller and Romita.

But yeah…weird feet?

Could we get a link to the review you’re discussing, for those of us who haven’t already read it (or heard of Abhay before today)? Or at least a point in the direction of where to look for it? It sounds amusing.

I tried Googling, but only got other people’s commentary on his earlier reviews. I apologize if there’s already a link in there (other than the Countdown to Final Crisis review and the various related tangents) that I missed.

They could have done the Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova stuff first to tie it into Annihilation, then came to NY and SF in Ms Marvel, YA/Runaways and X-Men, and the Hercules story should have come last, and finished it off when he took care of the “He” in “He Loves You.” It would be like one of those fun 90′s Marvel summer events – Atlantis Attacks or Acts of Vengeance, etc.

Instead, with the Bendis books, all we get is Bendis seemingly expecting us to be so impressed with all the groundwork he laid, we won’t pay any attention to the fact that there’s really nothing even remotely intriguing about the forward-moving part of the plot. It’s like we’re visiting his house, and he won’t stop showing off his cool basement.

“But Bendis, we want to see the rest of the house.”
“Check it out. Over here? Reinforced steel! Put in with my bare hands!”
“I have to use the bathroom, Bendis.”
“And BEHIND that reinforced steel? I poured 24 inches of solid concrete, baby!”

If you were to read just the NON-Bendis tie-ins to this series, it would be a lot more fun and a lot less painful.