It’s becoming a cliche to complain about event pacing, but seriously, this is getting a bit trying even for a practical Marvel Zombie like me. While almost every page of this series looks positively frenetic, there appears to be almost nothing going on in terms of actually moving the plot along. Instead, we spend every issue jumping from scene to scene witnessing the next miniscule moment in an invasion that’s supposed to be taking mere hours but has been told over a course of months. It’s decompression at its absolute worst.

Sure, there are nice moments spotted throughout the issue - finally seeing what the Skrulls have done with Reed Richards is one, Wolverine’s brief appearance is another - but overall, moments are all we’re seeing. It’s hard to get invested in the fights, and the characters themselves remain in complete disarray, so we’re not even sure who to root for. The two major scenes from the last issue were Nick Fury arriving with his new recruits, and the Skrull Spider-Woman confronting Iron Man with “the truth” about his nature. Both of these scenes continue in issue #4, but neither plot thread contains the weight and importance that their prominence suggested.

That said, the tease for the next issue does promises the entry of two familiar faces into the fray, neither of whom have yet been seen in Secret Invasion, and either of whom could turn the tide of Skrull attack on their own. While I’m aware I could just be about to get disappointed all over again, it does give me hope that there’s going to be a significant development at some point in the next issue. The problem is, at just beyond the halfway point and with no definitive win from the Skrulls yet (only attacks where they’re on the upper hand) it’s maybe too early for a definitive win for the heroes - if, indeed, the series is even heading there.

It’s something of a worry that all the big answers to the questions we’ve had about Skrulls are appearing in New Avengers while Secret Invasion instead ends up reduced to a very slow, chaotic fight scene. An expensive one, at that. Yu’s art is fantastic on every page, but the nature of the warskrulls means that it’s almost hard to get a grip on who you’re actually looking at. In a way, this effectively replicates the uncertainty of the battle as experienced by the humans fighting it - but that doesn’t mean it’s entertaining to read.

I had high hopes for Secret Invasion after following the plot in Avengers for some years now, but so far the main miniseries has been largely disappointing. It’s lucky that the tie-ins are filling in plot gaps and moving at breakneck page, because the miniseries feels almost like filler in its own pages. Halfway through, there’s still time for it to start moving at a faster pace and come to a satisfying conclusion - but no guarantee of that. 

Tags: Brian Michael Bendis, Leinil Yu, secret invasion
Publisher: Marvel