MisterSmith on 
James Hunt on 
Seb Patrick on 
Alex S on Secret Invasion #8
by James Hunt ~ December 4th, 2008
(Note: This review will contain spoilers for Secret Invasion #8.) It’s almost hard to believe that Secret Invasion is over. If Marvel have proven anything with this series, it’s that event books need to be shorter.
Secret Invasion has had many ups and downs over its 8-issue tenure. Issue #1 was a near-perfect run out of the gate, while subsequent issues ground to a practical standstill trying to weave in the necessary plot beats without spoiling the events of other titles. Even so, by wrapping up the plot threads, and focussing on character interaction, this issue does stand as one of the better ones. I can only speculate that Bendis apparently knows how to begin and end a series, but that he needs to work on pacing the middle a bit.
The death of the Wasp feels almost embarrassingly tacked-on with little logic behind it. Sure, it was foreshadowed, but let us not mistake planning for motivation. Why Wasp? And why in that way? No satisfying answer seems available. Similarly, the REAL return of Mockingbird, previously mooted then withdrawn earlier this series, feels just as odd, and appears to openly violate continuity from Busiek’s Avengers run that, truth be told, deserves to remain intact.
The set-up for Dark Reign – Norman Osborn replacing SHIELD and running The Initiative – is at least a compelling coda to the Invasion, promising some interesting stories where, one imagines, every doubt raised about the Initiative will be addressed in the most horrifying way possible. One thing that slightly grates is the presence of Emma Frost at Osborn’s villain pow-wow. Frost hasn’t been a villain in years, and works far better in her current incarnation, so let’s hope this merely signals her willingness to engage with the the winning side, rather than a return to actual villainy.
Despite massively enjoying the lead-up to Secret Invasion, it was ultimately a disappointing series, undoubtedly inferior to Civil War. Instead of character philosophies and personality clashes, we had relentless, formless attack by a largely faceless group of uninteresting Skrulls whose motivation and background was largely confined to tie-in books. Only the set-up for Dark Reign – which really plays more off the themes and ideas of Civil War – redeems the series at all.
Add the Comics Daily RSS Feed!
December 5th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
1. The death of Jan was kind of left field. Sure a couple of hints were left, but overall it just seemed kind of random. Never mind the fact that it was pretty much meaningless. I understand she was an original Avenger, but as a character she hasn’t been particularly relevant or interesting since…the 80’s? If that? I felt worse for Bill Foster in Civil War than I did for her.
2. Where did Daredevil come from? And why did he even bother showing up if he wasn’t going to interact with Elektra? Which brings me to my next point…
3. The ship filled with everyone who was replaced worked out a little too cleanly. Tons of ships get destoryed after the Skrulls retreat, but the one with everyone of ‘our guys’ is left in tact with no sorts of problems within. Nevermind the fact that it doesn’t even begin to explain Mockingbird’s appearance again. They’ve already proven they can extract the memories and all that stuff from the dead (with Captain Marvel). And the first time she showed up made at least a little sense, since that Mockingbird was with a bunch of people from the 70’s. This time it just seems to come out of nowhere.
4. Did they really have to go through the Fantastic Four subplot? Isn’t that what they had there own mini for?
5. Emma Frost in Norman’s Evil League of Evil? Really?
6. The cover for this issue annoyed me since it really seemed to have no actual relevance to the story. Thor had a couple of lines, Cap walked away from Stark and Wolverine…it’s like they have some kind of quota to fill with Wolverine appearances on book covers. Most SI issues were like that, though. Frankly it annoyed me.
Honestly, reading this issue made me wonder if Bendis actually wrote this, or if Jeph Loeb improved his writing a little bit and is going under a new pseudonym.