Customer Reviews

New Avengers Vol. 9: Secret Invasion, Book 2 (v. 9, Bk. 2)

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"The New Avengers, v.9"
by Brian Michael Bendis, et. al
(Marvel Comics, 2009)
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This is one of the best books in the "Secret Invasion" crossover series, with a hefty dose of gritty violence and some dark, alien psychology. Bendis' writing is notably stronger here than on the companion "Mighty Avengers" book (is he playing favorites) and the feel of this collection is more cohesive as well. Here we see the nuts-and-bolts of the Skrull campaign to replace humans with Skrull agents, including several deeply disturbing medical experiments as they perfect their technique. Some of the issues are top-quality, right up there along with the best that Bendis has done elsewhere. In one issue he tracks the underworld's reaction to the invasion (hmmm... guess I *will* have to check out the Hood, after all..) and the last episode features a break from the action as we revisit "Alias" star Jessica Jones and see her courtship with Luke Cage. As with both of the rebooted Avengers titles, we see very little of the team itself, amid all the uber-plot crossover stuff: will these books ever show the teams in action again, or will they always be part of some grand scheme? Anyway, this is one of the best SI books so far... It's gettin' mighty Skrully, for sure! (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

With Secret Invasion in full-swing, writer Brian Michael Bendis continues to spin some side-stories and back-stories in the New Avengers and Mighty Avengers titles. Be warned that spoilers are ahead here. The second collected hardcover volume of the Secret Invasion-laced New Avengers tells the stories of the origin of the Captain America-guised Skrull that the heroes and Ka-Zar encounter in the Savage Land. The book gets even better as we see how the Skrulls perfected their technology of disguising themselves in the wake of the battle with the Illuminati, followed by a very interesting look at just what happened to the Skrull Queen/Spider-Woman during the House of M event, and just how the massive universe shattering Annihilation saga played into the events happening afterward. The book ends with would-be crime boss The Hood discovering the origin of his demonic powers as the villains decide who's side to take, and there's even more tragedy to befall star-crossed lovers Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. There's great artwork throughout from Jim Cheung, Billy Tan, and Michael Gaydos, while Bendis continues to illustrate just how long he's had Secret Invasion waiting in the wings as nearly everything he's done since taking over the Avengers books has been pointing to the cataclysmic events in the main Secret Invasion mini. All in all, the varying New Avengers and Mighty Avengers Secret Invasion tie-in hardcovers are definitely worth your time if you've been enjoying Secret Invasion, which in itself is a nice change of pace considering how many tie-in's to past Marvel events fell way low of the mark.

A Skrull Analysis for you: The Skrulls are everywhere this season. But - the Skrulls have never been my favourite bad guys for the reason that like Hydra, AIM, etc - they've been pretty non-threatening assembly line bad guys. Looks wise, they also feel like green humanoid cast offs from Godzilla's family. Hence, the SECRET INVASION - which is the one serious attempt to revive the Skrulls and give them street cred.

Because the Skrulls inherently have no personality of their own ("Yes my Queen." "No my Queen") - taking over the identities of our favourite heroes makes a lot of sense. Now we get insights into the imposters, but as familiar faces. That's the whole spin of the Secret Invasion.

In New Avengers, we learn a lot as Bendis digs in deeper. Nice scenarios with Captain America in the Secret World and a nice backstory on Luke Cage and his wife keep this episode humming well and raising the emotional stakes - something that's been missing here and there as the action overtakes the inner core of our heroes. We can only hope and pray that with this multi book Invasion, that the best is yet to come and the good vs bad guys line blurs a lot more.

But whether you like or hate the Skrulls, this is a nice read. Here's hoping we don't overdose on the Skrulls - who take a licking and keep on reproducing...

Great art throughout and great cover homages by the way!

The Skrull invasion has been great...no tremendous!!!!! By being able to go back through the Marvel history have "embedded" them into the past at so many key areas and no one to know has been truly an accomplishment. Great book, amazing story and the best absolute best marvel universe crossover ever!!!!

The one thing that got to me and gave me the creeps was the erie "he loves you" that is repeated through out the skrull crossover because it is so cult like and over the top it just gnaws at you. Just Exceptional!!! Can't wait for more.

I remember when I used to get hyped about major comic book crossover events. Jim Shooter's original Secret Wars. Crisis on Infinite Earths. Hell, man, even Legends got me excited. But cut to the present, where the crossover event has fallen on sad times. Factor in the economy and that ennui has descended like a mutha-effer, and it's surely been long and long since my nipples went "Hruhh?" at the notion of yet another senses-shattering catastrophe calling for all superheroes to unite. Not when the End of the World seems to swing around every couple of weeks (like that Final Crisis nonsense over at DC). My long-winded point being, if you're not down with the Secret Invasion event, you might as well give this tie-in trade a pass. Me, I dug out some change from my sofa and decided to stay with the thing. Because I do - grudgingly - dig the Secret Invasion hook.

If you've been keeping up with the monthly Marvel comics - in which case, you MUST be rich and, also, loan me some money, dude - then you're already clued in that the Identity-Swapping Skrullapalooza is finally done with. The consensus epitaph (amongst my homies, anyway) seems to be that Secret Invasion had some nice moments but, on the whole, wasn't all that. In fact, in a mercenary stroke, Secret Invasion's ending served to lay groundwork for the next big crossover event for Marvel, ominously titled Dark Reign (although Lex Luthor would have fits should he ever find out the premise to this).

NEW AVENGERS Vol. 9: SECRET INVASION BOOK 2 is a chewy mouthful and collects issues #43-47. It continues with the filler stories, as the Skrully flashbackorama keeps on keeping on. This is one of those instances where, if you're a Secret Invasion or New Avengers completist, the trade paperback may actually be the better get, as opposed to having purchased the individual issues as they came out. It's cheaper, for one thing. But, also, when reading issues #43-47 straight thru, you do get a better feel for these little flashback vignettes, and how they link to the big Secret Invasion picture.

However, if you're looking for more of the New Avengers to be featured in their own comic book, that, apparently, is asking for too much. Spidey is somewhat in issue #43, Skrully Jessica Drew pops in here and there, and Luke Cage does star in issue #47, but, for the most part, it's all about the Skrulls.

Previously, both the Mighty Avengers and the New Avengers flew to the Savage Land to investigate a spaceship, out of which emerged a host of abducted Marvel superheroes, clad in their old-school uniforms. Naturally, a fighty fight breaks out, during which Spidey gets separated and runs into Ka-Zar and Shanna the She-Devil... and Captain America - who I guess isn't dead after all, right? Issue #43 opens up with Cap single-handedly taking on Ka-Zar, Shanna, Sabu, and Spidey. From there we flash back (yes, gonna be lots of flashing back) to years ago when the Kree/Skrull war was going on and the Fantastic Four and the Avengers got caught up in the middle. Seems like a non sequitur? But it does mesh with the issue's storyline. However, unless you're the kind who craves all the nuances of a crossover mega-event, issue #43 doesn't accomplish much in the scheme of things, especially since this Cap doesn't really get a chance to play a defining role in Secret Invasion.

Issue #44 documents how the Skrulls were able to circumvent all of the Earth heroes' warning systems, technological and mystical. The Skrulls were actually pretty crafty with coming up with this solution. And it starts with Marvel's Illuminati. This issue is pretty essential to Secret Invasion, and worth it alone for the arrogant Sub-Mariner getting the lese majeste pounded into him.

Issue #45 chronicles Skrull Queen Veranke (in her guise as Jessica Drew) and Skrully Hank Pym's time during the events of the House of M and also reveals how the Annihilation saga plays into the Skrull prophesy. Brian Michael Bendis is trying his darndest to make the Skrulls more empathetic, and he probably gets close to succeeding in this issue, as we see a confused and uncertain Veranke trying to cope with the House of M reality suddenly thrusted on her.

Next, we find that even the Hood's gang has been Skrull infiltrated. We also finally learn the true nature of Parker Robbins's demon in the hood, and it's no insignificant demon, either. I've always kind of liked Parker, even though he's not a good guy, and this story keeps him a viable character. Bendis ain't done with the Hood yet.

Lastly, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and their baby spend some family time together. As Luke marvels at his little baby girl, he recounts the story of when he had just met Jessica and had hired her to locate his father. If you've brushed up on your Marvel female private eyes, then you'll enjoy the little in-jokes in this issue. As a fan of ALIAS, I always appreciate the spotlight shining on Luke and Jessica and their always tempestuous relationship. And when Michael Gaydos drops in to handle the artwork, well, my fan joy doth brimmeth over...

I'd personally like to catch a glimpse of Brian Michael Bendis's private journals, computer diaries, flow charts or whatever he uses to keep track of plot stories. Over the years, this guy really has been coordinating and laying groundwork for some seriously far-reaching events, one after the other. House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion (never mind that I didn't dig the first two there all that much). And, now, the upcoming Dark Reign. Bendis has been turning in a heavy workload, even when you cast aside the fact that he's put the Avengers on hold to focus on Secret Invasion (yes, even the sister title, MIGHTY AVENGERS, has become Skrullapalooza'd). No complaints at all about the artwork, though. Billy Tan, Jim Cheung, and Michael Gaydos are amazing artists. And you can't leave out Aleksi Briclot's terrific covers, which are take-offs of memorable past Marvel covers.

Now that we're done with the Skrulls (for now), I'm very much looking forward to the next trade, as NEW AVENGERS #48 promises to feature actual New Avengers, except that it's supposed to debut a new roster. I've got a sneaking feeling that Hawkeye's old love will be there, as well as a certain former WW2 sidekick...

Not being entirely familiar with thw New Avengers and the Secret Invasion series, I can only judge this as a standalone comic.

This appears to be the Skrull Secret Invasion plan to infiltrate the supes by planting sleeper agents to impersonate key superheros. Thus we can now explain away the erratic behaviour of all the previous few years of Iron Man, Cap America, Reed Richards etc because they were Skrull impersonators. Looks like this is part of the whole Marvel strategy of creating catclysmic events and then writing them into all their current titles for various cross-overs, tie-ins, specials whatever. So unless you read literally everything, you will miss the nuances and subtleties and will just have to infer from the cross-overs that certain events had transipired in another comic.

What I can make out is that there were failures in Skrull experimentation to indoctrinate sleeper agents, some of these skrulls were exposed by the bad guys, led by the Hood who, now with artistic re-rendering, appears to be a good guy. I really don't care for all this manga-like drawings and with these sorts of convoluted plotlines, this is dumbing down of comics.