So let's start our reviews with what is, presumably, the hottest miniseries running right now. The Secret Invasion has been a lot of fun so far - sort of an amped-up version of the classic "Kree-Skrull War." It's also suffered a bit from being scattered, with a huge cast, battles in the streets of New York, heroes duking it out in the Savage Land, Skrull plots unfolding, combat in space and a half-dozen (or so) spinoff miniseries floating around (not including the backstories spilling out in the New and Mighty Avengers titles) - but I suppose some fragmentation is to be expected when you're dealing with a story that involves virtually every hero in the Marvel Universe.
This issue starts to bring together some of those scattered elements, including some teased several issues back - the most interesting being the meeting between Thor and the new Captain America.
The climax features a classic line of dialogue from Nick Fury (who's still carrying that Honda-sized gun) and the setup for an epic, knock-down, drag-out fight.
I still haven't warmed to artist Leinil Yu, though I'm getting there. Some of his work has a stiffness about it (although it reminds me in places of the great Ernie Colon), and some panels are a bit confused. (What is Medusa doing in her cameo in the third panel on page 3? I think she's screaming, but then again...) Still, Yu seems to get better with each issue.
Writer Brian Bendis has taken a tremendous amount of heat for his work on The Avengers - some of it justified, maybe - but he has an interesting and intricate story running here, and this book sits at the top of my monthly "read" stack.
The success of the miniseries will depend on whether or not he can stick the landing (sorry, still getting out of Olympics mode here). But so far, it's been very good.
Grade: A-
No comments:
Post a Comment