Oh My God! (make sure you say it like Jonathan Higgins)
The Secret Invasion is upon us, and it’s not secret anymore. Who’s a Skrull, who isn’t a Skrull, and just when did all this happen?
Marvel may have worn you down with the “Who do you trust?” campaign, but even with all the hype, The House of Ideas is still able to kick you in the teeth and still politely ask you to smile for the camera. Yes, the Skrulls are here, and yes some of your favorite heroes are indeed those green skinned aliens from beyond.
“So tell us already!”
Well Dear Reader, I’ve been telling you for the last month at least. Take a quick look at those Who Do You Trust? campaigns once again, and you’ll discover part of the answer.
“Sue Storm?”
Yup.
“Luke Cage?”
Sweet Christmas! It Looks like it.
“Wolverine?
Him too.
“Come on, Joe Q. said Iron Man wouldn’t be a Skrull, yet he was on that poster campaign.”
First, never believe anything being “spun” out of a fan meeting. Second, you’ll have to explain to me why we come face to face with not one, but two people in Iron Man suits.
“Please tell me Spider-Man isn’t a Skrull!”
Okay, I won’t, but see my comment above about duplicate bodies. It certainly makes OMD and BND more interesting now, doesn’t it? Yes, it does appear that everything Marvel has been hinting at over the last two months, is indeed the real deal.
Or is it?
This issue was full of surprises, like the simultaneous attack on every hero installation from the Baxter Building to everything owned or controlled by Stark Enterprises to Thunderbolt Mountain by surprise suicide sleeper agents, to the big reveal in the Savage Land. I know Marvel Legal will jump all over my ass for posting images from the issue, so I won’t, but my guess is the big reveal page is already floating around the net.
I’m not a big Marvel reader. There are more Ultimate Marvel titles on my pull list than 616. Even though I’m not familiar with everything going on, new readers who have heard the hype and want to jump on board the Skrull-wagon, shouldn’t have any problem identifying who is who thanks to the “supers” (for lack of a better term – I’m a pro video guy after all) next to each appearance of the central characters.
I love Bendis’s story build, leading us up to the big confrontation. I don’t care what the haters will say, Secret Invasion is Three Days of the Condor, Independence Day, Manchurian Candidate, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the original, not that crappy Spock version) all rolled into one. I went into this issue with zero expectations, but found myself on the edge of my seat the entire time. Bendis has really delivered a story that makes you question anyone and everyone in the Marvel U.
Now, for those who are reeling in shock thinking every storyline you’ve read for the last 30 years is now being erased, remember this is only the first issue. Not everything has been revealed – those “people” that walked out of the crashed ship could be Skrulls, the real deal, or something else entirely. More questions need to be answered, more drama needs to play out, we need to find out who lives and who dies, and we aren’t going to get those answers until the next tie-in issue.
For all the grief people give Yu for his art style, I actually found his work here to be on par with many other artists currently working in the industry. His panel layout and composition totally work for me and coloring done by Laura Martin works really well.
The Good
- Sweet Christmas!
- Bendis’s writing
- He Loves You
- Big Questions, and big answers
The Bad
- The hype machine may have revealed too much
This issue has it all – aliens, dinosaurs, a military invasion on a global scale, sleeper cell agents, space ships, big explosions, and most importantly SKRULLS! Civil War, The Death of Captain America, World War Hulk, One More Day and now Secret Invasion. This is going to be the series of the summer. I’m giving Secret Invasion #1 4.5 out of 5 Stars.
38 Comments
I felt empty … unsatisfied.
Based on this issue:
1. When the mini is complete — I betcha it could have been told in 3-4 issues (like Civil War).
2. It wlll probably read better as a trade
I LOVED THIS ISSUE!! it was great, and friggin hank pym, did not see that one comin andlike i said in the forums the last page just blew me away. whose who, who are those old avengers, the visions back!!!??? and so is cap, what the hells goin on, whys my cat doin that to my toe, hopefully we can get answers in the tie ins
Some of it was really good (I’m a sucker for reveals, admittedly), but I’m not completely sold on it yet. That being said, I think it was a good beginning to the event.
I dig the concept of rejuvenation and reinvention. Bring back Cypher. Wait…scrap that.
I can sum this issues awesomeness in 2 words:
Sweet Christmas
Hey, it’s the SW6 Avengers! Sweet!
Who ever didn’t like it is a miserable crybaby who doesn’t like anything.
There were 3 Skrull reveals, 2 Wolverines and a dying Iron-man.
What is all that “He Loves You” business? A code? A prayer? Some sort of invocation of the Skrull Jesus?
I’m not doubting what you say, but I’m not really feeling the excitement. If everyone that appeared in the promotions is a Skrull then I’m gonna have problems with it.
First time that i am posting on here but i have to say…….SWEET GOD IN HEAVEN, THIS ISSUE IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but who is who, and please dont tell they are going to do a “one more day” thing with wolverine…..that would be just retarded
I need me some Fury!
I’m not a huge Marvel fan — typically only following the New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, and Astonishing X-Men in the 616 universe — but I really enjoyed this issue.
I’ve said before that I’m a fan of Yu, and I typically enjoy Bendis’ writing (even if his continuity isn’t exactly ‘spot on’ most of the time), and this issue was the perfect blend of both.
But, that said, while this issue was full of “Oh sh-tuff!” moments, it still wasn’t the best comic I read this week — Walking Dead #48 was.
About the Savage Land ship… Nah, those can’t be real characters. Plot-wise, they seem to be a kind of expository “Skrulls can take any form” guys. And also, probably, the first opponents for our main heroes. I bet that one of the Avengers (either N or M) will end up dead, just to get things going.
I have to admit – I liked the issue. While the art seems to be a bit ill-fitted for that kind of story, all the events have really ominous feel to them. Can’t wait till the next part of the story.
I have a bad feeling this is going to turn into a continuity nightmare, not that Marvel hasn’t already made a muck of things in that regard (I still refuse to buy anything Spiderman related due to OMD). My head aches to think about it. Still, I’ll be buying the series and giving it a chance. Hopefully Marvel will prove me wrong.
I really hope that all those guys who got out of that ship weren’t Skrulls. If that were the case, and those were the “real” heroes of the Marvel U … Secret Invasion would be the worst retconn **wink wink Rodrigo …EVAR.
However, I did really enjoy the sleeper agents attacking the various installations simultaneously. Really opens up the scope for us folks who may just read a few titles (which will inevitably result in more tie-ins). Por ejemplo … was that the first time S.W.O.R.D. was mentioned in a non X title? The last time I remember seeing them was in Astonishing XMen.
This series has gotten me excited, tonight I’m going back through to New Avengers #1 and see if I can pick up some of these clues BMB and Joe Q are saying have been there all along. Good stuff.
I’m thinking maybe half the “heroes” that came out of the ship will be the real deal adn the other half will be Skrulls.
Wolverine form the ship has to be a Skrull. Logistically, the memories he gained at the end of House of M would confirm that the wolverine running around in the last two years would be the “true” Wolverine, because the memories he’s been hunting down in Wolverine: Origins are being confirmed by other characters (unless they’re Skrulls. ugh. my brain just imploded at that thought……
Mockingbird from the ship will be real. Mephisto and/or the Gods of the Marvel Universe freed her to be their own double agent, maybe even giving her special abilities like shapeshifting (her name is “Mockingbird” after all.)
Wild uninformed theory: Bobbi Barton was the only convenient hero–albeit a lame one–running around in Marvel “Hell” and therefore one of the few wild cards Mephisto could use…after all, the Skrull gods are part of this as well and Mephisto only really gets to f’ with Earthly souls.
What’s throwing me is the possibility that the crew that got off the Skrull ship are either Skrulls, a combination of Skrulls and real heroes, or Skrulls who don’t know their Skrulls, or a combination of all of the above. Gives you a headache doesn’t it?
Spider-Woman=Skrull
Nick Fury=Skrull
Luke Cage on Earth=Skrull (explains the skrull baby), Sweet Christmas Afro Luke Cage on Ship=real Luke Cage
It seems too obvious that all of these heroes are skrulls. If the N/M Avengers are skrulls, why didn’t they do anything destructive like the Jarvis/Pym skrulls? Similarly, I can’t see the point of all the ship heroes being skrulls, too. As for “sleeper agents,” unless they’re activated in a mind-control way, what’s to stop the hero-as-skrulls from fighting with the heroes they associate with (like Hulkling in YA or Xavin in Runaways) against the invading skrulls?
Oh, and I think it would’ve been cooler if the heroes who had gotten of the ship, rather than 70s heroes, were all the ones from the original “Secret Wars” series.
Stephen: I’ll double down and say that Jessica Jones is a Skrull as well. (She is in the splash page as well and would make the baby more probable as well)
While paranoia won’t let me completely enjoy this, I have to say that the best reveal to me is that Pym is a Skrull. Now if they’ll make it so that they took him BEFORE he slapped Wanda… :p
Thor is probably a Skrull in that page, since I doubt that they mess with the ongoing book and we’ve seen that they can copy his powers.
The one’s that scare me are Beast, Emma Frost and Jean Gray. The reason is because I like the current Beast and Cyclops is one of my favorite characters. I really don’t want Beast reset and I don’t want to go thru another soap opera romance story with Cyclops again.
However, the one that has the most nightmarish possibilities is that Scarlet Witch was among the bunch. If they decided to make that one the real one… it’s just scary.
None of them can be Skrulls. Weren’t we already told that the biggest reveal would be in the next issue? I’ll grant one real superhero from the ship, and it would be silly for it to be the one that we’ve seen as a soul. You can’t retcon everything away with Mephisto.
all i can say is BWA !!!! and we need nick fury and his new BFFS ! the SKRULL KILL KREW !!!!!!!!! WHOS WITH ME ! im not a skrull !
By the way…has anyone noticed that there will be potentially FIVE Captain America’s running around this summer:
1. Bucky
2. The Mysterious Steve Roger’s body double
3. The Invaders Cap (which is the dumbest of them all you ask me)
4. This Skrull Cap
5. Is the REAL Steve Rogers still dead?
I’d have to bet against the Nick fury in hiding as a Skrull.
I can totally see Fury going off the grid not because of what happened in Secret War, but because he created the Secret War as a way to go off grid because he found out about the Skrulls. Secret War was just smoke and mirrors.
I think by the time this is all over, I’m going to hate Skrulls as much as I hate Mephisto. I hope I’m wrong.
this just in fury will be back in mighty avengers 12 with a new group of howling commandos, and he aint no skrull, if he was why woudl they be lookin for him.
It seeme to me the biggest get out of jail card in the history of Retconning. We, possibly, get shown that Cap, Mockingbird,Vision, Ant Man, basically anyone who’s died since the Kre-Skrull war, is still alive. I took it at face value at first although I’m willing to admit some people’s ideas here might be true ie only some of them are real.
My bets for real heroes/villians that have been swapped and not just conveniently impersonated like Sue Storm may have been: Beast, Jessica Jones (makes Luke Cage even more dynamic as a character and you could have the skrull that replaced Jessica eventually fight against the skrulls with of course her death occurring), Henry Pym (I think taken prior to his breakdown and being drummed out of the Avengers. Maybe even before the yellowjacket persona, although not before creating Ultron unless you say they were trying to infiltrate prior to the Illuminati visit which is a weak argument, I think. Imagine the pathos over finding out that you are divorced, your wife is physically and mentally repulsed by you and everyone thinks you are kind of pathetic. Plus, now we could possibly say that the Thor-Clone was designed to act the way it acted.), Plus Pym’s abilities would be the easiest for a Skrull to copy until you could lay they could lay their hands on some Pym Particles. Emma (why have only one villian on the ship – to me it stands out. Plus it plays havoc with one of the Summers boys again) And Wonderman. Mockingbird might be as well. I go back and forth on that one. I also think Doctor Strange is a skrull and that Clea is looking for the correct one.
I think that it will be revealed that the skrulls have for a long time been able to make certain agents truly believe to be those who they are impersonating until a certain event or timing occurs to ‘activate’. Plus after examing Xavier, they will have improved upon the process by applying what they learned from his powers.
Just some thoughts…
You’re so incredibly fucking stupid that it leaves my mouth agap. In fact, let me pause to grasp my jaw and pop it back into place under my upper lip. First off, Sue Storm isn’t a Skrull because in the panel before she identifies herself, she’s a black guy. Now, I know she’s a superhero, but I’ve never known her powers to inlude blackinesis. And Second, you’re looking for Skrulls in all the wrong places. If you want a Skrull, How about Ben Grimm? Wasn’t his absence in Civil War a bit odd for a man whose catchphrase is “It’s Clobbering Time!!!”? What about Namor, who blew up his own goddamn homeland? Fuck, Johnny Storm is probably a Skrull, his attitude has changed quite a bit lately. And don’t say Wanda could’ve been replaced before Avengers Disassembled, because Skrulls can shapeshift, but do not have powers. None of those 70s heros are real, because that would mean about 20 years of pointless continuity, sparking outrage among the Marvel Universe. My guesses are Thor, Hulk, Ronin, Hawkeye, Johnny and maybe Sue Storm, but Sue was NOT revealed in #1. So Congratulations that you learned how to read, but maybe next time you ought to open you eyes and ears, cause you know what they say: Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil, and you wanna be able to spot all the evil you can in the coming months of Secret Invasion.
P.S: Not all the heros shown on the poster campaign are Skrulls. dumbass.
I’m going to allow Andrew’s rude and crude comments, mainly because it demonstrates the type of trolls that come out of the woodwork to stomp on someone’s opinion…that’s right Andrew this review is one person’s opinion, just like your comments are your opinion. And you know what they say about opinions and assholes…
P.S: Not all the heros shown on the poster campaign are Skrulls. dumbass.
Are you sure?
You’re kinder than I am, Stephen. I’d have deleted his posts solely on the lack of grammar…
Jackass.
Hmmm. I don’t know if Andrew was referring to my post or to all of the other posts. But I still find it somewhat pathetic that his caustic viewpoints were based on the fact that any retconning is bad. It is what it is and it seems that given enough reason Marvel (and others) will mess with continuity. And as far as what I have suggested and others as potential retcons, they are not major characters or plotlines being impacted. Retconning will not go away and as far as this one goes, I find it more ingenious than most all-powerful cosmic individuals playing with the uni(mulit)verse, creating a crisis and resetting things.
However, his points on some of the other characters do have some merit, but then all of ours do. The only one that matters is Bendis’ opinions.
one big clue
after the NA’s plane crashed and Spiderwoman and Wolverine were arguing over the body take a look at the unnatural color of Spider woman’s eyes
Speaking of eyes, hasn’t anyone questioned why Wolverine’s eyes have been blue in Astonishing and remarks made by Whedon that they were that way on purpose? Wolvie is a skrull!
Fury is a Skrull. Its ALL MISDIRECTION. Why would he send Spider-Woman (whos eyes GLOWED GREEN) to retrieve Skrullektra’s body and give it to Stark? She has him playing the hands of both human sides (Secret and Mighty Avengers) so they stay off the trail of the real mastermind. I.E., ‘HIM”. HE IS NICK FURY!
OMG can’t Marvel think of anything other than messing with superheroes back histories in annoying ways?
At one point heroes would fight against villians now every single comic is about the silly heroes having some personal drama, beign personally attacked, not being themselves or wait could I be a Skrull sleeper agent that’s infiltrated your messageboard…… um no that’s just stupid my hard earned from now on is being redirected elsewhere.