While the Secret Invasion is a cool project, Marvel has finally run the well dry for back stories. Mighty Avengers and New Avengers have been the "brain dump" of all the behind-the-scenes ideas Marvel had for how the invasion happened. Now the warning signs of the past few months have fallen through and Marvel has reached rock bottom. We were promised this would be the big shocker. We'd find out exactly how the Skrulls managed to infiltrate us, and who in the Illuminati was the traitor who gave them the means to do it. We find out both in this issue, but everything has already been revealed in the Secret Invasion title, so we learn practically nothing new.
Let's be honest, this issue is nothing but filler. Last month, we got Spider-Man in the present. This month, it's back on the Wayback Machine for another "thrilling" history lesson. While Marvel could have used the New Avengers title to give us some cool moments actually involving the New Avengers, we've been getting more and more behind the scenes stuff that gradually became slower and slower moving. With this issue, we officially have nothing.
The Skrulls torture Reed Richards for a way to infiltrate us, and we know ahead of time they get what they're looking for. No suspense. End of story.
Next month, Marvel is giving us a look into what occurred during the "House of M" crossover...just in case you still give a flip about the history of the Skrull invasion. Give it a rest, Marvel. Bring the New Avengers back into their title and let's make it a fun read again. My subscription is the only thing keeping me in this title, and I can only imagine what folks who have the option to buy this book on a monthly basis are doing.
If you skip this one, you'll still know everything going on in the Invasion miniseries. Save your cash this month.
Excellent comments. I was really looking forward to the Secret Invasion, but the endless back stories and exhaustive conversations between every combination of characters has become too tiresome to follow.
ReplyDeleteThere comes a time when more characterization amounts to less characterization, and when new flashbacks simply reveal scenes that we already inferred had happened.