Secret Invasion

Secret Invasion

by Brian Michael Bendis, Leinil Francis Yu

The shape-shifting alien race known as the Skrulls has secretly infiltrated every super-powered organization on Earth with one goal - full-scale invasion! Filled with shocking revelations and powerful action, this adventure will keep you on the edge of your seat as Marvel's greatest heroes and villains ask - Who do you trust?

Collects Secret Invasion (2008) #1-8

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Superheroes

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bendis' magnificent piece of work (Yu's art was just average), which he'd been planning since he first wrote Avengers Disassembled. Skrulls (alien shape-shifters) have been replacing notable and/or powerful Earth people in numerous positions and countries for years and when they finally launch their world wide invasion forces, the heroes of the world have no idea who to trust. A great piece of work with a shocking finale that sees an enormous shift in power across the Marvel Universe.

This volume works best if read in continuity with reading the Bendis' Avengers' books, which was how I read them. So when the invasion kicked off, with the simmering tensions and paranoia in the Avenger books, the invasion blew my mind, had never seen anything like it... blindsided! And that finale... whoop whoop! One of the most intense, jaw-.dropping, applause worthy Marvel events ever and it utterly and completely ties into Marvel continuity with so many essentially character updates from Nick Fury, Captain Marvel(!) and Hawkeye through to the likes of Noh-Varr, The Hood and even Norman Osborne! 9.5 out of 12, 4.5 Stars.

Reading this event for a second time I was worried that my love and appreciation would fade on re-read, but if anything I enjoyed it even more, there's just so much 'real impactful' sub-arcs going on, no panel is wasted, there's no filler, this is all story.

2023 and 2011 read

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

He loves you...



Re-read 2016
This one was a buddy read with my fellow Shallow Comic Readers, initiated by our own sassy Brit, as an homage to the American colonies Thanksgiving Day celebration...aka Turkey Day. Because according to him there was no bigger turkey than the Secret Invasion storyline.
Now, I remembered loving it, but I pretty much expected to change my mind when all of the other kids in the clubhouse started nodding along with him.
So, it was with a feeling of dread that I picked this one back up...



Ok, I don't care what anyone says, this was a fucking fun event!
You've got the Skrulls, a shape-shifting alien race who were almost wiped out, and then (out of desperation) embraced prophecies that said they were destined to take over Earth for their god.
Religious zealots! Do you get more frightening villains than ones that truly believe they are doing the right thing? No. No, you do not!
I mean, these guys really thought they were doing humanity a favor, and if earth would just embrace them, everything would be all right.



And this wasn't just some regular invasion where they show up and blow the hell out of a bunch of famous buildings...
Even though that's a pretty cool way to do that shit!



Nah, those bitches had been weaseling their way into position all over the world for who knows how long, by swapping out power players with look-alike Skrulls. And unless the Skrull dies and reverts back to its natural form, there's no way to tell who's who.
When Elektra (not Elektra!) died, Tony and some of the other superheroes finally got an inkling of what was going on, but they might have found out too late!



So.
Who do you trust?



To me, this was just a blast to read. The question of who's a Skrull? was made even cooler by the fact that all of the sleeper agents had been mind-wiped. Even they had no idea they were aliens until something was triggered inside of their minds.
Gah! Can you imagine?!



Alright. So, the reviews that I can see are somewhat mixed. Which means you may read this and think it's a huge cheesefest with little to no redeeming qualities. You'd be wrong, of course, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. <--kidding! You're NOT entitled to your own opinion! Hail Hydra!
Ok, in all seriousness, I did think that parts of the story were somewhat confusing, and even at the end, not everything was sorted out to my satisfaction. I'm thinking I may go back and read (or re-read) the tie-ins to see if I can clear up some of my questions.



Oh! Wait! There's even a freaking commercial promoting the Skrull way of life on Earth!
OhMyGod. What's not to love?! <--Nothing!
I'm leaving my original 5 star rating because as far as Marvel Events go, this was a full-on winner in my book.



Oh, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING, America!
For Sam: “Here in Britain, of course, it's Thank Fuck We Got Those Weird Jesus Bastards On The Boat Day” ― Warren Ellis

Original review: 2010
Whoa! Is there some way I can rate this higher than five stars!?
It was AMAZING! This might be one of the best things I have ever read...really.
Wow! I don't even know what else to say. Wow!

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Embrace the reading of this event!


I bought this in its single comic book issues, but I chosen this TPB edition to be able of making a better overall review.


This TPB edition collects “Secret Invasion” #1-8.


Creative Team:

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Illustrator: Leinil Francis Yu

Covers: Gabriele Dell'Otto


WHO DO YOU TRUST?

In any war, trusting in your allies is crucial, but what happens when you don’t know who is really your ally?

The Skrulls are an alien race introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four #2, in 1962, and since then, they have been a fan favorite one. One of the key abilities of the Skrulls is shapeshifting, making them in real artists in the warfare field of infiltration. And even due experiments, they have been able even to copy the superpowers of those with that kind of abilities.

The Skrulls have been resilient opponents to not only the Fantastic Four, but also the Avengers, the X-Men and other super-teams of the Marvel Universe, where they played a key role in the famous Kree-Skrull War, and precisely due that…

…a secret group named themselves, the Illuminati, formed by Mr. Fantastic (aka Reed Richards), Professor X (aka Charles Xavier), Iron Man (aka Tony Stark), Namor, Black Bolt and Dr. Strange, easily the most intelligent and influential people on Marvel’s Earth, decided to take the threat of the Skrulls in their own hands, but with not so good results, since the threat wasn’t neutralized but…

…getting worse.

The Skrulls then developed a new way to shapeshifting, making them impossible to detect, so the logical path was…

…a secret invasion!

Active and sleeper agents taking the places of super-heroes and SHIELD operatives, biding time and waiting for the right moment and…

…a massive and coordinated attack to Earth!


EMBRACE THE CHANGE

The Skrulls were deep inside of all major super-teams and special ops organizations…

…and nobody had a clue about it.

Well, almost nobody…

…since Nick Fury found out, since a while ago (mostly like around the time of the Secret War event (don’t confuse it with the other events named “Secret Wars” (in plural))) and got himself out-of-contact, to plan his counter-strike, but…

…who do you trust about this? Since anybody could be a Skrull!

Even worse, while some agents were conscious of the incoming secret invasion, but…

…some of them were sleeper agents! Totally unaware of their insidious part in this invasion!

However, once the word is given…

…the Avengers Tower, the Baxter Building, the Thunderbolts mountain, the SHIELD Helicarrier, the SWORD space station…

…everywhere is attacked at the same time by infiltrated Skrull agents!

But that’s not all!

A Skrull fleet of massive space cruisers made their move towards Earth too!

A mischievous coordinated all-out attack by the Skrulls, and the heroes don’t know who do you trust, since the hero at his/her side, or even worse, at his/her back,…

…can be a Skrull right about to attack!

Actually…

…don’t trust so much in this review…

…I could be a Skrull agent too!

Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!

Long Live the Skrull Empire!!!

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the trade paperback collecting the 2008 Marvel Comics event. This reprints the entire eight issue miniseries but none of the tie-ins. The numerous tie-ins have their own trade paperback collections. It features the work of Brian Bendis, Marvel’s top writer and Leinil Yu, one of the “superstar” artists under exclusive contract with the publisher.

The main villains here are the Skrulls, a shape shifting alien race that used their abilities, along with advance technology and mystic arts to infiltrate strategic positions within the Marvel Universe, including the ranks of its myriad superhuman protectors.

This storyline is notable as it is the fruit Bendis harvested from the subplots and hints he has seeded in his work, particularly from his acclaimed work on New Avengers and even before that, from his Secret War miniseries. He maximizes the payoff by using a companywide crossover event instead of it unfolding in his monthly New Avengers title.

Secret Invasion has a different flavor from the different crossover event I have followed, by giving the villains a religious motivation. The Skrulls believed that Earth was the promised homeland for their dying civilization based on a prophecy as interpreted by a zealot cult. This religious tone gives it a semblance of relevance as America was embroiled in an ideological and covert war with Islamic terrorists at the time of publication.

This religious tone was enhanced by the return of Thor, a character based on Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s take on Norse mythology, to the Marvel Universe proper. This character was killed off in another Avenger-centric event called Disassembled a few years back orchestrated by Bendis, though he was not the writer on Thor’s monthly title. He has since returned in his own title but was isolated for a year and was not interacting with the rest of the Marvel Universe.

Another major character that returned was superspy Nick Fury, who has fallen off the grid since the events of another Bendis miniseries. Along with Thor, Nick Fury represents another character that Marvel was positioning for a return to relevance.

Bendis ties up loose threads from this past work and creates new ones for future storylines and spin-offs. This work should satisfy a lot of Bendis’ fans. He has a lot of readers as his monthly titles are among best sellers every month.

This is also artist Leinil Yu’s best work, creatively and financially since the individual issues were top sellers on the months of their release. He gets to illustrate a lot of splash and double splash pages showing a crowd and action scenes. He doesn’t do crowd scenes as well as George Perez but renders each character recognizable. His work here is looks more finished than his previous work, which is indicative of the talent of his inker and colorist. This is the first time he headlines a project that features almost all of the characters in the Marvel Universe and he is up to the task.

As a graphic novel it doesn’t have a definite ending, although it has an epilogue, it only opens a new can of worms. No spoilers here, but it does provide a new direction for stories and a theme for another crossover event. If you are a casual reader, it would feel incomplete. But if you are regular Marvel reader, you are provided with an enriched reading experience.

Best moment: The Avengers Big Three reunite to fight a common enemy.
Best line: "Yeah? Well my god has a hammer!” – Nick Fury.

Mirrored on my personal comics blog The Raving Asgardian

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Well, that's just peaches." -- S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill, faced with one of the plot revelations

Secret Invasion is one of those graphic novels that is extremely 'middle of the road' - it may not be great or a must read, but yet it was satisfying, though in a fast-food dinner way, not as in a gourmet meal. In 200+ pages of nothing but first-rate illustrations - and there are more two-page spreads of massive battles scenes and/or characters doing action hero poses than there are Iron Man suits built by Tony Stark - we have the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and upstart teams all working together to intercept and combat the Skrull Empire violently arriving on Earth. And . . . that's pretty much the storyline. (Though since the Skrulls can expertly disguise themselves as ANYONE it raises the stakes, or at least will make things very tricky for our phalanx of superheroes and -heroines.) Expect lots of chaotic and presumably noisy fight scenes with the random quips and the occasional tender moment in routine Marvel fashion. However, I will say that author Bendis absolutely nailed a 'gotcha' ending.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shapeshifting aliens called Skrulls have replaced key figures on Earth, including some Marvel superheroes – who can you trust? Welcome to Secret Invasion aka Duuuuuuuuuuuh: The Comic!

It’s a Marvel event written by Brian Bendis so I wasn’t expecting it to be good – and I was right, it wasn’t! But ‘tis turkey season so why not scoff down a turkey like Secret Invasion?

How you feel about this comic depends on whether or not you enjoy emotionless superhero action, particularly the sort that comprises sprawling splash pages where dozens of characters throw themselves at one another, because there’s a helluva lot of that here. I’m not kidding, there’s nearly one of these idiotic scenes in every issue of this book - the penultimate issue is just one long action scene! There might be more big dumb action scenes in Secret Invasion than in Avengers vs X-Men and the latter’s premise is all about big dumb action!

I appreciate the effort artist Leinil Yu puts into these pages, and his art throughout this book is the best thing about it, but this stuff isn’t interesting to me. Watch as characters who’ve tangled a thousand times before do so again without, as usual, any consequences!

Secret Invasion has some of the worst writing from Bendis yet. Without going into spoilers for why the Skrulls are invading, the story is superficially an analogy of the Spanish and the Aztecs in the 16th century - that’s as far as he takes it though! The premise of characters suspecting who is or isn’t a Skrull is abandoned almost immediately after the Skrulls reveal themselves (so much for “secret”!) and Bendis can indulge in one giant brawl after another in lieu of anything substantial.

The story has some weirdly stupid plot holes. One scene has the SHIELD helicarrier going down over New York City and the next time we see it it’s somehow in the Bermuda Triangle?! In one scene Vision’s killed and then later on he just appears again, unharmed and unexplained! And what happened to Janet van Dyne/the Wasp at the end is so poorly explained I still don’t know what to make of it! Just shockingly sloppy storytelling from an experienced writer.

You’ll also need to know a lot of what was happening in the Marvel Universe at this time to understand several storylines because Bendis doesn’t provide any context. My knowledge of 2006/07 Marvel is limited so I was lost on all of these. Vision says something to Sentry (aka Marvel’s awful attempt at a Superman character) which sends him running away crying like a little girl for some reason – that honestly felt like a scene from Garth Ennis’ The Boys! Thor had apparently broken up with the Avengers but returns in this one, still pissed but talking to them – no clue why he left or why he’s back! I have no idea what was happening with Noh-Varr or Mar-Vell either but they’re pissed about something too!

As always with Bendis, he flubs the ending. The Skrulls’ reason for invading was stupid, there’s a Deus Ex Machina that saves the replaced superheroes, and it’s not even a real ending but a prologue to the next Marvel event, Dark Reign – and a piss-poor prologue it is too! Really, THAT’S what started Dark Reign? How weak and unsatisfying.

Speaking of Deus Ex Machinas, the whole thing was predicated on contrivance with Bendis coming up with ways to explain why Wolverine couldn’t smell the Skrulls’ scent, how none of the psychic characters could detect different minds, etc. It was just a badly conceived story.

I did like Yu’s art and he pulls off the large set pieces admirably, though I have no idea why Uatu the Watcher is towering over Galactus in the same scene – one guy lives on the Moon, the other EATS PLANETS! And, despite my many reservations, Bendis’ script is a very easy, smooth read if extremely shallow and vapid.

Secret Invasion is the quintessential Marvel event book: bloated, loud and stupid as well as the turkiest of turkeys - gobble, gobble!

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny thing is I had already read enough comics that take place during or just after the events depicted herein that I felt I had kind of sort of already read it?


Like many, I wish they'd found a way to incorporate this style of creepy PSA from this comics run into the TV series.

I'm still glad I circled back to it, it wasn't as memorable as Civil War and certainly bore minimal resemblance to the unfortunate recent Marvel Disney+ series but it made for an entertaining read on its own merits.

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this was stupid.

Not like "OMG WHAT DID I JUST READ" but more like "Why did I read this?"

So Skrulls are in town. Do you know who they are? They're shapeshifters. This pisses off a lot of people cause one second you think you're with your wife, the next it's a green face with a evil grin in your face. Fucked up huh? Could make for some compelling storytelling.

Besides a few moments (One included Mr. Fantastic, another including Jessica) the rest of the reveals or fights come off as flat or boring. There's a TON of fighting, so much it's hard to keep up with it after awhile, and even when you do honestly there's no real substance. THe only real GOOD thing of this event was the fact it sets up some interesting things. Still, it's pretty boring overall.

2/5.

[Terence · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Skrulls have come to Earth. They have infiltrated every group of super powered heroes. Now the Earth's mightiest don't know who they can trust and the world's at stake.

I love the concept of the shape shifting Skrulls learning to assimilate powers and become undetectable in order to take over the planet Earth. I did feel they could have been a little smarter about it by killing or capturing the heroes smart enough to stop them, but the story was still strong. Even The Watcher showed up to record the events.


Another part of the story I really enjoyed is that the villains showed up to fight for the Earth.

Villains showing up to fight for the planet doesn't happen enough. When some alien tyrant tries to destroy, take over, or enslave the Earth some of the villains should always try to fight too in my opinion.

Secret Invasion was a fun and well thought out story.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a well structured review, more of a stream-of-consciousness-commentary. Here we go...

I liked the direction the prologue was going and the artwork wasn’t bad either. Maybe a winner?



Chapter 1
It‘s Tony!



This comic had me at Red Alert!And there is humour! Sarcasm! Who the heck are Simon, Carol and Bob? The Civil War thing isn‘t quite done with, is it? I like this story!

Artwork — some of the characters‘ proportions are a little off. Some very strange boobs. But mostly it‘s good. Very colourful.



A little confusing there at the end...

Chapter 2
Some weird mirror verse scenario is going on... Spiderman is funny in both manifestations. Lots of fighting, bright colours, not a lot of talking or any annoying narration. FiiiizzzzChunck! Fun!



Chapter 3
An in-between chapter, connecting the dots... a little bit of Maria Hill and the helicarrier, a little bit of the bad guys, a little bit of the new Avengers...

Devastating revelation!

Chapter 4
I am confused. And why do the women always have to wear clothes that are barely there?

This would make a pretty good screenplay. But seriously, the weird boobs are distracting.

Sometimes I am not sure, which superhero I am looking at. So I am missing out on some of the fun. Just another dude with a chiselled chin in a cape...

Chapter 5
Nice page layouts!

I am sorry, but this white dude as Nick Fury just looks wrong! Even if he started out looking like that in the original comics. Give me Samuel Jackson any day!

It feels a bit as if I‘ve accidentally stumbled into the set of Men in Black with all those alien impersonators.

Chapter 6, 7 & 8
Fighting! Lots of fighting!



Resolution? Reunion? Drama! Yay! And oh no! Sadness! And oops! And no — you have got to be kidding! Well, that was bloody entertaining.

Alternative covers — some nice, some ok, not a bad offering.

I wouldn‘t mind reading the next volume. Tne next issue after this could be Secret Invasion: War of Kings — it‘s hard to tell.

*-*-*
And thanks to Anne I now have this:
Secret Invasion Reading Order Checklist — https://www.howtolovecomics.com/2019/...

[Ivaelo Slavov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Героите тайно са заменени от клонинги. Историята е интересна, изпълнена с много напрежение и обрати. До последно читателят е в неведение кой персонаж е клонинг и кой е реален.

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finally got around to picking up a copy of this. I read the New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Avengers The Initiative, Ms. Marvel (War Bird/Carol Danvers) issues along with Dark Avengers which come directly out of the finish on this so I had a good handle on what happened around the event. Overall a pretty decent job.

[Marie Antoinette · Rating 5 out of 5]

To me Secret Invasion has one of the greatest lines in Marvel history. (Courtesy of Nick Fury):

"He loves you"
"He... Who?"
"God"
"Yeah? Well... my God has a hammer!"

[Christian Savin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as enjoyable or exciting as I was expecting it to be, not to mention the Romanian translation was awful. I'll probably try the English version whenever Marvel annnounces a Secret Invasion-inspired movie.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually a pretty solid read!

It starts with Skrulls finally revealing themselves to the world and we follow as the event transpires with friends being revealed as Skrulls, no one can trust anyone and paranoia becomes hysteria and its a full blown war, war at all sides and in between themselves but the Avengers have to engage fake skrull-heroes and find out the real threat of who it is and Queen Veranke!

Its an epic event with so many moving pieces and like so many twists and turns and revelations and motives well established and makes for a compelling read and like gives everyone in the MU a chance to shine plus the heroes are tested like any other and so many Avengers fall too which leads to emotional fallout but the real one is for Norman and Tony which changes everything!

Its an awesome event and one of the best of Marvel with the art being top notch plus next up: Dark reign!

[Molly™☺ · Rating 3 out of 5]

60% | C+ | Good

"But I don't know if you are who you say you are. And we have to do something about this. Now. Because this is just the beginning. I know it"

Skrulls have infiltrated Earth and are in the works of a full scale invasion. Marvel's heroes are there to protect their home, but can they work as a team if they don't even know who they can trust?

Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets Marvel, but on a grander scale, and worse. Perhaps the poster child for 'spectacle over substance', this storyline is absolutely jam packed with familiar faces and action scenes which hope to make up for the lack of plot and character development. The art is great, which it absolutely has to be for a visual experience such as this, and almost carries this run entirely on its back. If you like fight scenes and are already familiar with the marvel roster, this will be a fun, popcorn-esque ride full of wonderful art and character designs.

[Alex Gunsean · Rating 4 out of 5]

8.6/10

Secret Invasion written by Brian Michael Bendis, a very prolific writer for Marvel, was a major storyline involving a Skrull invasion of Earth. The plot is very well written and engaging throughout, introducing many groups like the Thunderbolts, Young Avengers, The Initiative etc. The Avengers are split into two and each character gets used enough and used well. The antagonists being Skrulls works well as the dynamic of not knowing who to trust. The action and fight scenes were very dramatic, illustrated beautifully, but sometimes they could be a little tedious to read. The artwork is fantastic throughout the book, with many amazing double page pieces and some great character design. Some of Secret Invasion falls into the typical Bendis trope of having too much dialogue, but I don’t think it was too much of an issue. To his credit, the monologues in this book were written to perfection along with some of the calm,casual dialogue. The Who Do You Trust? part was a nice addition, with some interesting extra stories. The story involving The Beast and Wonder Man was my favourite, as they have a great dynamic throughout . However ultimately, they can’t put trust in the other not being a Skrull. The Skrull character biography part at the end, was interesting to discover more about all past Skrulls, but maybe a little tedious to read in one sitting. Overall, Secret Invasion is a very good, well written and illustrated, fairly compelling story, but is just missing some things about it to make it 5 star.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

After 2 not-very-exciting books I felt like I wanted a no-brainer.
Wish fulfilled!

[Martin Doychinov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ако сюжетът на този брой може да се оприличи на нещо, то това би било междуселски път в някой от многобройните забравени от държавата райони на клетата майка... Такъв, който е видял асфалт през 60-е години, след това само разноцветни кръпки, разделени от логически пукнатини, дупки и кратери. Оценката е завишена от качествените рисунки.
П.П. Персонален фаворит ми е потресаващото слабоумие на извънземните!

[Димитър Цолов · Rating 3 out of 5]

Сценарий - 1, арт - 4. Крайна оценка 2,5. Може би най-отегчителният, инфантилен и наблъскан с безсмислен екшън албум от Колекцията до момента...

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man was I excited the first time I read this. I distinctly recall feeling like Bendis had been plotting this ever since he got his first gig writing whatever Marvel 616 book he'd been handed, and he built it for ages while we innocently stood by.

It's harder to read this book out of context of what had built up before - what signs were there that we didn't know how to read, all the storylines that were leading into this, and trying to remember who the hell was who, where and when. I'm struggling to place all the missing folks who returned, but more than that I'm trying to remember half of these C-list heroes who show up in the fringes of the story. What is an Annex, a Sunstreak or a Batwing? Are these silver age DC heroes roaming around for a visit?

The other thing that strikes me on re-read is how much less excited I was reading it. I don't know why that is - usually I love the shit-talking Bendis characters, trying to imagine how smart-asses will extricate themselves from the graves they love digging for themselves. And that's just as satisfying here:



What's not so fun is the drawn-out philosophizing that drags throughout the middle - the promises made by the Skrulls to do right by humans, the inevitability of the loss by the superheroes, and how little attention is paid to how much of an uphill battle the supes then have against all the rest of humanity who've probably bought in on the inevitability/benefit of letting the Skrulls take over. Hell, 2016 America just elected a Skrull who made some paper-thin and stereotypically-reversed promises, and so much of the country is willing to give him a chance, that I can't help but wonder how this Skrull Invasion would really be taken?

Bendis knows what I'm talking about:


[Starry-eyed hippies are meat for the first wave in any alien invasion]

But that's part of the problem, when it simply wraps up as a "supes" problem, and not a "Planet Earth" problem. Like those sci-fi tentpole movies where an alien invasion threatens all of earth, and if we're *lucky*, the director bothers to even give us a flash of how other people around the world are reacting (but never "another nation or continent steps in to take care of shit" - nope, always the good ol second-world nation of the US of A). A little embarrassing or myopic, speaking as someone not raised in this land of the free (market) and home of the brave (sociopaths).

And maybe I'm a little fatigued at Bendis-trademark "battle royale", where we see page after page of individuals trading fists and blasts with the nigh-unstoppable opponent(s).


[Though at least Bendis has the sense to use Spidey to do what only a Spider can]

And after all this, did we ever figure out when each of the abductees was taken - how long their replacements were in place, and which of their actions were something to suspect or reverse? Or was this just a neat trick Bendis pulled without having to do the extra homework? It wasn't just the heroes' trust that was broken - me as a reader, now I'm left with these lingering suspicions that never quite got addressed. Hell, Reed Richards might've even slept with his Skrull-wife. I bet that's gotta make you wonder, "Was that thing she did (that I liked so much) something Skrull-y, or did she read it in Glamour magazine?"

(Come to think of it, I wonder: do Reed and Susan play around with bondage (super-stretchy appendages have their uses) or asphyxiation (Susan does have the ability to encase your head in a sealed sphere after all)?)

Maybe the best part of Secret Invasion is the greatest spoiler of all: Norman Osborn gets the kill shot:


which led to the whole Dark Reign era, one of my most-fondly remembered times in comics. (Though perhaps if I read that stuff over again I might find it tarnished as much as this Event has since I first read it.)

Original rating (read when published): 5 stars
Current rating (with a decade of comics under my belt): 2 stars

[Callum Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving it a 3 stars but it has the potential to be 4 star. I think what I was missing here was a lot of the context for this particular event, and as such it felt a little lacking in any real climax, something that other events are often able to capture quite well in a graphic novel like this (around 10 comics worth of issues). The biggest issue they face is the problem of being able to identify skrulls, something that mister fantastic swiftly solves with little effort as soon as he is rescued from their captivity, but why hadn't they done that sooner knowing about skrulls for years and their war making tendencies? That aside, the artwork was great as always and the story was gripping enough for me to want more, so I will have to go and find the context it needs.

[Valentin Derevlean · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stele pentru prima lectură.

De ce 3? Am mai început acum câțiva ani seria aceasta și am lăsat-o baltă, acum cu serialul apărut recent, am zis să citesc totuși „event”-ul înainte, să am un context. Și impresia inițială a rămas aceeași.

Arta nu e rea, pe ici pe colo chiar bunicică având în vedere provocările ivite: super-eroi cu kilu pe cm pătrat de ilustrație. Însă, deși am citit acum volumul în ediția de la Litera, în care ai puțin context și o prezentare scurtă, și deși știam în mare câteva dintre seriile lui Bendis care duc înspre eveniment, necitindu-le complet și recent, am cam rămas amețit de mulțimea de personaje (dispărute sau reapărute) care își fac veacul în această poveste.

Care poveste, rezumată, îți ia cel mult un paragraf: Skrulls, o civilizație care își poate schimba forma și prelua și puterile super-eroilor pe care îi copiază au infestat pământul, înlocuind din timp personajele importante politic și militar și apoi, la momentul propice, au eliminat orice sistem de apărare planetar și au invadat planeta cu tot cu supenavele și supersoldații lor. Pe pământ eroii nu mai știu care sunt reali și care sunt skrulls sub acoperire, așa că lupta contra invaziei e mai dificilă ca oricând.

Bun. Avem eroi peste eroi, bătălii peste bătălii care ocupă pagini întregi cu scene imense, colorate și ambigue. Și o intrigă desfășurată extrem de rapid, cu multe schimbări de situație și ocazii norocoase, scoase din buzunarul stâng al scriitorului, care schimbă complet intriga de la un număr la altul. E un eveniment Marvel ok? Că asta e întrebarea. E interesant ca idee, nu zic nu. Ca realizare scârțâie pentru că dacă nu ești cititor înrăit al seriilor Marvel, îți scapă o mulțime de detalii, nu mai știi cine e cine și de ce, așa că te cam doare în cot de tot ce se întâmplă și te uiți la ilustrație de dragul culorilor. Se putea mai bine? Cu siguranță, da. Poate o poveste pe mai multe numere, poate un altfel de război cu Skrull care, după ce au pregătit cu minuțiozitate ani de zile invazia, și-o iau în barbă imediat și fără sens. Ce să zic, cred că e genul de story la care trebuie citite și poveștile colaterale și cele care duc înspre evenimentul principal. Altfel, treci prin poveste repede, repede și cam atât. Ai mai bifat ceva din istoria Marvel și la revedere.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a little torn on this one. On the one hand, Bendis has crafted a massive, Marvel Universe-spanning blockbuster of a thrill ride of a mystery of a crossover. The plot unfolds at a breakneck pace, leading to bigger and bigger superfights that just plain look cool. On the other hand, though, this is pretty messy, and doesn't necessarily have the payoff promised by the previous several months of New Avengers and Mighty Avengers stories.

First of all, the major players in this are very spread out, giving very little screentime to some of the most important people along the way. This leads to many moments where people just kind of show up and we're like "Oh. Hi I guess." and then a fight ensues. This also happens with more than one character who was thought to be dead and/or gone, who just kind of arrives and saves the day with zero explanation. I'm not a big fan of the deus ex machina, and there are a bunch in this story.

Secondly, and this may just be a personal preference, but I really don't think the "Secret" part of this Invasion lasted as long as it should have. Most of the secrecy and mind-bendy trust issues existed in the buildup to this crossover. Once the crossover itself actually starts, about a jillion Skrulls show up and start blowing the hell out of everything. Yes, they were able to do so because of their infiltration of nearly every major superhero and governmental agency on earth, but come on. That's the good stuff! I wanted to see more espionage, more attempts to root out the Skrulls where they hid. Instead, they all just kind of reveal themselves and then a fight happens. It was a bit of a letdown for me, though I guess I was hoping this series would be something it's not.

And lastly, the ending. I've already read Dark Avengers so I know what follows, but seeing the origin of the whole Dark Reign storyline was kind of disappointing. I mean, Norman Osborn doesn't do anything worthy of handing him the entirety of HAMMER (nee SHIELD). He just shoots someone. It makes the entire premise of Dark Reign seem pretty forced and ridiculous in hindsight. Also, there's another reveal at the end involving many of the impersonated superheroes that is INCREDIBLY convenient, and I rolled my eyes at the major copout Bendis threw in to avoid having to do any extensive explanation of how this whole Secret Invasion actually started.

So, with all those complaints on the table, you'd think I'd give this less than 4 stars. But you're wrong! Ha! You blew it! I guess when it comes down to it, with all those major holes and disappointing twists and crud, I still just really enjoyed reading this. I flew through it, in fact. Read the whole thing in like 1.5 sittings, and was disappointed when it ended. Bendis just has a way of making even the flimsiest premises work, and he does so with flying colors here. I would give this 5 stars based on sheer readability, but I think with all the problems I had with it, I can't do that.

So, read it. It's fun, comic-booky insanity with a lot of good dialogue and some fun twists and turns. It can't really sustain itself under its own weight, but hell, who cares. We should all just enjoy things sometimes.

[Alfit0 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Para ser una invasión que existe debido al fanatismo religioso, no hay mucha profundidad en ellos, todos los Skrull repiten He loves you y sería, eso es todo, al final un prisionero explica algo más pero la invasión en sí, carece de emoción. Situación parecida pasa con los reemplazos, mucho héroe motivado por la ira y sería, no quieren perder y ya está, más allá de lo descriptivo de Reed con su familia y de Clint, el resto nada, ni siquiera Tony que es el principal.

Es entretenido, pero es de esos eventos de Marvel que sirven como justificación a un cambio en como se conforma el universo Marvel

[Jazmin Castro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bueno, pero la verdad es que el final no tiene mucho sentido, ¿cómo le dejan SHIELD a uno de los villanos más peligrosos del mundo solo porque hizo "el disparo final"? Uhmm make it make sense. Aunque bueno es el universo Marvel, todo puede pasar.

Es un evento interesante, eso sí, pero admito que me emociona más la serie que se viene que el comic en sí.

UNA COSA MÁS: las escenas de los Fantastic Four me gustaron MUCHÍSIMO

[Himanshu Karmacharya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Secret Invasion tries its best to be a thriller with great artwork and an intriguing premise, however, it never reaches its peak as it is dragged down by poor dialogues, emotionless drama and action and the overall greed of comic book company where a single storyline is divided into multiple different books, making readers difficult to truly capture the essence of the story.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a decent read, but I felt like there wasn't enough to it. I think this is one of those story lines where the tie in issues probably do enhance the story rather than just clutter it up. The Skrulls have invaded Earth, and have been here in disguise for years. It's time to pull the trigger on the plan, but thankfully the Marvel heroes are there to stop them. Unfortunately, Norman Osborne is also there to take advantage of the situation.

Not a bad read, art is good, but to me it just lacked...something.

[Dávid Novotný · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting work with paranoia, but I would probably would need to read some tie ins to get deeper into this. Some action scenes are little chaotic. 3,5 *

[Marianna Botticchio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lettura super consigliata, storia interessante e che si legge in pochissimo tempo. Tavole molto belle, piene di colori e disegni fatti molto bene.
Insomma, una guerra super incasinata e ricca di personaggi.