Secret Invasion #8 Review - Spoilers

SPOILERS











How anti-climactic.

The entire issue is told in a flashback narrated by Norman Osborn, and the big emotional shock of the issue, the death of the Wasp, is wrapped up in the first 3 pages. The Skrulls are vanquished in 5 more, ostensibly because... now the heroes are mad.

You'd think that such a major death as well as the final battle with the Skrulls would be given a bit more story focus, and maybe tell it in the here-and-now to give these events some impact and weight, but alas, Brian Bendis' strong suit has always been small, personal stories, not these big events. Still, his event books (Avengers Disassembled, House of M) have always sold well. Personally, I see a hunger in fandom for these sort of universe-changing events no matter who's writing them, but from Marvel's POV, I can understand; why mess with success?

In any event, the meat of the issue comes after the battle is over. We finally get the scene where the characters who'd been kidnapped and replaced by the Skrulls make their return (since Mr. Fantastic has his Skrull detector, we can rest assured these are the real deal). Among the returnees are various agents of SHIELD and Hydra (it's doubtful the return of any of these will have a major impact), Jarvis, the Invisible Woman, Spider-Woman, Hank Pym, Elektra, and Mockingbird.

For the major characters, the most relevant question is, at what point in their character history were they kidnapped? The reason this is of interest is because there has been speculation that the kidnapping/replacement could be used to undo some undesirable story developments in their respective histories. However, over the course of the Secret Invasion tie-ins, the replacements of most of these characters have been fairly firmly established as being relatively recent in their timelines. The Invisible Woman was replaced shortly before the full-scale Invasion got underway, Spider-Woman was replaced sometime in-between Bendis' Secret War and Avengers Disassembled, Hank Pym was replaced shortly after Disassembled, and Elektra was replaced shortly before New Avengers launched. I don't believe Jarvis' kidnapping was detailed, but then there aren't any particular stories of his that many people would like to see undone (maybe dating Aunt May?).

That just leaves Mockingbird. She was unpopularly killed off by a fireball from Mephisto in the closing issues of West Coast Avengers. Later, she was shown to be in hell, perhaps both because of the nature of her death and because of an earlier controversial story where she killed a villain named Phantom Rider who, it was implied, sexually assaulted her. That story led to her breakup with Hawkeye, yet he was still deeply affected by her death. So this return leaves big questions. Who did we see in hell? When was she kidnapped? Was she the one who killed Phantom Rider? It appears Hawkeye will be a member of the Dark Avengers, so perhaps her story will be followed up on there.

But none of the other kidnapped characters have undergone major revisions, and for two of them, that somewhat defies expectations. In the case of Elektra, there had been speculation that her replacement-by-Skrull would be used to either "restore" her death at the hands of creator Frank Miller, or else write-out any non-Miller stories, as a gesture of goodwill that might lure Miller back to the Marvel fold. But it seems this is not to be.

As for Hank Pym, there was widespread speculation that Hank's abuse of his wife Jan would be revealed to be the work of a Skrull, thus rehabilitating a character that many writers have found difficult to handle as a wife-beater. But it seems Marvel isn't as eager to put that behind the character as we might have thought, as evidenced by the solicitation for Secret Invasion: Requiem, the upcoming tribute issue to the dearly-departed Wasp. It reprints, as the copy describes it, "the infamous Hank-hitting-Jan story". Why not slap "Special Wife-Beating Issue!" on the cover while you're at it? Not one of Marvel's finest moments, and probably not one that ought to be relived in a tribute issue.

The issue tosses in a subplot with Luke Cage and Jessica Jones' baby having been kidnapped by Skrulls; this looks to be followed up on in the pages of New Avengers. The conclusion of the issue has Tony Stark discredited and fallen out of favor with the government; the president disbands SHIELD, and vows to abandon all use of Stark Technology due to its corruption by the Skrulls. He blames Stark for the failure to protect the nation from Skrull attack, and implies that it's due to the heroes fighting amongst themselves (there we agree, but then, the government has equal responsibility for that).

Worse, he deems Norman Osborn the hero of the day, due to his leadership of the Thunderbolts in battle (never mind all the other heroes that were there). He gives control of the government-sanctioned Avengers and the Initiative over to Osborn, and as we learn, Osborn will be heading up a replacement for SHIELD, which according to upcoming solicitations is called HAMMER.

The news media asks if Stark will be indicted, and Osborn promises a full-scale investigation. Er, indicted for what? Granted, it makes sense for him to be fired for the failure of intelligence in protecting the nation from attack (although if it were the real world, Bush would be hanging a medal around his neck), but what crime did he commit? I'm presuming the MU president doesn't have any constitutional qualms about the Negative Zone Guantanamo.

The issue ends with Osborn meeting with a secret supervillain cabal composed of Doctor Doom, Lady Loki, The Hood, Emma Frost, and the Sub-Mariner. The most obvious question is; why would this group of heavy hitters give a damn what a guy flying around on a Goblin Glider says? I'm not minimizing the Green Goblin, I think he's a pretty cool villain, but that's within the world of Spider-Man. On the stage with world-conquering tyrants, Norse Gods, and Atlantean kings, he's out of his league. Now, I can see they're trying to stretch him beyond his traditional role of evil businessman; he's now an evil government bureaucrat, and I suppose that puts him in a position where he may have something to offer this bunch. But then it puts him a bit beyond Spider-Man, doesn't it? If he has all the resources of the United States government at his disposal, how is it credible for him to go mano-a-mano with Spidey anymore? It's a delicate balance, and I'm not sure the character fits, but I'm willing to see where they go with this. Oh, and it strikes me that this would be a good time to reprint Acts of Vengeance in trade paperback.

In the end, like Civil War and other recent big event stories, the payoff really isn't in the event itself; it's in the promise of the future stories it sets up. That may be acceptable for some, but I'm from the school of thought that says every story should be able to stand on its own, both in terms of being understandable and compelling. 10 years from now, will anyone pick up the Secret Invasion TPB, which will consist solely of an 8-issue battle with superpowered green men followed by a teaser for future stories, and say, "That's a classic"? Somehow I don't think so.