Volume 58: Secret Invasion

Secret Invasion

Author: Brian Michael Bendis  |  Illustrator: Leinil Francis Yu

"[Y]ou all really need your asses kicked!"

I mentioned previously (in Volume 20: Ultimate Spider-Man: Power and Responsibility) that I believe Brian Michael Bendis can do good work when he sets his mind to it. I still believe that to be the case.

But it must also be said that his CV contains a fair amount of work that's the opposite of good - lazily plotted and clichéd stuff that still makes money because some fans will buy any crap with a Marvel logo; e.g. Secret Invasion, one of the worst books in the Collection.

It's a story about the shape-shifting Skrull, revealing how they've been masquerading as heroes for a long time, both A-listers and B-listers, destroying the costumed community from within in preparation for an all out Skrull attack (aka big yawnsome fight).

It kicks off with a huge battle in the Savage Land, followed by a huge battle in the city. During both conflicts we're repeatedly reminded that we don't know who to trust. It's a solid basis upon which to lay an evolving story of paranoia and misplaced loyalties—because the team need to know if the person next to them is going to protect their back or embed a traitorous knife in it—but the 'evolving' part of the equation is absent. Even five issues into the arc very little has changed, we're still wondering who is Skrull (or still not caring, in my case), still turning page after page of fight scene after fight scene.

The book's script rarely rises above tenth grade fan-fiction levels of accomplishment. It's an almost complete waste of precious time.

The final chapter drops a bombshell that'll once more throw the natural order into chaos. But frankly, the stupidity attached to the decision means the people involved deserve all they get.

The book collects together Secret Invasion #1-8.

Verdict: