Marvel and DC released some interesting books this past Wednesday that tied into their latest crossovers: Secret Invasion, Final Crisis, Batman Rest in Peace, and X-Men Manifest Destiny.
**Warning – Spoilers**
Don’t read this and then complain about me ruining the story for you.
Secret Invasion:
The next chapter of the main series came out and it confirmed what my Secret Invasion theory (which you can read in last week’s blog) proposed: all the ‘heroes’ that were on the Skrull ship that crashed in the Savage Land were actually Skrulls. Emma Frost, Sue Storm, Jessica Jones, and even Mockingbird were all Skrull imposters. Unfortunately, the story didn’t bother to explain why the Skrulls would send infiltrators with various degrees of out of date information. Most of them seemed to be from periods at least 15 years old (in real time, not Marvel time). For example, Sue Storm didn’t know that Reed Richards had kids. The Skrulls would have had better luck passing off their infiltrators as being recently abducted (say around the time of Marvel’s Civil War).
Other than the big reveal, the issue was a typical ‘heroes get organized and take the fight back to the enemy’ story, but there should really be more meat in the main series since we’re already up to issue 5, with only 3 issues left.
To coincide with the release of issue 5, there were a lost of tie-ins this week. Secret Invasion Thor, Secret Invasion Inhumans, Secret Invasion X-Men, and Secret Invasion Runaways Young Avengers all shipped this week, coming very close to watering down the event. Marvel feels that for a big crossover to be successful, there have to be more tie-ins than most people could stand. Thor was notable for bringing back Beta Ray Bill after his death in the post-Civil War Omega Flight mini-series, while the X-Men shows the merry mutants defending their new home of San Francisco. Inhumans was nothing special. It had a beautiful cover, but the inside could have given more information on Black Bolt’s abduction. Instead, Medusa rallies the Inhumans and a Skrull infiltrator is revealed. Runaways/Young Avengers dealt with the teenage super-groups on the run in New York and trying to use Hulkling’s status as Skrull royalty to stop the war. I’m not sure if any of these books will make a significant contribution to the Secret Invasion story line, but I’ll wait to make a judgement until they are finished.
Also, on a side note, on the third-to-last page of Secret Invasion #5, it looks like Wonder Man (who arrived with the Avengers and not on the Skrull ship) was colored green, like one of the Skrull imposters. I’m anxious to see if Marvel comments on the mistake or reveals that a Skrull replaced Wonder Man.
Final Crisis:
Even though the main series didn’t come out this week, there was another mini-series tie-in. I’ve been very pleased with the other tie-ins so far (Requiem, Rogue Revenge), and the new mini-series Revelations kicked off an interesting story. It spotlights two conflicted heroes, Crispus Allen (a.k.a. the new Spectre who is still not comfortable with his new role) and Renee Montoya (a.k.a. the new Question who is on the run from the Church of Crime which wants her to lead them). Both characters are former partners who worked well together in Greg Rucka’s Gotham Central, and Rucka is returning to the dynamic by put the two on opposing sides. I’m not sure why the Spectre would need to exact vengeance on Montoya, but I’m sure Rucka has a good explanation.
Before going after Renee, the Spectre goes after one of the most infamous super-villains in recent years, the demented Dr. Light whose status was changed forever after Brad Meltzer’s excellent Identity Crisis mini-series. The Spectre carries out a unique punishment (you’ll have to read it to see it), but only time will tell if Dr. Light returns. Effigy, an unimportant Kyle Rayner Green Lantern villain, is the next to feel the Spectre’s wraith, as he was involved in the death of the Martian Manhunter in Final Crisis #1. Spectre tries to take down Libra, the newest leader of the Society, but something causes him to be rendered temporarily powerless. I like stories with the Spectre going after super-villains. It’s a waste to have him primarily target normal human beings, which has been done in previous Spectre stories, when the victims of the super-villain community cry out for vengeance.
Also, next week the Final Crisis Legion of Three Worlds starts and I expect that it will blow all other Final Crisis books out of the water. It’s going to be done by Geoff Johns and George Perez. I don’t see how it doesn’t surpass all expectations.
Universe of Super-Heroes No-Prize Question of the Week:
In Final Crisis Revelations, the Hangmen say they faked their deaths with the help of Doctor Psycho. Email em with the storyline where this event occurred (or at least the circumstances surrounding the story line) and you will win a genuine Universe No-Prize.
Batman Rest in Peace
In the newest Rest in Peace issue, Batman is still roaming the streets after switching to a third personality (a ‘back-up’ from the Batman and Bruce Wayne identities). I don’t know whether everything he’s experiencing is on another wavelength from the way we normally see things or if he’s finally lost his mind. For all I know, it could just be an act to give himself time to properly evaluate the threat of the Black Glove and then take measures to eliminate them. Also, Robin makes contact with some outside allies who will hopefully make a difference.
I hope that when this story line is complete we’re given a satisfactory explanation for Batman’s mental state. Grant Morrison’s writing style is not receptive to long-term comic readers, and I would hate for the entire story to be a waste of time if Morrison didn’t bother to properly think it threw before writing it.
X-Men Manifest Destiny
The new San Francisco-based X-Men are spotlighted in the new Astonishing X-Men and Secret Invasion X-Men.
Warren Ellis takes the Astonishing X-Men to Indonesia, where they visit ‘the spaceship graveyard’, a location that should have received a better background than the one given in Astonishing X-Men #25. I wonder what kind of deal the Indonesian government has for letting corporations dump the remains of alien spacecraft on one of their islands, but I doubt this will be explained. Also, Ellis ignores the artificially created mutant that was killed in the previous issue and what he was doing with the poorly named ‘Subject X’. Finally, we don’t know what the ‘ghost-box’ that Subject X was using is supposed to do. With all these unanswered questions, you have to ask yourself if it’s worth sticking around for. I’ll still be reading it, but I doubt I’ll be interested in the answers I get. Ellis can be either hit or miss, but I’d hate if his X-Men run fizzled out before it really had a chance to take off.
In Secret Invasion X-Men, Cyclops leads the mutants against a Skrull army. The X-Men break up into small teams to deal with multiple Skrull incursions. I look forward to Cyclops’s tactical mind to be showcased, but I can’t help but question whether such a large force is needed to pacify San Francisco. The skrulls didn’t seem to know the X-Men would be there, so why would a city with almost no superhuman population be targeted? If you can get past that Skrull tactical blunder, you should enjoy the story. The X-Men are defending their turf against hostile invaders, and with no reason to hold back, the Skrulls are in for one heck of a fight.
Finally, the new Uncanny X-Men is coming out next week. It’s a good issue, with mutant attacks running rampant following San Francisco being declared a safe haven for mutants everywhere. Give it a try, and let me know what you think of it. Also, the non-Manifest Destiny one-shot X-Factor Layla Miller comes out next week. I really liked it because it shows the transplanted mutant girl surviving in a Bishop’s dark future. Peter David should really be given an important book to write, because X-factor doesn’t get the respect it deserves as a consistently entertaining and well-written X-book.
That’s all for now. I’ll see you next week.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment