Reilly2040's Blog

Well, I’m struggling to stay awake after a long shift at work, but I thought I’d still chuck up some comments on this week’s comics (at least the ones I’ve read tonight).

While I was saying last month that I was thinking of trade-waiting on JSA, I still ended up getting this month’s issue.  And I’m glad I did.   While the Kingdom Come stuff is stuff not working as well as I might’ve liked, the appearance of Gog, a soul surviving God of the Third World is an interesting idea.  Especially with us witnessing the birth of the Fifth World Gods over in Final Crisis.

Also I found it interesting that Gog seems to have been the mystery “burning man” from DCU #0.  Although I’m sure it was said somewhere else that that was supposed to have been Darkseid, the description also seems to fit Gog, going by what he said in this issue.

Unless its hinting to a parallel between Gog and Darkseid?   Its fairly cliche for these seemingly benign Gods to turn out to be nasty in some way.   It’ll be interesting to see how this arc plays out.

Meanwhile, over at Marvel, this week brought us Secret Invasion #3.  I must admit, this event is doing a cracking job of keeping the issues flowing.  The fact that the two Avengers books are so closely tied in is really helping keep up the momentum on this one.

That being said, I don’t feel either issue 2 or 3 has had the same punch as the first issue.  I’m really enjoying the story, but the main title’s been lacking that really epic feeling an event should have.    Saying that, I am pretty tired at the moment.

I don’t really buy the idea that Iron Man’s a Skrull.  While I thought Civil War was in many ways a badly-handled event, I’ve always felt that registration made a lot of sense, and the whole thing had left the Marvel Universe a more interesting place.   While it’d be nice to chalk some of Tony’s more dubious actions up to “he was a Skrull”, I think it’d be a real cop out.  Especially since the creators have said previously there was no unseen force manipulating the Civil War.   I think Skrull Spider-Woman is just messing with Tony’s head.

Did we really just see Echo getting killed off though?  That was unexpected.

Rann-Thanagar Holy War #2 didn’t grab me as much as the first issue (again, I’m knackered, so I suspect that is colouring my enjoyment of the books a bit tonight).  This felt very much like an issue which was just slowly moving things along, and introducing a main part of the mystery (the anomalies appearing over Rann).

I was really happy to see the Weird turn up though.  Admittedly, in light to the fact this series is a direct sequel to Mystery in Space, this makes a lot of sense.  But still, when he was revealed, I was slightly kicking myself for not realising who the ghost was.

My main interest in this series is still currently the Captain Comet plot.  We’re doubtless going to see him face something that forces him to confront his demons, but I’m interested in seeing where it goes with the subplot of him pretending to be his own nephew.

I’ll also be very interested to see if this series does resolve the Rann-Thanagar War, once and for all.  Its been running since Infinite Crisis, so Final Crisis does seem the logical place for it to draw to a close.  However, I do feel its invigorated DC’s non-GL space titles, and I’d like to see more of a cold war-style conflict replace the out-and-out inter-galactic war we’ve had for the last few years.

It would be good though, to have a series really focusing on the war.  While its been used to spark a few titles, it doesn’t feel like we’ve really delved into it in any way since the original mini.  A mini-series really playing up the fact that this is a huge inter-galactic war could be interesting.  There’s still some untapped story potential here I think, but I do also think it needs to move on soon, before it becomes stale.

Has it been a month already?  Doesn’t feel like it.

Anyway, this week brought us both the second issue of Secret Invasion, and the new issue of The Mighty Avengers.  I’m really enjoying how both the Avengers titles are showing us different aspects of this invasion, with New Avengers giving us an interesting look at the Skrull side of things, showing the events prior to the invasion, while Mighty Avengers shows us what Nick Fury was up to after discovering the Invasion for himself, gathering together a team of new characters he knows he can trust, as only he knows about them.

Secret Invasion #2 lacked the big shocks of issue 1, but still delivered.   The issue focuses entirely on events in the Savage land, as the modern day Marvel heroes confront their retro selves, fresh from a Skrull ship.   It was interesting to see how some characters from the ship are quickly revealed as Skrulls.  Spider-Man and Hawkeye from the ship are revealed to be Skrulls in short order.  Of course, I suppose this doesn’t mean that the current versions aren’t Skrulls (double bluff), but it looks unlikely.  However, we’re also presented with the idea that this Mockingbird is the real deal, and she is reunited with our Hawkeye, finally giving the character a moment of happiness after the last couple of years (something he himself touches on at one point).

We’re also shown Tony flown to safety by Miss Marvel, and he promptly starts work on a new (presumably temporary) suit of armour (which suits me fine.  I’m not a fan of the Extremis suit – I far prefer the variation of it used in the movie).

Good second issue.  While lacking the gut-punch moments of the first, it keeps the story moving along nicely.  I’m looking forward to the next issue, which promises to widen the scope a bit, going back to the other Skrull attacks from the first issue.

I’ve been reading discussions online regarding the recent Secret Invasion. Needless to say, a lot of the discussions are of the “Who is a Skrull” variety. Regardless of the big shocks in issue 1, you know there’s got to be a few other big names lurking in the wings to be revealed later on.

A lot of the speculation is centering around the ship of Marvel characters from the first issue. Most people seem to be agreeing that its unlikely that they’re all genuine or all Skrulls, and it’ll be a mix. So who’s likely to be a Skrull and who’s real?

Well, one big name being floated around that I agree with is Luke Cage. Luke Cage has been Brian Bendis’ pet project for the last few years, building him from a D-list to A-list character. Having him turn out to be a Skrull (and the one from the ship the real deal) would be high on the shock list, and I think quite likely as a result. Granted it throws a lot of Brian Bendis work on the character out of the window, but there’s some big story points as a result. Jessica Jones must suddenly deal with the fact that her husband wasn’t who she thought he was. Their child is half-Skrull (presumably), and, most importantly to the post-Civil War Marvel Universe. The leader of the biggest anti-Registration names (The New Avengers) turns out to be a Skrull. That’d be huge.

Captain America from the ship has to be a Skrull. Anything else would throw a spanner into Ed Brubaker’s story and that’s just not on. I’ve mentioned before how good his run is, and to ruin it for the sake of a big crossover would be unthinkable. Can’t see it happening.

Indeed, with a lot of characters from the ship, revealing them to be the genuine article would be a nightmare. You’d wreck havok with past stories going back 20/30 years.

So (while I think its unlikely) I’d like to see Spider-Man from the ship revealed as the original. Think about it. His continuity is already a mess thanks to One More Day. He’s (effectively) been retconned back to his 70s incarnation anyway. Plus you’d have the advantage of a 70s Spider-Man unencumbered by any dodgy, satanic deals.

The other suggestion I read which I thought was interesting was Hawkeye. Have the Clint from the ship the original, but have the current one not a Skrull. Basically the Skrull-Hawkeye was killed during Avengers Dissassembled, and when Wanda resurrected him during House of M, as she didn’t know he was a Skrull sleeper agent, that part got left out.

So you’d then have two Clint Barton’s running around. One of whom as Ronin, which would be quite appropriate given the backstory to that identity.

So, for a good while now, I’ve been a DC man.  I can’t really say when it happened.  Used to be big into Marvel when I first started getting into comics.  I bought Spider-Man during the Clone Saga (which I enjoyed – but I’ll agree it went on far longer than it should’ve), Iron Man, Deadpool, Heroes Reborn.   But at somepoint (well, for Spider-Man, it was when Aunt May was resurrected and Amazing #400 retconned) I slowly drifted over to DC.  But a good friend of mine is still a true believer and keeps me up-to-date with the goings on at Marvel (although I’ll admit to reading all Brubaker’s run on Captain America.  That’s comic book gold).

So, with the hype around Secret Invasion, and the artwork I enjoyed so much in Superman Birthright, I thought I’d check out the competition Final Crisis has.

Grant Morrison better have something special up his sleeves.   I’m a DC guy, but that was a phenomenal read.  Even as someone who hasn’t read much Marvel lately (albeit someone up-to-date on the current goings-on) even I was picking my jaw off the desk at some of the twists.

I’m definitely on board for the whole 8 issues (glad to see 8 issues and not 7 – recent events, *cough*Infinite Crisis*cough*, felt too rushed at 7 issues).

Of course, many recent events have proven that writing a killer first issue is only a fraction of the battle.   The afore-mentioned Infinite Crisis had a dynamite first issue as well (“This looks like a job for Superman!”), but fizzled out badly as it went on.   If Secret Invasion can maintain this level of quality though, DC should be a bit concerned.

My only concern: I looked at the checklist for tie in titles at the back and shook my head.   I’m intrigued to pick up some of them (both Avengers books at a minimum I’d have thought), but there’s no way I’m buying them all.  I fell into that trap with Infinite Crisis, and if the story can’t stand on its own 8 issues, then I’ll have a problem with it.