I have to say that this is probably my favorite Secret Invasion issue to date. It had many of my favorite story elements, great dialogue, well executed art and great reveals.Brian Michael Bendis' writing on this issue is superb. He manages to amp up the already energetic story to a new level. His dialogue is continually spot-on. It's funny where it should be funny, and manages to capture the characters' voices time and again. My only criticism is that as the story progresses it is unclear, initially, when certain panels are taking place in the over-all timeline and whether a.) certain characters remain unaware of previously revealed Skull doubles still in their midst, or b.) the Skrull doubles have been taken down and the original characters returned to their proper places. This is all eventually explained over the course of the issue, but on first reading is a little confusing. Additionally, some word choices during the battles make for a bit of confusion until they are reread. These are minimal criticism as in general Bendis is doing a great job in my opinion.
Lenil Yu's huge and stunningly rendered splash pages depicting the massive battles are amazing. His addition of numerous Easter eggs in the form of C and D-List characters in the background and in various Skrull forms was greatly appreciated by this reader. His artwork has been criticized, especially his New Avengers work, by some online commentators as well as my own friends for being "too sketchy" and loose. While I can understand this criticism, especially the "sketchy" critique, I feel that some of the criticism in the Avengers work was more a function of Yu doing his own inks. I really liked the sketchy quality to those issues, but Mark Morales, who inks Secret Invasion, really dials in Yu's pencils and cleans up his lines. Any criticism aside, I have always appreciated Yu's ability to create dynamic action sequences as well as achieving the more difficult feat of carefully portraying the emotions on the characters, not only in their facial expressions, but also in their body language. This is well expressed in this issue as the pace of the story accelerates to fever pitch.
Mark Morales' inks are excellent as previously mentioned, really cleaning up Yu's pencils and adding dynamic shadow and shading. I enjoy his use of hatching and attention to line quality as he defines the huge cast of characters in these intense sequences. Laura Martin and Emily Warren are really shining on the colors in this book. This issue is particularly unique as it is clear from the coloring that evening is falling and more and more of the lighting is the result of explosions and use of various energetic superpowers. Their use of back-lighting and the persistence of multiple light sources of different qualities and colors are admirable. It comes out seamless, and only upon close inspection can truly be appreciated for what they have accomplished here. While I am a huge fan of Morrie Hollowell, who colored Civil War, I really enjoy how Martin and Warren use more distinct regions of color to shade these intense sequences distinguishing themselves from the smooth naturalistic coloring of Hollowell.
Secret Invasion 7 Spoilers
Dramatis Personae:On the Human side:
Captain America III/Bucky Barnes, human (solo, Avengers)
Iron Man/Tony Stark, human? (solo, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. [current], Avengers, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers)
Thor, Asgardian (solo, Avengers)
Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, human (Fantastic Four)
The Wasp/Janet van Dyne (formerly Pym), human (Avengers, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers)
Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, human (Avengers, Mighty Avengers)
Wolverine/Logan, human mutant (X-men, Avengers, New Avengers)
Spiderman/Peter Parker, human (solo, Avengers, New Avengers)
Luke Cage, human (Power Man, solo, New Avengers)
Ronin/Hawkeye I/Clint Barton, human (Goliath, Avengers, New Avengers)
Nick Fury, human (Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. [former], Howling Commandos
Jessica Jones, human (Jewel, Knightress, Avengers, Alias)
Quake/? , human (Initiative?)
Stature/Cassandra Lang, human (Young Avengers, Avengers Initiative)
Hawkeye III/Kate Bishop, human (Young Avengers)
Iron Fist/Danny Rand, human (solo, New Avengers)
Ares, Olympian God (Mighty Avengers)
Marvel Boy/Noh-Varr, Kree (Avengers)
Bullseye/Lester, human (villain, Thunderbolts)
Norman Osborne, human (Green Goblin I, villain, Thunderbolts)
The Hood/ Parker Robbins, human (villain)
(ONLY A CURSORY LIST)
On the Skrull Side:
Spider Woman/Skrull Queen Veranke, skrull
Yellow Jacket/Criti Noll?, skrull
Edwin Jarvis/unnamed, skrull
(ONLY A CURSORY LIST)
By this time a few new changes in the tide of the battle are in place. Reed Richards has perfected his "Skull Detector", for lack of a better term, allowing the heroes to really let loose on the Skrull pretenders without fear that they will injure a comrade by accident. Now apparently this beam does not affect the Skrull Queen in her Spiderwoman facade. If there was some explanation of this I don't remember it, (perhaps the Detector never points in her direction) however, upon the massive injury of being shot through the face with one of Ronin/Hawkeye's arrows she reverts to her Skrullish appearance. Additionally Nick Fury and his New Howling Commandos are deep in the fray.
In classic convention, in the the face of an overwhelming threat villain and hero unite against the common foe. The Hood and his cronies are in the fray unhampered by their hero nemeses. There's a great moment where Norman Osborne and Nick Fury are fighting back to back, and there's a very awkward moment, I loved it. Among my other favorite moments is when Skrullow Jacket starts giving a patronizing speech to Wasp during the battle and Stature, a former student clocks him across the jaw saying, "Please, with the lectures."
Bullseye does a beautiful job taking out Skrullow Jacket's right eye, though he may have been trying to kill Spidey. Without a doubt my favorite moment was an exchange between Spidey and Iron Fist--
Spidey: Hey you know what, this ain't so bad, all things considered.
Iron Fist: How's that exactly?
Spidey: These big earth shakers, I've been around them. You know when you have to worry, is when Uatu shows up
Iron Fist: Who?
Spidey: The WATCHER! Big alien bald guy in charge of watching when the truly insane stuff happens. He's not here so that must mean we're going to be okay and -- Oh COME ON!
Turn the page to reveal The Watcher appearing in the sky.
(As a fan of Arrested Development, I couldn't help but hear Gob Bluth's "Come on!" when Spidey said that.)
As the fight continues to heat up, Jessica Jones realizes she needs to lend her strength to the battle, leaving Jarvis to care for her and Luke's baby. At first I was confused as to whether the old Jarvis was back, since we knew that Jarvis was the skrull mole that infected Starktech, but apparently this information is still unknown to anyone accept the Maria Hill. Marvel Boy enters the fight after, in the previous issue, Captain Marvel, the skrull doppelganger, has sacrificed himself to live up to his assumed namesake's tradition by taking out the bulk of the Skrull fleet in Earth orbit. Understandably Marvel Boy is pissed and out for blood. During the battle Hawkeye III falls when her hand is set on fire, but its unclear how this happened. This leads to a great moment as Clint Barton, now without the Ronin mask, takes up her bow and starts unleashing hell. Just as it seems things may be turning in the home team's favor. Janet (Wasp) starts to convulse. This flashes back to a seemingly throwaway scene pulled from New Avengers where Hank Pym gives Janet an "improved" serum that will allow her greater control over her size manipulation.
Skrullow Jacket is seen activating a device as Janet starts to grow rapidly. Clearly in pain and out of control, she emits some sort of strange, purple, Kirby bubble-releasing energy that incapacitates our heroes and is the cliffhanger to issue #8.
I will undoubtedly get into the issue of themes in the final analysis I have planned as a wrap-up to the entire series on my other blog. But the most evident theme throughout the story and one that is underscored in the final soliloquy by Skrull Jarvis, is the ongoing danger that religious extremism poses to our world. By no means do I feel that this is an indictment of religion or of the spiritual, merely the danger of trying to impose a religious reality onto the physical world. The religious imagination necessarily depends on the looking to and celebration of a mythic alternative to the present reality. These are important symbolic representations of both the divine and the way in which we are willing to embody those divine ideals. However, as seen in Secret Invasion, the danger is that the desire to bring about a mythic reality without regard to the means will result in the wholesale destruction of everything your hold sacred. Skrull Jarvis sums this up well:
We came here willing to die so that God's will could be done. They did not understand. There is only one way this ends. They die, we die. Doesn't matter. As long as the words of our prophets come true.
I look forward to discussing this more later. Also...
I look forward to everyone's questions, comments, ideas and reflections on this comic issue, my review and any other things to share.
A.M. Roth
