Secret Invasion discussion [Spoilers]
- Thread starter Gemini
- Start date
AnTwan
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2006
- Messages
- 499
Bob Reynolds... more likely
ProjectX2
Don't expect me to take you with me when I go to s
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2004
- Messages
- 25,007
Secret Invasion: Requiem was such a waste. I skipped past all of the reprints (they were everywhere). Hank Pym turns himself into the new Wasp, because she's the greatest hero he's ever known (the ****?).
Grocer Man
Well-Known Member
Iron Man: Hank, this is...odd, to put it nicely.
Hank: Well, remember how I once was a wife-beater? Of course you do, everyone does. Well, since I used to make her my *****, and Marvel seems keen on doing the same to me, this was the logical extension.
Last edited:
Captain Canuck
The poster formerly known as captaincanuck65
man, this still kind of frustrates me. This was built up in such an interesting way (with The Illuminati stuff and the Infiltration etc) and the Dark Reign stuff looks interesting, but Secret Invasion itself and every tie in I've read (Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers) was/were pretty underwhelming. They weren't terrible, but Secret Invasion was probably the low point of Bendis' run on New Avengers and about even with Mighty Avengers.
He really wasted it.
He really wasted it.
J. Agamemnon
Well-Known Member
New Avengers stopped being good after the first annual.
Iceshadow
Well-Known Member
I'll get the Hercules and Thor tie ins and that'll probably be it.
So I re-read this recently all at once, for the first time. And it was such a waste.
Having the Skrulls secretly position themselves all over the world for a takeover of the planet is an awesome idea. The execution in Secret Invasion...isn't.
The biggest problem was pointed out by (I think) Bass, who said basically that it really isn't much of a secret given that there is a HUGE battle in NY being televised all over the world.
Another major problem I have with it is the explanation behind how the Skrulls are able to change shape. It's just stupid. At the molecular level? It's retarded and extremely convoluted.
Also, 8 issues for this? Seriously? The middle 6 issues could have easily been condensed into 3 or even 2. Nothing but a bunch of meaningless fight scenes and meaningless entrances; every individual or group that joined the battle was made to look like they were turning the tide in favor of the humans. How many times can you turn the tide of a battle to one side? According to Bendis, about 4.
The Wasp blowing up thing was not only extremely convoluted, but very poorly explained. I had to check Wikipedia for an explanation of what exactly was happening to her, and even it wasn't completely clear. Was she going to actually blow up? Stupid.
And why Wasp? It's the first time she's ever served a purpose since they created her, I think. She's so 2nd tier that it makes zero sense to kill her off like that.
The whole 8th issue was poorly written, really.
At least the art was nice.
Having the Skrulls secretly position themselves all over the world for a takeover of the planet is an awesome idea. The execution in Secret Invasion...isn't.
The biggest problem was pointed out by (I think) Bass, who said basically that it really isn't much of a secret given that there is a HUGE battle in NY being televised all over the world.
Another major problem I have with it is the explanation behind how the Skrulls are able to change shape. It's just stupid. At the molecular level? It's retarded and extremely convoluted.
Also, 8 issues for this? Seriously? The middle 6 issues could have easily been condensed into 3 or even 2. Nothing but a bunch of meaningless fight scenes and meaningless entrances; every individual or group that joined the battle was made to look like they were turning the tide in favor of the humans. How many times can you turn the tide of a battle to one side? According to Bendis, about 4.
The Wasp blowing up thing was not only extremely convoluted, but very poorly explained. I had to check Wikipedia for an explanation of what exactly was happening to her, and even it wasn't completely clear. Was she going to actually blow up? Stupid.
And why Wasp? It's the first time she's ever served a purpose since they created her, I think. She's so 2nd tier that it makes zero sense to kill her off like that.
The whole 8th issue was poorly written, really.
At least the art was nice.
Bass
Nexus of the World
The art is very nice. I was fortunate enough to be crashing at Laura Martin's house while she was colouring this series.
She was up until all hours just working away, complaining about how she'll never do a crossover again because there's too many characters. I asked, "Didn't you colour Universe X? That had loads of characters." She paused. "Why didn't I remember that?! How could I forget?" No doubt, in four years she'll be colouring another big event comic and have forgotten all about Secret Invasion.
Because Secret Invasion was being coloured right in front of me, I began thinking about the Skrulls and their culture. One of the things I came up with was if they can change shape and colour, they could create the craziest hairstyles, the most incredible tattoos... sexuality wouldn't be based on appearance and this other stuff. And just how different their culture would be and what not, and that it doesn't work if they can shape change too much. Letting them do the molecular stuff just makes them less interesting in my opinion, because they can be anything.
When it comes to shape shifters (or any superpower) I always look to the T-1000 who was awesome because he couldn't turn into a bomb. Clever, creative restrictions on powers are much more effective than just "anything goes". It's why Green Lantern's power ring, in my opinion, is a big pile of wank.
Skrulls shapeshifting into Wolverine and the rest is a logical extension of the Super Skrull, sure, but the thing is... Super Skrull is rubbish.
And it's not a 'secret' if everyone knows about it.
The Skrull Invasion should've actually worked and no one on Earth should've even realised. There are so many ways to make a Skrull invasion unique and cool, and none of them are the typical "Aliens invade New York" cliche.
She was up until all hours just working away, complaining about how she'll never do a crossover again because there's too many characters. I asked, "Didn't you colour Universe X? That had loads of characters." She paused. "Why didn't I remember that?! How could I forget?" No doubt, in four years she'll be colouring another big event comic and have forgotten all about Secret Invasion.
Because Secret Invasion was being coloured right in front of me, I began thinking about the Skrulls and their culture. One of the things I came up with was if they can change shape and colour, they could create the craziest hairstyles, the most incredible tattoos... sexuality wouldn't be based on appearance and this other stuff. And just how different their culture would be and what not, and that it doesn't work if they can shape change too much. Letting them do the molecular stuff just makes them less interesting in my opinion, because they can be anything.
When it comes to shape shifters (or any superpower) I always look to the T-1000 who was awesome because he couldn't turn into a bomb. Clever, creative restrictions on powers are much more effective than just "anything goes". It's why Green Lantern's power ring, in my opinion, is a big pile of wank.
Skrulls shapeshifting into Wolverine and the rest is a logical extension of the Super Skrull, sure, but the thing is... Super Skrull is rubbish.
And it's not a 'secret' if everyone knows about it.
The Skrull Invasion should've actually worked and no one on Earth should've even realised. There are so many ways to make a Skrull invasion unique and cool, and none of them are the typical "Aliens invade New York" cliche.
Random
Didn't **** any of those *****es
That's the key when writing anything that's along the lines of supernatural. You build much more character by adding weakness
Bass
Nexus of the World
Not so much weakness, but rather restrictions. It's not that the villain is weak - the T-1000's inability to turn into a bomb isn't a weakness, just a restriction on what he can and can't do. It's a definition. Weakness is the wrong mindset to have when designing villains.
Gemini
Well-Known Member
Plus not being able to turn into a bomb actually makes sense given the nature of his make-up
Bendis is a topper, like the fat kid that always changes the rules when he's losing. He changes things to accomadate his story, not changing his story to accomadate what doesn't work.
Random
Didn't **** any of those *****es
That's what I meant, just boudaries
Instead of creating a bunch of hokey backstory about having them scan a fake Reed Richard's brain for an idea how to shapeshift without anyone detecting, why not just take out and replace the people who could detect them: namely Wolverine and Doc Strange? What is so hard about that?
Bass
Nexus of the World
ProjectX2
Don't expect me to take you with me when I go to s
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2004
- Messages
- 25,007
I just read two Secret Invasion tie-ins because I like the writers. First was Jason Aaron's Black Panther arc which was cool. It was like 300 with an army of Black Panthers defending Wakanda against Skrulls. Entertaining read even though the twist wasn't really explained and probably could have been shown in greater detail. I also thought the Skrull having copied Bullseye's accuracy was a bit silly.
The second was Matt Fraction's Thor mini series. I really liked this. Beta Ray Bill was awesome in it. I'm really surprised Braithwaite is not a bigger artist as his art is consistently great. I'm looking forward to reading Fraction's Thor one-shots now.
Also, I just realised that the second arc of the Ultimates is Secret Invasion but actually good.
The second was Matt Fraction's Thor mini series. I really liked this. Beta Ray Bill was awesome in it. I'm really surprised Braithwaite is not a bigger artist as his art is consistently great. I'm looking forward to reading Fraction's Thor one-shots now.
Also, I just realised that the second arc of the Ultimates is Secret Invasion but actually good.
Last edited:
Hey, yeah...
I have a problem with the way Skrulls are used with copying powers. They shouldn't be able to. Since when does mimicking one's appearance mean you have the same genetic makeup? It's like making the Chameleon able to mimic powers.
Gemini
Well-Known Member
Those were freaking awesome, especially the second one. Ages of Thunder, Reign of Blood, Man of War, and God Sized Thor, were all amazing, with great art too. Patrick Zircher is another one of those artist's who should be in much higher regard.
The way Secret Invasion did it was retarded, they're mimicking their DNA since Skrul DNA is in a state of controlled flux. Which completley failed to explain non DNA based powers. Some of which I can let slide because any shape-shifter could ape alot of the physical based powers. and alot of energy based powers could be simulated by Skrull-tech. But the way Bendis explained it was basically "just go along with it". Alot of the skrulls like the Galaktus Skrull, were just there for intimidation, though.
They did things right when Lee and Kirby made Super-Skrull though.
For some reason I've decided to reread this. I hate all the - ach - Bendisisms - ugh - everywhere. Everywhere!
I love how the Skrulls launch the virus that takes down Stark's armor and the entirity of SHIELD and big warnings flash all over the place that say "ALIEN VIRUS DETECTED" and Tony turns around and tells Carol Danvers "I've been infected with - with what I must assume is an alien virus."
DURRRR REALLY TONY STARK?
Brian Michael Bendis. I hate you.
I love how the Skrulls launch the virus that takes down Stark's armor and the entirity of SHIELD and big warnings flash all over the place that say "ALIEN VIRUS DETECTED" and Tony turns around and tells Carol Danvers "I've been infected with - with what I must assume is an alien virus."
DURRRR REALLY TONY STARK?
Brian Michael Bendis. I hate you.
Iceshadow
Well-Known Member
FACT: almost every single Secret Invasion tie-in was better than the main series.
