By Dante' Maddox

I think I’ve finally figured out what has really been bugging me about Secret Invasion, and when I really think about it, it makes so much sense. Captain America is dead.

I know that didn’t really shed a lot of light on things but follow me for a moment. Without Captain America the heroes are missing their leader, and it really shows in the book. Without Steve Rogers to rally the troops the heroes are disorganized and uncoordinated. Even with Nick Fury being back in the fold he’s not the same kind of leader as Captain America, and neither is Bucky Barnes.

Does that revelation make everything about the book better? That answer is little complicated. I still think the book is spread too thin over a series of tie-ins and that the core title has really suffered for it. But the tension has been building for months and the book has lent to that build up considerably. Not enough seems to happen in any particular issue, but that could be due to good writing.

In this issue the heroes have seemingly come together for the final battle with the Skrulls. Spider-Man and the rest of the Avengers (Mighty and New) have been rescued by Reed Richards who has finally figured the Skrulls out and now has a plan. Of course we don’t really see the plan outside of a good old fashioned throwdown with an army of super Skrulls. It was actually kind of a letdown, and leads me to my problem with this issue in particular.

The book needed to be at least four pages longer. I could have used more time with Reed Richards, a bit more from the meeting of Thor and the New Cap. The Marvel Comics universe is more static right now than it has been in maybe a decade and the book doesn’t ease that confusion at all. The failing is that the book seems to assume that every reader is reading every Marvel comic that hits shelves and that’s not fair (hell, it’s not even a realistic assumption).

Despite my issues I would consider this series to be a worthwhile read for Marvel fans, while it’s tough to just pick it up and go, dedicated readers will be able to figure things out. They’ll be left wanting much from the series but they’ll likely enjoy it for what it is, a book the answers the question, “What would the world be like without Steve Rogers?”.

In the final analysis the book is in a good place with two issues left to go. The next issue should determine a lot for this series as the Skrulls have to come through as a threat worth all this hoopla. The scale of the situation is finally befitting a major crossover and the tie ins have helped with that considerably. Now all they have to do is bring everything together for the grand finale. Let’s cross our collective fingers for the big finish.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Leinil Francis Yu
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Series Count: Limited

Crave Online Rating: 6 out of 10