Marvel Comics
Avengers Invaders #1 0f 12
By Hervé St-Louis
July 6, 2008 - 08:53

Marvel Comics
Dynamite Entertainment
Writer(s): Alex Ross, Jim Kruger
Penciller(s): Steve Sadowski
Colourist(s): in Light Studios
Letterer(s): Todd Klein
Cover Artist(s): Alex Ross
$2.99 US, $3.05 Canada



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The Invaders, Marvel Comics’ first super hero team from the 1940s that fought the Nazi, is on a mission in Italy to stop some new doomsday weapon. However, they are catapulted in the present along with a few soldiers where Spider-man is trying to evade capture by the Thunderbolts, the villains turned government enforcers. When heroes and villains from two eras meet, can any of them survive the encounter?

I wish Marvel Comics had not given the green light for this project. At twelve issues, this will be a painful read that will drag out every possible nuances and wreck havoc with current continuity, especially in light of the Secret Invasion storyline. Sure, there’s a possibility that Tony Stark, will feel even more responsible for the death of Captain America, when he sees the one from the 1940s fighting his way. Sure, comparing old and new heroes is a fun game, but ultimately, as Spider-man himself points out in this issue, it must have been one of those freak occurrences that allowed the 1940s heroes to come to the present.

I never like time travel stories, because they always make the heroes more knowledgeable about their future and messes up continuity too much. Too many paradoxes, too many chances for error when the writer is less than stellar and up to date on his history and for what? A cool story? In this case twelve issues is too long and I doubt I’ll be reading until the end, because so far, the story fails to interest me. There’s too many captions, too much to read, too much internal monologue about something that should be straight forward.

Visually, Sadowski’s work should have been inked by somebody. Not all good pencil artists’ work look good without a polishing touch by an expert inker. I find the tendency to skip inking in comic books unfortunate. Many frames include wash-like pencils effects but poor control over shadows because no one inked this comic book. Thus, there is not enough contrasts and it’s up to the colourist to make up for any fault or flaw in the artist’s work. Although I know that Sadowski is a strong artist, here his work looks unprofessional. It’s not because he can’t draw. He sure can, but it looks rough and unpolished, like a bad Neal Adam retake.
Rating: 3/10

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