Secret Invasion #4 - Mobile Edition

Marvel Comics
Secret Invasion #4
By Hervé St-Louis
July 15, 2008 - 20:01

Marvel Comics
Writer(s): Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller(s): Leinil Francis Yu
Inker(s): Mark Morales
Colourist(s): Laura Martin, Emily Warren
Letterer(s): Chris Eliopoulos
Cover Artist(s): Gabriele Dell’otto
$3.99 US, $4.05 Canada

This story is told from the perspective of the queen of the Skrulls speaking to Tony Stark which she revealed last issue, was an undercover Skrull. She explains how the Skrulls see Earth and their quest to take over this world and why humans will fail to defend their planet. Is the Skrull queen right? Are humans destined to lose their world to the Skrulls? Is Iron Man truly a Skrull?

If it wasn’t for that little piece of narrative explaining the point of view of the Skrulls’ queen, this story would have been useless. Nothing really happens here and Skrull warriors who are supposed to be some of the toughest bad guys around drop like flies whenever some junior and third rate would-be Marvel super hero attacks them. If the Skrulls are to be made into strong opponents, they can’t all dies at a mere touch. So far in this series and many others, the Skrulls look very fragile to me and they tend to die in greater numbers than super heroes. I don’t like that and this is part of why this story lacks some conviction. If the Skrulls are to be respected, they have to win some fights too and inflict real damage.

The lack of real fighting and wins for the the Skrulls signals that Marvel Comics is not serious about trying to shake its universe to its foundation. And also, unlike years prior, bad guys seem to die easily. There was a time when even when one sub rate lackey died, it was an event. I’m not impressed and it will take more than fine prose by Bendis to make this story an event to remember.

Yu has improved. Although his characters continue to have the same cheeky and bony faces, his story telling and is actually clear. He also limits the amount of crosshatching which helps readers to read the pages. He almost feels like a major and serious comic book artist now.

Rating: 6/10