2009 Wish List for Comics

Hard to believe, but this blog is celebrating its sixth month anniversary this month! Thanks for sticking around with me as I complained about stupid stories and complimented the good ones. I have some great things planned for next year, so stay with me! As 2008 draws to a close, I thought it would be a good idea to look forward and give my wish list for the upcoming year in the world of comic book stories.

There's no doubt 2008 had some great moments, but there were a lot of places it fell short as well. Hopefully things will straighten up in the upcoming year. Here's a few ways to start it off right:

The Question Needs a Comeback

How on Earth can DC justify what they did with the character? First, they ignore him for years. Then they make him a major player in the 52 maxi-series...just to kill him off in the process after finally making him cool again! He shows up in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon series and turns into this wonderfully fun paranoid character who develops a relationship with Huntress (and that was a great recurring theme throughout the short run of the series). Then they reprint his old series in book format. But they've given the title to Renee Montoya, who has pretty much turned the character into a faceless Lara Croft ripoff.

Watchmen is coming out next year, and Rorshach has been voted by the readers of Wizard Magazine as the one the fans were most looking forward to seeing in real life. That character was based on the Question when he was with Charlton comics. Do you see where I'm going with this? I don't care how you bring him back (hey, most of the other resurrections and returns haven't made a bit of sense anyway), just get him back to us please!

Bring back Steve Rogers!

Ok, the shock value was cool--and Bucky's doing a bang-up job of being Captain America--but enough is enough. We know he's coming back eventually, so why not just go ahead and bring him on in?

There can be no doubt Steve Rogers IS Captain America. No matter who you put in the suit or how you change it, the character just isn't the same without Steve behind the mask. He held this unwavering belief in right and wrong that made him this stalwart Boy Scout in the midst of a world of ever-darkening heroes. We need him back.

There's no need to kill off Bucky though. Let him go back to being the Winter Soldier again. He did a great job in the role, and it was a cool hero to have running around in the Marvel world. This isn't a hard problem to solve.

Do Something with Spider-Man

No matter how you gussy it up, Spider-Man's reboot was a bad idea. Stop teasing us with Jackpot and bring back Mary Jane. Admit the "Brand New Day" was a stupid marketing ploy and fix it.

Here's my simple request for Spider-Man: kill off Aunt May! The woman has long outlived her usefulness to the character. She doesn't give him some soft side or anything...she makes him look like a momma's boy. Milk her death for all it's worth and let her fade away.

Let Jason Todd Become Red Robin Permanently

The natural progression from Robin to the Red Hood to the Red Robin was an amazing thing to watch. Jason's move to the costume in Countdown to Final Crisis was such a seamless and perfectly logical thing it could easily be considered DC's finest moment in that maxi-series. So what did they do next? They put him right back in the mask and leather jacket and gave someone else the suit. What a dumb move! They had given the Kingdom Come fans their biggest moment in recent years, and then ripped it from their grasp.

It's not like Jason's Red Hood persona is that important. The gimmick was cool to begin with, but taking him back that direction is a big mistake. It's a step backward that you don't need to take. Put him in the suit and turn him loose. I think he'd make a great member of the Outsiders or the JLA. He's shown a ruthless side (he killed the Joker in one of those alternate-universe-hopping moments, for crying out loud!) that would make him the "get the job done" type of hero DC desperately needs right now in their roster.

This has been a bad year for DC, so what better way to wipe the slate clean than to bring back a tough version of Robin and Nightwing combined into one hero?

Give us back our Avengers titles!

For the love of Pete, could this year have been any more pointless for Marvel's Mighty Avengers and New Avengers titles? I submit that it could not!

I understand the importance of the Skrull Secret Invasion, and I can appreciate the need to give us some valuable back story, but an entire year of nothing but back story issues in both titles? When you have complete issues of a team book in which not a single member of the team shows up for even a panel of the comic, you're doing something wrong with the title!

Hopefully Marvel will learn from this and put things back to normal in the books. I know Spider-Woman will have to be replaced in the New Avengers (possibly by the real thing since she's been a Skrull the entire time she's been on the team), but leave the rest of the line-up as is. The Mighty Avengers started off well also with the Ultron and Venom bomb storylines. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they can find that momentum again.

One more major DC/Marvel Crossover!

For a while we were getting them left and right. We had Green Lantern & Silver Surfer, Galactus & Darkseid, Superman & The Fantastic Four...shoot, we even got two different versions of Batman & Punisher! Then after the JLA/Avengers title, the two publishers had a falling out and the readers have been the ones to suffer ever since.

While I'm not asking for another one of those stupid Amalgam routines--or even an entire universe-versus-universe altercation--it would be nice to see some small crossover between two publishers again.

Of course, if you were looking for a grand-scale crossover, I have the perfect idea for one:

What if we had another Avengers/JLA crossover where they had to fight some cosmic battle with Death/Thanos/Dormammu/whoever, and they ended up finding Steve Rogers and Bruce Wayne alive and well again in the process! This would be something that could have lasting ramifications on both publishers and all titles throughout! It might be the only crossover we'd see in years, but if it could be something to leave an impact on storylines for years thereafter, it would be worth it.


Anyway, that's what I'm hoping to see in the coming year. Who knows? I might just get my wish on a couple of them. What about you? Anything you'd like to see in 2009?

Secret Invasion #8 - The Invasion Ends

Well, it was quite a ride, but the Secret Invasion has finally come to an end. Marvel handled this one much better than DC handled Final Crisis, though Marvel stumbled badly when it came to producing the backstory to the invasion by killing both of its Avengers titles for the year with the stuff.

As promised, this issue does indeed feature the death of one of the founding members of the Avengers--but it's one of those ambiguous death scenes that obviously won't stick later on down the line. We'll see this hero again, there's no doubt.

The rest of the issue is filled with some great moments. The Skrulls get a smackdown like you wouldn't believe as they finally find their war a futile effort. Still, the parting shot that gets all the credit goes to Norman Osborn, which leads to an interesting plot twist at the end. It all sets the stage for Marvel's next big event: Dark Reign.

This issue was a very satisfying conclusion to the storyline. As is only fitting, Iron Man ends up getting a vast portion of the blame for the attack because of his part in starting the Civil War. SHIELD is ultimately disbanded because of the Skrull infiltration, and topping it all off we have the return of the heroes who had been replaced! There is a problem there because Black Bolt is seen coming from the ship, while he was clearly seen in the Secret Invasion: Inhumans miniseries as being in deep space during the whole thing. But don't worry, I'm not seeing this as a paranoid conspiracy issue thing...it's just a little thing you'd get a no-prize for back in the 70's.

Where Marvel goes from here is anyone's guess. The "Dark Reign" storyline looks promising, and here's hoping Marvel can follow up on its success on this series with another great one.

Secret Invasion #7 - The Beginning of the End

Hard to believe it's almost over, but the penultimate issue of the Secret Invasion miniseries came out last week and it was grand. The final, big battle between the Skrulls and...well, everybody else started in earnest this issue, and this was one issue that didn't disappoint. After last issue's mostly filler storyline, we are treated to one final surprise from the Skrulls as they unleash their secret weapon!

We see Skrulls die here, and heroes get injured (though there are no deaths in this issue). As with any iconic moment in Marvel history, the Watcher shows up to do nothing but stare. Marvel Boy shows up in a rather explosive way. But the major moment in the story has to go to Clint Barton though. After being royally ticked off by the Skrulls for the deception they pulled on him with his dead wife being alive, then being a Skrull again, he's been looking for a chance for payback. It comes this issue, as the girl Hawkeye from Young Avengers falls, and Clint picks up the bow again. After blowing away several Skrulls, he lets loose the killing arrow on the Skrull Queen (aka Spider-Woman)! This sets in motion the aforementioned secret weapon being set loose: Janet Van Dyne!

No, she's not a Skrull, but you had to know it was coming ever since we found out Hank Pym was one. Issues of New Avengers and Mighty Avengers over recent months have flashed back to that scene where he gave her the growth formula in Mighty Avengers #1 as an "anniversary present". Of course, that present had a few extra strings attached. Will she be the major Avengers death we've been promised?

I have to say this miniseries has been much more interesting than DC's Final Crisis. Both minis have had their share of iconic moments, but Secret Invasion has been easy to follow and a fairly consistent ride throughout. I'm looking forward to the final issue. While I don't hold out any hopes they'll bring complete closure to the story with that issue, I am looking for an ending at least to this war as they prepare for the next step: finding the heroes that have been replaced!

Hank Pym's Heroic Life

Given the uncertain (read: dead man walking) future after the Secret Invasion of one of the smartest minds in the Marvel world, I wanted to take a little look at the various costumes he's worn over the years.

There's no denying he's made a massive contribution to the hero world even after he retired. He wasn't one to keep the knowledge and super powers to himself.

I can't think of another character in comics who has changed costumes and names as often as Hank, and amazingly enough he never really chose any that bombed.

Ant Man
Hank's first outing as a superhero was actually a fluke of sorts. He was given a one-shot in Tales to Astonish as a man who shrunk and had an adventure in an anthill. A few cautious issues later he returned, this time sporting a costume and the ability to speak to the ants. Though he remained the smallest member of the Avengers for a while (with the Wasp), he still managed to help a lot.

As far as solo stories go, Ant Man had some of the worst arch-enemies in history. Most were just regular criminals who wanted him dead, but nobody ever found a way to stomp on him.

The thing I like about this suit is how basic it is. Nothing really flashy here, just a splash of red, black and blue.

Giant Man

Eventually Hank figured out how to take that shrinking principle and reverse it to make himself grow. In the process, he opened the door for dozens of other "giant" heroes to follow.

He was still able to shrink and go into action as Ant Man, but once he started growing in the stories that seemed to be the way he handled most of his problems. Of course, you can't blame him...how easy could it be to defeat someone when you're only 2 inches tall?

Goliath

Well, Hank eventually retired from the Avengers, but he just couldn't stay out of the superhero business. When he decided he was ready to join again, he put on a new costume with new colors, gave himself a new name and went looking for Captain America.

They were a little leery of him at first, but it didn't take long to prove he was the real deal. Figuring it would be handy to have a guy who could grow ten stories tall on the team, the Avengers wisely let him join. Of course, the question remains as to why he chose the name of a bad guy for a superhero title, but who are we to argue?

Theoretically, Hank could still become Ant Man at this time, but once he became Goliath his shrinking days were almost gone...for a while.

Yellowjacket

This one narrowly won our recent poll for Hank's coolest persona (Ant Man lost by 1 vote, I think). Originally, Yellowjacket was a man of mystery who showed up claiming to have killed Hank Pym. The Wasp married him, only to have the wedding ruined by a group of villains. In the midst of the battle, Yellowjacket was shown to be Hank Pym (suffering from a schizophrenic episode).

Strangely enough, Hank had developed a way to fly and shoot beams from his hands while going through this episode. Guess he should have gotten sick more often.

Although he stayed with the Avengers as Yellowjacket for a while, he eventually left. It was about this time that Marvel started turning Hank into a loose cannon. He helped the Defenders for a while, and then ended up taking a criminal turn and being put in jail. After divorcing Wasp, it looked like Hank's hero days were over.

Hank Pym

Then Marvel stepped in with a "logical" explanation for his behavior. The stress of growing and shrinking had been too much for Hank's mind and he'd snapped. Ever the hero, he didn't want to be left out of the action.

Hank donned this weird "Gambit" headband and a red jumpsuit, and decided it was time to help the Avengers again. He joined the West Coast Avengers and was actually a pretty vital part of the team for a bit.

Using his shrinking and growing gas, Hank could carry an arsenal, laboratory, and airport in his pockets at all times. Anytime they needed a gun or a ride, Hank was grabbing stuff and making it grow. Finally, he started working a little more of his own growing and shrinking into the game, but never really got another costume and name during that phase.

Ant Man (again)

I'm not sure if you can call this cheating or wrong or what, but the last time we saw Hank as a hero, it was during the Ultron storyline of Might Avengers. He came out of retirement long enough to help defeat the newest version of Ultron by becoming Ant Man again. A few minor variations on his costume, but it was still Hank.

Later it was revealed that Hank had been replaced by a Skrull during this time, so it technically wasn't him doing the fighting...but it's close enough. We'll let it count for now.

I wish we could see more of Hank Pym's Ant Man. He was really cool even though he was practically useless in most galactic battles.

A Heroic Life

Even though he's stepped out of the role of hero, he's been pretty free with his technology and made sure others stepped in the hole.

Scott Lang became Ant Man (with Hank's blessing) after stealing the suit from Hank.

Clint Barton became Goliath after Hank left. Bill Foster also used the growing gas and became Black Goliath (another bad guy name, but he changed it later to Giant Man).

Yellowjacket showed up again as well. This time she was a woman, first a villain, then later a hero.

Hopefully he'll make it through the Skrull's invasion and replacements, but even if he doesn't there's no doubt Hank's made one of the strongest impacts of any character in Marvel history. A charter member of the Avengers, Hank's made a difference time and again.

New Avengers #44 - More Skrull Stuff

While the Secret Invasion is a cool project, Marvel has finally run the well dry for back stories. Mighty Avengers and New Avengers have been the "brain dump" of all the behind-the-scenes ideas Marvel had for how the invasion happened. Now the warning signs of the past few months have fallen through and Marvel has reached rock bottom.

We were promised this would be the big shocker. We'd find out exactly how the Skrulls managed to infiltrate us, and who in the Illuminati was the traitor who gave them the means to do it. We find out both in this issue, but everything has already been revealed in the Secret Invasion title, so we learn practically nothing new.

Let's be honest, this issue is nothing but filler. Last month, we got Spider-Man in the present. This month, it's back on the Wayback Machine for another "thrilling" history lesson. While Marvel could have used the New Avengers title to give us some cool moments actually involving the New Avengers, we've been getting more and more behind the scenes stuff that gradually became slower and slower moving. With this issue, we officially have nothing.

The Skrulls torture Reed Richards for a way to infiltrate us, and we know ahead of time they get what they're looking for. No suspense. End of story.

Next month, Marvel is giving us a look into what occurred during the "House of M" crossover...just in case you still give a flip about the history of the Skrull invasion. Give it a rest, Marvel. Bring the New Avengers back into their title and let's make it a fun read again. My subscription is the only thing keeping me in this title, and I can only imagine what folks who have the option to buy this book on a monthly basis are doing.

If you skip this one, you'll still know everything going on in the Invasion miniseries. Save your cash this month.

Secret Invasion #6 - Lots of Filler Until the Big Fight

Secret Invasion has been plugging along really well since the first issue. There have been a lot of cool moments of Skrull revelations and action. We were promised heroes would die as well, but no one of any consequence has gone down yet (until this issue).

Here we are at issue 6 and we can see the home stretch. The really cool final pages of issue 4 give way to a great meeting between Thor and the new Captain America here. We even get to see the death of a hero who has been around a lot since the Civil War within the first 3 pages of the book.

Even with so much going for it, this seems to be the first time the miniseries falters. After last month's huge ending with Reed Richards coming back and finding a way to expose the Skrulls, this issue seems tame.

The Skrulls do indeed make their presence known on Earth and demand the unconditional surrender of humanity, and we see Nick Fury back in the game still fighting, but there's an incredible amount of wasted space throughout. The heroes return from the Savage Land (at last) and get involved in the war back in New York. Still, there are very few moments of real action here as it seems only to set the stage for the final two issues. Don't get me wrong, I know there are moments that are for plot advancement and have to come, but everything here could have been accomplished in five pages or less. The final two-page spread is supposed to be jaw-dropping (Marvel said so on their website), but after the amount of two-page spreads we've had in this series, it doesn't really stand out.

The only major thing we get this issue is the fact that the Skrulls have a secret weapon in Janet Van Dyne (the Wasp) somehow. I'm guessing the next issue will pop a surprise or two on us regarding that. She's not a Skrull, but remember Hank Pym Skrull gave her a formula to grow in an early issue of Mighty Avengers, and I imagine it has sinister implications as well.

I'm going to cut this issue some slack because even though it's the worst issue so far of the miniseries, it's still miles above Final Crisis. The next issues will be the big ones as we race to the completion of this otherwise great story!

Cool Plot Twist Moments

Ok, who saw the ending of Sixth Sense coming? How about that moment in Psycho when we find out the truth about "mother"? It's those great plot twist moments that keep us coming back to the movies. Well, sometimes they happen in comic books too. Here's a few of the better ones in recent years we didn't really see coming:

"I'm the X-Factor."

When Peter David brought Jamie Madrox back into the Marvel world, he gave the Multiple Man an interesting problem: his duplicates were no longer exact dupes of himself. Now each had their own little personality quirks that made them either a help or hindrance in a situation. Sometimes they worked for him, and sometimes they worked against him, and he never knew what was coming.

Rictor is contemplating suicide and Jamie decides to send over a dupe to negotiate with him (because he's scared of heights). After making a few, he comes across one who seems perfect and sends him over. The dupe manages to talk Rictor out of the suicide attempt and all seems goodEnter the X-Factor series. Now Madrox is leading a detective agency with other mutants. A de-powered again...until they turn to go. Then the dupe drops a little revelation that's he not what he seems and shoves Rictor off the ledge. After a brief confrontation, Jamie learns this dupe is "The X-Factor", a crazy part of himself that will surface at some point in the future and Jamie will never know when that dupe is the one he's depending on.

This was a classic moment, and set some tension in the series for a while. Peter David gave a whole new meaning to the term "X-Factor" and suddenly the name of the series was synonymous with the unexpected more than an X-Men wannabe team. Eventually, this played off into an even bigger plot twist at the end of the second six-issue storyline. We saw "the X-Factor" again, and it was completely unexpected and a beautiful payoff to the what turned out to be a 12-issue related arc. I think this series is awesome and you should check it out. I can honestly say I never saw the twist coming, and "the X-Factor" returned in the coolest way possible.

Jason Todd is Hush...or Not

During the Hush storyline, Batman found himself facing off against a villain who knew all the intricate workings of his personal life. There was no rational explanation for this, until a jaw-dropping moment in a graveyard as Hush's bandages dropped away to reveal Jason Todd. This former Robin was believed to be dead, and now all of Hush's actions made sense. The desire for revenge, the intimate knowledge of the Caped Crusader's life...everything fell into place.

Of course, this ruse only lasted a few pages before we found out it was Clayface and not really Jason Todd (until later, when we found out it was Jason Todd who swapped places with Clayface later during the chase), but the shock was there and the seeds were planted. Suddenly everyone was thinking: wouldn't it be cool if Jason Todd did return as some tough, bad guy version of himself? That's exactly what happened later, but it was this moment that was the catalyst for it all.

Ray Palmer is a Killer...or Not

When DC started promoting Identity Crisis it was almost a guaranteed hit. Brad Meltzer, the best-selling novelist, was making a statement in comics and he'd promised something big. The series definitely delivered in a lot of areas, and it made you look at Doctor Light in a whole new way. Suddenly it brought a gravity to the fight between good and evil we'd never seen before. Innocent people could get hurt. In this case, Sue Dibny (wife of the Elongated Man) was brutally murdered in a perfect "locked room" scenario, and it was up to the JLA to find out who would stoop to this. Who could get in and out of a locked room without tripping any alarms? How could they do this without discovery? Who had declared open season on the loved ones of the JLA?

It wasn't until the sixth issue that we got our answer in the form of tiny footprints on Sue's brain. Someone incredibly small had been standing on her brain, and only one person fit that category: Ray Palmer aka The Atom. This was one of those perfect cliffhanger moments that kept you in suspense for an entire month until the final issue came out. With that one revelation, everything made sense and fell into place. Of course, it was a red herring, but even when the real murderer was revealed, it made even more sense! It was a plot twist on a plot twist, and it was a gut punch moment.

A lot of things happened in this story I didn't like (not the least of which was the brutal violation of Sue Dibny by Doctor Light...an incident I consider gratuitous and just there for the shock value), but the final reveal was a good one. The story didn't end with some huge fight scene, but like any good mystery it ended with a one-on-one confrontation with the killer eventually leading to their confession.

"My Name is Peter Parker."

During the Civil War, there were all kinds of things going on there that count as cool moments. We got faked out with the "return" of Thor (who turned out to be a clone). We got blown away by the real return of the Punisher to the hero world. The Fantastic Four took separate sides in the war. Several other big moments come to mind, but the one I would have never imagined seeing was the public unmasking of Peter Parker. While it wasn't a surprise who Spider-Man was, it was a surprise to see him publicly admit it.

After years of being concerned with the welfare of his family, Spider-Man threw that all to the wind and pulled off the mask on national television. This added some great moments to the comic, including J. Jonah Jameson fainting as he realized who he'd been working with for years. The stories in Spider-Man built to a new tension as Spidey worked to save his family after this revelation brought dozens of bad guys down on him, but it all fizzled out when Marvel decided they were in over their heads and wiped the slate clean with Brand New Day. But for sheer shock value, that unmasking was out of the blue.

Elektra is a Skrull

Gotta be honest, this didn't really grab me that first time I read it. I wondered what had happened to Elektra, but wasn't thinking it was a world-wide thing yet. Still, this was the opening salvo for the Skrull's "Secret Invasion", and it was unexpected. So many questions came to mind, not the least of which was "Why her?" She'd never been that big of a player in the Marvel U, so what made her so important?

It would be over a year later before we found out just why she was so important, and by then we'd learned of tons of other traitors in our midst. This was the moment that started it.


Ok, so there were a lot of other twisty moments I didn't mention, but I wanted to keep these to recent years. I'm open to suggestions though. What major plot twist moment did you not see coming?

Another comic book review this Thursday, and then next Monday we'll be taking a look at the greatest character deaths in comic book history!

Secret Invasion #5 - The Heroes Fight Back

Up until this point, the Secret Invasion has been pretty one-sided. The element of surprise appears to have ended though, and as we top the halfway mark in the miniseries, the heroes begin to show some backbone.

Secret Invasion #5 is a gem. I have to confess I had no idea who Abigail Brand was before this all started, but seeing her in action alone against an entire Skrull-infested ship trying to rescue Reed Richards is awesome. She tears into them, blows them all out an airlock, and still manages to save Reed without messing up her hair.

Getting Reed back to Earth doesn't solve all the problems, but it does allow Reed time to create a weapon that instantly transforms all Skrulls back to their little green versions. He'd mentioned in the first issue how he knew what they had done with Elektra, and now he's using that to undo their changes.

Of course, this doesn't bode well for the Savage Land folks. But it's very nice to have several things settled rather quickly. For one, Tony Stark is not a Skrull. The weapon that changes all the rest of them doesn't affect Tony at all, therefore he's human. I mentioned I didn't think Marvel would go that route, and apparently they haven't.

The rest of the heroes that came back on the spaceship are confirmed to be Skrulls though. This means heartbreak for Clint Barton/Ronin/Hawkeye, as the woman he thought was Mockingbird turns out to be a Skrull. And that doesn't sit well with him at all. Clint grabs one of Black Widow's guns and starts shooting, killing the Mockingbird Skrull first off before going after the rest. He's leaning dangerously toward the Ultimate version of Hawkeye in this, and I'm glad to see it. He could be a much better character than they've given him credit for. By the way, my earlier post about the Invasion gave Mockingbird a high probability of being a Skrull. Again, it's easy to figure out because Marvel's not doing the logical thing in much of this.

Oh, and does anyone else notice that Spider-Man is in a full body suit? He could have changed and it never showed up. Probably not, but it was a cool thought.

After this brief fight in the Savage Land that sees three heroes get to kill their wives (Clint shoots Bobbi, Reed Richards strangles Sue, and Luke Cage lets a tiger eat Jessica Jones), we get this big final shot of Clint saying the Skrulls all going to die before it's over. Coming from a highly ticked-off super-marksman, I can believe it might just be true.

So now our heroes are heading back from the Savage Land for New York City to try and turn the tide of this war.

This issue had a lot of great moments in it. This is great storytelling from Marvel, and I'm looking forward to seeing how quickly things are going to change from this point on. Remember: with one shot from Reed's gun, every Skrull in the area is instantly changed back. This is going to give us some incredible splash pages over the next few issues of this miniseries.

By the way, in Secret Invasion: Inhumans we get our first glimpse at one of the captured heroes. Black Bolt is alive, and it's up to the Inhumans to get their leader back!

See you Monday for a look at some recent awesome plot twist moments in comics!

New Avengers #43 - Revelations in the Savage Land

After months of speculation, Marvel finally gives us a powerful reveal in New Avengers #43 (and thanks to my killer Marvel subscription, I got it a day in advance!). At last we get to see the confrontation between Captain America and Spider-Man that was left dangling two issues ago and the truth about this Captain America is revealed...as well as another major question we've had for a while.

The story itself is good. It's more of the same old backstory we've been fed for months in this title and Mighty Avengers, but we got a little taste of the present as bookends in this story. As I speculated last week in my Skrull Scorecard, our spaceship Captain America isn't who he appears to be, but that's hardly a surprise. What is a surprise is where all those heroes came from...and when their brainwashing began.

I've heard how important the Kree-Skrull War was since this all began but it's seemed a relatively minor event in this Invasion. This issue makes it a major one after all. We see the extent of the brainwashing the Skrulls used, and we see why the "heroes" coming off that ship are so sure they're the real thing.

There's no mention of it in the book, but Mockingbird has to be a Skrull too. But I'd have to say it would be a cool plot twist to make her human so we know there were a few heroes captured that got away. Otherwise, it sort of settles things for the spaceship heroes once and for all.

Again, this is mostly a backstory issue, but I'll have to say this story might make you feel sorry for a brainwashed Skrull in the midst of all this. They've got us cheering for Captain Marvel, so who's to say they couldn't turn a few others for the good?

The Skrull Secret Invasion Scorecard

So they've been among us for years, and we just found out about it recently. Those pesky Skrulls...what will they think of next? Well, since it officially began, the Invasion has been hitting us hard and heavy. Just in case you've missed a thing or two, here's how we stand so far:

Definitely A Skrull:

Elektra - Her death brought the whole thing about.

Hank Pym - We just found out what happened to him. Seduced by a Skrull, then knocked out and replaced by the same. Awkward!

Jarvis - Not the most stellar of choices, but it sure turned out to be a good one for the information it allowed them access to.

Black Bolt - Go back and read World War Hulk and try to make this work. It doesn't. Still, he was proven to be a Skrull in Illuminati #5, so it's a fact.

Captain Marvel - A little sticky here since he is a Skrull, but he's overwhelmed by Mar-vell's memories and hatred of the Skrulls, so he's working against them by working with them. But come on, did anyone really think they'd bring the real deal back?

Dum Dum Dugan - Didn't start out this way, but with that first mysterious "He loves you", Dum Dum was blasted and we've seen him replaced in recent scenes. The only advantage I could see in this was a way to get close to Nick Fury, but after finding out his girlfriend was a Skrull I don't think he's going to trust any of his old friends.

Spider-Woman - Actually, she's the queen herself. It's still a little hard to make this work since she was so close to Nick Fury after the supposed switch, but she never tried to stop him. But we know for a fact from the storyline itself, she's a Skrull.

Savage Land spaceship Skrulls dead and confirmed as Skrulls: Spider-Man, Beast, Phoenix, Hawkeye. Vision is a confirmed Skrull because of his actions against Sentry, but he is not dead yet.

Possibly A Skrull:
Iron Man - They're just playing with us here, but they want us to think he could be a fake. It would explain the whole Civil War mess, but don't hold your breath. This is Marvel, and they don't take the easy way on any of it. My vote: Definitely not.

Doctor Strange - It would explain a lot about his recent actions right after the World War Hulk incident and the New Avengers Annual. My vote: Most definitely.

Sentry's wife - She was killed during the Ultron attack on Stark Tower, and then she was fine after Sentry's rampage on Ultron for killing her? This little fact hasn't really been played up, and no explanation has ever been offered for it. Add to this the fact that she tried to get Iron Man to kill Sentry just as the invasion was starting (for their own safety, she says), and she's got so 'splainin' to do! My vote: Yes.

Captain America - Steve Rogers was shot and killed. While I'd love to believe he was a Skrull, we saw his body later and it just sort of withered up. Every other Skrull that's been killed in human form has immediately turned back into a Skrull. Cap may not be dead, but whoever got shot wasn't a Skrull. My vote: No way.

Jessica Jones - Remember, just after we saw that iconic scene of Elektra turning out to be a Skrull, we saw Jessica and Luke Cage's baby suddenly get this weird green glint in its eyes. One of the parents is a Skrull, and the easy money goes on Jessica rather than Luke. My vote: Very likely.

Mockingbird - Despite a touching reunion in the Savage Land between Ronin/Hawkeye and his wife (thought dead for years), there's no way she's the real thing. Every other hero from that spaceship has been shown to be a Skrull, so why should she be any different? Weird choice of a hero to impersonate, but considering the fact that she was at one time a SHIELD agent, it makes a little sense. My vote: Yes.

Definitely Not a Skrull:

Nick Fury - He's been waiting for this moment for a long time. He's our only hope. Let's hope we're right.

Thor - As we saw at the end of Secret Invasion 4, he's a little ticked right now at the green guys.

Spider-Man - How I wish it were so, but it's not. This whole "Brand New Day" thing is real.

Wolverine - Shot by Black Widow in Secret Invasion 4, we saw him heal up rather than die. Besides, there's no way they'd touch this one.

Reed Richards - He's the major catalyst behind their hatred for us. And we're seeing him tortured all the time in the story.

Black Panther - Marvel's rule is simple: kill, maim, or torture whoever you want to, but nobody touches the Panther! Besides, he's about to single-handedly wipe out the Skrull Invasion himself...haven't you seen the ads in the comics?

Echo - They tried to trick her and pull her in, but she's still holding strong. She was the one who killed the Skrull Elektra and showed us the truth.

The Sentry - Skrulls are tough. He's too busy crying in space. And besides, they've already said he was the one person who could stop them...so they hurt his feelings and made him go wet himself while hiding in the rings of Saturn.

Maria Hill - Now leading SHIELD since her boss, Tony Stark, has gone bats in the Savage Land, we've seen her standing alone against her own agents (now shown to be Skrulls) while Jarvis demands her surrender. Not sure what makes her so special, but she's one of us.

All this, and Marvel has promised some major Skrull reveals in the final 3 issues of Secret Invasion. I don't know who they've been holding back from us, but it should be interesting.

Mighty Avengers 16 - Whatever Happened to Elektra?

The first inclination we had that anything was happening was when Elektra turned out to be a Skrull. Then it was a matter of "Who else?" But before we forget her completely, Mighty Avengers 16 gives us insight into her abduction.

Going all the way back to New Avengers #1, we see a pivotal scene from that series played out from a different perspective. We finally see who was orchestrating the whole Raft breakout. It's an interesting twist, but not mind-blowing.

Then we see Elektra's abduction. I'll have to say this for her, she puts up a good fight. Going against several Skrulls with various superpowers, she manages to take a few down before it's over. Of course, she loses and gets replaced.

The biggest problem I have with Mighty Avengers and New Avengers since the Invasion started is how Marvel is using both titles as sort of a "backstory dump". The stories no longer flow from issue to issue, but end abruptly and then pick up with an entirely new story the next issue. For example, this issue ends with "Next Month: The Truth About Hank Pym". I know the main storyline is happening in the Secret Invasion title, but perhaps Marvel should have come out with a second miniseries (like the "Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust?" one shot they had), perhaps called Secret Invasion: Abductions and used that as the story dump. As I've said in previous posts, I'm no fan of DC's "miniseries from a miniseries" approach to Final Crisis, but at least Marvel is telling a linear story in Secret Invasion. This would have been a good use of that second miniseries concept (as long as they didn't go overboard like DC has with no less than four different miniseries coming out of Final Crisis while it's still going on).

Two months ago in New Avengers, the story ended with Spider-Man and Ka-Zar in the Savage Land suddenly being attacked by Captain America (most likely a Skrull, but still...). The next month, it was a completely different story and we're still waiting to see what happened in that fight. It's getting a little frustrating.

But since this is what we're stuck with and we might as well get over it and move on, I'll have to say it is interesting to see what all had to go on behind the scenes to make this invasion happen. For the most part, this is good storytelling.

But again I have to ask: Where are the heroes who have been replaced?

Secret Invasion #4 - The Invasion Continues

Marvel made some lofty promises with "Secret Invasion". They said it would be unlike anything we'd seen before, and they were right to an extent. Coming off the aftermath of Civil War, the "death" of Captain America, and the dissolution of the Avengers into two separate (and distinctly individual) teams, the Marvel universe was ripe for another catastrophe. The fact that the Skrulls had been infiltrating the Marvels for years was a brilliant play. Having beloved heroes turning out to be Skrulls was another good point. And here we are, roughly in the mid-point of the storyline, with the return of Nick Fury with a bang.

Yes, there are a few Skrull reveals in here, but most of them you already figured out. They occur during the Savage Land sequence, and with their reveal it confirms what we'd already suspected about the folks from space in issue #2. It's a shame too, because Marvel had really opened the door to clear up a number of their messes over the years...but this isn't how Marvel does things anymore. "No more apologies. We just screw up the heroes and say 'That's how it is now!'. If you don't like it, go read DC."

If you've read the synopsis of this story on Marvel's website, you'll know the last pages hold the introduction of two major players into the storyline. Thor is one, and it's about time. Now, is this the real Thor or that clone again? We'll have to find out next month. But the final reveal...well, I won't spoil that for you. Let's just say I'm hoping they're not pulling our legs here. Please!

Plenty of fight scenes, including the obligatory shot of Sentry crying like a baby in outer space (just to make sure we haven't forgotten what a wimp he really is instead of the super-powerful hero he started out being...thanks, Marvel!). I have to say Marvel is doing a good job of sticking to the six separate storylines in each issue, and will no doubt bring them all together before it's finished. At least it's coherent storytelling, and not that "every page is a different plot" writing we're getting in Final Crisis.

Whatever Happened to Hank Pym?

Well into the middle of the Skrull Invasion of Marvel, we are finally getting a chance to catch up to everything that has gone on behind the scenes for the past few years with Skrull activity. Who was replaced? And how? Last month, we saw the master plan to take down Sentry, Marvel's favorite schizophrenic superhero. For some reason, he's supposed to be the key to defeating the Skrulls, and yet Marvel has never used him effectively in any way since he killed Carnage in New Avengers #2. At any rate, we ended Mighty Avengers 14 with the Sentry in space and now replaced by a strange "dark" version of himself. Ready to see what happens next? Well, keep waiting.

Marvel has jumped on the DC bandwagon of storytelling by giving us several individual issues of stories that start but never end. This month in Mighty Avengers #15, we are treated to the background info on how (and why) the Skrulls replaced Marvel's other resident schizo: Hank Pym. To be honest, it's a good story for the most part. I've always enjoyed Ant-Man and hated his Yellowjacket phase. I have to admit a certain satisfaction at the flashback Marvel did to the very first issue of New Avengers to show us how the criminals escaped The Raft, and why. Of course, the question has to be asked: "Where are the heroes who have been replaced?" No doubt, Marvel is going to answer that soon. If nothing else, at least they're honoring their major crossover story by having it tie into other titles for a reason.

So what's the score so far? Hank Pym and Spider-Woman are both Skrull agents. Tony Stark? Nope (even though it was the popular vote of choice when the whole "Civil War" started). Dead Captain America? Nope (again, Marvel ignored the popular ideas and just plain killed the guy). Nick Fury is back too with his own little group of soldiers determined to take down the bad guys. Will he succeed where others have failed? You won't find out next issue, because Marvel's taking the focus on the first Skrull reveal: Electra. Why would they do this in "Mighty Avengers" since Electra was never even an Avenger? Because it's Marvel Comics and they can.

Major Skrull reveals still ahead, I'm sure. Any ideas?