Review: Secret Invasion #1 (Spoiler-Free)

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: Leinil Yu

Anyone who has been reading comics for…well, for a while knows that Marvel and DC are big on ‘event’ stories. The are often huge and overwhelming and not as good as they are advertised to be. The latest is Marvel’s “Secret Invasion”, headlined by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Yu. The first issue hit today. How was it? Read on.

I’m as tired of the next big universe altering event as the next person, and I wasn’t really feeling SI until recently. Then I figured, if this really goes back as far as BMB claims…that’s the makings of something pretty special. So I decided to check it out. If you don’t know the basics, the Skrulls have decided to push a full-on invasion of Earth by taking advantage of their shapeshifting abilities. This gives them the element of surprise and sows seeds of distrust throughout the heroes. That basically where SI picks up.

Bendis is definitely a polarizing writer. Some love his characters and dialogues, while others hate those same things and lament his lack of skill with ‘big’ characters rather than his street-level stuff. However, SI has a nice mix of both. Yes, this is a huge alien invasion with nearly every hero involved, but he’s getting into the psyche of characters and focusing on the psychological aspect of this attack, and it works well. There are speeches, attacks, and some crazy reveals in this issue, and it looks to only get wilder from here.

As dividing as Bendis is, Yu can be said to be just as polarizing, if not more so. His art works well for this event where it might not have otherwise. He draws dark and gritty characters (now with an inker, unlike his New Avengers work, thank goodness), and that fits the tone of the story – nothing is truly clear cut and definite, and Yu’s art adds that uncertainty to the story.

Overall, this was a solid first issue. It sets up the rest of the story nicely and sets in motion several different plot threads. If you’re interested in what’s been going on in the Marvel Universe, you owe it to yourself to check this out.