Secret Invasion #5 Review

5 issues in now…and we’re still in the Savage Land. Can’t last much longer…can it?
Anyways, let’s jump right in, shall we?

SECRET INVASION #5
WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis
PENCILS: Leinil Yu
INKS: Mark Morales
COLORS: Laura Martin and Emily Warren
LETTERS: Chris Eliopoulos

PLOT:
We arrive with our favourite haircut, Norman Osborn, talking to Captain Marvel and calming him down before he flies off in rage. Osborn gets his Thunderbolts ready for war and we cut to Nick Fury’s secret base, (how many of these does he have?!) where the Young Avengers and the Secret Warriors are getting ready for a Skrull broadcast. We see many faces relaying the Skrull message, including Tony Stark, Doctor Doom, Namor, Reed Richards, Barack Obama, Paris Hilton, the Pope, Magneto and Cartman from

South Park.

I think they have all the bases covered, everyone is going to listen to this.

Then, Agent Brand tries to convince Skrulls she is one of them before shooting them all to hell. Apparently, she only has a degree in Kree languages. She sets free Reed Richards who goes mental and then declares he knows how to beat the Skrull armada. We zoom across space to Maria Hill and Skrull-Jarvis, where Hill outwits them because she is a LMD (Life Model Decoy) and then blows up the Helicarrier. I hope taxpayers’ money isn’t going into those, because they lose one every couple of months.

Back in the Savage Land, all the heroes face off (again), nobody trusting anybody because of the Skrulls. Suddenly, Reed Richards and Agent Brand arrive and Richards brings out a weapon which shows exactly who are Skrulls. Battle ensues. They all decide to head off to New York, where the main battle is being held (as always). Before Hawkeye says a powerful statement after realising his wife was not back from the dead, but a Skrull, “This doesn’t end till every last one of them dies! You hear me?! Every @#$%ing one of them!”

LIKES:
-Leinil Yu’s art is gorgeous
-Hawkeye’s reaction feels true
-Maria Hill finally not being shown as a complete dumbass

DISLIKES:
-The Savage Land was boring after one issue, not much better after five
-Spider-Man is still shown as just a wise-cracker

THOUGHTS:
Well after five issues, we are practically back where we started, apart from a few Skrulls dieing. A lot happens in this issue, but nothing happens. To elaborate, a lot of plot points move on, just not by a lot. I still don’t know why this is eight issues when personally, I think it could have been six. Though, it actually feels like panic, everybody is confused, Reed Richards is angry beyond belief, Iron Man is down with a virus and nobody knows what to do. I give Bendis credit for that, because everyone should be confused and scared and that is what happens.

The art is astounding. I never gave Yu much credit before Secret Invasion, it seemed too sketchy and made it a bit harder to understand, but with this he knocks it out of the park. Credit is also given to the colourists as they make this look incredible.

BUT…we are still in the same place as issue one. Nothing has happened at all. Bendis had this problem with House of M too. Nothing happens in the middle of his major storylines. I consider him to be a great writer, but somebody should really cut down the number of issues he takes for an arc. However, it finally looks like we might see some action next issue. Hawkeye’s last line actually moved me and is a great cliff-hanger.

FAVOURITE QUOTE:
LUKE CAGE: Now they got us killin’ each other again
SPIDER-MAN: Yes! Tell them! (Unless you’re a Skrull. Then hit yourself)

That quote is only second to Hawkeye’s line. Sorry to go on about it.

OVERALL:
3.5 webheads out 5

Let’s see something happen next issue shall we?