Sunday, September 14, 2008

Review: Secret Invasion 6

After suffering from a "Fantastic" overdose in issue 5, Secret Invasion 6 promises something much better from the cover alone. Tony Stark bashing aside, that's the original Avengers trinity seen on the cover, composed of Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man.

Okay, technically, it's NOT the original trinity per se. Iron Man is now pumped up by the Extremis virus. Thor now has the Odinpower and brought himself back from oblivion post-Ragnarok, and with Steve Rogers still dead, that's the Bucky Barnes incarnation of Cap we're seeing (hence the uncharacteristic gun). Personally, I don't care. The issue is worth it just seeing these three in the same place at the same time, and without being at each others' throats.

Most of the issue focuses on bringing everyone together for a grand confrontation in Central Park, an action largely evoked by Thor without prior consultation. This means that come issue 7, we are going to get a battle worthy of the record books. Earth's superheroes versus the Skrull invasion force. That's something to look forward to. The fanboy in me rejoices.

Of course, the tactical strategist in me is screaming bloody murder.

Imagine you're the Skrulls. You got all these metahumans gathering in a single location, metahumans bent on stopping your invasion plans, most likely by killing every single one of you. Does it make sense that you meet them on the ground, in a classic standoff, your warskrulls facing the heroes at speaking distance? Especially when you have these hovering around the city?


This doesn't even include the ships in orbit.

WTF?!

Whatever happened to the concept of orbital bombardment?

"Oh look, the heroes are all in Central Park."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, what do we do?"

"Tell all ships in range to bombard their coordinates. Heavy energy weapons only."

"Yes, my Queen."

I know that would kill everyone, yes. But you wanna invade a planet, you gotta do it properly. However, it seems to me that we're in slam bang surreal mode here. If Nick Fury, Bucky, Reed, and Tony can be stupid enough to expose themselves en masse in one place like that, I suppose the Skrulls can be that stupid too.

Universal stupidity is catchy.

Here's what's coming next month: