Secret Invasion #8: Review

Nov 2008

Brian Michael Bendis, Leinil Francis Yu

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Story Name:

(no title given)

Review & Comments

Rating:

Secret Invasion #8 Review by Rob Johnson (December 5, 2016)

Wasp of course isn't really dead, but she will be mourned for a long time. She will be rescued from the Microverse in the final issues of Avengers (2010).

Osborn doesn't seem to use the Skrull biodata he got in Deadpool (3008) #3 to kill Veranke. He just shoots her.

The old armour Tony Stark revives here is 1 of several versions of the early type with hip pods. Marvel Wiki says it's the 1 that was introduced in original series Iron Man #85, which it calls Model IV and describes as the default backup whenever anything goes wrong with current armours.

It's worth mentioning here that according to Original Sins Dum Dum Dugan has been an LMD since very early in the Marvel Age (or even before it began). So it's strange that the Skrulls didn't notice. Or maybe they did, but since DDD had no superpowers to simulate it didn't matter.

This issue and the end of SI: Fantastic Four #3 don't quite gel, and this issue doesn't quite make sense. In that issue Thing & co were seen returning from the Negative Zone to the Baxter Building with the top floors missing but the force bubble gone. This issue has the bubble still in place (but the top floors *are* gone when it is deactivated). However Thing & Co have somehow got through the forcefield down to the basement where they are trying to switch it off.
Plus it seems that at least this element of the FF's system is something else that doesn't use StarkTech.

I don't think the person briefing the President in the voiceover is Norman Osborn because they talk about him as someone else.

Tie-ins linked to the sections of this issue they relate to:-

SI#8(p1-7:1) Death of Wasp. Death of Veranke.

SI#8(p7:2-7:4) The battle in the Manhattan skies.
SI: Front Line #5(p6:4-7) Ben Urich and Melanie Crane see a Skrull warship crash in Manhattan.

SI#8(p8-13:6) The return of the replaced heroes.
SI: Home Invasion #8(p10-12) Kinsey and Hank see the spaceship land containing all the abducted heroes. Kinsey lands the force bubble and says she never wants to see her brother again. And then she faints.

SI#8(p13:7-14) Jessica Jones finds Jarvis and Danielle gone.
New Avengers #47(p21-22) Redoes the scene where Jessica Jones and Luke Cage realise Skrull-Jarvis has their baby.

SI#8(15-19) Fury/Dugan/Contessa, Mockingbird/Clint Barton, Fantastic Four.
Av: Initiative #19(p11-24) Crusader sees Skrull-Yellowjacket superspeed leaving the battle site. Crusader uses his Freedom Ring to give *himself* superspeed and follows. Spinner reaches the Hawaii Initiative base just as *her* superspeed runs out and switches to another power. Skrulls land to activate the Neg Zone portal. Spinner activates the bomb she's carrying, hoping for invulnerability this time - it isn't. YJ reaches Camp Hammond to tell Skrull-Dugan all is lost. The Skrulls still have active Neg Zone portals in 2 team bases (1 belongs to Earth Force in Washington) plus the 1 here at Initiative HQ - just enough to unleash their doomsday weapon that will destroy the Earth. Crusader arrives and attacks YJ. The Skrull Kill Krew plus the Texas Rangers Initiative team arrive via Neg Zone jump gate (that is presumably the other portal still active because they had to use it to get here). Dugan throws a gas bomb lethal to humans - Whiz Kid disperses it but dies. The Krew attack the Skrulls. Crusader kills YJ. But then 3-D Man kills *him* because he's really a Skrull.

SI#8(p20-21) Iron Man/Thor/Captain America(Bucky), Hulkling/Skrulls.
NAv#48(p1-2) (Bannered as Dark Reign) Captain America, Ronin, Mockingbird, Spider-Man, Iron Fist and Wolverine agree to meet for a drink. Logan asks Spider-Woman.

Later within SI#8:-
SI:FL#5(p11:5) Ben Urich finds his wife Doris died during the Invasion.
New Warriors (2007) #15(p21-22) NW and Justice's Counter Force bury the bodies of the old NW that they retrieved from SHIELD, and put up a monument.
Mighty Av #20(p1-14) (Bannered SI Epilogue) Hank Pym learns what his replacement did.
SI: Amazing SM #3(p17-22) Jackpot tells SM about what she did during the Invasion. PP returns to his normal life.
Thunderbolts #126(p1-9) (Neither SI nor DR) NO claims traitors in SHIELD, CSA, SWORD, and Initiative helped the Skrulls, and he is going to disband Thunderbolts.
SI#8 (22:1) President wants NO to head SHIELD and more.
SI:FL#5(p9) BU attends funerals of Molly Young, Jonathan Bryant and Vincent Crane. BU, PP, Joe Robertson and Matt Murdock attend Doris Urich’s funeral.
SI:FL#5(p8,10-15) Melanie Crane grieves for her father. Bill Dawson works a desk job at the precinct and has dinner with Lisa Dobson. BU sees a therapist about his inability to write about the Invasion.
SI:HI#8(p13) Kinsey wakes up in hospital still with the wristbands. Ali is alive but severely injured - her mom's OK. Sasquatch is in a coma, but Pulsar's OK.

SI#8 (22:2-23:6) President announces NO's new role watched by TS and Hill.
DR: New Nation #1/1fbs (DR) Nick Fury watches the announcement.
SI:FL#5(p16-22) BU grills NO at the press conference. The crowd support NO, but BU loses his writer's block.
DR:NN#1/1 (DR) NF organises his team to oppose NO. (Leads in to Secret Warriors.)
Tbolts#126(p10-22)-127 Penance to be imprisoned. Radioactive Man returns to China. Songbird escapes. Moonstone, Bullseye, Venom and Swordsman stay.
SI:DR#1(p1-7) (SI+DR) Emma Frost is summoned by NO and meets the rest of the Cabal.
SI#8(p24-26)~SI:DR#1(p8) NO's Cabal meet.
SI:DR#1(p9-27) (SI+DR) NO does a deal with the Cabal. But Doom and Namor expect him to have a breakdown eventually and secretly agree to split the world between them afterwards. Swordsman threatens to expose NO's misdeeds so NO kills him.

SI issues beyond SI#8:-

NAv#48(p3-20) (DR) Spidey, Logan, Clint, Bobbi and Iron Fist meet at Cap's secret base. Spider-Woman arrives too because she's got nowhere else. Cap/Bucky joins them and says they can treat this place as a home/base. IF resigns but offers to be on call. Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Ms Marvel turn up to say that Skrull-Jarvis has stolen baby Danielle. They all go to the FF's makeshift accommodations atop the Baxter Building, but Reed Richards can't detect S-J. They try interrogating various villains without luck until they hit a bar full of angry ex-SHIELD Agents listening to the news that NO might take over. They find 1 Agent who is a Skrull, and capture her for interrogation. But a SHIELD guy kills her before she can tell them where S-J is.
MAv#20(p15-22) (SI Epilogue) Wasp's funeral.
NAv#48(p21-22) (DR) Desperate LC goes to NO for help finding D.
SI: Requiem #1 Pym discovers the Wasp-bomb was powered by anti-Pym particles. He becomes the new Wasp.
SI: War Of Kings isn't really connected to SI.

From Our Blog:

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Gwen Stacy: Classic Beauty

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Secret Invasion #8 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

Most of this issue is accompanied by a voiceover as someone explains to the President what happened.

Last issue the Skrulls were losing the battle of Central Park so dying Skrull-Yellowjacket triggered a doomsday device which made Wasp grow to great height and started emitting a toxin. It was deadly to Skrulls as well as humans, but it would ensure the humans didn't win.

Now Thor saves the day by enveloping Wasp in a vortex to contain the toxin. But it appears to consume the heroine. (No-one appears to get killed by the toxin.)

Veranke/Spider-Woman has survived with a displaced jaw. Everyone turns on her. Wolverine is about to slash her. But Norman Osborn gets the kill shot to her head. He then orders his Thunderbolts to deal with the remaining Skrulls. But of course all the other heroes get in the act too.

Tony Stark returns in an old Iron Man armour which isn't affected by the StarkTech virus. He leads all those that can fly to attack Skrull warships in the air. Those that can survive in space follow him out there too. But in the middle of the destruction he detects something in 1 of the spaceships. He takes control of it and brings it down to Central Park.

When the hatch opens we see the heroes who had been replaced by Skrulls. (Mr Fantastic's device presumably ensures that they really aren't more Skrull imposters.) The Hood picks this moment to lead his supervillain gang away. The President is told that the Skrulls kept their prisoners alive because they needed them to create new doubles (like the multiple Val de Fontaine's).

Ms Marvel embraces Spider-Woman, who wonders why everyone's looking at her funny. Everyone welcomes back Hank Pym, but then they have to tell him what just happened to Jan.Tony Stark greets Jarvis, and Jessica Jones suddenly realises what this means.

She flies off to Avengers Tower and finds it empty. When Ms Marvel carries Luke Cage up here his distraught wife explains that she left their baby Danielle in the care of butler Jarvis. But he must have been a Skrull, and now they've gone.

Various Hydra and SHIELD agents emerge, their hostilities temporarily put aside. Dum Dum Dugan and Val de Fontaine are among them. They look forward to reuniting with Nick Fury, but he turns away and leaves. Mockingbird is also there, and Clint Barton removes his Ronin mask so she can recognise him - and they kiss.

Reed and Sue Richards embrace. But then they notice the force field bubble around the top of the Baxter Building. They rush over there to find what has happened to their children. Reed has recognised the look of the Negative Zone portal, so he heads for a backup control to disable it in a basement. He finds Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm there trying to figure out how to work it. And Franklin and Valeria are safe with them. Reed activates it, the bubble dissipates but their home in the top floors is gone (in the Neg Zone).

Tony Stark thanks Thor for his help. But the Thunder God is still angry about the Thor clone Ragnarok that Stark used during Civil War. He still doesn't want to be part of Stark's Avengers, and he believes that Tony is to blame for everything that has happened. Thor leaves. And Captain America/Bucky walks away too, from the man who caused the death of Steve Rogers.

Marvel Boy helps round up surviving Skrulls. Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) asks half-Skrull Hulkling why the Skrulls wanted Earth so much when they have loads of other planets. 1 of the captives says that they've lost the rest of their empire. (This was to the Annihilation Wave. But the Invasion was planned and begun long before that.)

Sometime later the President meets with Norman Osborn who is to take over from Tony Stark as head of SHIELD, the Initiative and the Mighty Avengers. Stark is out because his technology was instrumental in allowing the Skrull Invasion, and because under his watch superheroes spent too much time fighting each other and not enough watching out for danger. Osborn is in because he made sure he and his Thunderbolts showed well in the media during the Invasion.

StarkTech will no longer be used by the government, and Osborn will lead an investigation into his activities. Tony is listening to the announcement with Maria Hill. But he seems distracted and defeated.

Osborn calls a secret meeting in Avengers Tower with Dr Doom, Emma Frost, Hood, female Loki and Sub-Mariner.

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