Storyline: -
Date: August 13, 2008
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artists: Leinil Francis Yu and cover by Gabriele Dell’otto

Synopsis: Embrace change. With these two words the Skrull Empire declares their intentions to the entire Marvel Universe. Embrace change. With these two words thousands and thousands of comic fans who have declared Secret Invasion the comic book blockbuster of the summer brace themselves for the shocking changes that are about to happen to their favorite characters and institutions. Embrace change, True Believer, because change is coming!

Opinion: To borrow a line from a recent summer film that you probably haven’t seen, “the night is darkest right before the dawn” and that, my friends, best describes the shape that the Marvel Universe is currently in. Issue after issue, page after page, our heroes have been getting their asses handed to them by the invading pointy eared minions of the Skrull empire.

However, there is hope. I don’t wish to give away anything but know this; earth is not going down without a fight. Issue #5 does a great job of juggling all the different characters and subplots while still keeping everything connected and relevant.

Although, there are many readers who have pointed out that the main Secret Invasion issues can, at times, act as only a way to round up all the tie-ins together. While this is true in some respect, I must disagree. While SI does recap what is going on in all these different books and issues, it does so to further the plot. If it focused solely on the Avengers, or on Nick Fury or even on the Fantastic 4, then the story itself would feel smaller and less epic. Sometimes these issues can feel a little jumpy, switching between so many different characters and plots, but doing so helps us readers grasp how the Invasion is affecting everything. That’s why it’s called the Marvel Universe, folks.

All this set aside, my only complaint comes from what I expected and didn’t get in issue 5. You see, SI 4 ended with a teaser as we saw both Captain America’s shield (Bucky Barnes, not Steve Rogers who is still and will remain dead) and Thor’s lightning. Both of these characters haven’t participated in big events within Marvel for quite some time so this was supposed to be their triumphant return. Sadly, not one page contains either of the heroes and only after read SI 5 did I realize that they would make their appearance in the next issue.

While, this isn’t a huge deal it was still a disappointment for this reader and worth mentioning. All in all though, SI is a great read. Were past the halfway mark and Marvel STILL hasn’t screwed this one up. Who would have thunk it?

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