Goblin, you're up to bat first! Go!

Goblin:
Glad to see my anticipation was rewarded this time. I've been waiting for Secret Invasion since it was announced as I saw a lot of potential in the Skrulls and have always been a little sad that no one had been able to write them correctly. They've always been comic relief and never posed a real threat (although Super Skrull kicked some SERIOUS ass during the first Annhilation War). With the opening salvo of the Invasion, the Skrulls have managed to take out S.W.O.R.D., S.H.I.E.L.D., the Raft, the Cube, the Thunderbolts, the New Avengers, the Mighty Avengers, and Mr. Fantastic in a particularly gruesome scene. The Skrulls are here.

On the writing front, Bendis seems to have found his groove again. The chatter is snappy but doesn't detract from the thrust of the plot. And a lot happened for a first issue, setting up th next seven issues. We get several reveals of sleeper agents, including Captain Marvel who I told ll of you to watch last month. We also get some new intrigue like just why the hell the Skrulls are going to supplant the heroes with 70s versions of themselves. I'm pretty sure people would notice Cage's giant fro and gold puffy shit. I've never really been a big fan of Leniel Yu's art, but there are certainly worse artists out there. Laura Martin's colors are, as always, flawless. She really adds a lot to the book.

My biggest questions are now - "Has Bendis really been planning this for over three years?" and "Just who is 'he' and why does he love everyone?"

Oh, you know you're going to buy it. Just give in.

My turn!

Jonostarsmore:
All right Marvel. You win. Consider my curiosity piqued. I was so ready to hate this book: the idea of the Skrulls being remotely interesting was downright ludicrous. Which moment was the moment when all my defenses came down and I embraced your invasion? Well let's see...was it the New Avengers stealing the Mighty Avengers' Quinjet? The complete destruction of The Peak (S.W.O.R.D. HQ)? The Shield HQ falling towards the city of New York? The complete prison break-out at the Raft and the escape of Marvel Boy? A Skrull masking as Susan Storm causing a breach into the negative zone that engulfs the upper part of Baxter Tower? No.

The moment that got me was the big spread reveal of what was in that lone Skrull ship. Oh hai 70s era White Queen, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Beast, Thor, Wonder Man, Invisible Woman, Phoenix, Hawkeye, Vision, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Ms. Marvel, Mockingbird, Jessica Jones, Captain America, and Wolverine...WTF are you doing here? These surviving heroes of a bygone era think that they are the real deal...so...now what? Are they all Skrulls? Are their current comic book counterparts Skrulls? Goddamn you Bendis, now I'm invested, fer crissakes. Not satisfied to finish with that bomb, Bendis ends the issue with a literal bang as Skrull Dr. Pym shoots an unsuspecting Reed Richards in the face and we are left wondering...who can we trust?

Solid effort Marvel. The writing is Bendis at his best, the art could have been better (it's not fantastic, but Leniel Yu does a servicable job) and now I'm going through all my back issues of Avengers Disassembled, House of M, and New Avengers to dig through the seeds that Bendis has planted. Unlike Goblin, I have no doubt that Bendis had planned this all along. My wallet hates you Marvel, but I have a newfound respect for you. You lose points for the Spider-Man mess (which I will review later today), but I think my faith has been restored.

Must Buy, also, must buy every back issue of New Avengers, House of M, Avengers Disassembled, Avengers Illuminati, etc

Finally, go go Sgt. Sausagepants.

Sgt. Sausagepants:
Wow. I was already kind of hooked when I picked up New Avengers just after the Elektra reveal, but this has cemented it. The creepy 'Body Snatchers' vibe, the paranoia, all of it. It had to end eventually and they bring the invasion to a head in an awesome fashion. Like Jono, the one panel that hit me harder than any other was the big reveal of the occupants of the crashed Skrull ship, and the possibilities it implies. Either the Skrulls have come up with the most brilliantly confusing invasion plan ever conceived, or a large group of major Marvel heroes have been replaced by aliens for three decades.

One interesting thing this panel also brings into question is the controversial 'Brand New Day' storyline in Spider-man. If we consider the possibility that the real Spider-man was on that ship... then he could have been replaced before he got married to Mary Jane. Or, for that matter, before the Clone Saga. Could 'Brand New Day' just have been a way to get Spider-Man's life in order for his return? We'll find out if Marvel has the balls for that soon enough. [Editor's note: I only hope that this is the case. It would explain why Joe Quesada is so stubborn in keeping Brand New Day afloat.]

So there you have it. An enthusiastic BUY IT from all three of us. Marvel hit a homerun with Secret Invasion #1.

If you need help catching up, you can read the entire issue of the Secret Invasion primer, Secret Invasion Saga here.

Also, Marvel has cleverly prepared a trade collection of all the important Skrull stories of recent Marvel titles called Secret Invasion: Infiltration, which you can buy from the Amazon.com Pink Kryptonite store.

You've read our reviews, now we want to hear about what you folks thought! Comment below!