Once again, Secret Invasion is off to a bang, as seen in Captain Britain and MI:13 #2 sees the Skrull Invasion of England underway and a whole slew of British-themed characters - ranging from Black Knight to Pete Wisdom - trying to turn the tide. With covers by Bryan Hitch (Ultimates), this is looking more and more like a sleeper hit in the makings.

The Eternals get their second series following the successful Neil Gaiman mini. The art’s done by Dan Acuna - one of my favorite new artists, but not surprisingly, Gaiman is not aboard. I’d recommend picking it up, so I’m a bit worried - the departure of Acuna on Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters was sufficient to leave a big gaping hole in any artistic team. Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself here.

Genext - Claremont’s next big-seller - continues with its second issue. I haven’t been able to lay hands on this book - they’re selling like hotcakes. I know Chris Claremont has a bad reputation these days, but I’m eager to see this book - which ages the X-Men in real time and follows their present-day children!

Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? is a one-shot tie-in which focuses on several characters so far on the sidelines of the conflict, including SWORD agent Abigail Brand, the agents of Atlas, and Marvel Boy, who was last seen in the Illuminati mini-series. I think these one-shots Marvel is releasing is actually a really good way of keeping their universe tied together without forgetting about some of their most interesting fringe characters.

Skaar: Son of Hulk #1 teams up Planet Hulk writer Greg Pak with classic illustrator Ron Garney in following the exploits of Skaar - Hulk’s son, who was supposedly (okay, not really at all) killed by the manipulation of Hulk’s enemies during Planet Hulk. The story follows Skaar as he tries to save survivors of the planet Green Genes once ruled.

Its crunch time for Booster Gold in the tenth issue of the series I really really need to pick up. The time-traveler has succeeded in saving Blue Beetle Ted Kord from his gunshot fate in the beginning of Infinite Crisis, but now must make a potentially tragic choice to stop all of time and space from going haywire.

Green Lantern Corps #25 looks positively kick-ass as Kyle and Guy lead the Corps into a battle against Superman villain Mongul and a whole planet full of Black Mercys - the alien parasites made famous by Alan Moore’s classic Superman story “For the Man Who Has Everything?”

Salvation Run makes its much-delayed climax in the seventh issue, which shows Lex Luthor with blood-stained hands. This has been an interesting series, though I wish Bill Willingham could have written more, if not all, of it. It will be interesting to see how this George R. R. Martin-pitched story plays out in the events of Final Crisis.

Wonder Woman #21 looks interesting, as the cover shows Wonder Woman with her arms crossed - and one hand looking strangely reptilian. The issue has Wonder Woman teaming up with the likes of Beowulf and more to save her own soul, and if that weren’t enough, her own partner - unaware of her secret identity - is about to discover she’s been living with a squad of super-intelligent monkeys. With Gail Simone writing, how can you go wrong?

If you liked that, try...

1. Comic Rundown: Not So Brand New
2. Comic Rundown: Skrulls and Super Friends
3. Comic Rundown: Marvel Gets Dark and Dirty
4. Comic Rundown: Reboots and Werewolves
5. Comic Rundown: Peter Parker, Paparzzi?

2 Comments »

1. 
   Shawn M.
   June 13, 2008 at 12:27 am

   “Wonder Woman #21 looks interesting, as the cover shows Wonder Woman with his arms crossed…”

   I’m assuming that’s a typo — I hope. But then again, I wouldn’t be that surprised if that was an order from Didio. Y’know, right before he orders her to be killed.

   What’s your thoughts on the upcoming Marvel Zombies 3, where they will supposedly cross over into the 616 universe? Hold on a second, I think I just heard you groan all the way from across the country.

   [Reply]

2. 
   Richard Pulfer
   June 13, 2008 at 1:28 am

   Typo fixed. I think it would be pretty hard for Didio to kill off Wondy though - her book’s doing well for the first time in years, and she’s a part of the year-long Trinity weekly series, so killing her off in any substantial form seems unlikely. But then again, look at Batman . . .

   I did hear about Marvel Zombies 3, and that was exactly my reaction. You know, I liked the first Frightful Four story in Ultimate Fantastic which introduced the Zombies. I liked Marvel Zombies 1 and especially Army of Darkness vs. Marvel Zombies, but by Marvel Zombies 2 you could tell even Robert Kirkman was getting tired of it. Not surprisingly, someone ELSE is writing it . . .

   So now we have the MZ plague somewhere in the “real” universe and most likely it threatening at least a few of the characters we actually care about? “Groan” doesn’t do my reaction justice. Deathly wail sounds about right though.

   [Reply]

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