Doomino Effect for Dec 4, 2008

This was a big week for comics. The conclusion of Secret Invasion, the beginning of Batman: Last Rites … I’m sure there were other things.

Secret Invasion #8 was the anticlimactic finale to the mega-event that wouldn’t end. I’ll get to how I feel about the conclusion in a minute, but I can’t believe it took eight issues to crank out this story. I remember seeing the cover to #8 in Previews a while back and being all excited that the new Captain America was rising up as a prominent Marvel U hero, and seeing Thor there made me think a new take on the classic Avengers would rise up as a result of all of this. Now though, I’m guessing they probably just gave the cover artist a list of people he could paint.

The way in which Bendis told the final chapter of this story is almost like a punchline to a joke no one would be predictable enough to tell. A Bendis strength? Writing people talking. A major weakness? Writing action. So how does he present the finale to this story, carrying us through the heat of the final battle and tying up all the loose ends? Through a conversation that flashes back on what never happened before the readers’ eyes. Ugh.

For what it’s worth, I say this as someone who has typically enjoyed all of New and Mighty Avengers over the past few years, as well as most of Secret Invasion. But I can’t escape the fact that whether it’s Avengers: Disassembled, House of M, numerous Daredevil arcs or now this, Bendis seems to have a very clear idea of where he wants to go and how he wants to get there, but then completely drops the ball on what should be the most exciting part of the story. He’s the receiver who drops the easy pass because he’s so concerned about where he’s going to run after he catches it.

By chapter 8, the flashback narration was almost a necessity rather than a choice, because it wasn’t clear what was happening to Janet; how Tony Stark got back into the fight; how Tony was able to suddenly take down the entire Skrull fleet; or perhaps most importantly, why the Skrulls would leave their human captives alive.

It allowed for nice moments, like letting the narrators build up to the moment in which they explain that what the Skrulls did to Janet would leave the survivors “…insanely ticked off,” except for the fact Norman Osborne is one of those survivors, and really, why would he personally affected by what happened to Janet? Or Bullseye, or The Hood, or even Bucky?

It sort of led up to a nice surprise reveal (except that surprise was broadcast from miles away earlier in the story), but I just can’t help but feel that the events would have been a lot more powerful if the readers were able to take them in as they happened in real time, so to speak. Granted, with as much dialogue as Bendis tosses into the middle of a fight, it would’ve probably taken another eight issues (or more). But as a reader, it’s frustrating to go through seven issues of buildup and then rush through what should be the emotional payoff in order to spend so much time on the denouement. I could’ve done without three pages of the Fantastic Four rebuilding their home by flipping a switch, for example, or announcing that they’ll be toy shopping soon.

The more I think about it the more annoyed I get. I mean, can you imagine if UFC had spent all that time building up the Couture – Lesnar fight, getting everyone super excited for what was going to happen, and then just airing some clips and post-match commentary about the fight itself and devoting most of their pay per view to discussing where Couture and Lesnar go from here?

But at least now we know what Dark Reign is, and as I said then, I think it’s good that the villains are once again the villains in the Marvel Universe. The “Whose side are you on? / Who do you trust?” division was intriguing and opened up a lot of possibilities, but I think it ran its course and it was time to move on to something else. This looks to be a pretty good “something else.”

I don’t know anything about the Thunderbolts (or “Thundebolts” as Joe Quesada spelled it in his epilogue column), but I know Norman Osborn is a baddie. Same with Dr. Doom and the Hood. I didn’t realize that Loki was now a large-breasted woman, but good for him. I like the intrigue in having Namor and the White Queen there. Emma’s a trigger that has been waiting to be pulled for a while, and having Namor flip sides after the Illuminati flop makes sense.

Speaking of switching sides, that leads me to Batman #682, in which Alfred has betrayed Bruce … but only in his memories. The goons at the Evil Factory have infiltrated Batman’s memories by way of a sloppy turd of a villain called The Lump, “hiding among Batman’s recollections in the form of his oldest ally.” It was our Book of Doom this week. Artist Lee Garbett was like a poor man’s Tony Daniel.

Speaking of artists who are crap, that leads me to New Avengers #47, with art by the decreasingly competent Billy Tan. I think this guy must be convinced that there is a direct relationship between number of lines and quality of art. He’s wrong, obviously. This is just a dirty mess. Did you know he doesn’t draw his own backgrounds either? I learned that FROM MARVEL. At least his women are starting to have female human bodies. Way to keep growing, Bill.

So anyway, this is a story about the story of when Jessica Jones and Luke Cage fell in love (yes, it is a story about a story). It’s a whole lot of talking. I think if this would have been an issue of Alias I probably would’ve liked it a lot. As an issue of New Avengers I’m just tired of this water-treading. This issue can be broken down completely into two categories — 1. the aforementioned flashback story and 2. stuff that happened in Secret Invasion #8.

I guess maybe the hope was that all of this bonding time with their new child would make the child’s Skrull abduction all the more tragic. Instead, the abduction made this seem like an even bigger waste of time. That’s time I would like to have back.

Speaking of time spent reading comics, that leads me to Sandman: The Dream Hunters #2. I just realized, when picking up my stack of this week’s comics, that I haven’t even read this yet. I loved the first issue and so I was really looking forward to this one, but I wanted to read it at a time when I could really sit down and enjoy it. You’ll probably only hear back from me on this if it’s crap. The end.