Home > COMICS > [WWLA] MARVEL 'SECRET INVASION' PANEL
[WWLA] MARVEL 'SECRET INVASION' PANEL
The publisher announces three new mini series and a one-shot focusing on every aspect of the Skrull attack on the Marvel U
By Kiel Phegley
Posted 3/15/2008
“Iron Man has a nose again, that will be the big change,” joked Jim McCann as he revealed covers to Marvel summer crossover event Secret Invasion featuring some decidably retro versions of Marvel’s most classic characters. Fake outs and reveals were the center of images, teases and plot points discussed at Marvel’s first Secret Invasion panel of the convention season, but hard facts did come out in the form of several announcements of new Secret Invasion tie-ins comics and specials.
McCann was joined onstage by writers Christ Yost, Brian Reed, Chris Gage and surprise guest “Heroes” writer Joe Pokaski as well as Marvel editor Steve Wacker. Secret Invasion mastermind Brian Michael Bendis also joined the discussion via cell phone as so many Marvel panels of the weekend seemed to be doing. On the announcement side of things, the panel revealed new tie-ins that include:
• Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust?, a one-shot spinning stories of many Marvel characters before the main series begins.
• Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers a mini series re-combining the two teen teams written by Yost with art by former Runaways contributor Takeshi Miyazaki.
• Secret Invasion: Frontline, a “man on the street” series written by Reed which includes longtime supporting character Ben Urich.
• Secret Invasion: Inhumans!, a mini which follows up on Black Bolt’s people after he was revealed a Skrull written by Pokaski.
To set the tone for all the events and stories discussed at the panel, covers were revealed for the 56-page Secret Invasion #1 (41-pages of story with supplemental pages) which ships April 2nd, as well as the second and third issues. All the Gabrielle Del’Otto images which included the aforementioned team of ‘70s style Avengers and Tony Stark making out with Spider-Woman hold important clues to plot points.
McCann went on to explain that in terms of tie-ins, Mighty and New Avengers would be filling in the gaps of the years of Skrull bits Bendis has been threading into the titles for years. “Brian has been writing this story for the past five years ever since he started on Avengers. If you go back and look at a lot of the stuff he’s been doing you’ll see these incredible hints.
“New Avengers and Mighty Avengers each month is like Secret Invasion 1.2 and 1.3. They really go hand-in-hand. And this is a massive, universe-sprawling event…we’re really addressing how earth is dealing with [the invasion] and yes, even how things are happening in the cosmic world as well. You’ll see that in Brian’s issues and a lot of these guys issues here.”
In the Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? one-shot, there will be five separate stories of Marvel U characters. Reed will script a Captain Marvel story focusing on the character’s path from Captain Marvel #5 to Secret Invasion #1. Gage will script a Wonder Man and Beast story for Mike Perkins, which he said includes “Leisure suit Wonder Man and the ape-like Beat, so anyone who’s my age and grew up with those guys hanging out together [will love it]…here they are back together again, and they’re pretty sure each other is a Skrull.” Zeb Wells will pick back up the Kree Marvel Boy character he wrote in Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways who McCann promised would play a huge role in the main Secret Invasion series. Jeff Parker returns to his acclaimed Agents of Atlas characters. And Mike Carey takes on Astonishing X-Men’s Agent Brand who McCann marked as a potential breakout character for the crossover.
Of Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers, Yost said he was interested in exploring the dynamic between two teams that include Skrulls, specifically considering the history the teams have since their rough meeting during Civil War.
Pokaski’s first Marvel assignment in Secret Invasion: Inhumans! will involve upheaval for the race as he explained “They always seem to stand behind Black Bolt because he’s the pillar of the family. They’re letting me pull that pillar out and see how the whole family deals with a bunch of Skrulls.” He added that this series would draw on many elements from David Hine’s Silent War work.
Reed explained that Secret Invasion: Frontline “really came from my discussions with [Marvel Editor] Tom Brevoort and saying, ‘Let’s really take that title seriously and make this the front lines. Let’s look at those people who – it’s us. What would we be doing in the middle of a Skrull invasion that the heroes are out there fighting?’” Beyond focusing on Ben Urich, the series will also follow four other humans throughout the invasion. When a fan later asked if Skrulls would be planted within normal humans and not just heroes, McCann would only say, “That’s a very good question.”
A new Alan Davis cover was shown for the already announced mini series Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four featuring Johnny Storm getting kicked in the face by his former Skrull wife Lyja.
On the side of ongoing books which will tie into the bigger event, the panelists revealed an Avengers: The Initiative cover showing Yellowjacket as a Skrull, and co-writer Gage played coy as to whether that picture was a true Skrull reveal or a red herring. “Avengers Initiative is a book about superheroes in training, although as Dan [Slott, co-writer] likes to say ‘There’s never been a book called Superheroes in Training for obvious reasons,’” said Gage. “When the Initiative was formed, this was what it was formed for – so there’d be a team in every state in order to combat global threats no matter where they arose. However, at the end of the Avengers: Initiative Annual, we saw that someone high up in the Initative is a Skrull and their plan is to have a Skrull in every state, so we can assume that the Skrulls are pretty far along in terms of infiltrating the very organization set up to defend against a threat like them.
“In the tie-in issues, we’re going to see tremendous synergy with Secret Invasion. We’re going to see how a lot of the young recruits deal with literally their first taste of war, and not all will survive. We’ll also get to see how the infiltration has affected the Initiative and what characters may be the serpent at the heart of the Initiative itself.”
A different front of the war with the Skrulls will be seen in upcoming issues of Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak’s Incredible Hercules with art by newcomer Rafa Sandoval. In a storyline called “Sacred Invasion,” a so-called “The God Squad” of Marvel’s deities will fight the Skrull deities in a story inspired by some of Bendis’ original story notes on the nature of Skrull religious beliefs.
Gage will take the writing reins on Thunderbolts for issues 122 through 125, and the writer promised “The Thunderbolts are a big part of Secret Invasion from the first issue of Secret Invasion proper. And you will see an iconic Marvel character revealed as a Skrull attacking the Thunderbolts, and you will also see the Thunderbolts going nuts on this Skrull.” Gage added later that Penance’s new status quo in the wake of his own mini series will factor into the storyline as a more sane Penance may be harder for Norman Osborn to control.
