And So It Ends

If anyone has ever wondered why writer Brian Michael Bendis has garnered a reputation for weak endings to big comic events (House of M is often mentioned), they should just check out Secret Invasion # 8, out this week. I guess it shouldn't be surprising that an 8-issue series that seemed to have just about enough content to fill maybe 3 or 4 installments would end with one that's jaw-droppingly anti-climactic. We get a fairly-significant death, but it happens in flashback form (I guess) with little explanation as to what actually occurred, nor why (and clear-as-mud artwork that didn't exactly help out in that regard). I guess there was some sort of infection, ingeniously planned by the Skrulls ages ago, and Thor was dealing with it by... sending the infected party somewhere else through a portal he created? And that's... what killed the hero who was infected? And others were helping him by... I have no freaking clue! For those who'd like to know, the person who allegedly died was (spoiler space follows... run your cursor over it to reveal the text) << the Wasp, a founding member of the Avengers >>.

This series was a mess, through and through, and it ended, appropriately enough, with a convoluted series of scenes that explained very little. Oh, OK, we found out that most of the replaced heroes are still alive and now are free again (the Skrulls "needed" them alive in order to keep copying their DNA, we're told) although little was provided as to how long each had been gone. That's an interesting setup for some future stories featuring Mockingbird, Spider-Woman, Elektra, Susan Richards (hmmm... I'm seeing a pattern here!) and others, but shouldn't spending over $30 on an 8-issue miniseries get us a lot more than just a setup for the next round? We're shown a big "shocker" at the end, leading into "Dark Reign" in which some of the biggest villains will hold the upper hand, thanks to a very contrived turn-of-events at the end of the battle with the Skrulls. I really have no interest in "Dark Reign" now, because, let's face it: chances are, it'll simply be yet another heaviy-padded storyline that then launches us into 2010's big event!

If you saved your money by not buying Secret Invasion then you're further ahead than me right now...