General Information

Title: Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust?
Writers: Brian Reed, Mike Carey, Christos N. Gage, Zeb Wells, Jeff Parker
Pencillers: Lee Weeks, Timothy Green III, Mike Perkins, Steve Kurth, and Leonard Kirk
Inkers: Lee Weeks, Timothy Green III, Mike Perkins, Drew Hennessey, Karl Kesel
Colorists: Matt Milla, Guru eFX, Sotocolor, Nathan Fairbairn, T.S. Chu
Cover Date: August 2008
Cover Price: $3.99 US, $4.05 Can

Detailed coverage of all applicable issues of all Secret Invasion related titles can be found at this address.

Premise

These five vignettes fill in certain blanks. The first, about Captain Marvel by the creative team behind his miniseries, fills in the details coming between his miniseries and "Secret Invasion #1." The Agent Brand story fills in some details between "Secret Invasion" issues 1 and 4. The Wonder Man and Beast story fills in some details picking up from "Secret Invasion #2." The Marvel Boy story fills in the details between the end of "Civil War: Young Avengers and Runaways" and "Secret Invasion #1." Finally, the Agents of Atlas story reveals what's happening with them in this story, but I'm not entirely sure where they originally left off, as I haven't collected that title.

High Point

The "Marvel Boy" story.

Low Point

The "Agent Brand" story didn't seem to take us anywhere we haven't already been. Maybe the purpose will become clear later on, but it really feels like a character intro for those who haven't been reading "Astonishing X-Men."

The Scores

This isn't original, apart from elements of two of the stories (Captain Marvel and Marvel Boy.) Aside from that, it's the old vignette format from the "Classic" X-Men series. I give it 3 out of 6.

The artwork varies from story to story. Most is pretty solid. The only art I didn't really enjoy was from the "Agent Brand" story. The faces were well done and quite expressive, but everything else was stiff. It looks like every character is wearing a harness everywhere. Agent Brand has perfect posture sitting on the floor and watching television! I give it 4 out of 6.

The stories are well told. The "Agent Brand" and "Agents of Atlas" seems like character intros for newish characters more than anything else. There's some of that in the "Marvel Boy" story, too, but not to the same degree. I give it 4 out of 6.

The characterization is very well done across the board. These are all small character pieces, and the writers do their jobs well. If you are looking for introductions to these characters, you'll be well served by this. I give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response is as erratice as the art. I give it 4 out of 6.

The flow works well enough. It's a bit disjointed between stories, but in an anthology comic, that's unavoidable without some sort of framing story. I give it 4 out of 6.

Overall, it's a nice touch if you need the character backgrounds, or if you need the dots connected for these characters when reading the main series, but otherwise, you won't miss much if you pass on it. Fortunately, that's all it ever claimed to do, so it meets its goals. I give it 4 out of 6.

In total, Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? receives 28 out of 42.

Additional Notes and Comments

The "Captain Britain and MI 13 #2" review will likely be up on Friday, and certainly not later than Saturday night.