Tom Brevoort

I've been working my way through the major Marvel crossovers, with the latest being Secret Invasion. This book popped up as a recommendation at some point along the way and I ordered a copy.

The book starts out promising. It opens with a few stories that lead directly into events that are depicted in the main event. For example, the SWORD space station is attacked and Agent Brand ends up outside the station in a protective bubble. Here, we see her in the bubble reflecting on how she got to that point. Similar encounters for Beast and Wonder Man, and also Noh Var, follow. Then the book takes a turn.

The rest of the book is taken up by Tony Stark "reviewing" a report prepared by Maria Hill for him. In actuality, it's just an EXTENSIVE recap of events that lead into Secret Invasion. And that recap is done through large, wordy dialog boxes (of Tony "thinking to himself") coupled with images from throughout the tie-ins. Everything here is just a summary of prior material. After Tony's review, the book gives readers a Skrull "report" to his queen - which amounted to a bunch of character profiles. The book concludes with two somewhat interesting interviews with a writer and artists from the event.

Overall, this was a huge disappointment for anyone who has collected even some of the tie-in trades. I would only recommend this collection to those who don't intend to read the tie-ins at all, just the main event. Otherwise, this is a waste.… (mere)