Comics I Bought: December 26, 2008

I'm back from the comic shop this week and I got three new comics, plus a hard cover collection and a digest:

Usagi Yojimbo - 116

Savage Dragon - 143

Mr. X: Condemned - 1

Marvel Minis - Rock, Paper, Scissors

Herbie Archives Volume 2

And now for a review of something I've read recently.

"The Incredible Hercules: Secret Invasion by Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente and Rafa Sandoval

I have never been a fan of the company wide crossover event. I was just born too early. The first such event I can think of, "Secret Wars" from Marvel Comics, came out in 1984. I was a senior in high school then. I bought a few issues of the series but it didn't grab me. I though it was dumb then and I think it is dumb now. I know some people who were in junior high in 1984 and they loved "Secret Wars" so maybe if I were thirteen when I read it I would have liked it better.

"Secret Invasion" is Marvel's latest company wide crossover event. I haven't read an issue of it but I liked the first "Incredible Hercules" volume so I decided to pick up this volume despite it being part of a company wide crossover of which I have read no other part. Turns out that the story is fairly well self contained.

The story of "Secret Invasion" has to do with Skrulls. They are a shape shifting alien race that has secretly invaded the Earth. They have disguised themselves as humans and now people on Earth have found out about them and are fighting back. This volume involves Hercules and a hand full of other Earth gods going off into space to fight the gods of the Skrulls.

Like the first Hercules volume this one was a fun read. We get glimpses of Herc's past as he compares this quest he's on with other ones. We get a bickering crew of gods with competing agendas who all have to work together. We get a snappy script that keeps things fun and interesting. All in all a nice comic.

But the comic does have a weakness. It's the fight scenes. They are just not very well staged. Confusing even. And the coloring doesn't help. It seems like Hercules is always fighting on a monochromatic background with a bunch of guys dressed in brown. It's tough to separate the foreground, middle ground, and background which makes the fights hard to follow.

It's a good thing this book isn't all about the fights. It's about being a super strong god and having some fun even in a dangerous universe. Now if only it didn't end with a bit of a cliff hanger that I didn't understand at all.