Secret Invasion

The series is a culmination of several plot lines in recent Marvel books where the Skrulls - shape-changing aliens - have been working for a while to take over the Earth, and have been replacing various superheroes to do this. There's a really neat two-page spread where you see Times Square and all these TV screens with Skrull versions of politicians, superheroes, and TV personalities. They claim to have been observing the poverty and war on Earth for some time, and have now come to help us fix our problems.

Their announcement includes the statement, "Once we have settled in, we will begin replacing your energy sources and your borders. All areas of modern conflict will be moot." It's every invasion in human history, with the invaders trying to convince the invaded that they were being liberated. But like in our own recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Skrulls have an ulterior motive after all - their own resources are limited and they're hoping to settle some of their population to Earth. They don't have the humility to simply ask for what they need, they must bring their religion and intelligence to make the planet a better place. They're doing Earth a favor - one that humans don't necessarily want or need.

The question becomes which of the invaders truly believe they're doing the right thing, and which of them know that their population needs the resources Earth represents - and how much of either of those viewpoints justifies what they're doing.

Also, though the point isn't made overtly, the final issue seems to imply that it's actually President G.W. Bush who puts Norman Osborn in the position of power that leads to Dark Reign. As Marvel likes to reflect the current political situation, and they're about to do their Obama inauguration thing, it suggests that W. is the president who hands Norman, and by extension a cabal of supervillians, the keys to the kingdom. It's a nice bold stroke.

- JC