Retro Review

Some characters are created to die. Their creators never intend them to live on past a certain point in the story: once they serve their dramatic purpose, they exit the stage, generally never to return. In the first two posts in this series, I dealt with characters dying to provide motivation to the hero, but there are of course other reasons for characters to die soon after being introduced, other roles for those who are about to die to play.

The rest of this post contains spoilers for the Phalanx Covenant: Generation Next storyline running through Uncanny X-Men #316 and 317, and X-Men #36 and 37.

Continue Reading »

With Marvel currently in the middle of their Skrulls-invade-Earth Secret Invasion cross-over event, the timing is perfect to go back and revisit DC’s 1989 alien invasion cross-over, appropriately titled Invasion!, and see how they handled super-heroes facing seemingly impossible odds defending the planet. DC also seems to think that this is the right time to bring the main limited series into the spotlight: they have finally released it as a trade paperback, amusingly with the new tagline, Secret No More. What rascals to trade on their competition’s big event! It is high time Invasion! was reprinted, as it is one of the better limited series connected to a cross-over event to come from either company.

Alien invasions are a common storyline in science-fiction, and the Earths of the Marvel and DC Universes get invaded on a regularity rivaled only by the Earth of the Doctor Who Universe. Despite the idea being nothing new, Invasion! is worth hunting down either in the back-issue bins or in the new trade. Continue Reading »