New Avengers #32 by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Yu (2004)
Although Secret Invasion isn’t my favorite Marvel event or story from Bendis; some of the build-up for Secret Invasion had some real hype set up to lead you into an event that was going to affect almost every book Marvel was releasing at the time. We had just come off the heels of Civil War and the Death of Captain America, Spider-Man’s identity is still public knowledge, and there’s two Avengers teams: one led by Tony Stark, and one made up of heroes on the run from the Super Hero Registration Act. It’s a troubling time for the Marvel universe and things are about to get green and shape-shifty for everyone in the 616, and thanks to all of that we got one of my favorite single issues of a super hero team book and it all takes place on a plane.
Following a battle in Japan against the Hand led by Elektra, the New Avengers are bringing the presumed-dead body of Elektra back to the US. When the body morphs to reveal that Elektra is really a Skrull, it leaves a lot of tension for the New Avengers, including Luke Cage, Clint Barton Ronin, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, Spider-Woman, and Echo. It’s a very well-paced issue that makes you feel the concern these heroes have with what could follow from this reveal. If Elektra is a Skrull on Earth controlling the Hand ninja in Japan, what else are the Skrulls controlling? Who else is a Skrull? I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t read it, but the back and forth between characters, and Wolverine’s assessment of why every character on the plane could be a Skrull and how it would make sense just adds to the frustration of what this could mean coming off of the Civil War. And on top of all that, Yu’s art here holds up very well for a comic now 20 years old. To me, I see this issue as an absolute must to lead you into Secret Invasion.
I remember reading this issue in school being very concerned that all my favorite heroes were actually Skrulls messing up the status quo of the Marvel universe. Now I look back on the issue as a master class of dialogue and suspense to build up a coming event book. This is how you do it, Marvel!
