Secret Invasion: X-men # 1 Review
Author: Mike Carey
Art: Cary Nord
Colors: Dave McCaig
Cover: Terry Dodson
Because no one demanded it! The X-men jump into the Marvel summer crossover in their own mini-series. Okay, maybe a handful of people demanded this book, because they figured spending a week's salary all the other Secret Invasion Tie-ins wasn't enough. But not only that, but it's a Manifest Destiny Tie-in too. Are you fucking kidding me Omar? Two tie-ins for the price of one comic? I shit you not. But wait....there is a catch: no Wolverine! Not even the one on the cover.
So what exactly do we have happen in this book? Well more ass-kicking Skrull fights that's what! The Skrulls forgot to check their current events and to check the Colbert report to see Joe Quesada talk about the move the X-men made to San Francisco. So in the middle of an invasion on San Francisco the X-men interrupt and a fight breaks out. No X-men is revealed to be a Skrull and Nightcrawler talks to a purple ball.
The X-men don't take any crap from anybody and instead of getting something out of this book; we really just get Cyclops acting like the general he's been portrayed as in recent issues of X-men. Nord is really the saving grace of this comic. The art by Nord is completely gorgeous when it comes to figures and proportions, but his lack of backgrounds makes me wish on his simpler days on Daredevil. I'm not a fan of the broad strokes the colorist takes with each character. I get enough of that Quake-look from Cable. It's a simple good guy vs. bad guy book that does nothing to add to the Secret Invasion story or X-men story. I have no fucking clue what it has to do with Manifest Destiny and why a book like this is even necessary. D+
I couldn't agree more with all these stupid Tie-ins. Why couldn't this just be told in the X-men comics? Carey really let me down with this book.
I just read this issue at work today and have to agree 100% with your review. This really was a waste of time. The plot was pretty generic: Skrulls show up in California, think they are clever, X-Men tell them this is their turf and a fight ensues. Cyclops leads his troops against the Skrull troops and that's about it. No huge secrets were revealed and I felt bored with the product as a whole. I wasn't a huge fan of Cord's art and I have to say my favorite aspect of the book is the cover. Terry Dodson is awesome but even that's not worth 2.99 for four issues of this bore-fest.
All in all, I would probably only reccommend this to X-Men completists or Secret Invasion completists (I'm talking to you Seth!)
If you want a fun Secret Invasion tie-in try New Avengers or Mighty Avengers. This one can be avoided like the plague despite having a gorgeous cover.