I have declined picking up most of the Secret Invasion tie-ins in the books I don’t normally read. That means, I’m following the story in the miniseries itself, the Mighty and New Avengers books, Incredible Hercules and Guardians of the Galaxy. I was excited to see that the SI storyline wouldn’t derail the Thor ongoing series. Straczynski and Coipel are doing amazing work there restoring the thunder god to his rightful, mighty place in the Marvel Universe.
Instead of hijacking that story, a tie-in miniseries has been offered — Secret Invasion: Thor, in which Matt Fraction and Doug Braithwaite bring us the Asgardian front in the war with the Skrulls. What’s great about this mini is that it builds on what Straczynski is crafting in the ongoing series, layering more development on the setting and supporting characters both immortal and otherwise.
By the way, I love that Asgard hovers over Oklahoma; Fraction deepens that appreciation for me. Some don’t much care for the small moments depicted in Secret Invasion: Thor #2, but I sure do. We get to see the full on Skrull invasion of the Norse gods’ home while simultaneously partaking in the much less dynamic — but heroic all the same — efforts of the local volunteer fire department responding to the Asgardian emergency.
The layers of story and perspective are what I’m digging.
Oh, and this miniseries features Beta Ray Bill, who’s always, always welcome. But is it my imagination … or does Bill seem to take beatings more often than he gives them?
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:30 am
I initially was not planning on picking up SI: Thor because I originally had sworn off big events (which seems like a mistake because SI seems like its going really well), but ended up picking up the Thor off-shoot solely for the Beta Ray Bill appearance. I’m glad I did, because like you said, it’s great and Fraction does a superb job of taking what JMS layed down and building upon it. I agree that it does seem like Bill is not operating at his full strength, but I understand that power levels of characters often flux to service the story. Still, it saddens me to see a powerhouse like Beta Ray get tossed around like a ragdoll. Hopefully that will all turn around in issue 3.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:44 am
I have picked up everything SI this time around. And the Thor mini is by far the best of them.
Artwork has been astounding and the story enjoyable to read. LOVE that last page of issue #2…especially the last 2 panels.