Secret Invasion #8 (OF 8)

Ok so Marvel needed a big reboot this year and they decided to call it Secret Invasion. That is pretty much what this was. I liked the first seven issues of Secret Invasion immensely, even the issues that most people panned I enjoyed. I am a sucker for big epic super hero stories. The problem here is as the series went along it kept feeling less epic and this issue is the final blow. The "Is Tony a Skrull" sub plot and the fight in the Savage Land drag on for issues and the Wasp's death gets a handful on panels. The Wasp has been an Avenger longer than the Savage Land has been a place!!! This issue was dues ex machina followed by dues ex machina. We need to end the battle! Lets have the Wasp be some giant weapon! Shit we need to stop the Wasp! Let's have Thor do it off panel! We need Norman Osborn to be a hero! We'll have him kill the Skrull Queen even though we all saw Wolverine do that in issue 7! And the Coup de Gras, Tony finding all the heros on one f-ing ship. Really? Just sitting there in low Earth orbit? Why are they alive? The Skrulls need genetic material. Ok then why not keep and arm and cut the rest into tiny little pieces!?! That is not a reason to keep them alive! And even if they do need them alive. Even if I somehow buy that, why the hell are they orbiting Earth!!!??!?! Why are they not in some dark corner of the galaxy? Look at the Inhumans miniseries. The Skrulls are experimenting with Blackbolt so they keep him far far away until they are ready to strike Atilian. So why would the Skrulls bring the heroes to Earth? When I saw that panel of all the heroes alive in that one ship I almost lit the book on fire. For me that cheapened everything about the series. Sure I knew they weren't all going to be dead but I figured at least ONE of them would be. "But this introduces so many trust issues?" Bullshit. Clint Barton is so ready to forgive and forget him and Mockingbird are sucking face three panels after she appears. Last gripe. Norman Osborn as the director of everything? Terrible. I have to admit I have never read much of the Thunderbolts series so I am partially speaking from a position of ignorance but the idea that people in government making decisions might somehow not see Osborn as an evil SOB is stupid. STUPID. I know the series has been running for a long time so perhaps they have explained this but all the heroes seem to remember him as a villian so how did the rest of the world forget? The only way this end could have been less satisfying is if Steve Rogers woke up and everything going back to Civil War was a dream. But that would mean Steve Rogers was still alive so actually that would be much more satisfying. So nevermind nothing would have made this less satisfying. Pretty much this issue was Marvel saying, "Hey thanks for spending all that money and reading for eight months. Now if you want to find out what REALLY happens start reading Dark Reign!" The best part is this line from the Cup O' Joe article in the back of the issue referring to the upcoming Dark Reign story line. "Believe me when I say that the ride you are in for makes everything that came before seem like a stroll in the park!" Pretty sure I read that same EXACT line in a Cup O' Joe the month before Secret Invasion 1 launched. Pretty sure I'll ready the same thing in the back of the last Dark Reign issue. At least the art was good.