New Avengers #40

It seems that other early reviews for this book have been overwhelmingly positive. These reviews pointed out that Bendis provided insight into the Skrulls' plight and the impetus and actualization of their diabolical plot. We have gotten insight into the Skrull King and Princess-turned-Queen, and we learn a bit about their bizarre merger of religion and science. Finally, the other reviews were simply glowing about Cheung's art.

With regards to the art, I am in complete accord. Cheung has succeeded at making the Skrull worlds believable and distinct, and he has drawn the Skrulls themselves in a way that each looks like a Skrull, but not like each other (they don't all look the same, you know).

With regards to the story, I am not in complete accord. I liked the story, but I did not find it as compelling as the other reviewers did. The strength are the sympathetic, but not congratulatory, view of the Skrulls, and the Queen in particular. The weakness is that this story could have been told in half the space - something else could have happened. Although I love storytelling, this all felt like prologue. The only real dramatic moment was when the Queen was revealed to be infiltrating Earth in the form of Spider Woman.

By the way, I would love to hear how others feel about the choice of Spider Woman as uber-villain for this series. This was a pivotal decision, but it seems to have some merit. Although Spider Woman is not a world-class power, she has the one advantage of acceptance with essentially all the teams (Totalitarian Starky Avengers, Rebel Ragtag Avengers, ersatz bald Nick Fury, the SHIELD leadership or lack thereof, etc.). If the Spider Woman we have watched for the past few months is the Skrull Queen, she should have numerous opportunities to reign hell on Earth.

This series is already shaping up to be a very successful crossover. Others have pointed out Secret Wars, but Secret Invasion is more like Operation: Galactic Storm. In any case, each Secret Invasion story (even the low-priority ones) should be interesting to read, so perhaps this will be better than either of the other crossovers. New Avengers #40 is a good part of this epic tale, but it is not an exceptional one. Except for the art, that is.