Secret Invasion...

Read the Marvel crossover event of last year, Secret Invasion by Brian Michael Bendis. Great fun for an old Marvel junkie like me; lots of nice plot twists, lots of long-lost characters, lots of character angst. Basic plot: shape-changing Skrulls invade earth by impersonating humans, including many superheroes, teammates, and family members - familiar Marvel characters. Some excellent art, too.

Best moments: ( Cut for potential spoilers... )

Nextwave: agents of h.a.t.e...

I bought Nextwave: agents of h.a.t.e. comic when it came out in 2006, but didn't get around to reading it because, well, it looked too silly. So why did I buy it? Because it's by Warren Ellis, who is nothing if not clever, mind-warping, interesting, and amusing. A, as they say, Personality. A man who seems to spend 100% of his time at the pub drinking, and yet another 100% of his time blogging, snarking, web-browsing and listening to music, another 100% writing books, comics, movies, TV shows, and webcomics. Not to mention his ability to make an art of rude talk. He would remind me of Harlan Ellison if I had any fraction of the respect for Harlan Ellison that I do for Warren Ellis.

But I was talking about Nextwave, not its author. The story is a superhero parody, and I don't like superhero parody because (a) I love superheroes and (b) they're just too incredibly easy to make fun of. Unless it's 'Mazing Man, but that's different.

It is, in Ellis's words, "most especially about THINGS BLOWING UP and PEOPLE GETTING KICKED". Which isn't much more interesting to me when it's done for comedy than when it's done for other reasons, though a really well written story can make it work.

Two good things about Nextwave: First, seeing Tabitha Smith again - I loved her in X-Force back in the Liefeld days. Second, the jokes about Aaron Stark (Machine Man) made me laugh for some reason, though most of the rest didn't. A goofy drunken robot? That got to me.

Oh, and one great line - the last one: "No good can come of a robot in a bra."