The Invasion Begins Tomorrow

Marvel's big summer event, Secret Invasion, begins tomorrow. Once again we'll see 8 months (longer if it runs late) of Marvel hype, Internet chatter, and speculation. Will the Internet finally crack in half from the force of Brian Bendis's pen?

I read the recent Newsarama.com column on Secret Invasion, and I was glad to see that they did acknowledge that people are getting pretty skeptical of the whole event thing. Events do sell - especially the first issue or two - I can say that from experience behind the counter at a comic book store. But the real goal of these stories needs to be to KEEP those readers through the entire event. When it runs late, draws on, gets more hype that it delivers, or doesn't really impact anything in the Marvel U, people seem to give up before the series ends. This leads to lots of extra copies of the later issues sitting on comic book store shelves. That makes me, and other retailers, frustrated.

Now if Marvel can do what they did with the X-Men Messiah Complex story - get people to buy the issues all the way through - then this event will be a success. I think it needs to be on time this time and it needs to make REAL changes in the MU. Not only that, but with eight issues, Bendis & the gang need to keep it from dragging on like some other events have done, feeling like the story is taking too long and should have been consolidated.

One interesting thing about this event is that Marvel claims to have been establishing it with clues for a while now. If that really is the case, this should get people looking through back issues to see if they can find the clues and solve the mystery. I think that this is a great idea, especially in this era of comics - where continuity across the entire universe, and epic arcs, are the way stories are told now. It gets people to think back, to look back, to pick up back issues they missed - to interact with the current story in a more active way. Now if they could incorporate more interactive marketing ideas using the Internet it would be even better! I would love to see them really make this thing a "Cloverfield" or "Lost" type thing where people are trying to find hidden clues and share information and interact with the comic book story in a variety of ways. But first, I just want it to be a good story in and of itself.

What do you think?