THE SAME SKRULL, SIR, WAS YORICK'S SKRULL

ITEM! It’s the first Wednesday of the month, and you know what that means, pilgrims! That’s right! It’s time for your Uncle Stanley’s monthly Secret Invasion Bash! As you’ll recall from our last blogisode, Yours Truly was remarking on the uncanny plot-point-by-plot-point similarities of Secret Invasion to the original Lee-Kirby Skrull appearances in classic ishes of the Fantastic Four. I even offered to take bets that Secret Invasion #3 would feature a Skrull revealed to be Dr. Franklin Storm, as in their third appearance in FF#32 (Nov. 1964).

Well Lo and Behold, it wasn’t Sue and Johnny’s dad, but it was a trusted ally of the good-guys that was revealed to actually be a Skrull... that cool exec with a heart of steel, Tony Stark! Not even close, right? Well check this out, Frantic Ones. In FF #32 the Super Skrull masqueraded as Dr. Storm under the name of The Invincible Man. In Secret Invasion #3 a Skrull is revealed to have been masquerading as Tony Stark, the “Invincible” Iron Man! See what’s happening here? Brian “Continuity-Bending” Bendis just decided to play a little coy with his premeditated plot-stealing! No points for originality, but at least one score for clever cryptic obscuration.

By Ol’ Smiley’s calculations, if Brainy Bendis continues this pattern, then Secret Invasion #4 should involve our heroes taking the fight to the Skrull’s homebase in order to avenge a fallen comrade, as in FF #37. I’ll meet you Merry Marching Marvelites right back here next month, same Soapbox time, same Soapbox channel, to see how well we guessed!

Excelsior!

Smiley