SKRULLS versus WOLVERINE

Eve of Destruction (Marvel)
Where: X-Men #90 When: July 1999
Why: Alan Davis & Terry Kavanagh How: Alan Davis

The Story So Far...
When a trans-dimensional being called Ejulp recruits the X-Men to defend his domain from the unstoppable Juggernaut -- he inadvertently flings them through time & space to a long time ago on a distant planet!

Confusion abounds as the X-Men encounter fallen comrades, erstwhile allies, and even versions of themselves -- but this is no ordinary product of time travel. They are in the domain of the shape-shifting Skrulls -- and the lost world of Tarnax IV!

They are inadvertently deposited on a training moon orbiting the Skrull Throneworld as the great Devourer of Worlds Galactus approaches! Now the X-Men race to change history to save the lives of untold Skrulls -- and themselves! They just have to convince the Skrulls to stop trying to kill them!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Abomination 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Green Goblin 5 (Professor)
Speed: Captain Britain 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Wolverine 6 (Generator)
Agility: Wolverine 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Havok 5 (Lasers)
Total: Captain Britain 29 (Super)

Skrulls specialize in covert infiltration and subterfuge, but what good is a disguise when your opponent can sniff a fake out from a mile away?

Wolverine already knows he's knee-deep in shape-shifters, so he's on alert to suspect even the most convincing doppelganger, but these particular Skrulls aren't just copying the appearance of other powerful figures!

Skrull science is capable of bestowing copied super-powers, technology, and specialist training upon their agents. There are several well-known super-powered Skrulls, chief among them: Kl'rt the Super-Skrull and Paibok the Power Skrull.

Wolverine's up against engineered spies in training, so he at least won't have to worry about seasoned, multi-powered super-heavyweights like Super-Skrull. He does, however, have some powerful imitators to contend with.

The Skrull spies are patterned after: Captain Britain, Havok, Green Goblin, Medusa, and Abomination.

This is the Captain Britain who stands toe-to-toe with Juggernaut, and we all know Abomination as the arch-nemesis of Hulk. Wolverine is no stranger to tangling with those adversaries as well, but usually he only has to contend with one of them. This pairing of powerhouses alone poses a significant challenge!

Add the abilities/arsenal of Havok and Green Goblin for some extra ranged fire power, while Medusa's Inhuman prehensile hair locks down the mutant's mobility, and he's running out of options real fast!

Wolverine's best bet may be immediate surrender to a berzerker barrage to mercilessly wield his adamantium claws against the alien menace.

Animalistic ruthlessness has been the equalizer in his outnumbered battles against The Hellfire Club, Lady Deathstrike and her cyborg Reavers, The Hand, and even The Fantastic Four! Will it make the difference again? Let's find out...

The Tape: Skrulls Ranking: Wolverine (#5)

What Went Down...

Familiar faces surround, but he isn't amongst friends. Wolverine, claws out, fights for his life in an arena designated "Stage-Earth". Only it has nothing to do with Earth. It's just another lie. A testing ground for Skrull spies to hone the skills they've stolen from Earth's heroes and villains.

He throws himself through the crowd -- leading claws on his left hand slashing at a face imitating the mask of the Green Goblin, while his right hand trails behind, having already raked against an imitation Captain Britain.

They might not be the genuine articles, but each of these doppelgangers shares the might of the people they imitate. They're still training, but they're dangerous.

His mutant healing factor is already working to stitch pierced flesh back together when a thick shock of hair wraps around Wolverine's torso!

His instincts are almost as sharp as his claws. A single slash is all that's needed to separate the attacking Skrull from her living, prehensile Medusa hair!

One threat quelled gives way to another. A Skrull with the rampaging strength of The Abomination puts an end to Wolverine's stand -- driving him into the ground!

The crushing slam of Abomination's fist leaves the X-Man dazed & confused!

He can hardly process what he's seeing as another hand grabs Abomination by the wrist and hoists him over head.

A head with another familiar face. One that hits a little too close to home.

John Proudstar -- a comrade at arms who perished by Wolverine's side. A short-lived X-Man, accompanied by Shadowcat. Reinforcements!

Blasts of energy stream towards the phony Havok, Green Goblin, and Captain Britain, as Skrulls with the faces of other deceased heroes -- Adam Warlock and Captain Marvel -- come charging to the rescue!

Mar-Vell kicks Green Goblin in the face while blasting Havok with cosmic power, as Adam Warlock directs a full mental energy bolt to subdue Captain Britain!

They're Skrulls. Each and every one of them. Empowered with super-normal abilities taken from well-known counterparts, but there's not much use for infiltrating society with a dead man's face. Spies who can't hide in plain sight.

The genuine Shadowcat helps untangle Wolverine from Medusa's hair. Thunderbird makes sure the Abomination Skrull has been slammed unconscious, while Warlock drops Captain Britain next to the other bodies.

The Hammer...

It looked like Wolverine was on the ropes, but we'll never know if he could've turned it around on his own. Kitty Pryde showed up with Thunderbird, Adam Warlock, and Captain Marvel Skrulls to make the big save!

There's a whole lot more Skrull on Mutant action in this issue, with the rest of the X-Men battling elsewhere, and our unlikely quintet sticking together to fight towards an exit.

I kinda like the idea of deep-cover Skrulls whose imitation is engineered to be so complete and convincing that it's permanent.

Taking away the common ability to shape-shift is a pretty heavy-duty fate for a Skrull, and the predicament it leaves agents in, whose double has very publicly met their demise, is kinda interesting. Not that it stopped later iterations once Marvel Comics truly fulfilled a revolving door of death.

I suppose these permanently altered Skrulls become a mutant caste in a vaguely analogous fashion to our X-Men. Thematic consideration that bridges the gap between these two groups -- even if Wolverine remains guarded as he receives help from his apparent saviors, who are further ostracized by their correct belief that the X-Men are trying to warn the Skrulls of impending doom.

Wolvie's canny enough to know you can never let your guard down when dealing with Skrulls, and indeed, the next time we see him -- on a hijacked Skrull ship as the X-Men are emerging from "cryo-stasis" on the way back to present-day Earth -- he has been replaced by a Skrull doppelganger. Shades of an Alien 3 fast-one.

As I've mentioned in the past: 1999 was the first real down period for my comics reading, but the significance of this story extends in both directions, continuing into the mildly interesting reveal that the real Wolverine has become Apocalypse's Horseman of Death, and backwards to 1983's Fantastic Four #257, when Nova led Galactus to feast upon Tarnax IV - the Skrull Throneworld.

If you really wanted to do some mental gymnastics, you could further weave this episode into the contemporary significance of Secret Invasion, which continued to reckon with the destruction of Tarnax IV, and led to multi-powered Skrulls created after its own retro-active fiction - an encounter with The Illuminati.

We might reason the Secret Invasion super Skrulls are all part of the same program that created the permanently altered spies seen today, destined for obsolescence. It can be debated if a second Mar-Vell Skrull appearing during that event supports this theory, or challenges it. It might've been nice if it were the same Skrull, but this one appears to die later this issue, and they went with a more recognized blonde version of Mar-Vell for the 2007 "return".

Thinking this much about Skrulls in relation to the X-Men is kind of an odd fit, and I wonder how it all came about. Even taking previous space adventures into account - returning to a then-sixteen year old issue of FF is quite a leap.

Maybe it speaks to the slight chaos of Marvel at the turn of the millennium. A time that sometimes felt like creative freefall as the content of comics negotiated a transition from familiar styles and subject matter, to slightly new approaches.

X-Men #90 feels more consistent with the slightly old-fashioned vein that ran through Marvel into 2001 and the space-centric Maximum Security event. It butts up against a grounding of the X-Men, with deeper investment in their natural habitat of frictious co-existence between mutants & humans, and the coming of Grant Morrison's New X-Men. Both fuelled by the X-Men movie in 2000.

Amusing that the next most prominent X/ET encounter that comes to mind is the Shi'ar Imperial conflict in New X-Men, 2002. Something about that Great British diet of sci-fi keeping the space classics in the minds of Morrison, and Alan Davis?

The presence of Captain Britain feels like a quirk of Davis' dual role as plotter & penciler. I wonder if he may also be the key to the entire Skrull affair. I certainly enjoyed his brief time on the first three issues of Fantastic Four (Vol.3), introducing the Kirby-inspired Iconoclast, and revisiting the classic Super-Apes & Red Ghost. Perhaps Galactus and Skrulls were unfinished business.

Davis has a pretty safe & soft style, and it's pleasant here in the colourful world of classically-tinged X-Men. I don't particularly love this issue or time period, but it's fairly inoffensive, and I hope to explore more in the future.

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Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has recorded over 700 battles and ranked well over 1,000 characters! Find them all by following links throughout each and every post, or by diving into the Secret Archive for a complete index of featured fights in order of publisher, series, and issue number.

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Winners: Thunderbird, Warlock, and Mar-Vell Skrulls (w/ Wolverine & Shadowcat)
#364 (new) Thunderbird (Skrull)
#365 (new) Adam Warlock (Skrull)
#366 (new) Captain Marvel (Skrull)
#5 (--) Wolverine [+1 assist]
#126 (--) Shadowcat [+1 assist]
#1014 (new) Captain Britain (Skrull)
#1015 (new) Havok (Skrull)
#1016 (new) Green Goblin (Skrull)
#1017 (new) Abomination (Skrull)
#1018 (new) Medusa (Skrull)

QUICK FIX DOUBLE FEATURE: Secrets Illuminated!
TONY STARK versus SKRULLS
(Marvel)
Where: New Avengers: Illuminati #1 When: February 2007 Why: Brian Michael Bendis & Brian Reed How: Jim Cheung

Quick Fix...
With the total lack of recent purchases, you'd be forgiven for missing the supposed underlying theme of reflection in the Infinite Wars. Apparently, or so Haseloff keeps trying to tell us, the Infinite Wars are attempting to reflect the year as a sort of obscure, sport league style time capsule.

Icelandic pop sensation, Björk, theorises that there's an inevitable tangibility between all decisions made within the space of a year. That regardless of conceit or design, hindsight will reveal a commonality between all events and junctions within the span of a certain time period. Obviously one has to allow the opportunity for transition, but it's a nice way of supposing that even without a weekly bombardment of spent pennys, the Infinite Wars remain relevant by accident.

Long winded introductions aside, today we are looking at a couple of issues that very much represent a force from within 2007. Though divided they were on both sides of the Civil War, and it was their actions that led to World War Hulk.
In case you've been living under a rock, or been victim to their conspiracy, I explicitly refer to them as The Illuminati!

I would begrudgingly acknowledge the subtle brilliance of retro-fitting a secret super-society of intellectuals and power players into the Marvel Universe. It's with some chagrin, because lord knows we haven't yet learnt to stop worrying, and love the Bendis -- particularly where the milieu of the Marvel history is concerned.

Fortunately this mini-series that explores the team introduced in the pages of the first incarnation of New Avengers, carries with it the placebo of co-writer, Brian Reed. Yes, that's co-writer. Brian. Reed. Something I feel the need to put particularly emphasis on, because even the most credible sources seem to be completely dismissing Reed's involvement, to talk, good and bad, about Bendis.
I, of course, will only be talking bad about him.

If you place any weight on the reviews hidden beneath our fight club antics, then it's a damn good thing I've waited nearly a full year to review these issues, because the immediate reaction was not good. Not good, at all.

Essentially the only linking qualities of this series is the conspiratorial nature of the team, and the way these pages lift the curtain on their operations. Stories feature events from present and past, illuminating subtle reprieves experienced, and yet to come. And it's that future aspect that makes leaving this review until now such an important quality.

We now know in intimiate detail that a Skrull invasion is coming to the Marvel Universe, and it's in the pages of this first issue that we learn much of the history involved. Sure, the Skrulls have always had a naughty desire to invade our planet, but the Illuminati's behind-the-scenes intervention during the 1980's crossover event, The Skrull-Kree War, highlights a personalized layer to this latest incursion. Not only that, it reveals how the Skrulls may have found ways to evade the most efficient of detection means, including; Dr. Strange's mystic prowess, Mr. Fantastic's technology, and Wolverine's nasal dexterity!

We're still running late so to spin things along; essentially the gang teleport into a Skrull mothership, tell the Skrulls to bugger off and never come back, and then set Black Bolt on them for some Inhuman killer-karaoke. Chaos ensues, the team struggle to escape, and after Namor enjoys a slightly premature and psychotic celebration of the carnage, find themselves captured.

As though they'd been swapping architectural recipes with Dr. Doom, the Skrulls just happen to have a set of customized traps ready to incapacitate the Illuminati. A giant barbecue for Namor; a massive bondage machine for Reed Richards; the usual odds and sods once keeps on an evil alien spacecraft.

We enter the scene with a naked Tony Stark; the most easily debilitated of the team, given the removable nature of his power source.
In between fighting off the shrinking chill of deep space, and dealing with a heart condition maintained by constant use of his armor, Stark finds himself confronted by a rescue brigade of Avengers. Cool! Nah?

See, the problem with running a secret club behind the backs of your mates is, when you get captured by shape-changing space aliens, noone knows where you are to save you. This was the eighties, too, so you can forget text messaging.

Being a pretty seasoned chap, Stark is full aware of the Skrull's cerebral warefare, and sees through the ruse, incurring the wrath of Skrull-Thor.

In an illness defying scene of Rocky 4 proportions; Stark proves he's more than tin cans and string, opening an addictive can of whoop ass on those Skrully bastards. A roundhouse and a few naked spin-kicks later (try not to visualize), and Stark stands triumphant.

I've got whole other issue to talk about yet, so I might just abruptly wrap this up here with the picture of naked Stark. Sure, that's maybe not what you came here for. Maybe that's not what the major sites are doing. Maybe that's just a little too cutting edge for you, but you know what? That's what I do.

The Fix: 3.5 The Issue: 4
Winner: Tony Stark

This first issue of the Illuminati mini-series details events occuring behind the scenes of the Skrull-Kree War. Though it's by no means required reading to appreciate the short amount of story contained within the issue, it wouldn't hurt to splurge this Christmas and get some history before the Invasion! Know the enemy!

---

NAMOR/STRANGE/XAVIER versus THE MIND GEM
(Marvel)
Where: New Avengers: Illuminati #2 When: March 2007 Why: Brian Michael Bendis & Brian Reed How: Jim Cheung

Quick Fix...
I mentioned in the previous fix initial concerns that were central to my first reading of the first couple of issues, and to a certain degree they remain.

Essentially these first issues, while very nice in concept, deliver little that we haven't seen before. Before knowing the specifics of the coming Skrull invasion, one could be forgiven for panning the series as a dull tour through retroactive history, devoid of any real purpose or scope.

Unfortunately, there remains a hint of truth to this assessment, even with a greater goal in mind. Certainly as an element that was introduced through a special, there was a lot of unexplored territory in the Illuminati's clandestine operations, but invariably one can't help but feel there needs to be more at work, even in the asthetics, than a tour through neo history.

Staring down this issue's cover, it would be unfair to say the book was without repercussions. Inherently the title immediately fails if it alters established history, but by playing with the present, the Illuminati are conceptually enabled as they gather the veritable pandora's box of power that is the Infinity Gauntlet -- another call back to the eighties and nineties of Marvel event comics.

Those who don't know Brian Reed may adopt an air of cyncial suspicion when they learn his entry into comics essentially came from penning the Ultimate Spider-man game with his Illuminati co-writer, Brian "How much for the rabbits?*" Bendis.

Reed has since entrenched himself in the Marvel writing staff with a sturdy run on the well sponsored, but inherently B-list, Ms. Marvel solo-title.
Continuing the theme, Reed has now expanded into even less admirable territory, taking up the writing chores of the resurrected, and conceptually maligned, Captain Marvel. More surprising than that, some say he's actually doing a pretty damned good job of it, too.

Now, I'm going to attempt to bend logic in ways even the infinity gauntlet would struggle to do, but stay with me here. We devolve into an abridged version of the Brian Reed history, because there's an important note to be made of Illuminati.

Given the collection of characters involved and the conceptual potential of their adventures, New Avengers: Illuminati does read dramatically under par, but even so, it holds on to a steady mediocre because of reasonably solid characterization. A skill monsieuer Reed appears to have adopted from his contemporary writing partner, who also, despite repeatedly bashing his chromed head against a wall built of his weaknesses, is undeniably competent when characterization is concerned.

Though not especially shown off by this particular scene, these slightly underhanded compliments lead us to our battle in-question, featuring the [spontaneously fan-favourite] Sub-Mariner, Professor X, and Dr. Strange.

Attempting to traverse sub-spacial concept, the trio split from their fellows in the hopes of obtaining the Mind Gem. Having apparently lodged itself outside of reality, into the collective consciousness of the universe, the Mind Gem is not without it's defenses against those who would use it's power for evil.

In an apparent sea of awareness, Dr. Strange warns Namor to pluck the crippled Professor into airborne safety as a giant acquatic behemoth bursts from the blue [pictured above].

Picking up on Dr. Strange's philosophical descriptions of the plane in which they stand, Namor recognises that the potent reality created within the Mind Gem may in fact be of his own doing. Thus, Namor does what he does best, barrelling head-first into the maw of peril!

Namor disappears into the beast's gullet, earning a dramatic "NOOOO!" from Dr. Strange. As if he needs an excuse to be theatrical. Oh yes. Went there!

Not surprisingly, Namor re-emerges from the sea-creature, and gets down to a good socking, while Dr. Strange lends the vital assist with some magickery.
Professor Xavier should be noted as present, but hopefully to the delight of the feminists, purely in the role conventionally occupied by the damsel in distress.

The Fix: 3.5 The Issue: 4
Winner: Sub-Mariner (w/ Dr. Strange)

It's 2:30am, so I shant delay in wrapping this up. If you're done with the Kree-Skrull War, and you want to read-up for some more perspective, move your Christmas purchases on to the Infinity Gauntlet, which inspired the beautiful Jim Cheung cover here. Lots of love to Reed and the gang, and stay tuned for more Infinite Wars, Friday!

*Not an actual nickname for Brian Bendis.

FANTASTIC FOUR versus PAIBOK
Whatever happened to Alicia?! (Marvel comics)
Where: Fantastic Four #358 When: November 1991
Why: Tom DeFalco How: Paul Ryan

The story so far...
After the Beyonder's secret war, the Fantastic Four's Thing opted to stay behind and continue his adventures. It was this act that nearly put a vital snafu to a secret plan launched by the Skrulls to infiltrate their enemies team.

Posing as Thing's blind girlfriend, Alicia Masters, the Skrull soldier named Lyja was forced to take a harsh turn, steering the affections of the Masters girl to an unlikely suitor -- Johnny Storm!

When Thing returned he eventually learned to live with the loss of his love, and was witness to the marriage vows of Johnny and Alicia, or so they thought. With Lyja revealed, the furious Johnny Storm leads the Fantastic Four on a mission to space to retrieve the captive Alicia, but little does he know the overseeing officer in the matter is a Skrull familiar, yet very different...

Previous Form:
Fantastic Four [#2]: Victories over Frightful Four, Iconoclast, Super-Skrull & Annihilus.
Lyja (#178): Lent Mr. Fantastic the assist against Sub-Mariner.
Paibok: Making his first appearance in the Infinite Wars.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Thing 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Paibok 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Thing 5 (Marathon Man)
Agility: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Thing 3 (Street Wise)
Energy Powers: Human Torch 7 (Solar Power)


What's so familiar about Paibok you say? No? Think all Skrulls look alike?
Yeah, well, I've met your kind, and frankly I don't much care for it! Y'see, there are Skrulls who distinguish themselves through dangerous procedures. Procedures that bestow them with fantastic new abilities!

Kl'rt, the Super-Skrull, is the most familiar of these engineered Skrulls with the powers and abilities of the Fantastic Four. There is, however, another such soldier. One with powers comparable of X-Men -- Paibok, the Power Skrull!

Paibok's powers are fairly simple, but not to be discounted.
He can control and manipulate the formation of ice (ala Iceman), fire bolts of electricity (ala Storm), and has super strength and all that comes with it by way of the ability to change his skin into organic metal (ala Colossus).

I'm running a couple of days late, and it's just been an hour or so of the Blogger server being down, so I won't ramble on too much.

Lyja, having lived among them, is sympathetic to the Fantastic Four's plight, accompanying them fairly willingly to the Skrull station where Alicia Masters has been held. Though they are a fantastic five, Paibok easily overcomes the numbers advantage with a veritable army of Skrull soldiers on board.

The FF are pretty experienced with sweeping up swarms of Skrulls, and have earned their cosmic stripes slapping guys like Kl'rt around, so I'm probably going to have to say they're the better option.

Paibok's powers are impressive, but against a guy who has the effective properties of rubber (Mr. Fantastic), a guy with Hulk-level strength (Thing), and a guy who's made of flame (Human Torch).

The Math: Fantastic Four (Total) Paibok (Average)
The Pick: Fantastic Four (w/ Lyja)

What went down...
Powering to the andromeda galaxy aboard one of Reed Richards' spaceships, the Fantastic Four head for one of the many Skrull imperial ships. Arriving on board, they strip from their suits, ready to raise some hell!

The shape changing Skrulls imitate various alien animals and monsters, their efforts in vein, as the Fantastic Four do what they've done so many times before. The Torch burns them down; Mr. Fantastic wraps some Skrulls up and disarms them; Invisible Woman knocks some Skrulls out with her helmet under the veil of invisibility; and the Thing does what Thing does best -- clobber!


To the shock of the suspicious Human Torch, Lyja takes a gun from one of her fellow Skrulls and turns it against them, much to the horror of her commanding officer, Paibok, who watches from a control room.

The Skrulls mysteriously clear the deck, conveniently clearing a path for a massive rocky ball of ice! The descending chunk ushers in the arrival of Paibok - the Power Skrull - riding atop a platform of ice!

He leaps into the air, flying toward the team, where Mr. Fantastic steps up almost literally with his stretching ability. Wrapping his elastic arms around two jutting structures, he absorbs Paibok's forward momentum and flings him backward like a Skrull-borne slingshot!

Paibok flies through his flight path, coming back around for another attack.
Mr. Fantastic again engages the Power Skrull, using his outstretched arms to tie Paibok up, unprepared for an electric charged shock! His arms snap back, as he flees the flying Paibok who continues to blast electricity and ice.

Thing calls dibs on the Power Skrull, compelling Richards to stretch his way to the airducts, to go in search of Alicia Masters. Paibok welcomes the challenge, powering up to reveal his metallic transformation!

Thing and Paibok come to blows, Thing coming off second best to the metal plated super Skrull! Ever the hearty battler, Thing comes back for more, as Paibok reaches for a metallic column, ripping it from it's structural placing to toss at the rock-hided hero.

Thing pounds through the tech-filled column, and returns the favour to Paibok, knocking him back wit ha stiff left!
Down, but not out, Paibok resorts to his ice powers, blasting Thing at relative short range. He continues his forward march, resisting the gathering frost that builds to a thick layer of mushy snow and crystalizes to ice!

Bursting from the ice, Thing rips up the flooring right from under Paibok's feet!

Despite the attack, the tables manage to turn once more, Invisible Woman making the save for an unprepared Thing with an invisible force field!
She follows it up, encasing Paibok in an invisible force field, giving Paibok another opportunity to stretch his powerful limbs.

Revealing his bio-electricity was designed with Invisible Woman specifically in mind, he channels his power through Invisible Woman's forcefield, frying her into submission with many volts of energy!

Thing quickly comes to Susan Storm's ally, but Paibok delays their rematch, interested instead in executing the flaming brother of the Invisible Woman, who mows Skrulls down with lethal regard.

Sneaking up behind the battling hot-head, Paibok prepares to make a cowardly sneak attack from behind! Fortunately for Johnny Storm, his wife, Lyja, sees the attack coming, and continuing to grapple with her duty and her adopted him, she transforms into a Bierbeast to curtain the unrelenting electric blast!

Lyja drops to the floor motionless, finally breaking through his hate-filled conflict, to provoke the concern of her deceived husband, Johnny Storm.

Distracted by Lyja's traitorous turn, Paibok doesn't notice Thing sneaking up behind him to rip another massive column from it's barings to bring the house down! The roof crumbles atop the Power Skrull, with a morose Thing looking on with quiet distain.

Johnny Storm shares a tender moment with the dying Lyja, making peace with her and the deceptions he suffered. Though originally operating as a Skrull infiltrator, Lyja confesses her true love for the Human Torch, before fading in his arms. Her apparent death is precursor to a sudden return!

With the ship rumbling, Paibok emerges from the rubble. With the "War World" station about to reach critical mass, the Fantastic Four (under a force field produced by Invisible Woman) navigate their way back to their ship, reluctantly leaving behind the limp body of Lyja.

With Alicia Masters in his arms, Mr. Fantastic makes a rendezvous with his team at their ship, making a successful escape from the exploding space station with the rest of the team!

The hammer...
It was a close one on points, but I think you'd have to give it to the Fantastic Four! Lyja has to share in the victory, despite her apparent death at the hands of ex-jilted lover, Paibok.

It may please you to know Lyja actually survived not only Paibok's electricity, but also the explosion of the station! She returns to menace and join-up with the FF again, but as you may have noticed in the contemporary comics, Human Torch and she are estranged.

Running quite behind, I should remind everybody that this is yet another Marvel Ultimate Alliance Monday post, featuring the villains from the smash hit video game! Unfortunately, we won't be be featuring Titannus, the enhanced mutant Skrull from Robert Kirkman's Marvel Team-Up work. I neither have those issues, nor any money to buy them. If you would like to rectify that, you can scroll up the side menu and hit-up the PayPal donations site! Although, honestly, I'd probably rather buy some World War Hulk books...

I should get another thank you out to When Fangirls Attack, the index website with a vested interest in feminist and female-centric issues, cataloguing this time around our feature that discussed Jubilee [Adventures of the X-Men #7].
I've actually really enjoyed getting into a lot of the discussions and topics presented there, and you should see if there's something there for you. We here at the Infinite Wars certainly appreciate their support of our light hearted activities!

Actually, on a side note, working on the coming issues of The Kirby Martin Inquest [which is one of my reasons for being late] brought a nice opportunity to put a bit of WFA programming into practice -- adding a new prominent female character to the series. In earlier drafts there was a conceited reason to avoid female characters, but with a lot of that falling away in the final draft, I'm pleased to put a new spin on a role that would've been more typically cast as a male (a reporter).

Conveniently, the female touch actually brings with it an advantage - so that's been a nice bit of awareness rubbing off on me, and coming in very handy.
We could keep talking about women in comics, specifically damsel-in-distress syndrome with Alicia Masters here, and the weak characterization of Susan Storm. Or, we could even talk about Lyja's desperate attempts to court Johnny Storm's love, which has turned to bitter hatred -- but we won't.
I figure the fangirls only need to see so much of us. Allow them a break!

Instead, there's a prevalent issue in Marvel comics right now, and it conveniently coincides with this, and the last Ultimate Alliance post [Fantastic Four #6], and that's -- Skrulls!

If you've been reading New Avengers, or are just keeping abreast of superhero comics affairs, you'll be well aware that the Elektra who appeared as head of The Hand clan was in actual fact a disguised Skrull! [New Avengers #27]

Though intrigued and excited by the prospects of a mass infiltration of the Marvel universe, it was this issue of Fantastic Four, along with various others, that were the basis of criticisms that this simply isn't an original enough concept to be acceptable.
While the broad point stands, I think I've had the chance to rethink the issue, having reviewed some of the greater details within this issue. What's key here is that Alicia was replaced during the Secret Wars event, which begs a question providing complications for our rankings systems -- When was Elektra replaced? And by extension, when was whoever else replaced?

Issues of New Avengers: Illuminati, co-written by Brian "Nugget Loving*" Bendis and Brian Reed, detail retroactive inclusions of the secret meetings held by the Illuminati, and how their subversive strategums shaped certain subtlties in the Marvel universe. Among those was the provocation of the Skrulls, already being connected to the incursion we're seeing in contemporary Marvel stories, but could it be that the immediate follow-up, featuring The Beyonder, is the clue?

Dare we dredge up memories of the Ben Reilly Spider-Clone by implying the invasion began decades ago? Could it be that these mass switches actually occurred en masse, while the heroes were in a confused state flux having being plucked from reality by The Beyonder?!

There's also a question about the fate of the heroes that have been replaced.
Have they been lucky enough to remain in stasis somewhere in outer space, like Alicia Masters? For the sake of maintaining a copy, it's fair to assume the Skrulls would need a living reference, but you never know with these guys.

Is it not entirely possible that they've all been murdered? Or perhaps disected in the name of Skrull science, allowing them to develop the range and efficiency of how they grant special powers to the likes of Kl'rt and Paibok?

Theories for your consideration, good friends!
In the meanwhile, I should probably try to get some sleep before the sun comes up, because that's when I have to fight crime with the powers bestowed upon me by my hybrid heritage of Irish/Australian. Enter the drunken fist!

I might be doing a bit of retroactive revisions myself, trying to insert some of the many reviews of interest I've missed over the past couple of days. Continuing the free-flowing, interest based discussion of these entries, there's a lot to get to, and I'm finally keen to take a look at a couple of DC features, so fingers crossed I get to do that!

Thanks again to Women In Comics, and hopefully we'll continue to have a positive association with them, providing our own unique skew on women in comics. You'll certainly be seeing more at the end of the week, as we take a look at a certain X-Men classic mentioned in a previous entry.

The Fight: 4 The Issue: 4.5
[Square-bound, giant sized, and with a circular hole in the cover exposing the 4? The only thing tragic about THIS comic is the price tag -- $2.50US. Cheaper than most twenty-two page comics. Oh the agony! A great issue, with lots of bonus materials, including a fun little Dr. Doom short -- about retroactive continuity!]

* Not an actual nickname for Bendis.