This series, man.
Robinson returns us to London, turning his attention to the Martian invasion that we first saw in issue #10. But, instead of picking up the story where we last left it, we begin with a flashback to the first time that the Martians invaded, in 1917. Robinson cleverly connects this story to "Original Sin" Annual #1, with the Men on the Wall appearing here (or, well, then) to help the original Spitfire and his team fend of the Martians. As the flashback concludes, we learn that the current Spitfire and her team are reading her father's diary in the present because the Martians disappeared just as quickly as they appeared. They're presumably consulting the diaries for clues, though Robinson doesn't make it clear (at least to my understanding) why Spitfire thought to consult them in the first place. Had her father told her about the invasion? She makes a comment here that implies that she hadn't read the diaries before, so it's unclear why she thought to consult them now. Regardless of the reason, they do her no good. It's only when Bucky appears with Killraven that we seem to get somewhere.
I read the Wikipedia entry on Killraven, and I'll admit that I'm intrigued to see the London branch of the Invaders take on a Martian invasion with him. But, this series really is just doomed due to Robinson's writing. This issue contained yet more awkward and stilted dialogue, and I'm surprised at this point that no editor has suggested a scripter for him. But, the plot also isn't particularly strong. We not only have the question of why Spitfire consulted her father's diaries, but we also don't get an explanation of why Killraven is in the present. In fact, Robinson also doesn't tell us how Bucky knew that he was in the present to look for him in the first place. Presumably, Robinson will get to that, but, given that Killraven has been in two issues so far and he hasn't done so, I'm not entirely sure that he will. After all, Bucky tells the team to "just go with it" when Killraven says that the Martians are invading to get him and Union Jack asks the obvious question why the aliens invaded in 1917 if he wasn't there then. "Just go with it" counts in my book as pet peeve #3, with Robinson using a character to point out an obvious discrepancy in the plot. Moreover, nothing really happens in this issue. The decision to make the Martians disappear just as soon as Spitfire and company confront them just seems weird, since it kills any momentum that the story had. Given the number of alien invasions of Earth in the Marvel Universe, Robinson has to do something to sell the Martians as a threat, but he doesn't really try to do that here. We're supposed to treat it as if it's the innocent world of 1917, not the complicated one of 2014.
The rumor is that this series is canceled with issue #15, when this volume related to the Martian invasion concludes. Honestly, I'm surprised that I'm not willing to stick it out three issues, but I'm really not. I was pretty excited about this series, but Marvel's obsession with almost constantly shaking up the status quo doomed it from the start, given the prominence of characters like Captain America and Bucky Barnes in cross-over events and other ongoing series. But, Robinson's scripting isn't helping. Maybe one day someone'll make this concept work, but I'm sad to say that it's not today.
** (two of five stars)
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