All-New Invaders #12 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

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)

All-New Invaders #11 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

James Robinson's "Earth 2" was pretty much the only redeeming quality of the "New 52!" for me for quite some time.  Although Robinson was given to excessively long expository sequences and stilted dialogue, he had a great sense of both characterization and plot.  Some of those aspects are present in "All-New Invaders," but, unfortunately, not enough to keep me getting this title.

This issue is a good example of the problems with this series, in part because they're not all Robinson's fault.  He has to contend with major changes happening to three of his four main characters in their own titles over the last few months.  Steve aged in "Captain America," Bucky took up the position of Man on the Wall after "Original Sin" and in "Bucky Barnes:  The Winter Soldier," and the Illuminati have apparently had some sort of public reckoning in "New Avengers."  The premise of this series is flexible enough to handle changes to the characters' status quo, since they're usually meeting in the space between adventures in their normal lives.  But, it's too much change too quickly implemented here.  You have to be following all these titles just to follow the dialogue.  For example, I'm not reading "New Avengers," so I really had no idea why Namor and Steve are arguing.  If you're not reading "Captain America," you probably wonder why Steve is suddenly an octogenarian.

But, Robinson's dialogue doesn't help matters.  The last thing that I want to see is a weepy Namor, but his insistence that Jim is important to him because it shows him the better side of his own humanity is handled poorly.  Although you certainly don't expect warmth from Namor, his delivery of this emotional epiphany is coldly formulaic, like he's reading from a script, undermining exactly the emotion that we're supposed to be feeling.  Moreover, it's hard to feel the seriousness that we're supposed to feel about Jim's "madness," since we learn that he essentially just has a cold that he can easily incinerate on his own.  When you add in Iron Cross awkwardly declaring her love for Namor and Radiance suddenly (and unnecessarily) arriving in time to save a plummeting Bucky, you get a remarkably clunky story that really makes you question the direction of the series.

In other words, I'm done.  I was trying to stay until we saw Toro, but, even when Toro was promised, we never actually got him.  I've got one more issue in my subscription, so I guess I'll re-cap it.  But, after that, the Invaders will just have to invade without me.

* (one of five stars)

All-New Invaders #10 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Although this issue isn't terrible, its problem is that it introduces way too many future stories, particularly for a series that might be canceled in a few issues.

First, we learn that Cap has apparently discovered that the Illuminati messed with his mind, introducing tension between him and Namor.  Namor and Winter Soldier follow a newly introduced Iron Cross to go after a crazed Human Torch.  However, we don't know why Jim is crazed; he simply was when he regained consciousness, after losing it last issue.  Moreover, Iron Cross is the African-American daughter of a Nazi war-criminal.  I really want to hear more about that story, but Robinson just presents the situation matter-of-factly here.  Cap magically sends the Deathloks home and then babysits Toro, who glares menacingly from his cocoon.  Meanwhile, in London, some sort of giant robot is attacking the city, sending Spitfire and Union Jack into action with the Destroyer, an apparently gay Invader that I never previously knew existed.  (In a brief aside, I wonder if Robinson is adopting the Destroyer's campy attitude based on his the character's previous appearances.  If not, it's a little 1980s to have him seem like Key West's very own superhero.)

As I said, it's all just a lot.  The move of the action to London was particularly jarring, since I felt like we could probably stand to wrap up an issue or two (or three) before we move right into the next crisis.

** (two of five stars)

All-New Invaders #9 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Somehow, a story about retrieving Toro has become about revealing that a former East German spy collecting Deathloks was actually a Martian in disguise.  Yeah, I don't really know either.  I'll stay until the end of this arc, but I think that I'm done after that.  Robinson's exposition wasn't even as bad as usual in this issue, but it's still there, weighing down a story that frankly doesn't have the armor class to handle the hits.

** (two of five stars)

All-New Invaders #8 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Man, I really want this series to work for me, but I can't really say that it does.

On the good side, Robinson decides not to wait too long to address this series' most obvious question, the whereabouts of Toro.  Unfortunately, the answer isn't what I hoped that it would be.  We learn that Toro went to college to study French literature, but we don't get an answer to the more pressing question, namely why he would still be the age that he was during the war.  Maybe die-hard Toro fans know this answer, but, given that I know more about the Invaders than the casual reader, it's probably safe to assume that Robinson needs to address it if even I don't know the answer.  Assuming that we get one at some point, it's still not good news.  Marvel decides to make Toto part of the "Inhumanity" project, revealing that he wasn't a mutant but an Inhuman.  I'm not sure where Marvel is going with Inhumanity, to be honest.  They keep trying to differentiate them from mutants, like it should matter to us, but I can't say that I'm really all that convinced.  Turning Toro into an Inhuman just feels like a cheap stunt to bolster a poorly conceived and received event.  But, I digress.  Let's just say that I'm not impressed.

Turning to the story itself, Bucky is not surprisingly the one that discovers that someone grabbed Toro.  Apparently, Toro and other Inhumans immediately went into some sort of cocoon form when they were exposed to the Terrigen Mists.  But, we learn that the person behind the theft of Toro's cocoon really wanted the Human Torch; Toro was just bait.  I'm OK with that, but Robinson somewhat bumbles the delivery.  Bucky tells Jim and Namor that the culprit sells "ultra-tech" to various criminal outfits.  However, in the next-to-last page, Namor notes that he told them that the guy had a Deathlok, despite Bucky never saying that.  I actually thought that I skipped a page, but, in re-reading the issue, I realized that I didn't.  It implies that the guy is interested in Jim as an artificial intelligence, but I lost that part for a while in my attempt to determine whether I missed something.

Moreover, Robinson also oddly drops the story of the alien that attacked Jim at the end of last issue.  It seemed like this whole arc was going to revolve around him (and how aliens managed to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D.), but it gets shelved as some agents try to identify the alien race that comprised half of the sleeper agent's D.N.A.  Robinson pretty clearly intends to return to the subject, but it's just weird that it was the huge climax of last issue, but it gets essentially dismissed here in just a few panels.

Trying to focus on the positive, I will say that Robinson manages to keep the exposition to a minimum here.  But, with Toro's unclear past and ridiculous "promotion" to an Inhuman, the bumbled Deathlok reveal, and the fact that everyone's delivery is as stiff as ever, I just can't say that I'm enjoying this series as much as I hoped that I would be.

** (two of five stars)

All-New Invaders #7 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Wait, what?

I was following this issue pretty well.  Jim's tells the story of Radiance's grandmother convincing the Invaders not to use their powers to sink the Japanese fleet with a tsunami since it would kill the innocent people living in the outlying islands.  Moreover, Radiance is understandably upset when she discovers that the United States' Plan B was dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, meaning that her grandmother inadvertently brought about those events.  Her resultant outburst destroys the S.H.I.E.L.D. base.  But, Jim takes the heat (heh) for her, since she also saved the lives of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the ensuing blast.  I'm not sure that Robinson made her an interesting enough character that I'm excited that Hammond kept her in the game by saving her from S.H.I.E.L.D. putting her in a hole somewhere, but it's a good enough story, particularly for an event tie-in issue.

My main problem with this issue before the last page was that Robinson's prose seems to be getting worse.  The first two pages are painfully awkward exposition.  Hammond skips to the end of his story, but the debriefer interrupts him to relay the story so far to the reader and then insists that Jim returns where we ended last issue.  It's terribly obvious as it's happening, and it just starts off the issue on a bad note.  But, the last page makes this complaint a minor distraction.  Suddenly, Jim reveals to his handler that he knows that he's an artificial man.  He expresses distaste that S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't give him a "real human."  But, instead of it just being an issue of segregation, the handler suddenly reveals that he's also some sort of alien, declaring, "My mission on Earth was about done anyway."  What the what?  Did this guy infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. just to get access to Hammond?  If so, why?  If not, what was his mission?  Did Jim just discover him by chance?  

I want to like this series, given that it's a combination of James Robinson (whose "Earth 2" work I loved, exposition and all) and some of the my favorite characters.  But, between the prose and these sorts of bizarre endings, I keep feeling like I don't know what's happening from issue to issue or where we're going.  Robinson managed to pull it together to deliver a solid first arc, but the "All-New Invaders" now seems to have become "Jim Hammond, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.," and I'm not sure how interested in that story I am.  I guess we'll see where we go from here, since I'm excited to learn Toro's fate.  But, Robinson really has to sell me on this series with that arc.

** (two of five stars)

All-New Invaders #6 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

It now seems prescient last issue when I complained about Robinson's over-narration, because, man, this issue has it in spades.

The Human Torch spends the entire issue either monologuing about his decision to join S.H.I.E.L.D., expositing his origin story, or recounting his encounter with Radiance, the Japanese version of Dazzler.  Thanks to the Orb releasing the secrets contained in the Watcher's eye in "Original Sin" #2, Radiance discovered that the Invaders could've stopped the dropping on the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima.  She holds S.H.I.E.L.D. agents hostage to demand one of the Invaders come to explain the story to her, only to learn that her grand-mother, Golden Girl, was somehow responsible in preventing the Invaders from stopping  the dropping of the bomb.  We'll learn why next issue.

I'll admit that I was so exhausted by the Human Torch's oddly aggressive narration that I wasn't paying that much attention by the end of the issue.  But, Robinson is really going to have to sell his story next issue, since it makes no sense that the Invaders would try to stop the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima.  The ethical questions related to the dropping of the bomb are too numerous to discuss here, but, suffice it to say, the super-powered special-operations team of the U.S. government was unlikely to try to prevent such a key moment in the U.S. army's conduct of the Second World War.  Moreover, it makes even less sense that a Japanese superhero would try to stop them from stopping it.  Robinson is clearly aware of this bizarre role-reversal, but I have my doubts that he's going to adequately explain it next issue.

The only part of this issue that I liked was the discovery that the atomic bomb came from a plan to use Jim's heat powers, Spitfire's speed powers, and Namor's water powers (through the Horn of Proteus) to create a tsunami to destroy Japan's naval fleet.  That's a pretty original story, and I'll give credit to Robinson for throwing it in there.  But, you have to get passed so much excessive verbal chaff and unbelievable plot developments that I'm not sure that it's worth it.  I guess we'll see next issue.

** (two of five stars)

All-New Invaders #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Wow, I did not see that ending coming.

Robinson exhibits his penchant for over-narrating here, with Cap going all super-villain and walking the Supreme Intelligence through his plan as the team puts it into action.  But, the result is still impressive, with Cap and Namor buying time for Jim to build up enough radiation in the room to knock out the Kree soldiers and Cap using a computer virus that Tony concocted to shut down Supremor.  Tanalth is left little choice to turn over the God's Whisper to the Eternals, and we're all reminded why Cap is a master strategist.  That said, I'll admit that I'm not 100 percent sure what Jim did, since I usually associate radiation more with "kill" than "knock unconscious."  Robinson sort of waves his hands in front of the chalkboard on this one, and the story would've been stronger if he had explained it, particularly since he had already over-explained everything else.

But, the ending is the most intriguing part.  Ikaris is rightfully furious at the Kree, and it's revealed that he and Aarkus have attached the God's Whisper to Galactus, clearly intending to use him to destroy Hala.  Robinson is understandably vague about the connection between Aarkus and the Eternals; Cap and Jim spend some time discussing how weird it was that Aarkus knew how to get in touch with them so quickly.  You also have to wonder how he knew where Galactus was.  But, Robinson makes it clear that he intends to take up that story at some point, so I have confidence that we'll get there eventually.

All in all, it was a solid starting arc.  Robinson really needs to work on reducing the volume of narration dedicated to exposition and long speeches (e.g., the two-page speech that Cap delivers to convince Jim to join S.H.I.E.L.D. at the end).  But, I'm used to those form his "Earth 2" days, so I'll survive.  If he manages to smooth out that problem, this series will really be a joy to read.

** (two of five stars)

All-New Invaders #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Man, this issue is tight.  Although it was pretty clear that Bucky wasn't dead, Robinson managed to keep us guessing, leaving open the question why Bucky would fake his own death.  (I loved Steve's bad acting, with his Hestonesque, "Damn you!"  I actually felt that Robinson wrote this part cheesily on purpose.)  First, Steve's plan is as brilliant as you'd expect Captain America's plan to be:  he knew that Hala is virtually impenetrable, so he sets up a plan where Bucky gets himself "killed" and the remaining Invaders fight Ikaris to distract the Kree to give Bucky enough time to rendez-vous with the Vision.  It sounds complicated, but it actually flows organically.  Although it was a jarring moment, Bucky attacking the Kree because he refused to be a slave again made perfect sense, making the fact that it was all part of the act all the better.  Plus, Robinson knows not to keep us in the dark too long, using the Human Torch's narration to clue us into the plan a few pages before Bucky's revealed to be alive.  Finally, Robinson didn't make it easy:  Jim is clearly worried as he and Cap fight Ikaris, noting that they're not familiar with his moves, as Cap would be of Thor's.  It might be a plan, but the risk is still there.  But, Robinson brings it full circle, making it clear that they're all willing to take that risk because they're brothers and trust each other with their lives.  Awesomeness.

**** (four of five stars)

All-New Invaders #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

James Robinson is, indisputably, one of the greatest world-building plotters in comics, as his amazing run on "Earth 2" showed.  As a result, criticism of him generally into two categories related not to his plotting, but his scripting:  excessive exposition and wooden dialogue.  We get some of the first category here, but, oddly, it helps shows his significant improvement in the second category.

Cap spending most of the issue telling the Human Torch his plan in detail was pretty unnecessary, given that we are also seeing it put into motion as Bucky searches for Aarkus.  But, honestly, Cap sounds more like how I imagine Captain America sounding than most authors usually make him sound.  It's got just the right amount of old-man crankiness and aw-shucks idealism, but with a warmth and intelligence that reminds us why people have been following him into battle for 70 years.  Moreover, Cap's interaction with Bucky and the Human Torch conveys the brother-in-arms vibe that Robinson understands has to be at this book's core.  I feel like I'm reading about their exploits in 1940s Germany, even if it's 2010s Hala.  It's a good sign, and it gives me hope that Robinson will also find a way to reduce his reliance on expositive scenes in the future. 

Per my introductory comments, the plot is (not surprisingly) compelling, from using Aarkus to transport the team to the Kree homeworld to revealing that the God's Whisper no longer works on the Asgardians but does the Eternals.  It's still unclear what the Kree intend to do with Ikaris (and, potentially, the other Eternals), but I'm excited by the throw-down that we'll likely be seeing next issue.  

*** (three of five stars)

All-New Invaders #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Robinson does such a great job of walking us through the plot here that it's easy not to notice it as it's happening.  Bucky and Jim explain to Steve that they and Namor decided that the God's Whisper was too powerful for anyone to wield, so they broke it into three separate pieces and hid them.  They then had the original Vision erase their memories of where they each hid a piece.  Since Steve wasn't part of the mission, it feels less like exposition and more like them legitimately giving him a briefing.  By the time that they're done, the mysteries from the first issue are solved and we're ready for the Invaders to launch into space.  It's a pretty simple issue, but Robinson reminds us that those sometimes are even better.

*** (three of five stars)

All-New Invaders #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

If you've read my reviews of "Earth 2" and "Winter Soldier," you know that I love James Robinson and Bucky Barnes.  The promise of combining the two of them in one series was almost too exciting to believe, but here we are.  Was I disappointed?  No.  No, I was not.

Robinson gave an early positive sign when he made sure to mention Remender's Descendants arc from "Secret Avengers."  Although the arc was uneven, it was still an amazing epic.  Jim Hammond is left broken at the end of it, having saved humanity but cursing himself to exile, an lone android among humans.  Robinson makes it clear that this loneliness drove him to the small town of Blaketon, where he seeks the solace necessary to sort out the events of that arc for himself.  Of course, he's not exactly given that chance.  It would be boring if he had been, wouldn't it?

The rest of the arc becomes actually feels a lot like "Earth 2," with Robinson taking familiar characters but putting them into new contexts.  When I first saw Major Liberty with the Invaders, I immediately ran to Wikipedia to see if I had just forgotten about that character.  The answer is that I did, but Robinson plays with that confusion, because the Invaders do as well, since the memory was hidden.  I'm intrigued to see how the battle sequence shown here (where Liberty dies) somehow holds the key to the location of some device important to the Kree.

I'll admit that the Kree angle feels odd for the Invaders.  But, Robinson sort of chides you for that feeling.  After all, it wouldn't be the "All-New" Invaders if they were still fighting Nazis.  Expanding into outer space is probably the right call.  I'm certainly willing to give Robinson time to develop it and I'd be thrilled if we get something like the "Annihilation" event.  Hopefully, if we continue the focus on the Kree, Robinson will be able to use the changed environment in much the same way that Remender used Dimension Z, removing the character from his usual setting to get to the core of who he is.

*** (three of five stars)