1029

Yep, still totally fucking wrecks me. It wasn't quite as good or as big as I remember it being since reading it when it was first coming out, but damn.

Damn. ( )

Not as good as the other Front Lines, but not bad. ( )

The Front Line trades show Marvel crossover events from the ground-eye view of common people, via intrepid report Ben Urich. Usually, it shows how the normal people are seeing the superheroes. This Secret Invasion tie-in is a little bit different.

Since superheroes often die and come back, the impact of death for them is minimized on the reader. This trade reinforces that war is ugly and brutal, especially for "non-combatants". When NYC is attacked, some people are trapped in Stark Tower, and a Skrull starts killing them one by one - leaving a traumatized teenager the only survivor. Meanwhile, a cabbie and a brave cop take it upon themselves to shepherd people out of the line of fire into the subway, only to be confronted with gang members who want to rob them. Through it all, even while recording the stories of these people, Ben thinks about his wife Doris. He can't reach her and doesn't know if she's alive or dead. There are a couple of pages where Ben stumbles upon our usual superheroes engaged in battle with the Skrulls, but for almost all of the book they are absent. This story reminds us that these heroes are supposed to be in the "real world" and there are real causalities in war.

Overall, this is an excellent tie-in to the crossover which gives the war a more visceral meaning. Though it does not expand the big picture for Secret Invasion, it does reinforce that the stakes are incredibly high for our heroes, and for the civilians they try to protect. Highly recommended. ( )