Secret Invasion: Home Invasion
Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 8:40 am
Here's the analysis of the webcomic turned TPB.
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SECRET INVASION: HOME INVASION [2009]
Writer: Ivan Brandon
Artist: Nick Postic
Cast:
WALDEN, MACKENZIE "KINSEY"
WALDEN, HANK
WICCAN/WILLIAM "BILLY" KAPLAN
HULKLING/THEODORE "TEDDY" ALTMAN
SPEED/THOMAS SHEPARD
FURY, COL. NICHOLAS "NICK" JOSEPH
PHOTON/MONICA RAMBEAU
SASQUATCH/WALTER LANGKOWSKI
BATWING/JIMMY SANTINI
STATURE/CASSANDRA "CASSIE" LANG
Appearances the same as in "Secret Invasion":
VISION II
PROTON/GELDOFF
PRODIGY III/RITCHIE GILMORE
ELEKTRA/ELEKTRA NATCHIOS
CAPTAIN AMERICA VII/JAMES BUCHANAN "BUCKY" BARNES
SPIDER-MAN/PETER BENJAMIN PARKER
SPIDER-WOMAN/JESSICA DREW
MS. MARVEL/CAROL SUSAN JANE DANVERS
DUGAN, TIMOTHY ALOYISIOUS CADWALLADER "DUM DUM"
IRON MAN/ANTHONY EDWARD "TONY" STARK
INVISIBLE WOMAN/SUE STORM RICHARDS
YELLOWJACKET/HANK PYM
MADAME MASQUE/GIULIETTA KRISTINA NEFARIA/"WHITNEY FROST"/BIG M/"KRISSY LONGFELLOW"
DRUID II/SEBASTIAN DRUID
PHOBOS II/ALEXANDER AARON
STONEWALL II/JERRY SLEDGE
SLINGSHOT/YO YO RODRIGUEZ
QUAKE II/DAISY JOHNSON
HELLFIRE II/J.T. JAMES
Other characters:
Ali Starck (Kinsey's best friend)
Mrs Starck (Ali's mother)
Ethan (Kinsey's boyfriend; dies)
Tina Klein (Ethan's prom date)
Professor Mustek
Hank Walden Skrull (dies)
Skrulls, lots of Skrulls, under starry skies above (many die, only one named: Lieutenant Kreeneer)
Helpful Nun who seems to know Nick Fury
SHIELD Agents (one named Agent Bell)
Cops (one named Officer Bell... Hmm.)
Medics (I bet one has a Bell name)
Lots of civilians, all of whom are useless and unnamed
Summary: After witnessing her brother turning green, Kinsey Walden, 18 year old high school senior, hides in her bathroom. Hank convinces her it was just a joke, and once she's out, he flashes briefly to Skrull form and says "he loves you". He covers for the odd comment, but gets agitated when Kinsey questions what he has in his bag and a weird device falls out. Kinsey is curious about it, and Hank struggles with her for it, and it goes off, hitting him in the face. Now bleeding green blood, Hank screams and lunges at her. So Kinsey flees to her best friend Ali Starck's house. She explains things to her mother, Mrs Starck, and briefly thinks Ali had something done to her too since she hadn't been able to reach her in days, but Ali claims she tried to call her as well and couldn't reach her. Anyway, Hank shows up, tries to cover for what happened, but gives up the pretense when turned away and shoots Mrs S with his black energy. The family dog attacks him, allowing Ali and Kinsey to escape in a car. Kinsey tries to call 911, but as implied with the problems calling her pal, Hank Skrull has control over her phone, and taunts her through it. Kinsey has Ali stop the car so they can run to the Prom, since she figures her love interest Ethan can help them. He's gone to it with someone else thanks to the communication problems, yet when Kinsey arrives he puts up no fight as she and Ali drag him out of the Prom just as Hank Skrull arrives. While they race away in the car, Hank Skrull follows in a stolen school bus. A cop car tries to stop it, but fails, needless to say. When the bus hits Ali's car, Kinsey is forced to use Hank's flute-looking weapon again. The green energy burst stops the bus, but also knocks Kinsey out.
A while later, Kinsey awakens in the car's wreckage alone. She stumbles outside, bringing the bag with Hank's device with her, and joins a large crowd of people in witnessing a huge space craft swooping down into Manhattan. But before long she passes out from her accident injuries as explosions start down the street. Shortly, she awakens as she's being wheeled off on a gurney. Ethan and Ali are at her side, but the attempted rescue doesn't get far when a Madrox-costumed Super Skrull picks up the ambulance and flings it at them. They barely escape, only to run into a Golden Age Cap/Human Torch cross breed Super Skrull down the road. He blows up a cab, which leads to Ethan and Kinsey nearly kissing. But Madrox Super Skrull, who also seems to have some Strong Guy in him, smashes the ground nearby. He also seems to have some Siryn in him, as he uses a sonic scream to turn a bullet back on a cop who shoots at him. More cops start firing on the Skrull, so Kinsey, Ethan and Ali flee again. Ali keeps breaking down and freaking out, throughout. They end up stopping when they, along with a crowd, see the strange force field atop the Baxter Building. Ali chooses to stop running and encourage the Skrull to come end this nightmare for her. While Kinsey and Ethan argue about trivialties, Ali is nearly stomped by a giant Skrull's foot. Her pals help her up, just as a Maraurders-powered Super Skrull whips up a whirlwind that flings shrapnel and debris about. Though the trio hide behind a wrecked big rig, a piece of shrapnel manages to impale Ali! Ethan tries to keep her from going into shock, when Hulkling and Wiccan lift up the truck in an effort to reach and help them. Of course, Kinsey and Ethan think Hulkling's evil since he's a Skrull. He turns to human form, but they aren't convinced by his being on their side. Kinsey goes to use the flute gun device when Speed takes it off her while running around to get Ali to a hospital. The three Young Avengers explain to Kinsey what the Skrulls are, and some basics about the Secret Invasion, which confuses her concerning her brother, making her wonder if she's a Skrull too since Hank is. Wiccan bemoans the fact Speed and Hulkling keep blurting out things without tact, compounding Kinsey's concern and uneasiness even more. Hulkling assures Kinsey she's probably not a Skrull, and urges her and Ethan to head away from all the action. The three Young Avengers head in the opposite direction, returning to battle. Kinsey and Ethan make their way downtown, as explosions and basic destruction lies along their path.
They eventually come to a stop when finding a dead Shatterstar-costumed-yet-sort-of-Trapster-resembling Super Skrull. Kinsey then hears a woman scream, which she foolishly runs towards, witnessing the giantess Stature in battle with the Giant Man Super Skrull. She and Ethan gawk at the battle, stunned about how the giant hero is just a teen like them. Spotting the pair, Speed dashes in and reiterates the warning from before about avoiding the ruckus, just before he and the rest of the nearby heroes are zapped by the Super Skrulls. Witnessing Vision getting his head blasted on the huge television monitor in Times Square, Kinsey cries at Ethan about how if the heroes don't stand a chance against these guys, then who does? Her dismay is enforced when Proton is killed on TV next. Her distraught screaming catches the attention of Giant Man Super Skrull, who picks her up. Suddenly, Nick Fury and his new Secret Warriors make the scene, with Quake shaking the ground. Giant Skrull drops Kinsey as a result! Luckily, Batwing soars in and snags her, only to get hit by a laser beam! He holds onto her enough and cushions her body when they both smash onto a car on the streets below. As Batwing is helped away by some cops, Kinsey gets awoken from her daze by Nick Fury helping to yank on her broken arm to set it back to place. She mumbles about not being a Skrull, which interests Nick. As he carries Kinsey, Ethan tells the Colonel a little about them. Nick passes her off to Ethan then lays some cover fire by blasting down a Pyro/Toad/Sauron Super Skrull who falls into a group of other Skrulls, blowing them up.
Soon, he takes the pair to a church filled with injured people, a place used to help New York City in times of super-related crisis many times before. As Kinsey is patched up, Nick questions her about her Skrull comments. Through this exchange, she learns her ESU student brother Hank was replaced because he worked with a nutty Professor Mustek, whose physics experments using his own particle acclerator warranted constant watch from SHIELD. The mystery of just how important Hank was will have to wait, as Nick leads the pair to the evacuation line at the Grand Central/42nd Street Subway station. Once on the train, which will be getting the civilians off the island, Kinsey meets Monica Rambeau, who appears to be another slightly bruised New Yorker. An extra-rocky Thing Super Skrull attacks before the train can go anywhere, so the civilians flee the damaged train. Monica chooses to stop running and reveals her powers as she stays behind to stop the Skrull. After walking through the tunnels one stop, and through the seemingly deserted city, Kinsey leads Ethan to the ESU building that Hank's lab was at in an effort to figure out the truth behind his replacing. They break in, and head to Lab 7, only to have the electricly charged door shock Ethan. Prof. Mustek did that to keep out Skrulls, as he remained behind after the evacuation, and he helps to revive the teen. Kinsey wants to know what her brother was up to that was so important to the aliens, and eventually gets the info out of the man nicknamed "Doctor Mustache". Hank was using the atom smasher nicknamed Archibald, which he mastered the use of over time to the point his work even impressed Reed Richards. Well, some time ago, using Archibald and wormholes, they discovered an unknown area of space littered with debris from a war. Inspecting the technology, they now know included Skrull tech, Hank reverse-engineered some of it in his spare time, creating two wrist band weapons! They posit that since he would take them out from time to time, he was acting as a super hero. He stopped "some months ago", they figure it was due to the registration act. But recently, Hank got back to work on tinkering with Skrull tech, seemingly reinvigorated, but they think he did so because he planned to join the Initiative. Well, thanks to the uniqueness of the tech Hank is using (since it's part Skrull and part whatever the other race the debris was from), Mustek rewires a personal geiger counter to give them a way to track Kinsey's brother's energy signature.
The power goes out and the geiger counter goes off. Hank's there, or rather, Hank Skrull. His face is scarred and he wants some revenge! So he smacks everyone around with his black energy powers, then, when getting the flute device weapon back, unleashes it, leveling the building. Somehow, Mustek and Ethan survive on their own, but Kinsey is saved by one of the wrist bands which she activates. It creates a force field around her. She's safe from Hank Skrull's continued attacks, but Ethan's left exposed. Unable to get her, Hank Skrull kills her boyfriend in front of her and plans to kill Mustek next. Kinsey places the force field around Hank Skrull, then uses the offensive band to blast some black energy at it, shooting the force bubble into space. Once there, she cuts it off, and Hank Skrull is left floating in the vaccuum alongside the many spaceships of his fellow Skrulls, before being pulled back down through the atmosphere by Kinsey. He burns up and his flaming corpse crashes before Kinsey and Mustek. Still upset over Ethan's death, Kinsey starts to flare up the black energy, just as some cops arrive to the ruins of the ESU building, along with two heroes, Sasquatch and Monica Rambeau. Though the former warns the girl of her breaking several laws, the latter recognizes her from on the subway earlier and gets her to calm down. Kinsey tells them of her Skrull-captive brother and her intention of rescuing him, and Monica convinces Sasquatch that, despite the girl appearing to have powers, they should accompany her on this mission. Kinsey gives Mustek a kiss and thanks him for his help, before he's taken away by the medics.
By nightfall, Kinsey and the two heroes find Hank's location, in a warehouse section near the Hudson River. Monica formulates a sneak attack, telling the teen to remain outside. Within the warehouse, Monica overtakes a group of Skrulls, melting their eyes with dielectric heat, but runs into resistance from a Gargoyle/Angel/Defenders Super Skrull. Sasquatch makes easy work of his group of Skrulls, until he encounters a Super Skrull made of all eight Great Beasts, which beats him into submission. Obviously, Kinsey doesn't listen to those of experience, and comes in, joining Monica as she discovers Sasquatch being set ablaze by the Super Skrull. Thankfully, the teen is getting the hang of the bands and uses the force bubble to get Sasquatch out of harm's way and cut off the oxygen supply to the fire. Monica is knocked out by the Great Beasts Super Skrull, forcing Kinsey to use the force field powers to crush the creature's head! With the heroes unconscious, she dreads her mission will fail, but what do ya know? Hank's brought right to her by some Skrulls with guns. The reunion is less than happy thanks to those Skrulls and when pressed, Kinsey uses the black energy to smack 'em back. Surprise! Hank's been working with the Skrulls all along and wants her to embrace change. He's all gung ho for the Skrull cause now, and has helped them build something which will allow them to teleport anywhere in the universe. Hank reveals his history of using what he calls the "black-light repulsor bands" in his short career as the hero known as the Greenwich Guardian. Some bad things happened, he gave it up, but recently planned to resume it and was attempting to refine the powers. A "few days" before the Skrulls revealed themselves to the public, Hank was grabbed them and when he realized they were the source of the technology he was studying, he knew they could help him become the hero he always wanted to be. Kinsey points out the flaws in his plans, that heroes don't help kill those he's supposed to protect. She's ashamed of how her brother has helped the Skrulls do everything to everyone, and upon learning the device he built for them is in that building, she whips up a force bubble around her and Hank, then blows the place to kingdom come.
Don't worry about Monica, she got Sasquatch out before that and takes him to the hospital when it appears no one else survived the explosion. Kinsey wonders what to do with her war criminal brother. But then the ship with the returning heroes arrives, so they go witness that. Hank wants to make things up to his sister, offering to turn himself in or do whatever she asks. But upon seeing the heroes, and since she thought her brother was one of them, Kinsey wants to just forget Hank, never hearing from him again. He's unable to argue before she collapses, passing out for the 80th time this book. A few days later, Kinsey wakes up in the hospital, and Hank's long gone. Ali's Mom is okay and comes to visit her daughter in the hospital, where she's still breathing on machines but will recover. Monica remains by Sasquatch's bedside. He's in a coma, but his body is healing at twice the normal rate. Why, I bet you'll never even hear of his injuries again next he appears! Kinsey continues her recovery in what seems to be the same hospital as Ali and Sasquatch, but her life as she knew it will never be fixed. But she's got those bands of her brother's still, so maybe being a superhero is in her future? No? Okay, then.
Continuity notes: There's a recap of some basics concerning the "Kinsey Walden video blog" that served as a prequel to this, which can be viewed here: http%3a//vids.myspace.com/index.cfm%3ff ... =333011378
Sasquatch was in town to attend ESU's Nuclear Medicine Conference the morning of his first appearance in the book, but most of his hotel was trashed by an "alien jalopy" so he's been fighting Skrulls and rescuing "Americans" all day.
Monica Rambeau is wearing her Nextwave costume and uses her non-codename here.
The Greenwich Guardian apparently appeared in the GRAVITY series some years back. Hank's hair was blonde then, it's black now.
Goofs: Kinsey says her brother is all she has left, yet their parents are supposed to merely be out of town, not dead.
The Skrull language matches that of the most commonly used versions on the first word balloon only. After that, it's a completely different one for the rest of the book. Make up your mind!
Not so much a mistake as abject laziness, it seems they couldn't even afford a new cover for this thing, as the image is merely the same as SI #5's regular cover. Were they that lacking on utterly generic Skrull headshots? To make it worse, they repeat the image on every one of the Chapter heading pages.
Calendar notes: Judging by the Prom mention and the green grass and trees, this is probably in May or April. Everything takes place mainly over something like three days, with the final page taking place much later.
Title page.
Credits page.
Previously on page.
Chapter 1 page.
Pages 1-15: Night of the Prom 2008. Kinsey flees from her Skrull replacement brother, to her friend Ali Starck's house. They then flee together to the Prom, and with Ethan, flee some more. They crash their car, Kinsey blacks out.
Page 16: The next morning, Kinsey awakens in the wreckage and joins the crowd of people in seeing the approachment of a Skrull craft to Times Square.
Chapter 2 page.
Page 17: Continued from page 16, Kinsey sees the ship landing, then passes out.
Pages 18-28: The same day, she awakens to Ethan and Ali as she's being carted off on a gurney when a Madrox Skrull tosses the ambulance. More Skrulls attack around them. They flee up the street, see Baxter Building with force field atop it. More Skrulls attack, Ali is injured, Hulking and Wiccan find them.
Chapter 3 page.
Pages 29-43: Continued from page 28, Wiccan and Hulking yak about with the trio. Speed disarms Kinsey and takes Ali to the hospital. Skrull attacking seems stopped, but it soon starts up again. While the three heroes depart, Ethan and Kinsey head away from the action, only to end up coming upon the scene of Stature vs the Giant Skrull. They see Vision blasted and Proton killed on the nearby jumbotron. Giant Skrull picks up Kinsey, and drops her once Quake of the Secret Warriors strikes.
Chapter 4 page.
Pages 44-58: Continued from page 43, Kinsey falls (mentioning she's met more heroes in the past hour than she has her whole life), Batwing swoops in to save her, he gets hit, but cushions her body while they crash. Nick Fury helps to set her arm and leads her and Ethan to a nearby church shelter. There, he learns about Kinsey's story, hears about her brother, and informs her of just who Prof. Mustek was. He soon leads them to the subway and parts ways. While on the subway train with the other civilians, Kinsey and Ethan meet Monica Rambeau, who reveals her powers after a Rocky-Thing Skrull attacks. Now fleeing the fight in the subway, Kinsey and Ethan make their way to the ESU building. They break in, and head to Lab 7, only for Ethan to get shocked.
Chapter 5 page.
Pages 59-70: Ethan's knocked out, Dr Mustek revives him and soon explains what Hank was doing, showing them Archibald. Lots of exposition, Kinsey gets the energy bands. The power soon goes out.
Chapter 6 page.
Pages 71-82: Continued from page 70, with no power, Kinsey, Ethan and Mustek are confronted by the Hank Skrull. He levels the building, but the bands help the save the trio. The Hank Skrull kills Ethan, Kinsey flings him into space, where he falls through the atmosphere and dies when smashing back to the ESU wreckage.
Chapter 7 page.
Pages 83-87: Continued from page 82, Kinsey continues using the powers of the bands. While Mustek is taken away by the medics, Kinsey encounters Sasquatch and Monica Rambeau.
Pages 88-96: Now night, Kinsey, Sasquatch and Monica find where Hank is being held, taking on numerous Skrulls. Sas is burned severely.
Chapter 8 page.
Pages 97-108: Continued from page 96, Kinsey learns the truth from Hank. She blows up the warehouse, killing the Skrulls and Hank's device. It's now dawn. The craft of returned heroes approaches and lands. Kinsey tells off her brother and passes out.
Page 109: "Days" have passed when Kinsey awakens. Ali is visited by her Mom in the hospital. Monica sits beside Sasquatch's bed as he remains in a coma but his body heals faster than normal. And Kinsey remains in the hospital, as well, eyeing the power band and narrating.
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Here's a breakdown of the stuff that is directly crossed over between SI and SI:HI. It's mainly two scenes, so it shouldn't be that hard to combine.
SECRET INVASION #3 version of the events:
SI 3 page 18 panel 1: Stature getting punched by Giant Skrull while a Thor Skrull and Prodigy float nearby.
panel 2: Giant Skrull shouts something and grabs Stature by her neck.
panel 3: He flings her across the city as Prodigy shouts her name.
Page 19 panel 1: Giant Skrull and other Skrulls zap a bunch of heroes, including Prodigy, Red 9, Diamondback and some others.
panel 3 has Vision saying "This will not stand. There are others who will come here to stop you. You will not win."
Page 20 panel 1 has Vision getting zapped in the head.
panel 3 has Proton getting held by a Skrull while an energy hand of another Skrull approaches and he says "No wait-- please--"
panel 4 has Proton's eyes glowing as his head is penetrated.
Page 21 panels 1-3: Skrulls get shook up by Quake.
Page 22: Nick Fury and his Mewling Kidmandos. He says "Okay, Commandos! Let's turn this thing around!"
SI:HI version of events:
39 panel 5: Giant Skrull punches Stature with his right arm, she smashes against building, while Prodigy and Thor Skull float nearby.
40 panel 1: Giant Skrull drags Stature by her hair through the streets.
panel 4: Giant Skrull and other Skrulls zap a bunch of heroes, including Prodigy, Red 9, Diamondback and some others. Speed is in the foreground, which differs from the SI issue only slight because of that.
Page 41 panel 1: Vision's speech up to "stop you".
panel 2: Giant Skrull stands there while picture of Vision is on giant screen as he says "You will not win".
panel 3: TV image of Vision's head being blasted.
page 42 panel 1: TV image of Proton getting killed.
Page 43 panel 1: Secret Warriors make the scene.
panels 2-4: Skrull get shaken.
SECRET INVASION #8 version of events:
SI 8 pages 9-10 panel 3: craft departs space..
SI 8 pages 9-10 panel 4: craft landing amid a bunch of people.
SI 8 pages 11-12 panel 1: Yellowjacket, Spider-Woman, Elektra, Invisible Woman, Dum Dum, and Iron Man (with a bunch of others) exit craft as lots of heroes and villains look on offscene.
SI:HI version of events:
106 panels 4-5: craft swoops down to NY
107 panel 1: craft as it lands. Thor & Ms Marvel float above as the craft lands. Amid the crowd of civilians are Nick Fury, Spidey, Cap and somebody I can't recognize (red chest, white forearm long gloves, white knee-high boots... looks like Nightcrawler but taller).
panel 2: door opening.
panel 3: Yellowjacket, Spider-Woman, Dum Dum, Elektra, Invisible Woman, Iron Man and an indistinct SHIELD agent are standing at the door of the craft, while Nick Fury, Ms Marvel, Cap, Spidey, and Madame Masque stand at the front of a crowd of civilians watching.
WALDEN, MACKENZIE "KINSEY"
SI:HI
WALDEN, HANK
Previously the Greenwich Guardian/ Black Death in GRAV 1-5.
SI:HI
WICCAN/WILLIAM "BILLY" KAPLAN
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
HULKLING/THEODORE "TEDDY" ALTMAN
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
SPEED/THOMAS SHEPARD
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
FURY, COL. NICHOLAS "NICK" JOSEPH
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
PHOTON/MONICA RAMBEAU
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
SASQUATCH/WALTER LANGKOWSKI
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
BATWING/JIMMY SANTINI
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
STATURE/CASSANDRA "CASSIE" LANG
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
...That's not very helpful at all, is it?
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SECRET INVASION: HOME INVASION [2009]
Writer: Ivan Brandon
Artist: Nick Postic
Cast:
WALDEN, MACKENZIE "KINSEY"
WALDEN, HANK
WICCAN/WILLIAM "BILLY" KAPLAN
HULKLING/THEODORE "TEDDY" ALTMAN
SPEED/THOMAS SHEPARD
FURY, COL. NICHOLAS "NICK" JOSEPH
PHOTON/MONICA RAMBEAU
SASQUATCH/WALTER LANGKOWSKI
BATWING/JIMMY SANTINI
STATURE/CASSANDRA "CASSIE" LANG
Appearances the same as in "Secret Invasion":
VISION II
PROTON/GELDOFF
PRODIGY III/RITCHIE GILMORE
ELEKTRA/ELEKTRA NATCHIOS
CAPTAIN AMERICA VII/JAMES BUCHANAN "BUCKY" BARNES
SPIDER-MAN/PETER BENJAMIN PARKER
SPIDER-WOMAN/JESSICA DREW
MS. MARVEL/CAROL SUSAN JANE DANVERS
DUGAN, TIMOTHY ALOYISIOUS CADWALLADER "DUM DUM"
IRON MAN/ANTHONY EDWARD "TONY" STARK
INVISIBLE WOMAN/SUE STORM RICHARDS
YELLOWJACKET/HANK PYM
MADAME MASQUE/GIULIETTA KRISTINA NEFARIA/"WHITNEY FROST"/BIG M/"KRISSY LONGFELLOW"
DRUID II/SEBASTIAN DRUID
PHOBOS II/ALEXANDER AARON
STONEWALL II/JERRY SLEDGE
SLINGSHOT/YO YO RODRIGUEZ
QUAKE II/DAISY JOHNSON
HELLFIRE II/J.T. JAMES
Other characters:
Ali Starck (Kinsey's best friend)
Mrs Starck (Ali's mother)
Ethan (Kinsey's boyfriend; dies)
Tina Klein (Ethan's prom date)
Professor Mustek
Hank Walden Skrull (dies)
Skrulls, lots of Skrulls, under starry skies above (many die, only one named: Lieutenant Kreeneer)
Helpful Nun who seems to know Nick Fury
SHIELD Agents (one named Agent Bell)
Cops (one named Officer Bell... Hmm.)
Medics (I bet one has a Bell name)
Lots of civilians, all of whom are useless and unnamed
Summary: After witnessing her brother turning green, Kinsey Walden, 18 year old high school senior, hides in her bathroom. Hank convinces her it was just a joke, and once she's out, he flashes briefly to Skrull form and says "he loves you". He covers for the odd comment, but gets agitated when Kinsey questions what he has in his bag and a weird device falls out. Kinsey is curious about it, and Hank struggles with her for it, and it goes off, hitting him in the face. Now bleeding green blood, Hank screams and lunges at her. So Kinsey flees to her best friend Ali Starck's house. She explains things to her mother, Mrs Starck, and briefly thinks Ali had something done to her too since she hadn't been able to reach her in days, but Ali claims she tried to call her as well and couldn't reach her. Anyway, Hank shows up, tries to cover for what happened, but gives up the pretense when turned away and shoots Mrs S with his black energy. The family dog attacks him, allowing Ali and Kinsey to escape in a car. Kinsey tries to call 911, but as implied with the problems calling her pal, Hank Skrull has control over her phone, and taunts her through it. Kinsey has Ali stop the car so they can run to the Prom, since she figures her love interest Ethan can help them. He's gone to it with someone else thanks to the communication problems, yet when Kinsey arrives he puts up no fight as she and Ali drag him out of the Prom just as Hank Skrull arrives. While they race away in the car, Hank Skrull follows in a stolen school bus. A cop car tries to stop it, but fails, needless to say. When the bus hits Ali's car, Kinsey is forced to use Hank's flute-looking weapon again. The green energy burst stops the bus, but also knocks Kinsey out.
A while later, Kinsey awakens in the car's wreckage alone. She stumbles outside, bringing the bag with Hank's device with her, and joins a large crowd of people in witnessing a huge space craft swooping down into Manhattan. But before long she passes out from her accident injuries as explosions start down the street. Shortly, she awakens as she's being wheeled off on a gurney. Ethan and Ali are at her side, but the attempted rescue doesn't get far when a Madrox-costumed Super Skrull picks up the ambulance and flings it at them. They barely escape, only to run into a Golden Age Cap/Human Torch cross breed Super Skrull down the road. He blows up a cab, which leads to Ethan and Kinsey nearly kissing. But Madrox Super Skrull, who also seems to have some Strong Guy in him, smashes the ground nearby. He also seems to have some Siryn in him, as he uses a sonic scream to turn a bullet back on a cop who shoots at him. More cops start firing on the Skrull, so Kinsey, Ethan and Ali flee again. Ali keeps breaking down and freaking out, throughout. They end up stopping when they, along with a crowd, see the strange force field atop the Baxter Building. Ali chooses to stop running and encourage the Skrull to come end this nightmare for her. While Kinsey and Ethan argue about trivialties, Ali is nearly stomped by a giant Skrull's foot. Her pals help her up, just as a Maraurders-powered Super Skrull whips up a whirlwind that flings shrapnel and debris about. Though the trio hide behind a wrecked big rig, a piece of shrapnel manages to impale Ali! Ethan tries to keep her from going into shock, when Hulkling and Wiccan lift up the truck in an effort to reach and help them. Of course, Kinsey and Ethan think Hulkling's evil since he's a Skrull. He turns to human form, but they aren't convinced by his being on their side. Kinsey goes to use the flute gun device when Speed takes it off her while running around to get Ali to a hospital. The three Young Avengers explain to Kinsey what the Skrulls are, and some basics about the Secret Invasion, which confuses her concerning her brother, making her wonder if she's a Skrull too since Hank is. Wiccan bemoans the fact Speed and Hulkling keep blurting out things without tact, compounding Kinsey's concern and uneasiness even more. Hulkling assures Kinsey she's probably not a Skrull, and urges her and Ethan to head away from all the action. The three Young Avengers head in the opposite direction, returning to battle. Kinsey and Ethan make their way downtown, as explosions and basic destruction lies along their path.
They eventually come to a stop when finding a dead Shatterstar-costumed-yet-sort-of-Trapster-resembling Super Skrull. Kinsey then hears a woman scream, which she foolishly runs towards, witnessing the giantess Stature in battle with the Giant Man Super Skrull. She and Ethan gawk at the battle, stunned about how the giant hero is just a teen like them. Spotting the pair, Speed dashes in and reiterates the warning from before about avoiding the ruckus, just before he and the rest of the nearby heroes are zapped by the Super Skrulls. Witnessing Vision getting his head blasted on the huge television monitor in Times Square, Kinsey cries at Ethan about how if the heroes don't stand a chance against these guys, then who does? Her dismay is enforced when Proton is killed on TV next. Her distraught screaming catches the attention of Giant Man Super Skrull, who picks her up. Suddenly, Nick Fury and his new Secret Warriors make the scene, with Quake shaking the ground. Giant Skrull drops Kinsey as a result! Luckily, Batwing soars in and snags her, only to get hit by a laser beam! He holds onto her enough and cushions her body when they both smash onto a car on the streets below. As Batwing is helped away by some cops, Kinsey gets awoken from her daze by Nick Fury helping to yank on her broken arm to set it back to place. She mumbles about not being a Skrull, which interests Nick. As he carries Kinsey, Ethan tells the Colonel a little about them. Nick passes her off to Ethan then lays some cover fire by blasting down a Pyro/Toad/Sauron Super Skrull who falls into a group of other Skrulls, blowing them up.
Soon, he takes the pair to a church filled with injured people, a place used to help New York City in times of super-related crisis many times before. As Kinsey is patched up, Nick questions her about her Skrull comments. Through this exchange, she learns her ESU student brother Hank was replaced because he worked with a nutty Professor Mustek, whose physics experments using his own particle acclerator warranted constant watch from SHIELD. The mystery of just how important Hank was will have to wait, as Nick leads the pair to the evacuation line at the Grand Central/42nd Street Subway station. Once on the train, which will be getting the civilians off the island, Kinsey meets Monica Rambeau, who appears to be another slightly bruised New Yorker. An extra-rocky Thing Super Skrull attacks before the train can go anywhere, so the civilians flee the damaged train. Monica chooses to stop running and reveals her powers as she stays behind to stop the Skrull. After walking through the tunnels one stop, and through the seemingly deserted city, Kinsey leads Ethan to the ESU building that Hank's lab was at in an effort to figure out the truth behind his replacing. They break in, and head to Lab 7, only to have the electricly charged door shock Ethan. Prof. Mustek did that to keep out Skrulls, as he remained behind after the evacuation, and he helps to revive the teen. Kinsey wants to know what her brother was up to that was so important to the aliens, and eventually gets the info out of the man nicknamed "Doctor Mustache". Hank was using the atom smasher nicknamed Archibald, which he mastered the use of over time to the point his work even impressed Reed Richards. Well, some time ago, using Archibald and wormholes, they discovered an unknown area of space littered with debris from a war. Inspecting the technology, they now know included Skrull tech, Hank reverse-engineered some of it in his spare time, creating two wrist band weapons! They posit that since he would take them out from time to time, he was acting as a super hero. He stopped "some months ago", they figure it was due to the registration act. But recently, Hank got back to work on tinkering with Skrull tech, seemingly reinvigorated, but they think he did so because he planned to join the Initiative. Well, thanks to the uniqueness of the tech Hank is using (since it's part Skrull and part whatever the other race the debris was from), Mustek rewires a personal geiger counter to give them a way to track Kinsey's brother's energy signature.
The power goes out and the geiger counter goes off. Hank's there, or rather, Hank Skrull. His face is scarred and he wants some revenge! So he smacks everyone around with his black energy powers, then, when getting the flute device weapon back, unleashes it, leveling the building. Somehow, Mustek and Ethan survive on their own, but Kinsey is saved by one of the wrist bands which she activates. It creates a force field around her. She's safe from Hank Skrull's continued attacks, but Ethan's left exposed. Unable to get her, Hank Skrull kills her boyfriend in front of her and plans to kill Mustek next. Kinsey places the force field around Hank Skrull, then uses the offensive band to blast some black energy at it, shooting the force bubble into space. Once there, she cuts it off, and Hank Skrull is left floating in the vaccuum alongside the many spaceships of his fellow Skrulls, before being pulled back down through the atmosphere by Kinsey. He burns up and his flaming corpse crashes before Kinsey and Mustek. Still upset over Ethan's death, Kinsey starts to flare up the black energy, just as some cops arrive to the ruins of the ESU building, along with two heroes, Sasquatch and Monica Rambeau. Though the former warns the girl of her breaking several laws, the latter recognizes her from on the subway earlier and gets her to calm down. Kinsey tells them of her Skrull-captive brother and her intention of rescuing him, and Monica convinces Sasquatch that, despite the girl appearing to have powers, they should accompany her on this mission. Kinsey gives Mustek a kiss and thanks him for his help, before he's taken away by the medics.
By nightfall, Kinsey and the two heroes find Hank's location, in a warehouse section near the Hudson River. Monica formulates a sneak attack, telling the teen to remain outside. Within the warehouse, Monica overtakes a group of Skrulls, melting their eyes with dielectric heat, but runs into resistance from a Gargoyle/Angel/Defenders Super Skrull. Sasquatch makes easy work of his group of Skrulls, until he encounters a Super Skrull made of all eight Great Beasts, which beats him into submission. Obviously, Kinsey doesn't listen to those of experience, and comes in, joining Monica as she discovers Sasquatch being set ablaze by the Super Skrull. Thankfully, the teen is getting the hang of the bands and uses the force bubble to get Sasquatch out of harm's way and cut off the oxygen supply to the fire. Monica is knocked out by the Great Beasts Super Skrull, forcing Kinsey to use the force field powers to crush the creature's head! With the heroes unconscious, she dreads her mission will fail, but what do ya know? Hank's brought right to her by some Skrulls with guns. The reunion is less than happy thanks to those Skrulls and when pressed, Kinsey uses the black energy to smack 'em back. Surprise! Hank's been working with the Skrulls all along and wants her to embrace change. He's all gung ho for the Skrull cause now, and has helped them build something which will allow them to teleport anywhere in the universe. Hank reveals his history of using what he calls the "black-light repulsor bands" in his short career as the hero known as the Greenwich Guardian. Some bad things happened, he gave it up, but recently planned to resume it and was attempting to refine the powers. A "few days" before the Skrulls revealed themselves to the public, Hank was grabbed them and when he realized they were the source of the technology he was studying, he knew they could help him become the hero he always wanted to be. Kinsey points out the flaws in his plans, that heroes don't help kill those he's supposed to protect. She's ashamed of how her brother has helped the Skrulls do everything to everyone, and upon learning the device he built for them is in that building, she whips up a force bubble around her and Hank, then blows the place to kingdom come.
Don't worry about Monica, she got Sasquatch out before that and takes him to the hospital when it appears no one else survived the explosion. Kinsey wonders what to do with her war criminal brother. But then the ship with the returning heroes arrives, so they go witness that. Hank wants to make things up to his sister, offering to turn himself in or do whatever she asks. But upon seeing the heroes, and since she thought her brother was one of them, Kinsey wants to just forget Hank, never hearing from him again. He's unable to argue before she collapses, passing out for the 80th time this book. A few days later, Kinsey wakes up in the hospital, and Hank's long gone. Ali's Mom is okay and comes to visit her daughter in the hospital, where she's still breathing on machines but will recover. Monica remains by Sasquatch's bedside. He's in a coma, but his body is healing at twice the normal rate. Why, I bet you'll never even hear of his injuries again next he appears! Kinsey continues her recovery in what seems to be the same hospital as Ali and Sasquatch, but her life as she knew it will never be fixed. But she's got those bands of her brother's still, so maybe being a superhero is in her future? No? Okay, then.
Continuity notes: There's a recap of some basics concerning the "Kinsey Walden video blog" that served as a prequel to this, which can be viewed here: http%3a//vids.myspace.com/index.cfm%3ff ... =333011378
Sasquatch was in town to attend ESU's Nuclear Medicine Conference the morning of his first appearance in the book, but most of his hotel was trashed by an "alien jalopy" so he's been fighting Skrulls and rescuing "Americans" all day.
Monica Rambeau is wearing her Nextwave costume and uses her non-codename here.
The Greenwich Guardian apparently appeared in the GRAVITY series some years back. Hank's hair was blonde then, it's black now.
Goofs: Kinsey says her brother is all she has left, yet their parents are supposed to merely be out of town, not dead.
The Skrull language matches that of the most commonly used versions on the first word balloon only. After that, it's a completely different one for the rest of the book. Make up your mind!
Not so much a mistake as abject laziness, it seems they couldn't even afford a new cover for this thing, as the image is merely the same as SI #5's regular cover. Were they that lacking on utterly generic Skrull headshots? To make it worse, they repeat the image on every one of the Chapter heading pages.
Calendar notes: Judging by the Prom mention and the green grass and trees, this is probably in May or April. Everything takes place mainly over something like three days, with the final page taking place much later.
Title page.
Credits page.
Previously on page.
Chapter 1 page.
Pages 1-15: Night of the Prom 2008. Kinsey flees from her Skrull replacement brother, to her friend Ali Starck's house. They then flee together to the Prom, and with Ethan, flee some more. They crash their car, Kinsey blacks out.
Page 16: The next morning, Kinsey awakens in the wreckage and joins the crowd of people in seeing the approachment of a Skrull craft to Times Square.
Chapter 2 page.
Page 17: Continued from page 16, Kinsey sees the ship landing, then passes out.
Pages 18-28: The same day, she awakens to Ethan and Ali as she's being carted off on a gurney when a Madrox Skrull tosses the ambulance. More Skrulls attack around them. They flee up the street, see Baxter Building with force field atop it. More Skrulls attack, Ali is injured, Hulking and Wiccan find them.
Chapter 3 page.
Pages 29-43: Continued from page 28, Wiccan and Hulking yak about with the trio. Speed disarms Kinsey and takes Ali to the hospital. Skrull attacking seems stopped, but it soon starts up again. While the three heroes depart, Ethan and Kinsey head away from the action, only to end up coming upon the scene of Stature vs the Giant Skrull. They see Vision blasted and Proton killed on the nearby jumbotron. Giant Skrull picks up Kinsey, and drops her once Quake of the Secret Warriors strikes.
Chapter 4 page.
Pages 44-58: Continued from page 43, Kinsey falls (mentioning she's met more heroes in the past hour than she has her whole life), Batwing swoops in to save her, he gets hit, but cushions her body while they crash. Nick Fury helps to set her arm and leads her and Ethan to a nearby church shelter. There, he learns about Kinsey's story, hears about her brother, and informs her of just who Prof. Mustek was. He soon leads them to the subway and parts ways. While on the subway train with the other civilians, Kinsey and Ethan meet Monica Rambeau, who reveals her powers after a Rocky-Thing Skrull attacks. Now fleeing the fight in the subway, Kinsey and Ethan make their way to the ESU building. They break in, and head to Lab 7, only for Ethan to get shocked.
Chapter 5 page.
Pages 59-70: Ethan's knocked out, Dr Mustek revives him and soon explains what Hank was doing, showing them Archibald. Lots of exposition, Kinsey gets the energy bands. The power soon goes out.
Chapter 6 page.
Pages 71-82: Continued from page 70, with no power, Kinsey, Ethan and Mustek are confronted by the Hank Skrull. He levels the building, but the bands help the save the trio. The Hank Skrull kills Ethan, Kinsey flings him into space, where he falls through the atmosphere and dies when smashing back to the ESU wreckage.
Chapter 7 page.
Pages 83-87: Continued from page 82, Kinsey continues using the powers of the bands. While Mustek is taken away by the medics, Kinsey encounters Sasquatch and Monica Rambeau.
Pages 88-96: Now night, Kinsey, Sasquatch and Monica find where Hank is being held, taking on numerous Skrulls. Sas is burned severely.
Chapter 8 page.
Pages 97-108: Continued from page 96, Kinsey learns the truth from Hank. She blows up the warehouse, killing the Skrulls and Hank's device. It's now dawn. The craft of returned heroes approaches and lands. Kinsey tells off her brother and passes out.
Page 109: "Days" have passed when Kinsey awakens. Ali is visited by her Mom in the hospital. Monica sits beside Sasquatch's bed as he remains in a coma but his body heals faster than normal. And Kinsey remains in the hospital, as well, eyeing the power band and narrating.
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Here's a breakdown of the stuff that is directly crossed over between SI and SI:HI. It's mainly two scenes, so it shouldn't be that hard to combine.
SECRET INVASION #3 version of the events:
SI 3 page 18 panel 1: Stature getting punched by Giant Skrull while a Thor Skrull and Prodigy float nearby.
panel 2: Giant Skrull shouts something and grabs Stature by her neck.
panel 3: He flings her across the city as Prodigy shouts her name.
Page 19 panel 1: Giant Skrull and other Skrulls zap a bunch of heroes, including Prodigy, Red 9, Diamondback and some others.
panel 3 has Vision saying "This will not stand. There are others who will come here to stop you. You will not win."
Page 20 panel 1 has Vision getting zapped in the head.
panel 3 has Proton getting held by a Skrull while an energy hand of another Skrull approaches and he says "No wait-- please--"
panel 4 has Proton's eyes glowing as his head is penetrated.
Page 21 panels 1-3: Skrulls get shook up by Quake.
Page 22: Nick Fury and his Mewling Kidmandos. He says "Okay, Commandos! Let's turn this thing around!"
SI:HI version of events:
39 panel 5: Giant Skrull punches Stature with his right arm, she smashes against building, while Prodigy and Thor Skull float nearby.
40 panel 1: Giant Skrull drags Stature by her hair through the streets.
panel 4: Giant Skrull and other Skrulls zap a bunch of heroes, including Prodigy, Red 9, Diamondback and some others. Speed is in the foreground, which differs from the SI issue only slight because of that.
Page 41 panel 1: Vision's speech up to "stop you".
panel 2: Giant Skrull stands there while picture of Vision is on giant screen as he says "You will not win".
panel 3: TV image of Vision's head being blasted.
page 42 panel 1: TV image of Proton getting killed.
Page 43 panel 1: Secret Warriors make the scene.
panels 2-4: Skrull get shaken.
SECRET INVASION #8 version of events:
SI 8 pages 9-10 panel 3: craft departs space..
SI 8 pages 9-10 panel 4: craft landing amid a bunch of people.
SI 8 pages 11-12 panel 1: Yellowjacket, Spider-Woman, Elektra, Invisible Woman, Dum Dum, and Iron Man (with a bunch of others) exit craft as lots of heroes and villains look on offscene.
SI:HI version of events:
106 panels 4-5: craft swoops down to NY
107 panel 1: craft as it lands. Thor & Ms Marvel float above as the craft lands. Amid the crowd of civilians are Nick Fury, Spidey, Cap and somebody I can't recognize (red chest, white forearm long gloves, white knee-high boots... looks like Nightcrawler but taller).
panel 2: door opening.
panel 3: Yellowjacket, Spider-Woman, Dum Dum, Elektra, Invisible Woman, Iron Man and an indistinct SHIELD agent are standing at the door of the craft, while Nick Fury, Ms Marvel, Cap, Spidey, and Madame Masque stand at the front of a crowd of civilians watching.
WALDEN, MACKENZIE "KINSEY"
SI:HI
WALDEN, HANK
Previously the Greenwich Guardian/ Black Death in GRAV 1-5.
SI:HI
WICCAN/WILLIAM "BILLY" KAPLAN
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
HULKLING/THEODORE "TEDDY" ALTMAN
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
SPEED/THOMAS SHEPARD
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
FURY, COL. NICHOLAS "NICK" JOSEPH
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
PHOTON/MONICA RAMBEAU
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
SASQUATCH/WALTER LANGKOWSKI
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
BATWING/JIMMY SANTINI
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
STATURE/CASSANDRA "CASSIE" LANG
[SI issues]
SI:HI
[SI issues]
...That's not very helpful at all, is it?