All-New Invaders #2

By James Robinson, Steve Pugh & Guru-eFX

Marvel’s All-New Invaders is a new book, but features really old characters and an old-school feel to it. James Robinson is writing the series and is a welcome addition, as he did a nice job on DC’S Earth 2. Let’s see what he can do in Marvel’s sandbox.

This issue starts out with a Winter Soldier flashback. After that, we are brought to where last issue ended, Cap and Bucky lending a hand to the original Human Torch, Jim Hammond. A fight ensues between the heroes and a member of the Kree high-elite. The small town takes a lot of damage and eventually things dissolve, but have the heroes done more harm than help?

This book has an old-style vibe to it, which makes sense because Robinson is using some of Marvel’s oldest characters. We are two issues in and so far each has started with the internal monologue of a different character, which works well and helps the reader get familiarized with players they may not know much about. This issue also builds a little bit more on the flashback scene we saw in the first issue with the old Invaders. Robinson starts to thicken the plot a little bit as the reader (and Captain America) try to find out more about this past battle. Robinson is doing enough to keep readers intrigued and using some good and lesser known characters to do it. This is a solid follow up to a pretty good introductory issue.

Steve Pugh puts together another strong showing in the art department. The first page we see is a nice large image of the Winter Soldier. He draws the Winter Soldier flash back scenes very dark and moody, which is a nice touch because it is a dangerous situation. There are several panels that show off how talented Pugh is at his craft as this issue features some very large panels that are colored nicely by Guru-eFX. This is a well drawn issue and compliments the writing greatly. Hopefully this level of quality can continue.

The second issue shines a little more light on the mystery that was forgotten by the Invaders and Robinson shows us a little more character development. Steve Pugh is drawing at a high level and is not afraid to show off. This could be a hit book if the quality stays at this level.