Secret Invasion #3 Review

Written by: Ryan North
Art by: Francesco Mobili
Colors by: Jordie Bellaire
Letters by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover art by: E.J. Su
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: January 4, 2022

Secret Invasion #3 shocks Maria Hill to her core when she learns a second Skrull presence is growing on Earth, and Tony Stark is to blame. Has Iron Man been compromised, or is something weirder going on?

Is It Good?

It’s the latter. Something much weirder is going on.

The first two issues of the series set up yet another Skrull invasion of Earth, infiltrating both SHIELD and the Avengers. With the threat still imminent and tensions incredibly high, now is the time Tony Stark chooses to tell Maria Hill that he’s secretly been amassing a group of Skrulls to impersonate him as Iron Man as a bizarre form of immigrant labor. Why sweat trying to be everywhere all at once when Tony can simply hire Skrulls to impersonate him in a suit of armor and save the day in multiple locations simultaneously?

What could possibly go wrong?

It’s impossible to tell if Ryan North believes Tony Stark is galactically stupid or truly insane. There’s a brief flashback/montage where Squirrel Girl (another Ryan North run) convinces Tony to not see Skrulls as a monolith, but expressing empathy is a far cry from abandoning common sense and caution. The way Tony chooses to reveal his secret immigrant work program to Maria (having all the Skrulls show up at once looking like Tony as a “surprise” joke) is so tone-deaf, it’s almost unbelievable.

Worse still, once the chaos settles down and Maria accepts the truth of Tony’s plan, Maria draws her weapon and starts shooting to end the issue with a cliffhanger.

Again, it’s impossible to tell what Ryan North was thinking about in this issue. Is it meant to be a Marvel-ized take on the plight of refugees looking for a better life? If so, it doesn’t work here because, given the past invasion attempts, there’s no reason for Skrulls to want to resettle on Earth. Is it a bait-and-switch to lull readers into a false sense of security? Possible but unlikely since Tony provides the receipts to show his plan is real and has been in place for some time. Are Tony’s “employees” connected to the Skrull invasion attempt currently in process? Impossible to tell at this time, so for now, it’s a wait-and-see if North can justify this direction.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

Secret Invasion #3 takes a hard left turn into the land of “No Common Sense” when it’s revealed Tony Stark has a secret connection to the Skrulls that strains credibility on every level. If North is trying to construct a clever allegory about the value of immigrants, he missed the mark by a mile.