Anyways, Crusader used his piece of the Cosmic Cube to warp reality and make 3-D Man think that everyone at the Initiative was a Skrull except him, so he thinks he's the only one he can trust.

Yikes.

And, to top it all off, Crusader was one of the first Skrulls sent to Earth to learn about the culture and infiltrate the Avengers. Only, when he made it here, there were no Avengers. So instead, he met Freedom Ring and taught him to use his abilities (though not as surely as Gauntlet or his Skrull-sergeant, which makes him blame himself for his friend's death). Above and beyond that, Crusader loved a woman, fell in love with Red Vines, and completely forgot about his duty to the Skrulls.

Until Skrullowjacket came calling and everything flooded back, including his training with other Super-Skrulls in which he received his scar over his eye. And of course, in the battlefield, he meets that same Skrull he nearly called brother, and instincts flare, and he wastes the dude. To keep his identity intact.

And at the end, he reminds himself, he can never be anything more than what he is. And from here on out, he's a traitor to his race. He's a loner. He's a hero. He's human.

And he's a great character. It's remarkable what Gage and Slott are doing with these lower-tier characters, but it makes me happy. I love seeing the small guys get the limelight, and it's awesome. It works. And seeing characters that have been shorted in the past for no particular reason other than some creators didn't like them, it's nice to see all the toys be given some playtime too. It's nice to pull out the little Slayback figure every once in awhile instead of always being Wolverine. Just keep that in mind.

Of course, the whole issue isn't Crusader-heavy. We get 3-D Man's ship having to crashland due to the Skrull attack on Starktech. And of course, that throws War Machine near death (PLEASE tell us what happened to Rhodey so he can get fixed). And the only person there to save him, Baron Von Blitzschlag, who is a Nazi bastard. Of course, he gets to throw his assistance in Rhodey's face. He fought Isaiah Bradley in WWII, and if Isaiah had killed him, they'd both be dead. And how funny is that?

Oh yeah, and Ant-Man is a pussy. Which is hysterical. When the team is heading into NYC, he backs out and shrinks to get out of the fight. So how many does that make? Two fights he's pussed out on? How many more, Eric O'Grady?

Overall, it's another really good issue of a really solid series. Tolibao's artwork is fairly suited for the capes crowd, and it works well in the Skrull settings. There is quite a lot about his artwork that works here. He's not as good a choice as Stefano Caselli (not yet), but his art is getting better with each page. So he's definitely one to keep our eyes on.

But as I said, this book is all about the writing and the cast of characters. It could be drawn by anybody and it would be a solid book. It's nice that the artists have a very strong grasp of the characters as it helps, but it could be worse. They could cancel the book, or worse, let Chuck Austen or Bruce Jones write it. And since neither of them touched this issue: BOOK OF THE WEEK!