PUT ON YOUR SPOILER HATS BOYS AND GIRLS AND TAKE A RIDE ON THE WILD SIDE!

Anyways. Bendis makes one fatal error in this book, it doesn't really touch on the Invasion at all. When the books are supposed to be taking us back behind the scenes and revealing past events, we get nothing by way of actual Skrull-reveals, just glimpses into what Nicky boy has been doing. And that cover is REALLY stupid. But more on that later.

Sam Jackson-Fury meets with Quake (Daisy from Secret War) and offers her a new job. A job. Seeing as how she was forced out of SHIELD as she was a Fury-sympathizer (which makes little to no sense, as Dugan (Skrull) and Black Widow (probably a Skrull) stayed in place in SHIELD (as did Clay Quartermain, in that weird other-universe Red Hulk book).

He offers her a job finding all the little Caterpillars and pulling them into a world that they should NEVER be a part of, because he doesn't know who to trust. And who is the first person Daisy-Quake goes to? Alex, Ares' son. (Oh yeah, and out of nowhere, Ares has a Mohawk. Completely out of nowhere and apparently his hair style changes as much or more than Carol Danvers, Black Widow, and Emma Frost). And we finally figure out exactly who Alex is in the Pantheon (which isn't hard, if you have a Wikipedia). He's Phobos. God of Fear. Only he's ten years old.

Okay? Why does Fury want him? Why does Fury want the daughter of the Griffin, the grandson of Phantom Rider, the son of Doctor Druid, some dude named Sledge, and Daisy? Because he can't trust anyone else so trust the kids. The kids that no one but him knows about.

And that gave me a sigh of relief. Dominic Purcell Fury acting like the real Fury. Thank goodness, he's actually back.

I was super-psyched when the Phantom Rider was mentioned (as any incarnation of Ghost Rider gets a fairly massive thumbs-up from me) and Fury's intention of finding these caterpillars, these trees freshly picked from the tree, and turning them into butterflies was a little odd. The Howling Caterpillars or Howling Butterflies doesn't have the same oomph as Howling Commandoes, but the idea still works. It's still a really good idea.

It's actually perfect. Take a bunch of characters with ties to deceased or imprisoned or no-name characters, characters who are very much fringe characters, and pull them into the limelight, that's what Bendis does. He did it with Jessica Jones (coughcoughSkrullcough) and he's doing it with all these weird characters.

On to the problems: Daisy Quake goes and meets with a Butterfly of her own, Layla Miller. Who is stuck in the future. In the future where Bishop is a little kid. STUCK IN A DIFFERENT DIMENSION! Now maybe this takes place before Messiah CompleX, but for the love of God, put a tagline at the beginning of the issue to mention that. Put an editor's note in that one panel. For the love of God. CONTINUITY DAMMIT!

Finally, the art. Ho-hum the art. Most people salivate over covers like that, but no offense to Marko Donkeylips (or however you spell his last name), I usually like his art. And it probably isn't his fault the cover is stupid. But homage covers are so boring. They work (which I mention every time I see them) for Marvel Zombies, they work for EVENT comics that don't tie into continuity, but when Captain America, nor none of the other characters featured on the cover actually appear in the book, as Skrulls or otherwise, it's a little annoying. Scratch that. It's a lot annoying. It pisses me off. I will always be a proponent for the cover making sense for that book. Hell, they could have just had the cover be a giant asterisk followed by the words: TAKES PLACE BEFORE MESSIAH COMPLEX! And that would have been a better issue.

Most people salivate over Alex Maleev, but sight unseen, I almost never will buy a book specifically for his artwork. It is pretty to look at. But it slightly bothers me. People get really upset at people like Larocca and Greg Land who use photo-reference, but when every character is as wooden and lifeless as Dominic Purcell-shadowed-Fury, it gets a lot stale a lot fast. Daisy Quake still looks like Angelina Jolie and Mohawked Ares looks like a pro-wrestler. It gets boring as the characters don't seem to have a life outside of the scratchy art, and that last panel was stupid.

Anybody know what a Skrull is? Now look at that panel and tell me those reactions aren't ridiculous. It's like a Sci-Fi TV Movie with actors who used to play Red Shirts on Star Trek playing all the major roles. Or Baywatch men. It just doesn't work.