Secret Invasion #4 review

So every issue I say I'm not gonna pick up the next but I inevitably do anyway. This issue is kinda the same way. It's okay. I think, halfway in, this series is ultimately going to rate a "just okay."

What happens this issue?

Maria Hill is still freaking out over Skrull Jarvis.

Skrull Spider-Woman is, apparently, just totally fucking with Tony Stark. The Black Widow, out of the blue, reveals this factoid. Tony is one of the only people able to stop the Skrull invasion. Apparently, he did something like it before (though when I don't recall). So their next objective is to find Reed Richards, who's been captured by the Skrulls.

Fighting is still happening in Manhattan. Nick Fury comes in with his crew, blasts some shit, shoot Ms. Marvel and then take off. (There is, however, some lovely Ms. Marvel fanservice.) Ms. Marvel is then overwhelmed by Skrulls.

There are some wasted pages involving the above mentioned Maria Hill freak out, that green haired chick from SWORD, and some villains. The ending is pretty cool though. We're finally seeing two characters that have been otherwise insulated from the rest of the Marvel U for a while.

This issue, overall, left me wanting. Nothing has really been advanced. The stuff with the Avengers in the Savage Land hasn't advanced much since issue #1 and the scale of the invasion is, as I believe The Stack pointed out, limited to Manhattan (albeit in this series). Leinil Yu is a fine artist and paces the action nicely enough. Did I mention he's clearly an ass man? The problem for me is everything that happens, that's been happening so far, feels like nothing but warm up. Like promises of big giant huge things happening and we've been getting these endless teases. Halfway in, I'm wondering when Bendis is going to really deliver the goods. I suppose my problem could be that I'm not reading New or Mighty Avengers, which apparently tie in heavily to the main series. Now, it might make the whole event a much more satisfying experience when all read together, but the one series should be enough. It's like this is turning into Marvel's version of DC's One Million event, where the main series had only a minimal impact when the main action was in the tie-ins. Oy!

Will I pick up the next issue? I've gotta stop kidding myself, I will. BUT! With each passing issue it seems like the promise of this series slides more and more. Even with that ending, if the next issue plays out like I think we'll just be left with more dangling threads that will go nowhere until they're tied together in a forcded, contrived ending that leaves no one satisfied. Hopefully I'm wrong. Hopefully, cause I really want this series to work out.