| Secret Invasion: Front Line Posted: Secret Invasion: Front Line collects issues #1-5 of Secret Invasion: Front Line, originally published at the end of 2008 (as another reviewer already noted, Amazon seems to have mis-listed this book, which has nothing to do with Incredible Hercules). The trade paperback is competently produced with medium-gloss paper and a flexible binding. It contains no bonus art or other extras.
Marvel's various Front Line stories focus on two "everyman" reporters, Ben Urich and Sally Floyd, who invariably find themselves caught in the middle of each big Marvel universe event. For Secret Invasion, writer Brian Reed focuses on Ben alone as he gathers news of the Invasion from the streets of New York while trying and sometimes failing to help the average people he encounters along the way. Like the best disaster/survival stories, this is a scary, gripping, and psychologically complex tale that, by its end, manages even to be genuinely moving. What it lacks in superhero action, it makes up for in the humanness of its characters, defined as much by their limitations as their heroism. Marco Castiello's pencils suit the story well, but just as important is Barbara Ciardo's excellent coloring. By accounting carefully for light sources in her coloring, Ciardo creates a mood much more subtle and suspenseful than could have been achieved by traditional comic book coloring techniques.
Comic book readers who like psychological dramas will love this book, which reads well even without any knowledge of Marvel's bigger Secret Invasion story. Fans of traditional superhero stories, however, may find it lacks sufficient action and spectacle.... For Secret Invasion fans, no new or important contributions to the main story surface here (as they did in Civil War: Front Line (Civil War (Marvel)), but if you liked the Secret Invasion crossover, you'll probably enjoy this as well. |
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