A Secret Invasion by the Skrull Empire allows the cloud of a Dark Reign to fall across the Marvel Universe!The Avengers are trapped in the Savage Land, battling friend and foe, and Spider-Man heads to the one person in the entire place he knows he can trust: Ka-Zar! But is it really him? Nothing is certain, now that the Skrulls’ Secret Invasion has been exposed! There’s turmoil for Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, a major development in the life of Echo and seismic revelations on how the Skrull Empire was able to infiltrate Earth! But in the aftermath, with the alien invaders defeated, an unlikely savior takes control — and the New Avengers must deal with the consequences. Once they were Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Now they live in the shadows, wanted and hunted by the law — a law whose name is…Norman Osborn! Plus: In the face of Doctor Strange’s failure, the search for the Sorcerer Supreme begins!COLLECTING: New Avengers (2004) #38-54, Secret Invasion: Dark Reign One-Shot (2008)Written by Brian Michael BendisPenciled by Michael Gaydos, David Mack, Jim Cheung, Billy Tan, Chris Bachalo, Alex Maleev & More
Contributors: (W) Brian Michael Bendis (A) Michael Gaydos; David Mack; Jim Cheung (CA) Billy Tan
Award-winning comic-book creator Brian Michael Bendis is one of the most successful writers in the industry today. In addition to an acclaimed run on Daredevil, he has helmed a renaissance for Marvel’s popular Avengers franchise and written the event projects House of M, Secret War, Secret Invasion, Siege, Age of Ultron and Civil War II. Bendis wrote every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man from its launch in 2000 before bringing his multiracial Spider-Man, Miles Morales, to the Marvel Universe for continuing adventures. He took on Marvel’s mutants in the pages of All-New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, and launched Guardians of the Galaxy into the stratosphere. Bendis shook up the life of Tony Stark in Invincible Iron Man and related titles, introducing Riri Williams as Ironheart, and then assembled street-level heroes Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Daredevil and his co-creation Jessica Jones in Defenders. His creator-owned projects include Scarlet with Alex Maleev, Brilliant with Mark Bagley, and Takio and the Eisner Award-winning Powers with Michael Avon Oeming.Artist Michael Gaydos honed his craft at the Cleveland Institute of Art — going on to become an accomplished illustrator, painter and printmaker. Gaydos first collaborated with writer Brian Michael Bendis on the crime-noir series Jinx, followed by their critically acclaimed partnership on Alias for Marvel Comics. Gaydos’ work has been published by DC, Image, Tundra, NBM, Caliber and White Wolf — highlighted by turns on the famed anthology Negative Burn, The Crow and the original graphic novel Heaven’s War. In 2005, he reunited with Bendis to illustrate a milestone in Jessica Jones’ life: the birth of her baby in the pages of The Pulse.David Mack submitted his first Kabuki collection while still in college as his senior writing thesis. (He got an A on the project.) Combining innovative storytelling, painting techniques and page design, Mack has won nearly every major comic-industry award, including the prestigious Eisner Award for Best Painter, and garnered praise from such luminaries as Jim Steranko and The Washington Times. Marvel fans first witnessed Mack’s stylings when his covers graced the legendary Daredevil storyline “Parts of a Hole,” which he also wrote. A few years after teaming with then-new Daredevil writer Brian Michael Bendis on the “Wake Up” arc, he returned to the title for the “Echo: Vision Quest” storyline, which reintroduced readers to the unique character he created in “Parts of a Hole.” Mack continues to write and illustrate his creator-owned series, New York Times Best Seller Kabuki, now published by Marvel’s Icon imprint, and has been nominated for several Eisner, Kirby and Harvey awards. He is also serving as the visual designer and co-producer on the forthcoming Kabuki feature film. Mack wrote the adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Electric Ant for Marvel, and was nominated for a Writers Guild Award and a Producers Guild Award for his work on Showtime’s Dexter.