New Avengers: Illuminati #5 (Marvel – Bendis / Reed / Cheung / Morales) – Marvels summary is “The Illuminati get together for the first time since Planet Hulk and the Civil War to deal with the shocking reveals in NEW and MIGHTY AVENGERS. But not everyone in the cabal is who they say they are. Its a throw-down drag-out that opens the door to the Marvel event of 2008!! WHO DO YOU TRUST?? Do not miss this important chapter in the saga!!” And so begins The Secret Invasion label… I hope it gets better. The description Marvel gives is as vague as the plot of the issue. Nothing really happens in this issue at all. Tony calls together the Illuminati one last time to tell them that Elektra was a skrull (readers knew this 3 months ago), while they are discussing the implications of this… Blackbolt attacks the other five, turns out he’s a skrull too… or at least is / was at some point in time… we don’t know if this goes back to pre Civil-War, during the Silent War, or during World-War Hulk. This completely opened-ended problem is supposed to make us feel paranoid and intrigued… and it just makes us wish there was more meat to it. After that, the remaining five members split up not trusting each other at all. I’m sure this will all be summarized in some issue coming up of Iron-man, Avengers or Fantastic Four. Unless you really have the itch to finish your run, keep you money and buy something else.
Grade: C-
