Back To World Of Espionage With Invisible Woman #1
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Invisible Woman once spent time working as a secret operative for S.H.I.E.L.D. She has since quit the spy game and is settling back in on Earth now that the Fantastic Four are home. This is interrupted by a U.S. general who informs Sue Storm that the Moravian government, a foreign power hostile to the United States, has kidnapped six college students and a former spy associate of Sue’s named Aiden Tintreach. Aiden put out a coded message for Sue, but the general doesn’t want her to interfere in this delicate situation. Of course, the Invisible Woman can’t leave a friend in harm’s way, and she plans her trip to find Aiden.
Invisible Woman #1 kicks off this new miniseries starring the Sue Storm that takes her back to her (relatively recently retconned in) days as a spy for S.H.I.E.L.D. It’s also the first time that the Invisible Woman has ever had her own miniseries, so that’s pretty cool.
Given that Mark Waid is writing the series and is the one that gave Sue Storm a background in spycraft, it’s not surprising that this book focuses on that aspect of the Invisible Woman’s life. It offers an opportunity to show aspects of the character we’ve not seen before and a reason to not get the other Fantastic Four members involved.
Waid does a good job of showing off the various aspects of Sue’s personality in this issue too. Admittedly, none of the details of the spy narrative are particularly grabbing yet, but Sue’s personality saves the comic.
That, and the incredible artwork of Mattia de Iulis. The clarity, detail, and texture of the artwork is at times breathtaking. Iulis also makes sure to give plenty of expression to the characters as well as punch to the action scenes. Iulis’ color art is downright explosive too, making this one of the best-looking comics of the week for sure.
Invisible Woman #1 is a solid first step for this first-ever Sue Storm solo venture. We get to see Sue return to the world of espionage in fantastic detail thanks to artist Mattia de Iulis. This one gets a recommendation for sure. Check it out.
Invisible Woman #1 comes to us from writer Mark Waid, artist Mattia de Iiulis, letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna, cover artist Adam Hughes, and variant cover artists Stephanie Hans; Steve McNiven with Richard Isanove; and Jack Kirby with Edgar Delgado.
Final Score: 8/10
