Well, I’m back. I didn’t mean to stay gone for so long, but I had other things to work on. I covered some of that in my previous post. Just know that I’m gonna try to get at least one post out a month. If the muse is hitting me, I could get two out. Just depends on what’s going on, ya know?
When I last left off, I said I was going to touch upon the 1989 DC event, Invasion! It took me a while, but I finally finished reading it and its tie-ins. I first heard about this event on From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast. The hosts were going through all of the Superman books from the late 80’s to the mid-2000’s and they touched on the tie-ins as well as the event itself. I ended up getting the 3 issue mini a few years ago. When I started my read-through of post-Crisis Superman, I read through this event as well as the tie-ins to it. Since the DCU app has all of the tie-ins, I was finally able to read this crossover in full.
Invasion! was released throughout the early part of 1989. In an interesting move, DC released the mini in three 80-page issues. For that time, this was probably a nice buy. If only we could get that now with those prices. Anyway, It was written by Keith Giffen (plot) and Bill Mantlo (script). The pencils were provided by Todd McFarlane (yeah, he did DC for a bit), Bart Sears, and Giffen himself. Inks were done by Joe Rubinstein, P. Craig Russell, Tom Christopher, Al Gordon, and Dick Giordano.
SYNOPSIS
In the event, an alien race known as the Dominators wants to study and control humanity’s metagene. It’s basically the gene that gives humans special abilities. Since Earth has its superheroes, The Dominators forge an alliance with eight other alien species to take over Earth: The Khunds, the Thanagarians, the Durlans, the Okaarans, the Daxamites, the Gil’Dishpan, the Psions, and the Citidelians. Before their invasion, the Alliance takes down any support that Earth might get from outside forces like the Omega Men. When Adam Strange tries to contact Earth’s heroes, he too is captured by the Alliance.
The Alliance strikes and attacks Earth. They actually were able to take over Australia. Of course, Earth’s heroes fight back and it’s a tough one for them all. The JLI and other heroes fight in Australia and Flash ends up meeting Fidel Castro in Cuba! More on that later. Anyway, things change when the Daxamites end up gaining powers similar to Superman. They take him on, but when Earth’s environment harms them, Superman saves them. This causes the Daxamites to withdraw their support from the Alliance and help Earth. With their help, the heroes and villains of Earth are able to curtail the Invasion.Things do settle down on Earth after the invasion’s dealt with.
Then, Earth is thrown another curveball. A rogue Dominator develops a virus that kills metahumans and unleashes it on Earth. All of Earth’s metahumans fall ill. The remaining heroes (some non-human heroes, some Green Lanterns, and Superman) leave Earth to find a cure. Luckily, they’re helped out by The Omega Men and others that escaped from the clutches of the Alliance. After they go to the Dominator homeworld and get the cure, they’re able to spread it upon the Earth and save the metahuman population.
TIE-INS
The tie-ins were a special bunch here. Since the event was only done in three months, it only tied into a few books. You can see the list here. The first wave of tie-ins (Extra!) actually dealt with the solo battles since the main series didn’t dwell on the individual fights. They also tied into one another. For example, the Starman and Firestorm books linked up together. The next month’s tie-ins (Aftermath!) dealt with what happened after the failed Invasion at the end of #2. Overall, They were fine, but the only ones I really latched onto were the Superman tie-ins. This was right before the Exile storyline and Superman was dealing with his own problems and handling the Invasion.
REVIEW
Story and Artwork
I thought that this was an interesting crossover. While it is your standard “Aliens Gonna Take Over, Yo!” story, it’s handled well enough. We actually spend a good amount with the Alliance itself before we get to any Earth action. Most of it is just buildup with the Dominators conducting brutal experiments on captured humans and planning their invasion with the other races. While we get a couple space heroes like Adam Strange and the Omega Men, we don’t see a lot of Earth’s heroes until the second issue. That’s when the big action really pulls in and you see all of Earth’s heroes coming together with the military to combat the threat. The last issue is where the crossover goes on a heel with Earth’s meta-population getting ill.
The writing and scripting was fine. I could tell Keith Giffen helped out a little here since the story was infused with some of the same humor he wrote on Justice League International. The bits with the Omega Men and what was eventually known as L.E.G.I.O.N. were nice. I also liked that nice fight between Superman and the Daxamites. While I wasn’t a big fan of the artwork, the page where Superman gets lit up was funny.
As for the artwork, it’s okay. I’m actually not that big a fan of Tod McFarlane, so having him here wasn’t that great. The way he drew some heroes and characters was weird. He had Superman’s cape standing in a way that just felt like it was sentient or something. That being said, He did do good action. I also liked how weird he made the different aliens look. I do wonder if he could’ve made the Dominators look less weirdly racist. Seriously, though, what was up with DC on that front? I can see what they possibly look like! I was more a fan of Bryan Sears’ pencils and was glad he did the second half of the series. Giffen’s stuff was okay, though.
As for my dislikes, there were times where the mainseries would drag a bit. It’s 80 pages per issue and you end up getting some places where the pacing’s off. The humor could also run a little thin. This is Giffen-era JLI humor, and while it can be funny, it can also be a little annoying. I already said my piece on the artwork. It’s not bad, but it isn’t that good either. It could be the fact that I’m not a big fan of McFarlane.
Tie-Ins
The tie-ins for the event were okay at best. While I did like how they tied into themselves and the fact that they showed more of the battle, that was about it. Some of the books were of heroes I really didn’t care much about. Even some of the heroes that I did like had some subpar tie-ins. I can definitely say that about the Flash, though it was funny to see him hang with Fidel Castro. Seriously, that happens and it is hilarious.
That being said, there were tie-ins that were worth reading. Suicide Squad #23 was pretty good and even tied into the event well since Amanda Waller was helping out the heroes. Justice League International #23 was pretty funny. Superman’s tie-ins (Superman #26-27 and Adventures of Superman #449-450) were pretty good themselves. While they dealt with the invasion, they also revolved around Superman’s situation post-Supergirl Saga. It’s here where he ended up leaving Earth and went into Exile. If you want to know more about that, check out Superman: Exile for more. Other than those tie-ins, they were okay.
Oh yeah, there were a couple of panels from the Batman tie-in that made me chuckle. Man, the 80’s were different for Batman. These days, he’d be leading the heroes into space with his own Bat-Ship or whatever Scott Snyder would cook up for him… not throwing shade at current Batman, but it needs to be said.
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In the end, Invasion! was a fine DC event. I wouldn’t call it great, but it did make for entertaining reading. I’d give it 3 weirdly racist Dominators out of 5. If you’re curious, I’d at least check out the main series and the Superman books that tied into it. This is one event that has been pulled into other media. Season 2 of Young Justice loosely adapted this but with different aliens. It even got loosely adapted in the Arrowverse for one its yearly crossovers. By the way, I need to eventually check that out. While I’m on that, I’ll move on to another event. Until then, peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.
Comic Crossover Central 
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