Written by Paul Allor, Jeremy Whitley, and Nick Kocher.
Art by Brian Level, Diego Olortegui, and Tana Ford.
Captain America, the murderous, fascist commander of Hydra, has taken over the United States. Mutants have been placed in their own little piece of land, New Tian (formerly known as California). Inhumans are imprisoned in concentration camps. Las Vegas has been obliterated. And this is all just the beginning.
This mini-series gives us a look at characters not involved in the main series. Three stories, with one 10 pages, one six pages, and one four pages. The big one belongs to the Invaders. In this case, Jim Hammond and Toro, who arrive at Atlantis in search of Sanctuary. However, Namor announces to them that Atlantis is neutral, even a collaborator, so he imprisons his former comrades fearing that Captain America and Hydra will destroy his kingdom if he assists them.
In the second story, the new Giant Man goes home to Denver and saves his family from being executed by Hydra soldiers. He then plans to join the Underground, resistance fighters against the current regime.
In the final story, one of Hydra's prisoners, Gwenpool, is forced to be a guest on a subversive Hydra news broadcast spewing their fascist propaganda to any and all viewers.
This is the book you'll want to read if you want to see what's going on with Atlantis, particularly Namor, who was a close comrade of Captain America before he discovered his friend's sinister secret. No other book will tell his tale. And I believe it's important because Namor was indeed one of Steve Rogers's closest friends and allies during WWII, and his reactions and subsequent actions need to be told. Same thing with Jim Hammond and Toro, really. So, all five issues of this series will feature 10 pages of the Invaders and Atlantis, as Secret Empire marches onward.
Namor's stance isn't too surprising. He has a kingdom to protect, and Atlantis can't afford a war with Hydra's massive army after only recently being rebuilt in the pages of SQUADRON SUPREME #15. However, it's not like there are Hydra soldiers anywhere. He could have given sanctuary to Jim and Toro and kept it a secret since they were his close friends. However, there is still plenty of time for him to change his mind.
I liked Giant Man's story. He's fairly new to me, and it was nice to learn about his backstory. And since he's been seen in the main series, I liked that he got his own story to tell in these pages, that we got to see how he joined Hawkeye's Underground. We also learned that the Grizzly and Machinesmith both joined Zemo's Army of Evil, which wasn't very surprising, even though they were Giant Man's roommates for a short time.
The final story was amusing, as most Gwenpool stories usually are. But I especially liked this tale because I wanted to know how Gwenpool was faring in the new Hydra Nation. Her book has yet to tie in with any main event thus far, and as I don't get that book, it's nice to get a short story with her here without paying another $3.99 to get a book I normally don't buy. And it had the usual antics one normally sees in her book, too. Her interview alongside a giant bat soldier of Hydra posing as Spider-Man was pretty hilarious, along with the titles of her "novel" that told everyone of the trouble she was in. We'll never see her again throughout this event, but I like that we got a little something-something with her to tell us what's going on with her in this terrible new world.
I look forward to reading the remainder of the series, featuring more Invaders action alongside stories with various lower tier characters.
