The shape-shifting aliens known as the Skrull invade the Marvel Universe. Find out everything you need to know to follow Marvel’s epic summer event and answer the question:

Who Do You Trust?

Secret Invasion is an 8 month Marvel Comics event that kicked off in April. SECRET INVASION #1 was released in April. SECRET INVASION #2 is due to be released on MAY 2nd. I have read SECRET INVASION #1and I am very excited to see where this is going. If you haven’t jumped on yet, I encourage you to do so. Here is the official description of the event from Marvel.

The Marvel Comics event of 2008 is here—SECRET INVASION!

The shape-shifting alien race known as the Skrulls has secretly infiltrated every super-powered organization on Earth with one goal…full-scale invasion! Brian Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu leap off the pages of mega-hit New Avengers and deliver a story that will change the Marvel Universe forever. The shocking reveals, powerful action and pulse-pounding page after page will keep you on the edge of your seat as Marvel’s greatest heroes and villains must ask…Who Do You Trust?

THE MARVEL UNIVERSE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!

Here is the checklist for the first four months of Secret Invasion and all of last year’s back story issues. The back story for Secret Invasion has now been collected in a trade paperback called Secret Invasion: the Infiltration, which is in stores now.

Secret Invasion Checklist

November 2007

NEW AVENGERS:ILLUMINATI #5

December 2007

AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE ANNUAL #1

January 2008

MIGHTY AVENGERS #7

March 2008

SECRET INVASION SAGA #1

April 2008

MIGHTY AVENGERS #12

NEW AVENGERS #40

SECRET INVASION #1

SECRET INVASION #1 MCNIVEN VARIANT

SECRET INVASION #1 Blank Cover

May 2008

MIGHTY AVENGERS #13

CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI: 13 #1

INCREDIBLE HERCULES #117

NEW AVENGERS #41

SECRET INVASION #2

SECRET INVASION #2 Sketch Variant

SECRET INVASION #2 Variant

SECRET INVASION: FANTASTIC FOUR #1

June 2008

SECRET INVASION: WHO DO YOU TRUST? #1

SECRET INVASION #3 SKETCH VARIANT

SECRET INVASION #3

SECRET INVASION #3 MCNIVEN VARIANT

SECRET INVASION: RUNAWAYS/YOUNG AVENGERS #1

SECRET INVASION: FANTASTIC FOUR #2

July 2008

SECRET INVASION: RUNAWAYS/YOUNG AVENGERS #2

SECRET INVASION #4 YU VARIANT

SECRET INVASION #4 MCNIVEN VARIANT

SECRET INVASION #4

SECRET INVASION #4 MCNIVEN SKETCH VARIANT

SECRET INVASION: FANTASTIC FOUR #3

At New York Comic Con, a panel was held on Secret Invasion. Here is a quick recap of that panel. Including the Q & A session. (NOTE: Not all of the Q&A questions are about SECRET INVASION)

Panelists include: Jason Aaron, Daniel Way, Axel Alonso, Tom Brevoort, Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Kevin Grievoux, Andy Lanning, Dan Slott, Brian Reed, Chris Gage, Bill Rosemann, Jim McCann and Joe Quesada. Showing variant cover for Secret Invasion #2, showing Hawkeye and Mockingbird together. Cover by Leinil Yu. Secret Invasion: Thor. By Matt Fraction and ???. Can’t say yet on the artist. Coming in May. She-Hulk/X-Factor crossover mentioned. Quesada mentions the cosmic universe and how he never cared in the past but does thanks to Lanning. Invasion will hit the Guardians and Nova. Deadpool ongoing by Daniel Way and Paco Medina coming in September. (First three issues of Deadpool tie into SI.) Brian Reed is doing Secret Invasion: Spider-Man. (We have an interview with Brian Reed live now. Interviews regarding Guardians, Deadpool and Thor coming tomorrow morning.)

Q: Will Beyonder and Gauntlet issues tie into Secret Invasion?

A: Brevoort – Wait and see.

Q: Jim Starlin on cosmic books?

A: Quesada – Not at the moment.

Q: Secret Invasion: X-Men – Will we be seeing Iceman and whatnot?

A: Alonso – Involves Uncanny team. A new direction for the X-Men in general will begin in July.

Q: What is Claremont’s next project?

A: Genext.

Q: Reprints of Messiah Complex? Need last few issues!

A: Hardcover very soon. Quesada jokes that there’s an entire floor of retailers upstairs.

Q: Can we get Astonishing X-Men get wrapped up?

A: Giant-Size X-Men in May.

Q: Does the Iron Man movie suck? Be honest! We’ll see it anyway!

A: Quesada says he’s seen it four times and it’s excellent. Says Robert Downey Jr. is so compelling and so good. Relationship between Pepper and Tony is the best superhero romance in film, ever. Says he loves the movie. Thinks we’ll see it 2-3 times.

Q: Namor in Secret Invasion?

A: Brevoort – Yes.

Q: Secret Invasion Front Line – what’s the pitch?

A: It’s on the front line, people running from disaster. If Bendis is writing Godzilla, Reed is writing Cloverfield. We’re so used to hanging with the heroes that sometimes we forget about the people.

Q: Any Avengers books being cancelled after Invasion?

A: Brevoort – I think there’ll probably be three Avengers books for some time.

Q: What If Secret Invasion?

A: Brevoort – Possibly. Wouldn’t be surprised.

Q: Did the Skrulls bargain with Ultron to clear their galactic threats?

A: New Avengers #43 as well as Guardians will be tackling these issues. Super Skrull is Nova 16-18. Guardians of the Galaxy in 4-6 will be invasion-related. Events of Nova 16 tie to She-Hulk 32.

Q: Why don’t the Skrulls trust Super Skrull?

A: Lanning – Very personal story for Super Skrull. The Skrulls think Super is a bit of a has-been. Regarding the conspiracy theory regarding Ultron and the Skrulls, that’s very good – can I borrow that?

Q: Ultimate Wolverine…?

A: No date on that just yet.

Q: Is the Sentry a Skrull?

A: Anybody can be a Skrull. There’s a lot of stuff to come!

Q: More Titanus? (From Kirkman’s Marvel Team-Up) More of Ethan, Hudlin’s Skrull creation from Marvel Knights Spider-Man?

A: Slott just brought it up three hours ago. Depending on what Slott said – maybe. Wait and see on Ethan.

Q: Will Cho be working with New Warriors to attack Skrulls?

A: Van Lente – Wait and see, but Incredible Hercules 117 – 120 tie to Secret Invasion. The old New Warriors and the new New Warriors will be headed for a fight once the Skrulls arrive as the old guard thinks the new guard is Skrully. Just a side note, Kevin Grievoux has a voice that sounds like… Darth Vader meets a lion’s roar or something. It’s INSANE.

Q: Focus of Secret Invasion: X-Men?

A: Written by Mike Carey. Skrull stuff is contained in that mini. Way mentions Deadpool’s dealing with the Skrulls is rather bizarre.

Q: Are the New Avengers aware they used to know his identity?

A: Yes.

Q: Wouldn’t they then think he’s a Skrull?

A: It doesn’t matter because of the danger of the Skrull ships arriving. That will be dealt with in the future.

Q: Secret Invasion: Inhumans mini-series? Why do they miss their monarch when his brother Maximus was the king?

A: This series will build from Silent War. Drawn by Tom Raney and written by Joe Pokaksi (Heroes writer also writing Ultimate X-Men).

Q: Aaron on Black Panther past SI tie-in issues?

A: No. Panther has a contingency plan in place when the Skrulls arrive. Turns into a ground war between Wakanda and the Skrulls. Also involves Panther and Storm vs. a Super Skrull featuring Marvel’s greatest street fighting heroes.

Q: Plans for a Fury series after Secret Invasion?

A: Silence, then there’s mention that there are plans for Fury, whether he actually survives Invasion.

Q: Marvel_Boy – Real or Not?

A: Real.

Q: Is Loeb writing any Invasion books? If not – Thank you.

A: McCann – And he speaks so highly of you…

Q: Will we see if villains are being replaced by Skrulls?

A: Yes.

Q: Sentry/Thor face off coming?

A: Quesada – Oh hell I don’t know.

Q: X-Men’s Secret Invasion tie-in deals with San Fran school?

A: Not a school!

Q: Someone asks for Grievoux to say “moose and squirrel”.

A: (He does.)

Q: How much of what the Skrulls were doing caused the development of the Superhero Registration act to be passed and now shot down by Supreme Court ala Mutant Registration Act?

A: All covered in New/Mighty Avengers books.

Q: Ultimate Spider-Man – when will we see Ultimate Spider-Woman?

A: She is coming but not for a bit.

Q: What will you be doing in the future to bring smaller characters to the forefront?

A: Marvel Comics Presents! Ms Marvel! Guardians of the Galaxy! Initiative! Quesada says they try to give as many characters in the catalog as possible a chance to shine. They test the waters with mini-series, but the characters that are around a lot are the ones that are the core of their business.

Q: Fan cites the concept that Cap and Thor used to be smaller books and are now huge – what about that for something like Namor?

A: Quesada mentions it’s about climate and the right writer with the right character. He’d love Namor to take off. Q: How will you continue to take advantage of comic book movies?

A: Quesada – Best thing we can do is continue to publish at the highest level of quality. We love that the movies are around. It’s great that people notice what we do.

Q: Any plan to bring back Solo Avengers?

A: Brevoort – Concept of solo Avengers is kind of stupid. They’re a team. Want solo Avengers, it’s Thor or Cap and whatnot.

Q: Have humans infiltrated Skrulls?

A: Keep reading.

Q: Battlestar influence on Secret Invasion?

A: Brevoort mentions that he only just started watching when the recent marathon was on Sci-Fi. Does mention that Marvel has been doing Skrull stories since the ’60s and that it could just be something in the air. McCann mentions the first traces of the story popped up around when BSG started. Panel Ends

Keep watching for more coverage of SECRET INVASION

On the web: http://www.marvel.com/comics/Secret_Invasion

All images borrowed from Marvel Comics website.