Marvel Comics is releasing a new 8 issue story-line titled "Secret Invasion." They have the first ten pages of the first issue over at Entertainment Weekly, and I started reading through the pages. I thought to myself, "Hrm... OK... Bendis... he's OK... wow, this art is good... Stark's blue eyes are scary... oh... oh wow... THIS IS BATTLESTAR GALACTICA."
What? RoboNixon, you cry, whatever do you mean?
Well, first check out the ten pages, then check out BSG. It's OK, I'll wait.
...
Caught up? OK. See the similarities? No? OK. Well, I can help you out.
In Battlestar Galactica, the humans are on a voyage to Earth, a "lost colony" that is part of the dense polytheistic religion of theirs. Earth, to many of the characters, is a religious inevitability. The Cylons, while monotheistic, also feel that Earth is religiously and rightfully theirs.
According to Wikipedia, Secret Invasion is about a group of Skrulls posing as other heroes who believe that Earth is "religiously and rightfully theirs." Hrm. Wow.
Skrulls are shape shifters and have been disguised as various super-powered villains and heroes "since the beginning" -- according to Wikipedia, "it is unknown how the Skrull invasion began and how long it has been going on."
This sounds a lot like BSG. Like, a lot a lot. Cylons in the show [were] often sleeper agents, and it was unknown how long they had been posing as humans, and how they infiltrated. The Cylons feel that Earth is theirs. The Cylons want to destroy humanity to attain these ends.
And religious overtones? In Secret Invasion: "Each Skrull agent mouths the words, 'he loves you' before putting their part of the plan in to action."
Wow. That's a lot like the Cylons being all about God, isn't it?
Now, to be fair, it's clear that BSG is inspired by many real-world events. Terrorism, sleeper agents, terrorist cells, religious fanaticism, it's all a big part of BSG, but it's a bigger part in our day-to-day existence. It seems like a lot of what Bendis is doing with Secret Invasion is, in fact, inspired by the same idea, from the same real-world place.
So there you have it. And what you do with it, you must decide for yourself.
-RoboNixon
Posts
1 comment:
You're absolutely right. But Marvel Comics has been influenced by world events lately. They've had their metaphors for 9-11, the Patriot Act, Guantanamo Bay, and other "War on Terror" concepts as well, but Secret Invasion totally bites from BSG. They were trying to do their metaphor for sleeper agents and sleeper cells, but ostensibly it's the same idea (and probably not as well executed).
Post a Comment