“ Matt Fraction, who just wrote the extremely violent and incredibly fun ‘Thor: Ages of Thunder’ one-shot for me will be writing ‘Secret Invasion: Thor,’” editor Warren Simons told CBR News. ”I am extremely excited about the artist we have lined up – I’m really happy to be working with this team – but we won’t have an announcement about the artist until early May.”  

“Deadpool will play a role in [Secret Invasion] that no one else does—or can—and he’ll have some real explaining to do after the war is over,” editor Axel Alonso says at Marvel.com. Also in the CBR report:  ”Nova” 16-18 and “Guardians of the Galaxy” 3-6 will tie into the cosmic area of the “Secret Invasion.”

 Marvel.com has more about the Guardians tie-in: ”The Guardians are looking at the Invasion from the outside,” (co-writer) Dan Abnett notes. “Their [point of view] is cosmic in scale and scope and therefore should provide an interesting contrast to the main Secret Invasion stories presented in other titles.” 

- Matt Price

On this week’s comics podcast, Kyle Roberts and Matt Price discuss new releases: “Secret Invasion” No. 1, “Young X-Men” No. 1 and “Anna Mercury” No. 1, and take a look back with the “Killing Joke” hardcover.

Secret Invasion

Matt Price: (Writer Brian Michael) Bendis has been setting up hints for this for a long time;  … really nice artwork in this … I think (Yu’s) a really nice choice for a crossover event.  Probably leaves more questions than answers, but it’s a nice setup for the beginning of a crossover.

Kyle Roberts:  It’s always very cool seeing so many different characters in one comic  book.  The art on it is very good. I like how they draw all of the characters.  Sometimes I pick up a book, and say ‘I can’t even read this’ because I don’t like how Wolverine’s drawn or Spider-Man’s drawn. … I love the art in it. 

Young X-Men

Kyle Roberts: Professor X is dead, Cyclops said the X-Men are no more, so he’s going to round up a new team.  So that’s what this is about, Cyclops picking his new team.

Matt Price: There’s a cliffhanger in this book that we won’t spoil for you, but if you’re a longtime reader of the X-Men books, there’s some characters that you will possibly enjoy seeing.  

Killing Joke 

Kyle Roberts: The whole graphic novel is excellent, it’s very cinematic … it gets you in the head of the Joker, how crazy he actually is.

Matt Price: Alan Moore is considered maybe the greatest writer ever in the history of comics, and comparing it to other Alan Moore works, maybe that’s where ‘Killing Joke’ falls a little short.

Anna Mercury

Matt Price: It’s got a very nice (writer Warren) Ellis science-fiction feel, and there’s a twist at the end as well.  If you like Ellis’ more science fiction works, like “Ocean” or “Ministry of Space” this is one you’ll want to check out.

– Matt Price

Newsarama points to Entertainment Weekly’s coverage of Marvel’s latest event, “Secret Invasion,” set to go on sale April 2.  EW has the first 10 pages online, and an interview with writer Brian Michael Bendis.  From EW:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let’s say you’re a fan of the Marvel universe, but you’re not an expert. Why should you read Secret Invasion?
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS: The Skrulls were invented back in the day when Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the Cold War were a big part of the [Marvel] universe. And we’re kind of back in that: The subtext of this story is not knowing if you can trust your friends or family. Years after 9/11, we go on a plane and start scanning the crowd…we can’t help it. Plus, it’s every character in the Marvel universe interacting with each other in a completely unique way. It’s the biggest disaster movie the Marvel universe, we’re hoping, would ever see.

– Matt Price

Another sneak peek image from Marvel tying into the upcoming “Secret Invasion.”

While you’re in a Skrully mood, give a listen to Stan Lee talking about the creation of the Skrulls on a podcast from Marvel.com.

Make your own inferences, but the paranoia is being ratcheted up, especially after rumor-monger (and possible fish monger) Rich Johnston posted a piece claiming one of Marvel’s top 20 books will be canceled…by Skrulls. Will someone live or die or be a Skrull or even a Skrull’s baby-momma?

I look forward to finding out.