Meet the Skrulls #1 // Review
Meet the Warners. They’re a normal family, living normal lives, working at normal jobs, going to normal school with normal people. But of course, they aren’t. They’re Skrulls, and they’re involved in a secret war with humanity.
That’s the setup of Marvel’s new series, Meet the Skrulls. This first issue is a solid start to a series which could be another modern classic like The Vision or The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, provided it doesn't try too hard to imitate the domestic drama of the former or the screwball comedy of the latter.
Writer Robbie Thompson elegantly and economically uses one issue to introduce the reader to the series’ four main characters. Gloria, the team leader; Carl, her husband, from a higher caste among the Skrulls; Madison, the overachieving older child; and Alice, the youngest child, who may not be cut out for a life of shapeshifting spycraft--as well as their needs, conflicts, a ticking clock, and a terrifying potential antagonist. Thompson goes to the comic well of the bombastic-alien-supervillain-speechifying-in-mundane-circumstances a few too many times, but overall this is an original and exciting first issue.
Niko Henrichon, handling all art duties (with the help of Color Assistant Laurent Grossat), does solid work with character design and storytelling. The concept of this book already begs comparison to Tom King and Gabriel Walta’s 2016 masterpiece The Vision, and Henrichon and Grossat’s color choices lean into that alikeness, creating a similar moody-yet-domestic atmosphere. The combination of alien invaders and teenage angst provide plenty of fun lettering opportunities, which VC’s Travis Lanham takes advantage of with aplomb.
Serendipitously releasing as the upcoming Captain Marvel film brings the Marvel Universe’s oldest alien race (the Skrulls first appeared in Fantastic Four #2 in 1961) back to prominence, this first issue is a promising start to what could be a modern classic, provided it continues to find its own voice.
