Secret Invasion: Front Line #4

Nov 9

Nov 9 Secret Invasion: Front Line #4

The Fall of Manhattan

Secret Invasion continues from Secret Invasion: Inhumans #3…

4 hours before the Skrull invasion,[1] Ben Urich was in his kitchen drinking coffee and eating a muffin. Thinking back at this moment, he reflects on how events in your personal lives force you to make decisions on how to face them. For example, when looking at some pills prescribed to his wife, Doris, Ben decided to leave that issue for the nurse who was coming by for a visit.[2]

Now, an hour after the invasion, Ben and a group of other New York refugees were using the subway system to try and get somewhere safe. This plan went sideways when, at the Stark/Avengers Tower station they ended up running into the Rolling Sevens street gang. Claiming the station as their turf, they ended up shooting Jonathan Bryant, a cab driver who was part of Urich’s party. They then demand that everyone else hand over their valuables. Ben can hardly believe that the Rolling Sevens are committing petty robbery what with the alien invasion happening above ground. The gang doesn’t care. As they hand over their valuables, Urich gives them his pocket recording device. Deeming it useless, the leader of the Rolling Sevens tosses it to the ground. This causes it to play a recording, ironically a statement given by Doctor Molly Young, who Ben had interviewed earlier that day when one of the Rolling Sevens was brought in for surgery to treat a gunshot wound.[3]

Meanwhile, some 30 stories above, inside Stark Tower, Melanie Crane just witnessed her father get murdered by a Skrull. Backing away from her father’s killer, Mel finds her back up against the only window that experienced a shutter malfunction when the building was locked down.[4] When the Skrull charges at her, Melanie dives out of the way, and the Skrull ends up plowing headlong into the window, shattering it and falling to its death. This is witnessed by Officer Bill Dawson and Lisa Carter, who have been surviving on the streets since the start of this invasion. Seeing Melanie, they try calling out to her, but she disappears from sight. The girl goes back and finds her father’s body among the dead.

Back outside, Dawson and Carter are surprised to see that the dead Skrull has an ordinary cell phone on its person. Looking at the installed apps they find one with a weird character on it. Running the app shuts deactivates the lock down at Avengers Tower. Bill tells Lisa to hurry him inside so they can make sure everyone is safe. While down below, Ben Urich’s group is upset that he let them all get robbed and now they are stuck in the dark without their phones to light the way. That’s when the security gates into the tower open. They carry Jonathan inside and join the larger group inside the main building. As Ben fetches the first aid kit for Jonathan, Bill uses the Skrull cell phone to close the shutters again.

This prevents Melanie and others from fleeing outside. When she demands they let her out, they tell her that it is a war zone outside and they need the barriers to keep them safe. Wanting to put more protection between them and any aliens that might come knocking, they all relocate to the 23rd floor. By this time, Ben has gotten Melanie’s story and has heard about the open window on the 30th floor. He decides to go up and see what’s going on outside so he can report on what’s happening. He tells the others that if he is not back in 20 minutes to baracade the door and not open it Iron Man himself comes knocking.

As Ben got upstairs and started observing what was happening, he tried to push thoughts of his wife out of his mind, but could not. After seeing all that there was to see, Urich returns to the others and tells them that other than ships in the sky, and dead Skrulls in the street, there is no sign that anyone is coming to rescue them. Fearing that many of them might not survive this, Ben decides to spend his time documenting their stories and how they found themselves in this situation. Once he is done, Ben decides to venture back outside to try and find help for them. Lisa and Melanie go with him to the ground floor. When they use the phone to open the shutters again, Melanie insists on going with him because she can’t spend another minute in the building where she watched her father die. Seeing how upset the girl is, Urich reluctantly agrees to let her come along.

As they walk the streets, they discover that the city is no longer under attack because the Skrulls are now in occupation. The warriors that were so ready to kill anyone and everyone when they first arrived now mill about the streets, caring very little about Ben or Melanie. They walk until dark and see no sign of help anywhere. That’s when they see a giant bolt of lightning strike over Central Park and race there to see what’s going on. There, Ben and Melanie witness humanity’s last stand as Earth’s superhumans fight the final battle against the Skrull invaders.[5]

… Secret Invasion continues in Secret Invasion: Home Invasion #6.

Recurring Characters

Ben Urich, Melanie Crane, Johnathan Bryant, Bill Dawson, Lisa Carter, Rolling Sevens, Skrulls, Thor, Captain America, New Avengers (Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Fist), Black Widow, Stature, Venom, Vincent Crane (corpse)

Continuity Notes

The main story of the Skrull invasion is told in Secret Invasion #1-8.
This is a hint that Doris Urich was terminally ill at the time of this series. Next issue we’ll learn that she had died while Ben was covering the Skrull invasion.
Ben went to the Emergency Room at Empire State University to interview in Secret Invasion: Front Line #1 to get a story on gang violence. Molly was later killed by a Skrull in the following issue.
As seen in issue #1, Stark Tower went in lock down at the start of the invasion. It was compromised by a computer virus transmitted to all Starktech in Secret Invasion #1.
This final battle takes place in Secret Invasion #7-8.

Topical References

Ben Urich is depicted using a pocket tape recorder to take interviews of the people in this story. While these were still used by reporters in 2008, when this series was originally published, they have fallen out of common use thanks to digital recording mediums and smart phones becoming popular. Its depiction here should be considered topical.
This issue is interesting because it shows the shift between “flip” style phones to smartphones by depicting an iPhone in the story. However, an iPhone 3 is what is depicted here. Released in 2008, this model was discontinued in 2010, making its depiction a topical reference.

Errors

Last issue, Lisa introduced herself as Lisa Carter. In this issue, the opening summary page identifies her as Lisa Dobson. She is only called by her first name throughout the rest of this series, while she is only referred to as Dobson in the summary pages. For the purposes of my index I am referring to her as Lisa Carter, because that’s how she chooses to identify herself in the story. Also, Dobson sounds very similar to Bill Dawson’s last name.