With the success of Civil War in 2006 and World War Hulk in 2007, the announcement at the Baltimore Comic-Con of a new Marvel crossover event, Secret Invasion, has piqued both consumer and retailer interest.  The eight-issue Secret Invasion miniseries, which will be written by Brian Michael Bendis, is slated to debut in the spring of 2008.  As was the case with Civil War, the events in the Secret Invasion mini-series will tie in with happenings in a number of other Marvel comics, though readers will be able to enjoy the Secret Invasion miniseries on its own.  Gabriele Dell'Otto is providing the cover images and Lenil Yu, who has a reputation for making his deadlines, is penciling the Secret Invasion miniseries.  Marvel is promising to make sure that the series ships on time, a logistical feat that it was not able to pull off with Civil War and which resulted in delays for related titles that were tied into the main Civil War storyline.

Brian Michael Bendis teased the narrative of the Secret Invasion miniseries, which involves infiltration by the shape-changing Skrull, in his very first issue of New Avengers and put the spotlight on the growing conflict with the Skrull by revealing that Elektra was a Skrull in New Avengers #31.  While the twisting, convoluted conspiratorial possibilities of a Skrull invasion are sure to upset some longtime Marvel readers, they certainly provide a wonderful range of narrative possibilities for the writers.  Bendis maintains that Secret Invasion will fundamentally change the Marvel Universe as much as Civil War did--the question is will it generate as much interest and continue Marvel's string of highly successful crossover events?