Invisible Woman #4 // Review
Sue Storm is struggling to understand fragments of her past in a world of espionage that she left behind years ago. The expose on the more shadowy side of Invisible Woman is brought a bit more closely into focus in an issue written by Mark Waid with art by Mattia De Iulis. With one foot in a past that never quite came to light in the pages of Fantastic Four and one foot in a very interesting present, it’s still a bit difficult to reconcile the two ends of her personality. Still, the character, her skills, and powers fit perfectly well in the world of spies and evident double agents.
It starts with a flashback. Eight years ago, Sue Richards was in Ukraine getting valuable intel with the U.S of a flash drive that she had cloaked in invisibility. Her partner Aidan wasn’t faring so well. He was getting the hell beaten out of him in the spattering of blood by some Ukrainian thugs. Thankfully this was all going on outside. Sue hopped into a sports car and made it a stealth affair in her own unique way. Thugs weren’t expecting to be hit by an expensive, high-end automobile they couldn’t see. Sue saved Aidan, but he was clearly operating against the overall plan. Sue was ready to cover for him...but there was more that she didn’t know about and now eight years later, some of those secrets turn out to be a danger to a great many people.
The details of Susan Storm that interact with the traditional Invisible Woman seem to have faded out here entirely in favor of a deepening trench of espionage mystery. A woman capable of becoming invisible and willing other things invisible is naturally going to be a very cool and useful power to have as a spy. Still, the rest of Sue’s personality seems to be locked out of the story by this point in the mini-series, which gives it some considerable distance from the central elements that make the Marvel Universe what it is. Waid puts together a solid story here, it just doesn’t necessarily feel like a Marvel story. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with this, it just feels weird given the fact that Sue has been so integrally tied into the Marvel Universe from its very first appearance back in 1961.
The rich visual depth of De Iulis’ art continues to impress. Blood spatters in snowfall feel particularly brutal and vicious, but with such a clear sense of line and form, even the most brutal moments feel oddly clean. This doesn’t exactly detract from the smooth impact of the physical action on the issue, though. The sharp, cleanliness of form is beautiful stuff when it fits the mood. De Iulis’ delivery of the invisibility effect is particularly impressive. Sue and her powers have this beautifully ghostly translucence about them that feels particularly slick in the service of a super-powered super-spy.
The series wraps the next issue with the big finale. It’s been an interesting journey into a plausible corner of Sue’s past. Still, if Waid’s going to really make this feel cohesive with the rest of Invisible Woman’s persona, he’s going to have to tie it together into the bigger picture with the Marvel Universe. Otherwise, this comes across as a rather interesting parallel universe story with an alternate version of Sue. This wouldn’t be a bad thing on the whole. It’d be interesting to see this done with other heroes from the edges of the panel who turn out to have a dark side that can be explored in this sort of story.
