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You have to love a week in which the Big Two both come out swinging for the fences.

In this corner, we have Marvel, dropping Secret Invasion #1. After reading this issue, I am even more conflicted on this event then I had been before. On the one hand, the concept of this Skrull Invasion intrigues me. On the other hand, I am no fan of Brian Bendis, and it feels like he's been given the keys to the castle to not only change anything he wants in this story, but also break any conventions he wants.

And, after reading his first issue, my fears have not been alleviated by much. His characterizations of certain characters, like Agent Brand and Reed Richards, were poor. I've never been a big fan of either of his Avengers teams, either. What Bendis does succeed in, though, is establishing that tone of "anything can happen" that he's been hyping for the last year. I didn't feel it whatsoever up until now -- but the way the Skrulls make their first move in this issue is really well done.

I'm struggling not to spoil anything here, but there is one scene at the end of this issue that will really drop your jaw -- even as we all realize the status quo can't be changed THAT MUCH... can it?

Anyway, this debut issue is strong enough to warrant picking up. I just hope this story can be read without paying out the rear for crossovers and tie-ins.

In the other corner, we have DC, concluding Superman's Legion of Superheroes arc in Action Comics #863, only to start promoting the Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds story.

Action itself was a satisfying ending to a great story arc, and yes, I'll spoil it for you, Superman prevails in the end. The ending is actually pretty predictable, but that is not a bad thing considering how well it all fits together with the first five issues. Again, I strongly recommend reading this whole arc.

The last two pages of this comic, however, are full-page promos for Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, which will be a five over-sized issue story written by Geoff Johns and drawn by George Perez, and will tie-in directly with Grant Morrison's Final Crisis.

It seems the main story will be an all-out war waged between Superman and the three different incarnations of the Legion, vs. Superman-Prime, Lex Luthor and the Legion of Supervillains. Oh, and did I mention the lightning rod from "The Lightning Saga" is featured prominently in the promo? Meaning, we're either getting Bart Allen, Barry Allen or Connor Kent back in this story.

In essence, this is making Final Crisis into a 12-part story rather than the seven we've heard before, but with Johns and Morrison teaming up, the quality will be guaranteed.

The rest of this week's offerings were not nearly as exciting. Young X-Men #1 is nothing but a 'gathering the team' story, so if you pick up #2 next month, you're not missing much. Cable #2 is nothing but a recap of where Bishop has been. The problem there is that it is exactly what you would have guessed it to be. Again, if you skip this, you aren't missing much.

Oh, and insanely horrible again was Countdown to Final Crisis #4, with Mary Marvel making the most out-of-character choice I have seen in comics since Cyclops cheated on Jean. Evil again, for no good reason.

Oh well, that's it for the books I picked up this week.