First Strike: The Invasion! Podcast Ep.2: Invasion #1

Bass and Siskoid cover the first issue of Invasion!, an 80-page giant subtitled The Alien Alliance, by Keith Giffen, Bill Mantlo, Todd MacFarlane, and more. Gasp in unison as the aliens of the DC Universe come together and seize an entire continent! Where are our heroes to turn the tide?!

Listen to Episode 2 below (the usual filthy filthy language warnings apply), or subscribe to First Strike: The Invasion! Podcast on iTunes!

Relevant images and further credits at: First Strike ep.2 Supplemental

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And thanks for leaving a commentt, and all our best wishes to our Aussie friends!

11 responses to “First Strike: The Invasion! Podcast Ep.2: Invasion #1

  1. Your show is reminding me of how odd a crossover Invasion really was. Not that this is a bad thing, but it’s downright unconventional, even by 1988 standards. As you guys pointed out, there are no marquee characters in this first issue. No big heroes even on the cover! This gives the impression that the story was what mattered. The fact that DC editorial didn’t insist on Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman and the whole JLI on the cover or even in cameos in the book shows how the DC of the time was willing to take risks for an entertaining story. Man, I miss those days.

    Great coverage. I really want to go dig out my copy of issue #1 when I get home. I was a big fan of McFarlane’s art at the time, but like many things I liked in my teen years (lots of hair metal, for instance) I look back at it now and ask “why?”. But the story is solid either way.

    I think I even have that Daily Planet edition around here somewhere…

    Chris

  2. It was great how you dwelt on how Australia has the lowest instance of metahumans. By the third mention I thought you finally got the point across. We make up for it by having a disproportionate number of movie stars and beautiful people.

    1. No need to get on the defensive, Paul. I’m from the Maritimes, the region of Canada where nearly 40 years of Alpha Flight stories have failed to yield a single superhero or villain.

    2. I was thinking when Siskoid and Bass mentioned the utter lack of superheroes from Australia how come so many of them are played by Australian actors in the movies?

  3. This was a fun episode. INVASION! is the DC event that I most want to read but haven’t yet. The concept always intrigued me but the prospect of investing in a Todd McFarlane book at this point in my life is a hard sell. I have read a good handful of the tie-ins and I’m really excited to revisit them.

    Anyway, you guys did a great job recapping the story so that I didn’t feel like I was missing anything for not reading. Fun discussion and hilarious commentary. Great work!

  4. Great episode guys! Really enjoyed your take on this giant sized crossover launch! I remember back in 1988 not wanting to like this crossover. I suppose after Crisis, Legends, Secret Wars, and Secret Wars II, I was beginning to suffer from event fatigue (way back in ’88?!?!?). While the promotional house ad was beautifully rendered, I thought it looked too ridiculous; like a parody of 1950s invasion movies. I begrudgingly read the first issue and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. And my enjoyment increased with each issue!

    Keep up the great work! I look forward to next episode’s coverage of the Daily Planet supplement! I remember it well!

  5. Invasion! issues were roughly the size of 3.64 comics at a cost of four times current cover price, which was not an equitable exchange for my limited reading dollar. McFarlane’s concentration of detailing was somewhere between Infinity Inc and his Hulk run, without the overwrought design elements, so it was also coming up short in the India ink department. The series came out at a time when I was not seriously following any DC titles, and after the neighborhood comic shop had closed, so I would have had limited access and interest in the many tie-ins. Finally, the book was filled with goofy looking Silver Age aliens, and lacked a core of marketable protagonists, so I painlessly passed on it at the newsstand (plus I only recall ever seeing it racked at one local Safeway grocery store we irregularly shopped at.)

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