947

Decent

It wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. It has ideas but it goes nowhere with those ideas. So its just a so-so book. ( )

This has an interesting premise, with powerful superhero leaders coming together in secret to solve problems. The stories, although short, are decent. The bit about their relationships illustrated just how men-only they are.

The art, however. Cheung seems to prefer small-to-nonexistant closed mouths, especially when the characters are at any distance. Which makes the characters look strange, and rather similar. ( )

Neat idea.

A series of short stories, taking place in the background of well-known Marvel storylines. The Illuminati are a group of leaders in the Marvel Universe made of Black Bolt, Iron Man, Professor X, Namor, Doctor Strange, and Mister Fantastic. And like the name implies, they get involved in some secret operations that they tell nobody else about, to protect other Marvel characters and the universe.

My favorite story had Mister Fantastic attempting to acquire the gems of the Infinity Guantlet with the help of everyone else, it was pretty neat to see him be tempted by the power.

I think it would have been better to be more familiar with Marvel lore, every story drew upon a lot of stuff that I wasn't entirely familiar with. And despite the collected volume here, these stories are very separate, and occur at very different points in time, particularly the last one which seems to take place after Civil War.

The book also has a bunch of "revalations" that have far-reaching consequences, namely that certain characters that were acting particular ways were being impersonated by shapeshifters, and may have been the entire time. A big old collection of retcons.

Still, the art is nice and the stories are cool and (mostly) self-contained, in that while they allude to large events in the Marvel universe, the plot of any particular book is resolved by the end and never referenced again. I never quite understood why Namor was one of these Illuminati, he seems almost completely useless. Nobody cares about you, Namor, you're just Marvel's Aquaman.

Overall, a fun book, I recommend it, but keep your wikipedia or Marvel wiki handy. ( )

I've read bits and pieces of the Illuminati in various crossover tie-ins. The group has intrigued me since I first came across them: a secret council of genius superheroes including Dr. Strange, Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Charles Xavier, Namor and Black Bolt. Black Panther declined to join. After coming across so many pieces, when I reached Secret Invasion I decided to see if there was a collection of the Illuminati- and found this.

The book opens with the Illuminati making the unilateral decision, in light of the Kree-Skrull War, to go to the Skrull homeworld and threaten them to never attack Earth again. Unfortunately, they are captured and researched until they manage to escape. This one event will have far reaching repercussions. Next up, Reed Richards decides that the Illuminati should assemble the Infinity Gauntlet by finding all the gems, in order to keep it out of the wrong hands. Only, are their hands the right ones? Next, the group confronts the danger presented by the Beyonder, a supremely powerful being that Xavier believes is a mutant altered into an Inhuman. Who will of course just leave the universe because his King, Black Bolt, orders him to. Right? The penultimate story was my favorite simply because it includes the group grousing over their problems with women before they get down to the business of deciding what needs to be done about Noh-Var, a recently arrived Kree who wants to conquer the Earth. Only, he's already in prison. Still, the Illuminati must intervene. The last story is the one directly related to the Secret Invasion crossover as Stark brings the body of Skrull Elektra before the group (who had disbanded during Civil War because they couldn't agree) and they become suspicious of one another - with very good reason.

Though I enjoyed all the stories collected here, the book also had the unexpected result of making me see these heroes in a very negative light. This is especially true for Xavier and Strange, who I would have thought above this level of arrogance (as T'Challa was). The hubris displayed by them - that they alone know what is best for humanity and are its greatest protectors - is unparalleled. All of their actions also result in unforeseen, dangerous consequences that could have been avoided if they hadn't meddled. Overall, this was an excellent collection that showed a very different side to some famous heroes. Highly recommended. ( )