Editor's Note: New Avengers #43 arrives in stores tomorrow, July 23.

Does anyone other than me think that Bendis is enjoying telling the Skrull side of this story more than the Human side? I mean, let's be serious for a moment here. Last week's Mighty Avengers, where we found out how Elektra was replaced, was pretty simplistic and borderline awful. And that Hank Pym issue was more pathetic than entertaining (not to mention predictable). But whenever we get the Skrully side of things, there's a lot of character work, nice twists and turns, and eventually, a strong dramatic conclusion that's either creepy and scary or, in the case of New Avengers #43, kind of tragic and sad. In a good way.

This issue we pick up again with Captain America bursting out of the jungle and confronting Spidey, Ka-Zar, Zabu, Sheena, and various Savage Land native types. Bendis does a very good job with the dialogue here, and everyone has his or her own voice. I mention this because it is a common criticism of Bendis' work - one I agree with usually - but here he's actually making it seem as though different people are speaking. Even if Cap sounds a bit like his Ultimate version.

Sheena seems to be the most dominant voice amongst the Savage Land characters, and I thought she might be a Skrull, thanks to the emphasis on her green eyes the last time we were given a Savage Land chapter. Now I'm not so sure. Especially with the emphasis given to Cap's baby blues.

Spoiler alert! He's a Skrull. With blue eyes.

The majority of the issue is the story of Skrull Cap being transformed, brainwashed, and waking up in the Skrull prison ship just before landing in the Savage Land all those many months ago for us, but only minutes ago for him. And guess what? It's really pretty good. Granted, there aren't many surprises, but it's a well told story.

Bendis spends a fair amount of time setting up the situation and giving us a look into the strategy the Skrull Queen is implementing. My biggest criticism though is that this part of the story is a little awkward as we get a nameless Skrull asking the Queen just why they're going about the invasion this way, as if he were a reader and just wanted some straight answers. The Queen obliges, and we get a little bit of Skrull battle philosophy and a reiteration of the idea that they don't just want to conquer Earth, they want to ruin our whole Human psychology in the process to make the job complete.

Tan's artwork also isn't quite up to snuff this month. There are a lot of oddly proportioned shots (of Ka-Zar especially, for some reason) and quite a few characters' faces just look wrong, with either too much head and not enough face or having bizarrely elongated faces. There's also a very confusing shot during the transformation ritual (that we've seen about a dozen times, now) of the Skrull, Pitt'o Nili, as he becomes Steve Rogers' Doppelganger, where in one panel, the Queen seems to be getting ready to drape the red cloth over his head, then in the next panel he seems to be holding it out toward the Queen. Next, he is getting the cloth over his head in the usual way. Maybe I just don't get it, but I was very confused by that scene.

On the plus side, there are a number of very effective scenes, particularly the transformation scene where Captain America is revealed to be a Skrull. It was pretty darned horrifying, actually.

This issue almost makes up for the crapfest that was the Elektra story. Almost. As it is, it is still a strong chapter in the over-all story, and better than about half of the actual Secret Invasion series. It still doesn't hold a candle to Captain Britain, but then again, what does? Ooh, if only they could convince Warren Ellis to write a huge Marvel crossover event. Just thinking that made me a little giddy, just then.

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