Ummm, hi… when did Avengers: The Initiative suddenly get really freakin’ awesome? Oh, that’s right, this week. I have been reading The Initiative from the beginning to various reactions. Most months it is “that was pretty good” and some months it is “meh, that was just ok.” I have yet to be really blown away by the series. That isn’t to say that the writing and art isn’t good, cause it is. The problem is that you really don’t get to care about the characters, so the depth of character isn’t really there and the fighting kind of lacks, so there isn’t much action to get you into the book either. What results is a usually slow moving tale about the training of these young recruits.

That completely changed in The Initiative #15.

Actually, to be fair, #14 was actually pretty good, too. It lead up to #15 very well and you could feel that something good was coming. So what made The Initiative #15 so good? Well, for starters, it is the best Secret Invasion story I have read thus far. What begins as a story about how 3-D Man can see who is a Skrull (when in reality, he sees everyone who isn’t a Skrull as a Skrull. Long story, read the issue) turns into a somewhat touching tale about “the only good Skrull” – hence the name of the issue; clever, eh? – and how he becomes a traitor to his species. I’ll let you read the issue to find out who the Skrull is that defies the empire, but the backstory about the character and how he comes to love the human race is both funny and surprisingly dramatic and beautiful. Dan Slott and Christos N. Gage do a great job making their Skrull lovable and someone you really want to cheer for.

On top of all that great story stuff, you have Harvey Tolibao doing a great job with the art on this issue. The usual unemotional face of the Skrulls is replaced by very dramatic faces. At points, some of the character designs are a little odd, but overall, I love the way he draws. His action scenes are large in scale, but not overwhelming. You can clearly see all the action in the scene, which is more than you can say about a lot of artists.

I love the direction that The Initiative is going right now. I hope the keep up this high-quality work after Secret Invasion is over because their SI tie-ins have really gotten me excited about this series again.