Secret Wars #4 - Review

Written by Jonathan Hickman. Art by Esad Ribic. Color by Ive Svorcina
Published by Marvel Comics; July 1st, 2015
Worth your $4?: Yes. Yes. Yes.

If issue #3 of Secret Wars was the book of answers, this is the book of plot developments.

The basic through-line of this issue is the idea of Doom's omnipotence. Is it good? Should Strange have allowed him to do this? What are Reed Richards and the rest of the Life Raft survivors going to do about it? Should they do anything about it? Of course our heroes answer to that last question is yes, but then the issue becomes what will Doom do about it?

In the lead up to the confrontation between our team and Doom, there are three groups: The Cabal (who are busy fighting Thors), The Life Raft (getting briefed by Sheriff Strange), and Doom (who's informed of the Cabal fight and looks it over with Sue Storm).

At the top of the book, Strange explains to the group of 616ers (and Miles) exactly how the Battleworld was forged by Doom. There's one quote from Strange that I found actually pretty funny:

"The Earth that was... the Universe that was... the Multiverse that was... These were all formed by some higher order-- some alien, etherial other thing that perfectly constructed not just the material nature of everything, but the rules that governed it as well."

Of course, he goes on to explain that he's referring to The Beyonders (read more about them here), but, read a different way, he's referring to the writing and editing staff of Marvel Comics. I like this reading of it, because in my head it's sort of like Toy Story. The writers created these characters and each universe and then made the decision that they couldn't have so many universes running around out there and began plucking them off one by one. But they made Doom and Strange too powerful and lost control of them. Is it ridiculous? Yes, but it's also a stupendously fun way to look at it.

Strange points out that it was basically either this, or everything dies, but the group has mixed feelings about this. Strange even admits that the world is flawed, but it's Cyclops/Pheonix who has the most extreme feelings about it. With the god-like power of the Phoenix Force coursing through him, he believes that the world should be razed. If it's not perfect, burn it down and start again. Before anyone can even process this however, Strange takes the group into the battle with The Cabal.

Back at Castle Doom, Doom and Sue look on at the battle and Sue can instantly tell from both her scans and, it would appear, her heart that although the Spider-Man, Thanos, Reed Richards, etc. are similar to plenty of others on the Battleworld, there is something different and stronger about them. He even stares at the image of Reed Richards and declares that he has been hunting for versions of him (which, just gotta say called it!). Doom realizes what's up and decides that he will need to intervene.

The confrontation between Doom and our team is big, intense, and surprising in just the right ways. Of course, Doom demands that they kneel to him, and of course, they refuse. What I admittedly wasn't expecting was how Cyclops/Phoenix responded. As he attacked Doom, declaring himself "the future in the present", I legitimately thought that he might have taken down Doom. The Phoenix Force taking charge of the Battleworld would have been a big, crazy path for Secret Wars to take, and for that reason I was very intrigued by the idea. That thought only lasted for a moment though as Doom rose and snapped Cyclops' neck.

I don't know about any of you, but I was shocked at this moment. I re-read it multiple times to make sure I didn't miss the implications of what just happened because basically.... 616 Cyclops, the original Cyclops, is dead. Personally, I'm sad to see him go. His struggles with grief, guilt, and redemption since Avengers vs X-Men has been a highlight for me among Marvel Comics. Of course, young Cyclops is still around, so Scott Summers' fans won't be totally out of luck. But Original Scott, R.I.P.

Then there's something that I think is a false shock. It appears that Doom kills his "old friend" Strange in the final pages of this issue. Unlike Cyclops, I don't think he's dead. Right before his death he said to T'Challa, "My eyes have seen many things over the years, T'Challa... I have hidden many of them. Remember this." Doctor Strange is an incredibly powerful sorcerer, and one who knew the inner workings of the Battleworld better than anyone else, perhaps even more than Doom. I would wager that Strange has either copied himself, tricked Doom into an illusion of killing him, and/or got away in that last moment, severely injured, but alive. (Also, they've already announced a solo book for Strange so, I think he'll find his way back to hang in there one way or another.)

PREDICTIONS
At the end of the book, Strange scatters his friends to the reaches of the Battleworld, leaving Doom to hunt them down, knowing that they will be coming after him. So what do I think is coming?

• This will send Doom into a dictatorial style rampage as he scours the globe looking for the Life Raft crowd. He may even decide to enlist Thanos to his aid, which I expect will backfire. 
• Sue Storm will be hunting Reed Richards behind Doom's back. She won't be able to explain why, even to herself, but she'll know that she has to find him and help him. But, expect Doom to know this, and be secretly using her to find Reed.
• The Maker (1610's Reed Richards) will attempt to side with Doom and take him down from the inside, possibly as his new sheriff.
• Issue #5 will probably have at least a couple of our heroes finding some of our missing 616 folks and bringing them up to speed. I also imagine there will be some fun to be had with a few of them finding their alterna-selves (massive Spider-Verse déjà vu for Peter and Miles).
• As I said above, Strange is most likely alive, and I'll bet he comes back tail end of issue seven or middle of issue 8, just in time to help out and save the day.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Rating: 4.5/5

Unlike many crossover events Marvel has done recently, Secret Wars continues to be well worth the price of admission. This is epic storytelling done the right way and I can't wait to see what happens in the second half of this storyline.

What do you think of Cyclops or Strange's apparant deaths? Fakeouts? Or is dead, dead? Sound off in the comments below!

Secret Wars: Inhumans: Attilan Rising - Review

Written by Charles Soule. Pencils by John Timms. Ink by Roberto Poggi. Color by Frank D'Armata.
Published by Marvel Comics: May 27, 2015.
Rating: 4.5/5
Worth Your 3.99?: Yes, if you're looking to get deeper into the details of the Secret Wars story.

Now this is a tie-in issue. Whereas some of the other books in Secret Wars (i.e. 2099, Infinity Gauntlet) are very much self contained within their kingdom, Inhumans: Attilan Rising really digs into the meat of the Battleworld and what's happening there (and I love it).

MAIN QUESTION: WHAT IS THIS BOOK?

Basically, this book takes a few of the characters from the most recent Inhuman series and divvies them up on different sides of Doom's rule. NuHumans Flint and Naja have joined "The Voice Unheard" aka the resistance, while Medusa has been allowed to rule New Attilan by Doom's decree. Medusa finds herself now tasked with hunting down this resistance, unaware of her own people's involvement.

IS IT GOOD? CRAZY? GOOD CRAZY? WHAT HAPPENED?

Like most of Secret Wars this book starts out with a world establishing bang. It opens in Greenland (a realm of nothing but Hulks) where we find a small, ridiculous scout team. The team is made up Flint, Naja, an intelligent Hulk called Megarad, and G-Man (a Ghost Rider). The most fun part of this team is clearly G-Man. I mean, come on, he's a 20s gangster era Ghost Rider, complete with a tommygun and flaming-wheeled 1920s convertible. If you're not familiar with Flint and Naja, they're new Inhumans who have the rock powers and invisibility powers respectively. Megarad is a new character who appears to have a cap to his strength usage (and a Duracell PowerCheck style meter to tell him how much).

The G-Man is an amazing character to choose for Secret Wars. He's a little known character from Ghost Rider #33 and much about him is unknown (such as his identity), but if you're in a world of Hulks funning around with a lizard-lady and being attacked by multiple Thors... why NOT have a flaming-skulled gangster spouting off lines like "I ain't never been scared a' the heat."?



Anyway, this little group is on a mission to restore intelligence to the mindless Hulks of Greenland when they run into a group of Thors. G-Man is quickly taken to Medusa as a prisoner and Doom wants her to interrogate him to route out the "insurgents". So now we're seeing some of the true interconnectivity in this world. Although Medusa is in control of Attilan, she's still just a servant to Doom and she is utterly replaceable. This is interesting because the way that this book presents it, it feels like Medusa (as well as Flint and Naja) are probably 616 natives (like all the books so far, there's no evidence of this, just a hunch). I do like this design from John Timms on Medusa. She looks very regal, very powerful, or simply, as Doom puts it, "Royal."


What I like here in terms of the big picture is that God-King Doom no longer seems completely in control, because people are finally working against him. We've heard the rumblings of it in other books, but here we get to see the resistance at work. And if the four crazy characters from the top of the book weren't ridiculous enough for you, why not add Matthew Murdoch of Neil Gaiman's 1602. Yeah, that's right a Renaissance-era Daredevil.

Medusa's speech added to my building questions about how this world was formed. She speaks to G-Man about how Doom protects them by keeping the monsters relegated to the lands beyond the Shield. Again, I'm just asking myself why? Up until this point, I've generally assumed that Doom has been the architect of the Battleworld, but what if he's not? What if he's simply taking charge of it for now since no one else did? Maybe the Beyonders really are behind it all and he's just making the most of it. It certainly seems possible, since, if he was hand picking these pieces, why bring Marvel Zombies in the first place? I really hope that we eventually get an explanation as to how this all came together.

Ok, last but not least, let's talk about that twist ending. They manage to pull only three words out of G-Man before he dies, "The Quiet Room," which turns out to the name of a super swanky bar in the middle of Grand Central Station. But what is The Quiet Room, really? Medusa gets that it's connected to the resistance in some way and sends her agent Auran (whose power set involves knowing when a single word is spoken anywhere on the planet) to check it out. The Quiet Room is full of powered people, potentially from multiple domains. But the shocking one is... Black Bolt. And he's TALKING. So with that twist ending I think it's fitting for an...

EXTREME GEEK QUESTION

Question: How is Black Bolt talking and not killing a bunch of people?
Issue: Black Bolt's power lies in his voice. Even a whisper can kill a man and a shout could blow up a building, easily. Here we see him as a bartender, casually greeting Auran and, of course, knowing that his wife Medusa sent her.
Potential Explanation A: This is an alternate universe Black Bolt. It could be that simple, this Blackagar could simply have the choice to not blow you up when he talks.
Potential Explanation B: The Quiet Room, somehow serves to quiet his power. Medusa said that there is some kind of treaty involving this place. It could be a place that depowers anyone inside. It would have to selectively since we see a flyer in the crowd shot, but it could still be behind Blackagar's non-death voice. After all, his foreheard charm is seen prominently displayed in the ballroom, so it's probably his place. If it's connected to the resistance, this would pit Medusa straight up against her (ex?) husband, which would be great drama to see unfold over the next 3 issues of this series.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Inhumans is probably a book that most people will overlook. Despite Feige and the MCU's love for them, they're still not many peoples favorite characters and so, with a massive volume of Secret Wars books to read, this one may fall off of a lot of people's lists. But I think Marvel likely knew that and is probably why this book is so much connected to the world at large. Doom says that "New Attilan is crucial. To me, and to the safety and security of Battleworld." We don't quite know why yet, but with Marvel trying to make sure their readers are familiar with Inhumans as much as possible, I think this book will wind up being crucial to the fabric of Secret Wars and, therefore, worth a read.

Secret Wars: Battleworld #1 - Review

Sadly, no Howard the Duck or
Franken-Castle in this issue.

Published by Marvel Comics: May 20th, 2015.
Rating: 4/5.

The biggest thing that Secret Wars has going for is the pure opportunity for fun. Regular runs of comics within the established universes of DC or Marvel, whether it be 616, Ultimate, New 52, Golden Age... whatever... is that they're beholden to the larger continuity that's at work. Now, usually, I find this to be what makes these comics amazing. It makes each tale larger than life and allows you to get lost in the world of these books. But sometimes you want to shed of those shackles and just have some ridiculous fun.

Secret Wars: Battleworld #1 is broken into two separate minis. Learning from the success of the "Spider-Verse" books during the Spider-event of the same name, Marvel is taking the chance to just let some of their writers go balls-to-the-wall insane with their stories. Even if the story doesn't have a multi-issue potential, why not just go for it? If the insanity of Frank Castle merged with Doctor Strange makes your eyes widen excitedly rather than roll, this book is for you (although I'd HIGHLY advise that you read Secret Wars #1 and #2 to get the context of what's happening).

*****SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT*****

Story #1: "Soldier Supreme"
Written by Joshua Williamson. Art by Mike Henderson.

As I said earlier: it's Frank Castle merged with Doctor Strange. Sound insane? It is and that's everything that's right about this mini. The story is quick and to the point. It spends just enough time setting up the situation here (this Doctor Strange got attacked by vampires and so his soul latched onto the closest person it could, a Frank Castle). Now with his own magical passenger, we get the skull costumed Punisher wearing the Sorcerer Supreme's cape. It's a ridiculous and beautiful sight.

If that's not ridiculous enough, Castle is wandering through the Kingdom of "2099," the 616 world of Spider-Man 2099 when he is encountered by four of Doom's bounty hunters, who he conveniently refers to as simply "The Four." The Four consists of a Hulk, a Ghost Rider, a Wolverine, and a Spiderman. Note the use of "a," since none of these are either of our universe's versions of the characters, which is nice because it lets the writers do whatever they want with them (including Castle simply saying "Calm." at The Hulk, shrinking him into Banner, and then turning him into dust). This probably isn't 616 Frank, but it might as well be. He's familiar enough that we get the character immediately.

Anyway, this fight is pretty much just pure fun. The Punisher whips out some magic sorcerer uzi guns, a conjured Rocket of Raggadorr, and even a spirit grenade called Weapon of Watoomb. It's awesome. Wolverine wins the day, but not before being saddled with the wandering spirit of Doctor Strange. Creepy and dark in a way that is perfect for Wolverine.

There are two moments worth noting in terms of the larger Battleworld in this story. One: The Four mention that people are not allowed to leave their Kingdoms without permission. This makes sense in terms of writing because it allows them to remain sectioned, as opposed to King James England running around with technology from 2099. I am curious, however, what the in world explanation is. Is it just a way for Doom to exert his control? Or does keeping it separate somehow allow the God-Doom to keep his power?

I think lots of future is hinted in this panel.

Two: Doom's Strange appears to be going after other versions of himself, but to what end? Does he just want to be the only Sorcerer? It would make him truly the Sorcerer Supreme. During Spiderverse, I always thought the different Spiders would wind up literally merging to make 616 Spider-Man stronger (ie what happens in the Spider-Man Unlimited game). This might be what's happening here... we'll see.

Oh and Limbo is currently ruled by a Baron Summers! Is it Scott or Alex?? Is it crazy alternate dimension Limbo? Just a name? So many questions!


Story #2: "M.O.D.O.K. Madness"
Written by Ed Brisson. Art by Scott Hepburn.

Have you ever thought, 'I like M.O.D.O.K. but I wish there were a lot of different M.O.D.O.K.'s teaming up and running around together'? No? Well, too bad because that's exactly what Ed Brisson. This story makes Soldier Supreme look downright grounded by comparison.

A classic looking M.O.D.O.K. (potentially our 616 model) decides that now that he can, he's going to create a little army of different versions of himself in order to overthrow Doom. Apparantly M.O.D.O.K.s don't come in the same shape and size often because these alternate universe models are insane. There's a cycolops M.O.D.O.K., a biological-fire-breathing M.O.D.O.K., a Spider-M.O.D.O.K., a Ghost Rider M.O.D.O.K., a M.O.D.O.K. that joined SHIELD, and even a little baby girl M.O.D.O.K. with an extreme set of daddy issues.

Of course that creates hilarious chaos. The story itself was alright. It was cute, funny, and exactly what this story was supposed to be. I imagine it's helping to set up the M.O.D.O.K. Assassin book that is coming out soon. For me, it didn't quite hold up to the first story but it does what it needed to and it's a nice little mini.

Gotta love that ending line: "Put me out of out of my misery and spare me from myself!" It almost begged to be followed by a sad trombone.

As for larger world stuff, we met a few more Thors at the tail end. A brunette male Thor and a redheaded female Thor. So picking up the hammer doesn't automatically make you blonde as it turns out! We also hear from their talking that apparantly A.I.M. facilities are found hidden throughout the Battleworld and whiping them out is one of the Thors' duties. So this suggests that Doom is actively trying to take out any supervillain competition. It'll be interesting to see this play out more as we go forward. Villains and heroes teaming up to take on Doom maybe?