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 #2 (aka Marvel Does "Game of Thrones") - Review

Written by Jonathan Hickman. Art by Esad Ribic.
Published by Marvel Comics: May 13th, 2015.
Rating: 4.5/5.

Now that Secret Wars #2 has been released we can tell where the decision to do it came from: someone over there loves Game of Thrones (and why wouldn’t they). One day they started wondering: ‘what house would Tony Stark be in if he was in Westeros?’ (ironically it’s probably Baratheon, not Stark). That thought process quickly evolved into, what if the Marvel Universe just was Westeros….. and before you knew it, (this iteration of) Secret Wars was born.

If you were left a little unsure of whether Secret Wars was going to be fun after issue #1 (I personally was scared it felt a little close to the burdeningly large scope of Infinity), this issue should assuage those fears as we’ve now set up the insanity of Battleworld. Divided into Kingdoms, this world is set up as single planet of all of Marvel.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT.

Let's be clear. Much of this book is spent simply setting up the insanity that is Battleworld. As such, there's actually very little "story" in this issue. But it's really the first chapter (#1 being more of a prelude) so I'm willing to forgive that. 

Like any good story in a new world, we need a character who has to be introduced to various aspects of the world so we can learn with them, and Hickman gives us a young recruit to the Thors (or Thor Corp... say it out loud, it's kind of fun). They're sort of the police of Battleworld and it's a really cool thing to see and it's revealed slowly which is nice. We see a couple familiar faces in the crowd. Old Man Thor from the recent God Butcher storyline and Beta Rey Bill. Bill may be a resident of the good ol' 616, but we don't see our Odinson or SPOILER REDACTED, our current Thor (see my Thor #8 review here for discussion on that reveal).

The SHIELD... see what they did there?

In the Game of Thrones comparison at work here, Thors are effectively a combination of Kings Guard and the Watchers on the Wall. You volunteer, pledge your allegiance to God, and are tasked with protecting the realm, which includes the protection of "the Shield" a wall that protects the kingdoms from the armies of Marvel Zombies (Deadlands), Age of Ultron bots (Perfection), and Annihlus and his forces. If I hadn't picked up the GOT vibe before this, a wall protecting us from the dead pretty much solidified it. I actually really love this reveal. If we're truly smashing together all the famous Marvel stories, it makes sense that these world consuming forces are here, but (being world consuming forces) they'd have to be contained in some way. It's fun and cool and calling it the Shield made me giggle. 

Of course, the BIG reveal is that the "God" that the Thors spoke of is in fact Victor Von Doom himself. Clad in all white, Doom has taken control over the entire Battleworld. For better or worse, he has formed this planet to his means. He protects the subjects of his world, while also crushing and killing anyone who violates his laws. This includes two Braddock brothers (aka Captain Britain's people), who accuse Baron Sinister of making moves against them. The hearing leads to a trial by combat, with Sinister winning and so Jamie Braddock (again, Marvel sees no reason to be subtle with the GOT references) is forced to reveal himself a traitor to Doom or watch his innocent brother die. This whole sequence is filled with awesome little snippits, references, and hints about the world at large: Stephen Strange is Doom's right hand man, Sue Storm is his advisor (queen?), and he has a Galactus (there could be more than one in Battleworld) guarding his palace. 

The big question surrounding Doom being in charge is whether he got that seat by taking control of a world in chaos or if it's Doom himself that crafted this world. There was a brief moment in issue #1 where we saw the Beyonders and Doom, so I'm personally assuming that he either manipulated or bargained with them. Certainly, I don't imagine we're going to make it to our New Marvel Universe without dealing with them at some point. 

Sue saddled up with Doom? Creepy.

Doom does make a brief reference to a group of "heretics and thieves" who are working to bring him down. They're gathering in something called "The Silent Chambers." I haven't the faintest idea what those are if it's a reference to something but I think it's a safe bet that those heretics are our 616 and/or Ultimate heroes. Probably 616's Reed Richards and team. 

If they're slowly making a revolution away from Doom's forces, we might be able to assume they're sort of going to fill Daenerys' or Stannis' role. The usurping army who will pull teammates from unlikely sources as they vie for the throne. 

MEANWHILE, we also get an interesting side note as a team of explorers from Castle Doom (but also from the 616 FF (I think) discover a hole in the ground that leads to the inside of the planet which has full gravity working opposite of the normal side. Here they find a ship, identical to the one the Illuminati built at the end of "Time Runs Out," only this one has the Cabal on it and Thanos emerges. (Are you out of breath and exhausted? Me too.) All cool moving pieces that will hopefully get paid off in the remaining six issues.

Oof. If that wasn't enough to digest, this book prints a non-censored version of the Battleworld map and, honestly, I could just keep staring at it. There' SO MUCH story packed into that map. We get somewhat obvious (though still intriguing) lands like "King James England" or "2099" to the more what-is-the-difference realms like Arachnia/Spider-Island and Mutopia/Westchester (being from Westchester, NY this excites me to no end). I also really want to visit New Quack City...

Secret Wars has a metric ton of tie ins. I doubt I'll be able to keep up with them all but in case anyone's curious. I'll definitely be reading Spider-Verse, Renew Your Vows, Thors, Star Lord and Kitty Pryde, Planet Hulk, 2099, Civil War, Spider-Island, Guardians of Knowhere, Howard the Human.... and maybe if I'm not broke Captain Marvel & the Carol Corps, Red Skull, Giant Size Little Marvel, and A-Force. We'll what else winds up in short box. If you want to see all of the titles coming out, this guide from How to Love Comics is pretty encompassing.

Do you think Marvel's Game of Thrones is a cool idea? Over it already? What book's are you planning on reading over the next few months? Let me know in the comments!