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: Planet Hulk #2 - Review

Written by Sam Humphries. Art by Marc Laming.
Published by Marvel Comics; June 24th, 2015.
Worth Your 3.99?: Yep. This book continues to be pure, entertaining fun.
Rating: 4/5.

You wanted more Gladiator Steve Rogers riding a red t-rex through a land filled with Hulks? You GOT more Gladiator Steve Roger riding a red t-rex through a land filled with Hulks!

THE GOOD
Another solid, fun issue by Humphries. We catch up with Steve and Devil Dinosaur resting in Greenland. They're in the middle of a long journey and it's fair to let them take a rest, but upon waking up they find a hulk nearby picking at a Gamma Grub. The Hulk has not torn Steve apart, much to his surprise. And that's when we get the good news... this is Doc Green! For any fan's of Gerry Duggan's recent run of Hulk, this is exciting because Doc Green is 616's Hulk/Bruce Banner. Admittedly, I miss his beard, but I'll take what I can get.

The rest of the story is fairly simple, Doc Green outlines the travel plan for how they're going to get to the Mud Kingdom so Steve can kill the Red King and rescue Bucky. This is clearly driving the story forward, although it's light on much plot development. What we do get, however, is some nice character development, something Humphries does well. Doc calls out Steve on what his plan is after rescuing Bucky. Fighting for "justice" is not such a simple thing on the Battleworld and Doc poses some questions Steve clearly hasn't thought through before.

Doc Green's ramblings are the most interesting part of this issue. He starts quoting Hemingway (which is amazing just on it's own) but attributes it, snidely, to Doom. It's clear that Doc Green sees through all the pretense that Doom has put around the world. What isn't clear though, is whether he remembers the world before. We've seen that most people on Battleworld have no memory and I think it's safe to assume he doesn't, so I'm curious to see if his rantings about Doom become a bigger thing somewhere down the line for our version of Hulk.

There's also a very interesting flashback for Steve to how he and Bucky became soldiers in his reality. In a world at war, it appears that Sam Wilson was the original Captain America and is seeking recruits for a Super Soldier plan. A simple, but fun twist.

Also good: the art by Laming issue continues to be great. It's the kind of comic book art that you almost forget (in a good way). It's fun and exciting, but it's so clean that you can just get lost in the story and not even think about it. Then you can go admire it afterwards.

THE BAD
Not much bad, mainly that the book felt too short! Like a few of the other Secret Wars books that have entered issue #2, it felt like a little bit of filler story-wise. The thing is, Humphries writing is so entertaining that I didn't care. I'm hoping next issue will drive us further into the actual journey while still giving us that fun banter that we got here between Doc Green and Gladiator Steve Rogers.

PREDICTIONS
Will Devil Dinosaur be okay? Yes, I think he'll survive and show up just in time to join Steve in his battle with the Red King. Come on, it wouldn't be Gladiator Steve Rogers without a red T-Rex.

With the revelation that this is our Doc Green, I'm wondering how he's going to play into the larger Secret Wars story. For the first time, I'm wondering if each of these tie-in books will eventually lead into the characters from them rising up against Doom in some massive crazy battle. Wouldn't that be awesome?! The answer is yes, yes it would.

Secret Wars: Thors #1 - Review

Written by Jason Aaron. Pencils by Chris Sprouse. Inked by Karl Story. Colored by Marte Gracia.
Published by Marvel Comics; June 17th, 2015.
Rating: 4.5/5
Worth the $3.99?: Yep. If you're reading Secret Wars this is a great companion series.

If the main Secret Wars book is the Marvel to Game of Thrones than Thors is the Marvel Law and Order. That's right, if you wanted a cop drama where every police character is replaced by some crazy version of Thor than you've come to the right place.

Basic breakdown of the story, Thorlief or the "Ultimate Thor" as other members of the Thor Corps refer to him (try to guess which comic he hails from) and his partner Beta Ray Thor (aka Beta Ray Bill) are on the scene of a murder. As it turns out, this murder is the same as four others recently. The rest of the book follows a fairly standard cop-drama story (pissed off Chief, visit to the forensics lab, detective drinking when he's run out of answers, etc) except all layered with insane Thor references.

The book hits the stereotypical points of a serial killer drama right on the nose here, but that's a good thing. Keeping it in familiar territory let's the details of the mystery shine. Who are these women getting killed and why is someone going after them? We can focus more on how this all builds out the world of Secret Wars and the fun of the different Thors (Groot Thor FTW), because the baseline of the story is so familiar.

Of course, if you're going to start a Thor themed mystery it makes perfect sense to go to Jason Aaron (the writer behind the recent mystery of the new female Thor's identity) and he lays it out in a smart way. He builds a mystery of who these five women are and you never question that it's five different people, until he suggests they might all be the same person (something just plain old normal on Battleworld) and then it's the only possible conclusion. He also manages to end the book by answering part of the mystery (the identity of the victim), but leaving more mystery (the murderer's identity) to solve. It leaves the reader satisfied, but begging for more.

Now, let's take a look at the big twist at the end. (**SPOILERS FOR THORS and THOR #8 AHEAD**) We find out in the last moments that the victims are all various Jane Fosters. This is an obvious choice given that Jane is so central in the classic Thor stories, but it's a very interesting choice based on the recent revelation about Jane Foster being our new 616 Thor. My instinct says that these two things are directly related, the question is how. So let's play detective.

QUESTION: What motive could someone have for killing all of the Jane Fosters?

1. Maybe they are in love with Thor Odinson and are eliminating competition (I don't like this theory, but hey... no judgement in brainstorming). 
2. They are trying to eliminate Jane Thor and figure this is the best way to be sure.
3. A revenge plot against the Thors (we've seen that many people throughout the Battleworld hate them).
4. Trying to pull Thor Odinson (616) or Jane Thor into the open. 

Of those theories I'd have to say 2 is the strongest. Not only does it make sense to tie the current iteration of Thor into this book (she's the only one on the cover that doesn't appear in this issue), but it would feel downright wrong not to. This book seems to have every Thor ever (even Throg!) and leaving her out would feel like an oversight.

So who could it be? It would have to be someone who can cross borders undetected and if the above theory is true, would have to be someone who knows Jane's identity. Right now I see three options.

1. Loki - Loki is the last person we see with Beta Ray before he dies. Loki presumably tells Beta Ray that the women are Jane Fosters and that is why he gets killed. As the god of mischief, crossing borders seems like a cake walk for him, but I don't see the motive or how he would know about our main Jane. I think this is a red herring. 
2. Odin - In the main Thor book up until now, Odin has been the bad guy to Jane's Thor and it seems like it would fit to continue that storyline here. It wouldn't be the same grudge per se, but that hatred may carry over despite the lack of memories pertaining to why. Do I mean 616 Odin? Some other Odin? All the Odins? Great Odin's Raven, I have no idea. This is why Secret Wars is so damn complicated...
3. Doom - God-Doom is supposedly omnipotent on this world, or at least he claims to be. That seems like enough of a step that he would know Jane Thor's idenitity. In Secret Wars #3 we found out that Jane Thor was aboard the life raft with several of our other 616 heroes, but that doesn't mean that Doom hasn't been searching for her. Since she has been missing for so long, this could be his way of trying to find her and snuff her out. 

FUN STUFF WITHIN

Let's take a look at the most ridiculous Thors in this book (just 'cause it's hilarious and fun):

Odison makes a stink.

• Thorlief (Thor of the Ultimate Comics universe)
• Beta Ray Bill (Alien from 616)
• Ororo Stormbreaker (Of course Storm is a Thor...)
• Groot Thor (who could resist making a flying tree shout "I am Thor!")
• Throg (the Thors forensic scientist is a Frog carrying a hammer. Yes, yes to this all day.)
• Destroyer Thor (aka 'Stroyer. Yep, that's right: the Asgardian weapon The Destroyer has picked up a hammer of his own and now has a cape and winged helmet. Basically... run.)
• Old Man Thor (Thor of the future, this elderly man who lost his eye is that classic pissed off Chief of Police)
• Odinson (yep, if you look real close, it appears that the recently unworthy Odinson has been found on Battleworld, and all he wants is a drink. I'm glad he survived and found his way into at least a part of this book. His shouting about being proud of his unworthiness as freedom is interesting and even though it's not needed, I kinda hope we see him again soon. 

LONG STORY SHORT

Needless to say, I'm very into this story. I love a good comic book themed mystery and this has started out great. I'll be interested to see what Aaron does as the story unfolds and how he keeps the twists coming. The art here by Sparce, Story, and Gracia is great. It's nothing crazy or out there, but there are some absolutely beautiful scenes unfolding in these pages. 

Secret Wars: Spider-Verse #2 - Quick Review

Written by Mike Costa. Art by Andre Araujo. Color by Rachelle Rosenberg.
Published by Marvel Comics: June 10th, 2015
Rating: 3.5/5
Worth Your 3.99?: If you've already bought issue #1 and love these characters, yes, but otherwise wait to see how the rest of the story unfolds and go for the trade.

We pick up with Gwen Stacy Spider-Woman right where we left off, discovering a secret room in Oscorp with a most epic hostage, The Amazing Spider-Ham. Caught by Norman Osbourne, Gwen must now figure out what to do, kidnap Norman to get some answers or rescue Peter Porker?

THE GOOD
This team of Spiders (or the Sinister Six as Osbourne refers to them) is just an awesome line up. Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Ham, Spider-UK, Anya Corazon, and Spider-India... I'll basically read anything that brings this team together. The variety of backgrounds and voices at work while they are all still Spiders is just plain fun. It's serious fun reading some of this dialogue out loud as I go (my brooklyn accent for Spider-Man Noir is pretty solid and my Indian accent for Paviitr Prabhakar is solid, but my English accent for Spider-UK is pretty atrocious I'm sure).

I especially enjoyed Noir in this book. Costa has effectively given him a sort of Punisher-esque attitude and it's great played against the non-violence of Gwen and the others.

It's also cool seeing some familiar faces around. Carnage, Tombstone, and the (actual) Sinister Six gathering at the tail of the book are fun. Seeing familiar faces in Secret Wars is fun, although the first two seemed to be interchangeable name checks of Spider-villains.




THE BAD
This story here is just kind of... meh. Not bad really, but nothing exciting. By the end, I felt like I hadn't gotten a full story, just a piece of one. I know it's just one chapter of a larger story, but I align comic issues with TV episodes more than chapters of a book. While it's fine (and I want) the titles to have arcs that span issues, each individual book should also have some sort of arc contained in it's pages. This is where Spider-Verse #2 falls short. It's the middle of the story and that's kind of it.

Other than finding each other (which they kind of did in issue #1), not a lot happens. Nothing new is revealed, characters don't grow or change, or even begin to find anything new about themselves. They just restate the situations we kind of figured out they were in from issue #1. Getting from 'Gwen rescues Ham' to 'team forms' to 'Sinister Six appears' could have happened in half as many pages as it does here.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Cool characters at play here and some great moments. But without driving the story forward, it falls into just a filler issue. Getting the team together means that next few issues should hopefully pick up the pace a little bit and turn this into something really cool.

Pull File: June 10th, 2015

Five chapters of Secret Wars, 3 Spider books. So many books I can't wait to read this week! Here's what I'm reading. Look for updates and some full reviews to come later today.

Secret Wars: Spider-Verse #2 - A middle chapter of a decent Spider story. Unfortunately doesn't drive the story forward much and felt like a filler chapter in a story only four issues long.

Secret Wars: 2099 #2 - The creepy dystopian world of 2099 continues to get creepier, as the corrupt Avengers 2099 mystery builds. Who is out to kill Captain America?

Secret Wars: 1602: Witch Hunter Angela #1 - Definitely a cool little kingdom to explore if you like Shakesperean era drama that involves superpowers. More fun revelations of the 616 versions of certain characters, keeps this fun.

Secret Wars: Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps #1 - In the to-read pile.

Secret Wars: Inhumans: Attilan Rising #2 - The more I read of this series, the more important I think Secret Wars story. Also (no spoilers), there's a very popular new Inhuman who makes an appearance in a most badass way...

Silk #5 - Another great chapter in this series. Stacey Lee returns and Silk's story take a big step forward. Left me eagerly anticipating the next chapter.

Spider-Gwen #5 - A chapter of Spider-Gwen's story that continues to build the drama in her life in great ways. This might be the strongest issue yet.

Pull File: 6/3/15

Trying out a new feature here. Since I can't always get full reviews up right away, I'll just post some quick two-three line reviews of each book I've bought this week as I read them, updating this post as I go. Full reviews will come later in the week.

Secret Wars #3: Answers. Sweet, sweet answers! This longer-than-average chapter of Secret Wars main story was so good it felt like it was super short. And we got some actual answers to just what the #^@% is happening here.

Secret Wars: Renew Your Vows #1: Less Secret Wars and more just an alternate universe tale, this was a truly just a Spider-Man tale with the classic married Peter Parker. And the issue stands pretty much completely on it's own.

Secret Wars: Giant-Size Little Marvel AvX: Ridiculous and ridiculously funny. Skottie Young's "Little Marvel" variant covers come to life in this weird segment of the Battleworld where Avengers and X-Men are basically rival gangs of little kids in a superhero version of The Little Rascals. Legitimately had me laughing out loud. And safe for kids to boot.

Yes. That is Gwen Stacy
as Groot.

Groot #1: Not bad by any means, but didn't really excite me either. Had a couple good laughs, but definitely prefer Groot as part of his team. Best suited for kids. That said, that image to the right is the absurd variant I picked up.

All-New X-Men #41: Nice little story with some legitimate questions about where mutants stand in the Marvel Universe. Seems like it could be building to something interesting.... if we had any idea if this series would be continuing on after Secret Wars.

Wonder Woman Annual #1: In my "to read" pile.

Secret Wars: Future Imperfect #1: The kingdom of Dystopia is kind of a bland place in my opinion (compared to some epic lands elsewhere in Battleworld). There are two cool twists that made this cool a cool story, but I'm not sure it will be enough to keep me around for issue #2.

Superior Iron Man #9: In my "to read" pile.

Secret Wars: Battleworld #2: Howard the Duck fights Blade. A cyborg Thunderbolt Ross vs Taskmaster in the Killiseum. Ridiculousness thy name is Battleworld.

Darth Vader #6: In my "to read" pile.

Star Wars #6: In my "to read" pile.

Princess Leia #4: In my "to read" pile.




Do you like this? Think it's useless? It's something I'm just trying out so I'd love to know what you think! 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: The Infinity Gauntlet #1 - Review

Script by Gerry Duggan. Story by Gerry Duggan & Dustin Weaver. Art by Justin Weaver.
Rating: 4/5.
Worth your $3.99?: Maybe. Probably worth waiting for the trade.

I'm honestly not sure what to do with Secret Wars: The Infinity Gauntlet.

The basic story puts us in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The world has been ravaged by "The Bugs" and, as far as we can tell, the Bakians are the only survivors, scavenging off the ruins of the city. Now, the Bakians are what make this a story worth reading. Where the temptation for many of these alternate-Earth's has been the spectacle (new version of this character, this character shockingly friends with this character, etc), Weaver and Duggan have given us a story that focuses in on family drama (set against the aforementioned post-apocalyptic wasteland, of course).

Told more-or-less from the teenage Anwen's point of view, we get a look at a family that has been ripped apart. Although Anwen, her sister, her father, and her grandfather have all survived, her mother left them to fight the bugs as a member of the Nova Corps. They haven't heard from her since.

And this is where it starts to get real... and by real I mean, these start to feel like real people dealing with a relatable, human problem. The question of how to handle losing a loved is tough, but it only gets tougher when you don't know for sure if they're even dead. And they each struggle with this question of 'when to give up' differently. Menzin (Dad) and Fayne (lil sister) live in hope or denial depending on how you see it. Anwen and Gramps assume the worst. This difference manifests in difficult ways for the family. In less than a page, we see Grampa go from calling Menzin "the son I never had" to harshly telling he "Never knew what she saw in you." The stress of this world leaves their bonds immensely fragile and it is only while in danger that the bond's true unbreakability is shown.

***WARNING: SPOILERS FROM HERE DOWN***

Now, they'll be tested once again as Anwen stumble across one of the Infinity Gems and shortly after, finds that her mom, in full Nova battle-armor, has come back to her. Of course, we find out that the person lurking in the shadows is none other than.... Thanos! (Or as I'll call him Alterna-Thanos, since Thanos is one of the few 616 characters we can officially account for thanks to Secret Wars #2).

Now let's take a moment here for an...

EXTREME GEEK QUESTION

Question: How did the blue Infinity Gem bring Mom back?
Issue: In 616, the blue gem is the mind gem. In the MCU, it's the space stone. The book seems to imply that it's the reality gem since she says, "Suddenly everything I ever wish for came true," and wishes is part of how the reality gem works.
Possible Explanation A: If, like many comics choices these days, it's affected by the MCU and this is the space stone, she could have teleported her mom from somewhere in space. It's simple and does the job, although since mom wasn't surprised about being back, this seems unlikely.
Possible Explanation B: Alterna-Thanos has the yellow gem in his glove (the 616 reality gem is yellow) and rather than let Anwen discover the power of the Infinity Gem, he used his own stone to grant her wish.  If it's the space gem, Thanos would be worried that she would teleport away and take the stone with her. Bringing her mother in keeps her here. This theory is very interesting to me since it would imply a slightly more empathetic Thanos if he could understand that. Or, of course, there's....
Possibly Explanation C: It's just the reality gem and this universe just has different colors.

Either way, Mom is back and now it looks like this will likely be a Nova vs Thanos story. I don't know about you, but I got excited about this story after reading, in an interview with Hero Complex, what Dustin Weaver had to say of this version of Thanos:

"This is a more grizzled version of the character; he caries the weight of his experiences. He’s colder, more mysterious, and impenetrable. But you can be certain, some things about Thanos will never change."

Different is good, and I'm looking forward to finding out what this version of Thanos has in store for us.

Now, after all that praise, you're probably wondering why I opened this review saying that I wasn't sure what do with it. Well, the reason is mainly routed as a reader of the wider Secret Wars story. Consider that this destroyed land is part of the greater Battleworld, but unlike some of the other books (A-Force, Planet Hulk, Attilan Rising) there's no clear acknowledgement of the larger world at work.

Though the story, doesn't acknowledge it, I've heard the thought that this is New Xandar (or kingdom 40), which is a land south of the Shield. This makes sense since it's overrun by monsters, but separated by water from The Deadlands (Marvel Zombies-world) and Perfection (i.e. Age of Ultron-land). But this raises the question: do the Bakians know there are other kingdoms out there? Were the bugs before or after Battleworld started? I'm extremely curious, though the book makes no hints either way.

What confuses me more though, is the revelation of the Infinity Gems. These are immensely powerful objects and it seems unlikely that Doom would allow any of them into his carefully constructed world (at least not out of his control). If Alterna-Thanos gathers them all, is there anything to stop him from bending the Battleworld to his will? Or do these gems only work in this zone? Point is, it forces some questions about the structure of Battleworld and I'll be very curious to see how they explain it (or if they just won't).

FINAL THOUGHTS
You've got to hand it to Duggan, Weaver, and Marvel with this one. They have taken full advantage of the chance to just tell a story without being bogged down in too much outside canon. They took the opportunity to get very deep and personal, and still sneak in some crazy universe stuff at the same time, even if it raises some questions to how the rules of Battleworld are laid out.

Secret Wars: Planet Hulk #1 - Review

Main Story: Written by Sam Humphries. Art by Marc Laming.
Pheonix Burning mini: Written by Greg Pak. Art by Takeshi Miyazawa.
Published by Marvel Comics, May 20th, 2015.
Rating: 4.5/5.

Welcome to the new Marvel's Secret Wars game show! The game where the writers come up with the most ridiculous idea they possibly can and then somehow craft it into a good story. Today's entrant is Sam Humphries, the writer behind the recent "Black Vortex" crossover series. And for his entry, he's going wiiiiiiiith: A gladiator version of Steve Rogers and his partner, Devil Dinosaur, must sneak into a land populated entirely by Hulks in order to rescue Bucky Barnes. Yes, you read that right. That is the story going on in Secret Wars: Planet Hulk.

The story is fun, full of action and deeply engrained into the Battleworld mythos. We opened on the Killeseum, a gladiator death match that is apparently broadcast on television to an unknown amount of the Battleworld. It is an interesting piece of the world, because even in the parts that have that Marvel's Game of Thrones feel, there is still technology at work and more modern day horrors (i.e. reality television).

The bit about Arcade (the sadistic man behind the recent Avengers Arena series) and the Killeseum, is built perfectly, with reveals falling at just the right time to be dramatic and still funny because of the absurdity. Speaking of absurdity, of all the Marvel characters they could have paired with Cap... they went with Devil Dinosaur. Back at this year's WonderCon, Humphries was asked about pitching stories and said something along the lines of that he pitched 'Steve Rogers with an axe, slicing at a bunch of Devil Dinosaurs trying to get to Bucky.' Well, we got something pretty damn close.

There are some interesting choices in this version of the characters. The brief flashback of this Cap and Bucky has Cap appearing very MCU-feeling garb and Bucky is already Winter Soldier, although the two seem to still be buddy buddy (there's even an American flag on Winter Soldier's non-metal arm). I like this because it sets up a similar but different enough world. We understand this Cap, even if we don't quite know him.

Greenland is a genuinely cool setting, and honestly why I bought this book. The secondary story in the back of this issue sets up an alterna-Earth where Bruce Banner and Amadeus Cho (MCU fans may know his mother, Dr. Helen Cho, who appeared in Age of Ultron) create the tech that goes into a gamma bomb and instead of just creating Banner's Hulk, changes the entire city. Side note: I love that this back story was called "Amazing Science." It's not a real book, but it's definitely a silver age book that was published on a parallel Earth somewhere.

A great moment at the end of the issue came as Steve, reeling from a battle with Gamma Worms, is saved by TWIST: an intelligent, mohawk Hulk with some kind of gamma ray weapon strapped to his chest. One thing the books so far have lacked is representation (or at least, acknowledged representation) of our 616 heroes. That said, I think this actually might be OUR Hulk (aka Doc Green).

Reasons: He walks up and his first word to this Steve is "Incredible." The Mohawk is a staple of Doc Green (although he's missing his new trademark goatee. He recognizes, but is surprised, to see Steve Rogers. And lastly, he asks Steve "what forgotten kingdom did Doom dig you up from?" It feels like the language of someone who has knowledge of the entire world, not just where they live and I'm working under the assumption that anyone who will eventually challenge Doom will be characters we are familiar with (also, I just really liked Doc Green and want more of him).

FINAL THOUGHTS
This is a fun story. Steve Rogers dressed like a gladiator is just.... awesome. It expands the Battleworld with the addition of the Killiseum (which I believe will also be the setting of Ghost Racers) and is taking us into an entire land of Hulks. Who will we meet? Banner? Ross? Walters? Betty? Is the "Red King" our classic Red Hulk? If you're a fan of Hulks of any kind, I feel like this is going to just be a great story. Here's looking forward to issue #2!

Secret Wars: Spider-Verse #1 - Review

Written by Mike Costa. Art by Andre Araujo and Rochelle Rosenberg
Published by Marvel Comics: May 20th, 2015.
Rating: 3.75/5

Spider-Verse (the original one) is one of my favorite stories in the past few years. So, naturally, if Marvel was going to use it's previous events as titles for it's various side stories, Spider-Verse was a logical place to go.
comic book events of all time. So, yeah, I was going to buy this book from the moment it was announced. Looking back, the various spiders that showed up from across the Multiverse seems like a pretty clear test run for Secret Wars. So many examples of the same basic superhero, boiled down and applied to different characters. It was brilliant and it was

With Dan Slott covering the "Last Days of Silver Surfer" and "Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows" runs for Secret Wars, Marvel turned to Mike Costa (writer of Spider-Verse's "Scarlett Spiders" books) to give us a tale following a team made up the most popular Spiders to come out of the event. Billy Braddock aka Spider-UK, Anya Corazon (Spider-Girl), Paviitr Prabhakar (Spider-Man India), Spider-Man Noir (who doesn't appear in this issue except as a photo), Peter Porker the Amazing Spider-Ham, and, easily the most popular new spider, Spider-Gwen. Sound like an awesome team? You're damn right.

The story really focuses in on Spider-Gwen, who since Spider-Verse has had her own very successful solo book. What I really latched on to in this book, like many in this week's wave of Secret Wars titles is how it's providing us just a few more details into what it's like to be a resident of Battleworld. Though we're not sure exactly which realm this is in (my money's on Arachnia), it's definitely a convergence of Spider-themed characters.

The bigger reveal is that most of the people of this world appear to have had their memories wiped, though no entirely. This is absolutely our Gwen Stacy, but she doesn't remember anything about the stories we've seen her in. Not the original Spider-Verse, not her recent battles with Lt. Castle, not the Vulture, not even her band The Mary Janes. Tunes slowly seep through her subconcious, so we know those memories are buried in there, the question will be what it takes for those to come out.

We also run into Pavittr, who has a similar memory loss, though as a scientist, he's trying to figure out why he has vague memories of these people. Paviitr and Gwen show an interesting flip from their emotional places in Spider-Verse. Paviitr was originally seen facing an existential crisis because of how he felt like a pale shadow of Peter Parker-616, whereas Gwen was confident and sure of herself in battle. Fighting was something she knew and she was able to act along that. Here their roles are somewhat reverse. Paviitr is at home when he's studying something, trying to reason out the science, but outside of kicking some butts Gwen doesn't know what to do with herself. Add to that the fact that the universe mashup results in her visiting her own grave and it's definitely her turn for an existential crisis.

It was nice seeing Anya and Spider-UK still swinging about together, since we didn't know what happened to them after Spider-Verse, other than that they were traveling together to help right the Inheritors wrongs (also an interesting addition that Spider-UK doesn't have spider-senses, which I hadn't realized before)

The ending has a nice twist, although since Peter Porker is on the cover, it's not really that big of surprise. Gwen discovering that Mayor Osborn has deemed this Spider-Team the Sinister Six, which is an awesome little snippet. Just more evidence of the fun the writers can have with these books.

As for the art, its nice. It's simple in a good way, not overpowering the characters or what's going on in the scene.

Overall, the book was really only as strong as the characters. I was excited to see each and every one of them again, and that made it fun to read. That being said, the story here was a little inconsistant at best. It seemed more like just a series of cool encounters and reminders of who these characters are and where they are mentally on Battleworld as opposed to a cohesive story. That said, you can tell Costa is building something and there was enough here that I will definitely be back for issue #2.

Also: there's a mini at the back where we get to see Spider-Ham in a tale "Pig in the City" (because of course). It's cute story, in which, at one point, Peter is a food photographer and blogger. Yes, they went there.... because they could. While I give main story 3.5, this story I would give 4.5/5, which is why the rating at the top has that insane 3.75/5.

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?

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!