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: 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.