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Review: Secret Wars

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Quick Summary

Pros: The concept driving this entire event forward is incredibly interesting and is powered by wonderful worldbuilding. The confrontations here are incredibly epic and entertaining. The finale is meaningful and emotional. The artwork looks impressive and helps enhance the storytelling.

Cons: Nothing significant.

Overall: After volumes upon volumes of setup and construction, the end to Jonathan Hickman’s Marvel saga is every bit as satisfying as one would expect it to be. It has exciting action, unexpected twists, great individual moments, and a story that is addictive from start to finish. All of this is then enhanced by the level of creativity found in the worldbuilding and in the artwork, which further solidifies this as a great comic. This volume is sure to be a delight for any reader but will be nearly perfect for those who have read the setup.

Story

Secret Wars is exciting, entertaining, and immensely creative all the way through. It takes all of the buildup from dozens of earlier comics and releases it in an event that is simply packed with positive attributes. These positives range from the imaginative worldbuilding in the collection’s beginning, to the epic battles near the collection’s middle, and finally to the incredible conflict at the volume’s end. This volume is definitely best approached after reading the preceding Avengers and New Avengers comic series but is still incredible when read on its own. Overall, this is Jonathan Hickman at his best and is a wonderful example of what comic book events should strive to accomplish.

(spoilers start here)

Secret Wars starts out with the death of the previous Marvel Universe. The emotions present at the end of the world helps establish what kind of comic this will be, especially as Reed loses his family. It also helps immediately contrast the world we all know with the unexplored wilds of Battleworld.

Readers are first introduced to Battleworld in a scene that has an army of Thors worshiping Doctor Doom as their god and All-Father. Such an instantly shocking scene precipitates the full introduction to a world where everything is just as shocking. This is a place where the lines between countries, universes, and histories have been rewritten and nothing is as it once was. The worldbuilding behind this new setting is highly creative and discovering every small detail is rewarding. Simply learning the history behind Battleworld and God Emperor Doom helps drive forward interest in the volume as a whole and is one of the chief positives from this event.

Though the first half of this book is great, it somehow manages to amp up the quality even further as the event moves toward its endgame. Numerous Battleworld entities move against one another in a final battle chock-full of action and excitement. This battle has a giant version of the Thing fighting Galactus, a mob of Thors flying into battle together, and a zombie army led by an Infinity Gauntlet-powered Black Panther. While these events help create the greater war, a few individual confrontations provide jaw-dropping moments along the way, like when Doom kills Thanos with a single blow or when Groot appears out of nowhere and gains the unlimited power present in the World Tree. All of this together creates a truly epic and exciting confrontation with a plethora of memorable moments.

However, somehow the book becomes even more entertaining as it moves into the finale. The confrontation between Doom and Reed Richards is as raw and intense as a comic book can get. The combination of hatred, respect, and jealousy between these two creates a myriad of emotions that are incredible to see play out. This leads to the best moment of the entire book, when Doom accepts that Reed could handle the universe better and has his omnipotence taken away from him. This helps establish the book’s central message by demonstrating how the safe but restrictive rule of Doom fails in comparison to Reed’s idea of unfettered growth. This is a finale with meaning and depth that gives a satisfying conclusion to the event and to the multitude of comics which preceded it.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in Secret Wars is great and works as a wonderful complement to the story. Esad Ribic’s artwork looks great throughout this collection, especially when paired with Ive Svorcina’s colors. Together, these artists help create a book with impressive landscapes and striking characters. However, the best part about the visuals here is the creativity. The worlds in this book and the events that take place within them are all wondrous to see. The visual creativity helps bolster the creativity of the writing and ensure that this work stands out as something unique. This is especially noticeable in some of the more epic scenes from this book, which include one from Star-Lord and one between Doctor Doom and Thanos. There are a few places where facial expressions seem a bit too strained but these brief moments do not take away from the overall appeal of the art. In the end, this is a visually pleasing collection that satisfies in almost every regard.

Continuity

Secret Wars is a Marvel Comics event that is essentially a direct continuation of the storyline from Avengers: Time Runs Out Vol. 4 (Review).

The Secret Wars event stretches across a number of tie-in issues. These tie-in issues all fall into one of three separate categories. The specific reading order behind this event will be explained in our “Secret Wars Reading Order” (work-in-progress).

Last Days

These tie-in issues see individual characters react to the world-ending events of Secret Wars. They do not have much, if any, impact on the events of the main series. These tie-ins include:

Battleworld

These tie-in issues see battles take place across the world of Secret Wars. These tie-ins include:

Warzones

These tie-in issues detail events in the various locations found in the Secret Wars world. These tie-ins include:

The main story here does not continue in any one specific comic. However, the stories of various characters are continued in a number of different series: Doctor Doom’s story continues in the Invincible Iron Man series, starting with Invincible Iron Man Vol. 1: Reboot; Ben Grimm’s story continues in the Guardians of the Galaxy series, starting with Guardians of the Galaxy: New Guard Vol. 1: Emperor Quill; Johnny Storm’s story continues in the Uncanny Inhumans series, starting with Uncanny Inhumans Vol. 1: Time Crush; and the Reed and Sue’s story continues years later in a new Fantastic Four series, starting with Fantastic Four by Dan Slott Vol. 1: Fourever.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

Previous Story Review

All Marvel Event Reviews

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