Tennyo
Higher Further Faster
lol I stopped reading it
Secret Wars (2015) [Marvel]
- Thread starter The Twilight Mexican
- Start date
lol I stopped reading it
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
How long did you hang on?
The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Final issue of "Secret Wars" delayed another week
*sigh*
In other news, here are my reviews of the latest:
----
Secret Wars: Official Guide to the Marvel Multiverse: This special "Secret Wars" edition in the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe" series takes a look beyond solely the familiar Earth-616 to the multiverse at large. Not everything presented here is ultimately relevant to the currently unfolding "Secret Wars" event, but, as Mike O'Sullivan, one of the source book's authors explained in a post on ComicBookResources.com, "If they're in our book, they were either in one of Ross' early covers or a Secret Wars story since 1984. ... It ends up that some characters shown on covers never made it into Secret Wars stories, and that's okay... this may have been one of the very few places where characters like Obnoxio, Throg, Teen Hulk (among others) would be able to be profiled, so we jumped on it."
So, kudos to the Official Handbook team for taking that approach, and another round of kudos to the cover artists, Mike McKone (line work) and Rachelle Rosenberg (colors), for making it into a nifty homage to Mike Zeck's cover to "Secret Wars" #12 from the original "Secret Wars" event.
As something of a collector of Marvel's Official Handbooks, I have to say this is one of the nicer ones I own -- but it's not without its flaws. These range from outright mistakes of fact to simple typographical errors, as in the following example from The Maker's profile: "In Germany, Maker constructed the Dome, where time passed at an accelerated rate; f passed while five minutes occurred on Earth."
More notably, the entry about the universe-shattering Incursions contained numerous errors regarding the storyline leading up to "Secret Wars." Seeing as this entry is likely to be a big draw for most anyone purchasing this particular book, these mistakes arguably account for its most egregious errors. As such, we'll quickly make a note of each of them:
-It says the Illuminati accidentally brought Terrax the Truly Enlightened with them to Earth-616 from Earth-13054. They actually very deliberately took him back with them as their prisoner in hopes that he would tell them how to save their world from the Incursions
-It says that Reed Richards built the Bridge device with help from Yabbat Ummon Tarru, the Black Swan. He had actually built one before ever meeting her; the Illuminati merely acted on her suggestion that it could be helpful in their mission
-It says the Great Society of Earth-4290001 used the Wishing Box (their universe's version of the Infinity Gauntlet) to stop three Incursions. They were actually only able to stop one of the three Incursions they prevented with it, the same as the Illuminati were only able to stop one Incursion with Earth-616's counterpart of that relic
-It says the battle between the Illuminati and Great Society was a stalemate until Stephen Strange invoked the dark magic of the Blu'dakorr. The Illuminati were actually losing until that moment
-It says the Illuminati recruited Hank Pym and sent him out into the multiverse after Steve Rogers mounted a manhunt for them. They had actually done this long before that development, shortly before the events of "Infinity"
-It says the Cabal destroyed the agrarian Earth-28744923048932. That Earth's Reed Richards actually destroyed it, acting upon Namor's advice so as to avoid his family facing tortuous slaughter at the Cabal's hands. This had also been part of an attempt by Namor to eliminate the entire Cabal, himself included
-It says the Cabal made Earth-71202's Charles Xavier beg for mercy before destroying his Earth. They actually made him beg them to kill him
Overall, the entry should still prove informative for those seeking clarification, and the book as a whole remains an impressive feat and a welcome treat. If you're into these sort of books and have been following "Secret Wars" -- or if you just think it sounds intriguing -- give it a try.
Secret Wars Too: A gaggle of gags from various creators await in this parody of Marvel's biggest event ever and its Battleworld setting. Originally meant to be published once "Secret Wars" was over as a cathartic epilogue of sorts after all the Doom and gloom (ha, puns), Marvel apparently decided they could only push so many books' release schedules back due to the delays on the core miniseries -- a disappointing failure of coordination that the book pokes plenty of fun at. The event's architect and primary writer, Jonathan Hickman, really shows off his healthy sense of humor and ability to laugh at himself here with the opening bit, "Sraw Terces" (read this title backwards). In fact, all of the skits are at least witty, and most are genuinely funny.
Al Ewing's contribution, "Great Incomprehensibility," is the second story and one of the more middle-of-the-road offerings. After starting off with some fun parodies of Thor's speech mannerisms and comic book sensibilities in general -- as well as a very clever twist on Spider-Man's origin -- Ewing succumbs to a one-note gag that was funny the first time but quickly wears out its welcome. The skit never gets bad, mind you -- it's just a slight disappointment from a genuinely good writer. He was clearly having some fun, though, and that's what this book is for, so whatever.
The third story, "Pizza Quest," is one of the strongest and sure to be the favorite of many who read "Secret Wars Too" with its sharp writing, appropriately cartoony art and general poking of fun at Battleworld domains and other things Marvel. It's cute, it's fun and it will make you smile. "Last Days of D-Man," the next one up, is along the same lines. It's a simply fucking hilarious idea, and very well may be actual canon -- and if not, it really should be.
The fifth story, "#Galhackedtus," is perhaps as witty as "Pizza Quest," and definitely one of the best skits here. Certainly better than "The Bear Without Fear," which follows after. There are a couple of good jokes here involving Cyclops and Wolverine, but it's a bit of a drawn-out dud overall. If any of these stories had needed to be left out for space considerations, this should have been the one to go. Even at only two pages, the last skit, "Doom: Behind the Tyranny," does a lot more to like than its predecessor did with five. Effective use is made of the limited space, packing each panel with wit.
Finally, though not a skit itself, the last page of the book offers more poking of fun at Hickman and Marvel's poor scheduling of this event. And it should honestly make you laugh, especially if you've been frustrated by all these damn delays.
Silver Surfer #15 (by Dan Slott, Michael Allred and Laura Allred): Well, my prediction for this issue from my review of the previous issue didn't quite pan out, the Surfer did, indeed, recognize that he wasn't fit to be playing God. Also making me halfway right about something else, making the right choice about the nature of reality did ultimately fall to Dawn.
What I misjudged about this storyline was its end goal, Though the solicitations for and overall direction of these "Last Days" issues certainly went out of their way to mislead us into thinking we would see the Surfer and Dawn establishing the All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe, that was a red herring. The issue makes it clear that the new reality arises from yet unknown events within the core "Secret Wars" miniseries. What was actually being achieved here was removing the last (?) trace of the Beyonders from the new Marvel's cosmology.
We've already touched upon Cosmic Cubes no longer being related to the Beyonders. Now, with this "Silver Surfer" story, we've also seen the elimination of the Shaper of Worlds, who evolved from a Cosmic Cube (like the Beyonders), as well as his assistant, Glorian. Thus, the All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe will presumably be without any of them.
This was a fun, thematically appropriate story that -- building off the themes and plot elements seeded since the beginning of this series -- brought it to a satisfying conclusion. As always, Slott and the Allreds delivered the same heart and top-notch work that has easily made this series the best run ever created with the Silver Surfer.
Secret Wars #8 (by Jonathan Hickman, Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina): After the problematic elements of the previous issue, I was concerned as I opened this one -- but there was no need. Hickman pulls it all together here.
Blessedly, this issue sees Doom's generals cleared from the board almost immediately. Baron Sinister mercifully gets only a single panel this time before he dies. In fact, a lot of characters make their exit from the story this issue, including more than one hero from the looks of things.
Still, the heroes and other survivors from Earth-616 and Earth-1610 get a lot more attention this time around, even as The Cabal finds itself on its last legs. That team has really underperformed on Battleworld compared to their showing during "Infinity" and "Time Runs Out" prior to "Secret Wars." Despite a rather flawless execution of his plan to compel both Ben Grimm (a.k.a. The Shield) and the hordes formerly residing to its south to march on Castle Doom, Thanos is unable to maintain the momentum and has it all fall apart on him.
Though I am a huge fan of Thanos (he's easily my favorite Marvel character), this was an appropriate end for his involvement in "Secret Wars." He set out to destabilize Doom's hold on Battleworld, and he succeeded. Beyond that, anything else is extraneous.
I'm okay with this for the same reason I've become okay with how the lead up to 2010's "The Thanos Imperative" and the stories that came after repositioned him to be a villain again: Jim Starlin's "Thanos Annual" from 2014 showed that Thanos essentially became one of the Universal Abstracts -- he would be whatever creation needed him to be in order to accomplish what needed accomplishing. As Starlin's follow-up to that story, "The Infinity Revelation," had the Titan remark, "I refuse to insanely question that which is. I accept what I am."
He achieved what needed achieving on his end, so it's fine that his role end here.
Meanwhile, the Marvel Zombies enlisted by T'Challa and Namor oddly find themselves on the battlefield here still as zombies. After the previous issue, one was left with the impression that passing through the Siege Courageous would see them reconstituted as an army of living heroes ready to face down Doom. Perhaps the ideal form for zombies is zombification then? In either case, there's still no sign of Old Man Logan in this depiction of the final battle, much less leading the charge, so -- as I thought last time -- we'll just have to imagine him in there.
In fact, it's looking like things will come down largely to T'Challa, Namor and the Reeds. I don't know who will actually defeat Doom -- nor how they will save existence once they have -- but I'm very excited to find out.
This issue has done an excellent job of maintaining last issue's momentum while actually showing us what's happening with the characters we want to see. That, and it features what are easily some of the coolest moments ever seen in a comic book.
In whatever significant ways it meandered last time, Hickman has really pulled it back together as we head into the finale.
*sigh*
In other news, here are my reviews of the latest:
----
Secret Wars: Official Guide to the Marvel Multiverse: This special "Secret Wars" edition in the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe" series takes a look beyond solely the familiar Earth-616 to the multiverse at large. Not everything presented here is ultimately relevant to the currently unfolding "Secret Wars" event, but, as Mike O'Sullivan, one of the source book's authors explained in a post on ComicBookResources.com, "If they're in our book, they were either in one of Ross' early covers or a Secret Wars story since 1984. ... It ends up that some characters shown on covers never made it into Secret Wars stories, and that's okay... this may have been one of the very few places where characters like Obnoxio, Throg, Teen Hulk (among others) would be able to be profiled, so we jumped on it."
So, kudos to the Official Handbook team for taking that approach, and another round of kudos to the cover artists, Mike McKone (line work) and Rachelle Rosenberg (colors), for making it into a nifty homage to Mike Zeck's cover to "Secret Wars" #12 from the original "Secret Wars" event.
As something of a collector of Marvel's Official Handbooks, I have to say this is one of the nicer ones I own -- but it's not without its flaws. These range from outright mistakes of fact to simple typographical errors, as in the following example from The Maker's profile: "In Germany, Maker constructed the Dome, where time passed at an accelerated rate; f passed while five minutes occurred on Earth."
More notably, the entry about the universe-shattering Incursions contained numerous errors regarding the storyline leading up to "Secret Wars." Seeing as this entry is likely to be a big draw for most anyone purchasing this particular book, these mistakes arguably account for its most egregious errors. As such, we'll quickly make a note of each of them:
-It says the Illuminati accidentally brought Terrax the Truly Enlightened with them to Earth-616 from Earth-13054. They actually very deliberately took him back with them as their prisoner in hopes that he would tell them how to save their world from the Incursions
-It says that Reed Richards built the Bridge device with help from Yabbat Ummon Tarru, the Black Swan. He had actually built one before ever meeting her; the Illuminati merely acted on her suggestion that it could be helpful in their mission
-It says the Great Society of Earth-4290001 used the Wishing Box (their universe's version of the Infinity Gauntlet) to stop three Incursions. They were actually only able to stop one of the three Incursions they prevented with it, the same as the Illuminati were only able to stop one Incursion with Earth-616's counterpart of that relic
-It says the battle between the Illuminati and Great Society was a stalemate until Stephen Strange invoked the dark magic of the Blu'dakorr. The Illuminati were actually losing until that moment
-It says the Illuminati recruited Hank Pym and sent him out into the multiverse after Steve Rogers mounted a manhunt for them. They had actually done this long before that development, shortly before the events of "Infinity"
-It says the Cabal destroyed the agrarian Earth-28744923048932. That Earth's Reed Richards actually destroyed it, acting upon Namor's advice so as to avoid his family facing tortuous slaughter at the Cabal's hands. This had also been part of an attempt by Namor to eliminate the entire Cabal, himself included
-It says the Cabal made Earth-71202's Charles Xavier beg for mercy before destroying his Earth. They actually made him beg them to kill him
Overall, the entry should still prove informative for those seeking clarification, and the book as a whole remains an impressive feat and a welcome treat. If you're into these sort of books and have been following "Secret Wars" -- or if you just think it sounds intriguing -- give it a try.
Secret Wars Too: A gaggle of gags from various creators await in this parody of Marvel's biggest event ever and its Battleworld setting. Originally meant to be published once "Secret Wars" was over as a cathartic epilogue of sorts after all the Doom and gloom (ha, puns), Marvel apparently decided they could only push so many books' release schedules back due to the delays on the core miniseries -- a disappointing failure of coordination that the book pokes plenty of fun at. The event's architect and primary writer, Jonathan Hickman, really shows off his healthy sense of humor and ability to laugh at himself here with the opening bit, "Sraw Terces" (read this title backwards). In fact, all of the skits are at least witty, and most are genuinely funny.
Al Ewing's contribution, "Great Incomprehensibility," is the second story and one of the more middle-of-the-road offerings. After starting off with some fun parodies of Thor's speech mannerisms and comic book sensibilities in general -- as well as a very clever twist on Spider-Man's origin -- Ewing succumbs to a one-note gag that was funny the first time but quickly wears out its welcome. The skit never gets bad, mind you -- it's just a slight disappointment from a genuinely good writer. He was clearly having some fun, though, and that's what this book is for, so whatever.
The third story, "Pizza Quest," is one of the strongest and sure to be the favorite of many who read "Secret Wars Too" with its sharp writing, appropriately cartoony art and general poking of fun at Battleworld domains and other things Marvel. It's cute, it's fun and it will make you smile. "Last Days of D-Man," the next one up, is along the same lines. It's a simply fucking hilarious idea, and very well may be actual canon -- and if not, it really should be.
The fifth story, "#Galhackedtus," is perhaps as witty as "Pizza Quest," and definitely one of the best skits here. Certainly better than "The Bear Without Fear," which follows after. There are a couple of good jokes here involving Cyclops and Wolverine, but it's a bit of a drawn-out dud overall. If any of these stories had needed to be left out for space considerations, this should have been the one to go. Even at only two pages, the last skit, "Doom: Behind the Tyranny," does a lot more to like than its predecessor did with five. Effective use is made of the limited space, packing each panel with wit.
Finally, though not a skit itself, the last page of the book offers more poking of fun at Hickman and Marvel's poor scheduling of this event. And it should honestly make you laugh, especially if you've been frustrated by all these damn delays.
Silver Surfer #15 (by Dan Slott, Michael Allred and Laura Allred): Well, my prediction for this issue from my review of the previous issue didn't quite pan out, the Surfer did, indeed, recognize that he wasn't fit to be playing God. Also making me halfway right about something else, making the right choice about the nature of reality did ultimately fall to Dawn.
What I misjudged about this storyline was its end goal, Though the solicitations for and overall direction of these "Last Days" issues certainly went out of their way to mislead us into thinking we would see the Surfer and Dawn establishing the All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe, that was a red herring. The issue makes it clear that the new reality arises from yet unknown events within the core "Secret Wars" miniseries. What was actually being achieved here was removing the last (?) trace of the Beyonders from the new Marvel's cosmology.
We've already touched upon Cosmic Cubes no longer being related to the Beyonders. Now, with this "Silver Surfer" story, we've also seen the elimination of the Shaper of Worlds, who evolved from a Cosmic Cube (like the Beyonders), as well as his assistant, Glorian. Thus, the All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe will presumably be without any of them.
This was a fun, thematically appropriate story that -- building off the themes and plot elements seeded since the beginning of this series -- brought it to a satisfying conclusion. As always, Slott and the Allreds delivered the same heart and top-notch work that has easily made this series the best run ever created with the Silver Surfer.
Secret Wars #8 (by Jonathan Hickman, Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina): After the problematic elements of the previous issue, I was concerned as I opened this one -- but there was no need. Hickman pulls it all together here.
Blessedly, this issue sees Doom's generals cleared from the board almost immediately. Baron Sinister mercifully gets only a single panel this time before he dies. In fact, a lot of characters make their exit from the story this issue, including more than one hero from the looks of things.
Still, the heroes and other survivors from Earth-616 and Earth-1610 get a lot more attention this time around, even as The Cabal finds itself on its last legs. That team has really underperformed on Battleworld compared to their showing during "Infinity" and "Time Runs Out" prior to "Secret Wars." Despite a rather flawless execution of his plan to compel both Ben Grimm (a.k.a. The Shield) and the hordes formerly residing to its south to march on Castle Doom, Thanos is unable to maintain the momentum and has it all fall apart on him.
Though I am a huge fan of Thanos (he's easily my favorite Marvel character), this was an appropriate end for his involvement in "Secret Wars." He set out to destabilize Doom's hold on Battleworld, and he succeeded. Beyond that, anything else is extraneous.
I'm okay with this for the same reason I've become okay with how the lead up to 2010's "The Thanos Imperative" and the stories that came after repositioned him to be a villain again: Jim Starlin's "Thanos Annual" from 2014 showed that Thanos essentially became one of the Universal Abstracts -- he would be whatever creation needed him to be in order to accomplish what needed accomplishing. As Starlin's follow-up to that story, "The Infinity Revelation," had the Titan remark, "I refuse to insanely question that which is. I accept what I am."
He achieved what needed achieving on his end, so it's fine that his role end here.
Meanwhile, the Marvel Zombies enlisted by T'Challa and Namor oddly find themselves on the battlefield here still as zombies. After the previous issue, one was left with the impression that passing through the Siege Courageous would see them reconstituted as an army of living heroes ready to face down Doom. Perhaps the ideal form for zombies is zombification then? In either case, there's still no sign of Old Man Logan in this depiction of the final battle, much less leading the charge, so -- as I thought last time -- we'll just have to imagine him in there.
In fact, it's looking like things will come down largely to T'Challa, Namor and the Reeds. I don't know who will actually defeat Doom -- nor how they will save existence once they have -- but I'm very excited to find out.
This issue has done an excellent job of maintaining last issue's momentum while actually showing us what's happening with the characters we want to see. That, and it features what are easily some of the coolest moments ever seen in a comic book.
In whatever significant ways it meandered last time, Hickman has really pulled it back together as we head into the finale.
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The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
I feel bad for any fans of the Ultimate line. "Ultimate End" #5 may be not only the worst Bendis issue I've ever read, but the worst comic I've ever read.
He couldn't even be bothered to keep up with his own continuity from the "Old Man Logan" series he just wrote. OML's alternate's son and all these X-Men are acting surprised to see him here. That isn't even as bad as this gets either. Just ... ugh.
He couldn't even be bothered to keep up with his own continuity from the "Old Man Logan" series he just wrote. OML's alternate's son and all these X-Men are acting surprised to see him here. That isn't even as bad as this gets either. Just ... ugh.
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The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
We're almost two weeks past "Secret Wars" #9's release, but I finally have my final "Secret Wars" tl;dr ready to go. Given that the issue was released more than three months late, though, I don't feel too terrible about being a little late with my review. =P
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----
It's been said that superheroes are the heroes of modern myth. If that's the case, then "Secret Wars" is now the creation story of our modern mythology, complete with a pantheon in the form of the very superhero family to whom Marvel's successful shift into the genre during the Silver Age of Comics can be most attributed. As the Wikipedia entry for the Silver Age puts it, "With an innovation that changed the comic-book industry, The Fantastic Four #1 initiated a naturalistic style of superheroes with human failings, fears, and inner demons, who squabbled and worried about the likes of rent-money. In contrast to the straitlaced archetypes of superheroes at the time, this ushered in a revolution."
As alluded to by that summary, the groundwork for the paradigm of the Marvel superhero was also laid with that first issue by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Comparisons drawn by comic book fans and historians continue to this day between DC's paragons of [insert virtue here] and Marvel's collection of often all-too-human foul-ups. This different style was, perhaps, most vividly highlighted in recent days in Jonathan Hickman's Avengers storylines leading into his epic "Secret Wars" finale.
The multiverse-destroying Incursion plot and its fallout in the thoroughly downpressing (opposite of "uplifting," see?) "Time Runs Out" storyline saw some of Marvel's finest heroes grappling with the possibility of whether they could destroy other Earths populated by billions in order to save their own Earth and two universes populated by untold trillions. Marvel's first superhero -- pre-dating even the Fantastic Four -- Namor was able to make the difficult, necessary call when no one else could. Not long after, Captain America and Iron Man, typically serving as the rock of the Avengers and the superhero community at large, found their legacy imploding as they died fighting one another to settle a personal grudge in their Earth's -- their very universes's -- final moments.
It was quite the harsh indictment Hickman laid out with his metacommentary.
After literally tearing down the universe of these heroes, our modern myths, Hickman proceeded to rebuild it from the ground up, culminating in "Secret Wars" #9, in which members of the Fantastic Four -- the family at the heart of Marvel's long history -- create not only a new Marvel Universe, but also begin creating a multiverse of countless new possibilities and unexplored realities. Just as "The Fantastic Four" was once the title in the publication lineup most responsible for the world building and exploration thereof that might find its way into other titles in Marvel's stable, the family of Reed and Susan Richards is now literally (within the books anyway) the assembly of gods responsible for building worlds and exploring the universes they inhabit.
The undercurrent of theology and associated symbolism that has run through Hickman's tale from the beginning was also presented here with the hunger of Owen Reece, the Molecule Man. Serving as the mentally unstable repository of the vanquished Beyonders' power -- the power that allowed Doom to create Battleworld in the first place -- he asks all those who come before him if they've brought him something to eat.
Doom may have been the God Emperor of Battleworld, but Reece has been the one essentially asking those who enter his presence for an offering, like some god of antiquity.
Ultimate Spider-Man Miles Morales is ultimately (heh) the only one to directly procure a favor from Reece by actually meeting this expectation, but the lack of favor curried by others works out favorably for everyone in setting up the final skirmish between Doom and Reed of Earth-616. With neither providing Owen an offering, he -- again, like some god of antiquity -- takes no side in their showdown, deciding to instead allow them to prove which of them to whom he should channel the Beyonders' power.
Interestingly enough, though, Owen does show favoritism between Earth-616's Reed and his diabolical "Ultimate" counterpart from Earth-1610, The Maker. When The Maker attempts a betrayal to remove the good Reed from the equation, the Molecule Man swiftly eliminates him and tells Earth-616's Reed to prepare for Doom's imminent arrival. "Then we'll see what's what."
Despite doing very little on his own with the power of the Beyonders, Owen Reece appears resolved to see to it that they are used only by the person will do the most good with them.
Owen's final decision -- one Doom agrees with even as he curses knowing what needs to happen -- is that the power should pass to Reed. This abrupt shift sees Battleworld explosively come undone at last, as well as those building blocks of myth Hickman has worked with all along find a resting place in establishing a new cosmology in which Reed, Franklin Richards and Owen take on a Godly (capital "G") role that one can't help but to describe as a divine trinity: a father, his son and a (holy? hungry?) ghost creating creating brand new universes that will constitute a fresh multiverse.
And it is a new multiverse. Though a number of fans have misunderstood the issue's denouement with T'Challa in Wakanda, Earth-616 was not restored, nor was time wound back to the first issue of vol. 3 of "New Avengers," despite an identical scene taking place there. The Marvel Multiverse that existed prior to the events of "Secret Wars" #1 was destroyed. None of the universes that existed before were restored. They remain destroyed even now, even as the memory of some will form the basis for new realities. As we've gone over previously, the Marvel Multiverse depicted under the "All-New, All-Different Marvel" banner is a completely new incarnation of creation.
The setting for the main Marvel Universe is no longer even known as Earth-616 it turns out -- it is the Prime Earth in the Prime Universe, as they were the first to be created in the new multiverse. For readers who were confused, Marvel's Vice President of Publishing Tom Brevoort has clarified the matter in an interview with ComicBookResources.com:
"It's effectively a new multiverse. The biggest and most important thing here that nobody in the world will like, and that I'm the only one that keeps poking at, is the fact that the Marvel Universe is no longer the 616. I don't know if by the end of 'Secret Wars' #9 there are 616 universes yet. There will be an infinite number of them. Realities that we've known and new ones that we've never visited before are being constantly created, and then mapped and explored by Reed and his family.
They started by restoring the Marvel Universe. So really, it's now the Prime Universe."
This comment further clarified what Brevoort had previously said in the January 5, 2016 installment of the "This Week in Marvel" podcast (episode #218.5) when asked "What do you hope people take away from 'Secret Wars'?" Brevoort responded, "[laughs] My one facetious answer is that it's not the -- it's not Universe-616 anymore. [laughs] I think that's -- that's more than anything what I want people to take away from it."
Brevoort has also reiterated this new status for Marvel reality in answering several questions from readers on his tumblr:
• Could you explain why it was so important to you to change Earth-616's name to Prime Earth? And by the way, Web Warriors has already refered to Marvel's main reality as Earth-616, so if I were you I'd start paying more attention.
You’ve got it backwards–it’s WEB WARRIORS that should be paying more attention to SECRET WARS.
But even there, it’s not like we were going to reveal the New MU as such before we got to the climax of SECRET WARS.
• Question how can the term "616" shouldn't exist anymore when we've seen it in Web Warriors, which is post SW and still refers to the realities there in using the same system? Also "The Prime Earth" sounds horrible, make up a better term.
The Prime Earth is just a signifier. it’s the Marvel Universe.
And as I said earlier, that’s WEB WARRIORS not getting it right.
• Yeah I'm (and very likely most every other nerd out there) will still call it 616
No, you won’t–because you’ll be wrong, and that will be damaging to your fan cried. This would be like insisting that the Post-Crisis DC Earth was Earth-1. It might be what you want, but it isn’t so, and like in that case, you will eventually come to accept the new normal.
• So Squadron Supreme (great book btw) has members from dead universes. But are those Universes even dead anymore? If not are there doppelgangers for all these characters. You think you explained stuff well in the final issue but you really you didnt
Yes, those universes are still dead and gone. At least until and unless Reed & co. Replace them.
• Hi Tom, I enjoyed Hickman’s whole Avengers run and the main Secret Wars series very much. One question remained for me: does Black Panther’s appearance back in the events of New Avengers #1 (minus the incursion) at the end of Secret Wars mean the incursions and all of Hickman’s run were erased? That doesn’t seem to be what’s been implied in other titles.
Nope, it doesn’t mean that at all.
When the fan from that last question references "what's been implied in other titles," they are referring to the fact that people remember the Incursions, even if a bit unclearly, as seen in "Ultimates," vol. 2 #1 and "Sam Wilson: Captain America" #2.
Along similar lines, in "Silver Surfer" vol. 7 #15, Eternity remarks that the new universe "is the universe you know, but not as you have known it. ... Familiar. Strange. Old and new." Though this was likely a metacomment directed more toward readers, as "Secret Wars" #9 had not yet been released, the point remains that Eternity -- the embodiment of the universe itself -- has said the Marvel Universe is no longer the same.
What does this then make of T'Challa's actions in Battleworld's final moments? We see him close his fist around an Infinity Gem, be swallowed up in the light of Battleworld's destruction, and then come back to coherence -- his tattered costume restored as well -- in Wakanda, the Infinity Gem burned out and turned to dust. Not only does T'Challa find himself back in Wakanda, he finds himself in the scene from the beginning of "New Avengers" vol. 3 #1 at the moment before he first discovered the Incursions -- only there is no Incursion this time, and the Wakandan youth with him do not die.
One could be forgiven for understanding this to mean that time was wound back and the Incursions erased if not for all that we have been shown to make clear otherwise. The Incursions still took place. Wakanda was still destroyed, as was Earth-616 and its entire universe. The mechanics of precisely what took place here ultimately fall to which Infinity Gem T'Challa made use of.
If it was the Time Gem, T'Challa was able to simply pull Earth-616's Wakanda forward in time and roll the damage to his costume backward. This particular turn of events is unlikely, however, as the region of Battleworld in which Castle Doom was constructed doesn't appear connected to Earth-616. The recording left by Doctor Strange remarked in "Secret Wars" #6 that he made sure the castle was built in the domain that corresponded to the Infinity Gauntlet he had procured on Battleworld, as Infinity Gems only work within the borders of their native universe. Earth-616's Infinity Gems were already destroyed back in "New Avengers" vol. 3 #3, so this wasn't those gems, and, consequently, the section of Battleworld in which Castle Doom was constructed was not from Earth-616.
This then leaves us to conclude that T'Challa must have used that reality's Reality Gem. What he did with it to secure Wakanda's restoration is unclear, however. Perhaps he used it to outright alter part of the new Earth into his Wakanda, assuming part of Reed's new creation came from that section of Battleworld. Or maybe he passed his wishes to Reed and Owen, and they fulfilled them for him. It's unclear, and probably best left that way. It's unimportant to understanding what was achieved and unlikely Hickman or Brevoort will be offering clarity on this particular point anyway, as they wouldn't even confirm which gem it was when asked outright by CBR.
A more interesting question than which Infinity Gem T'Challa used is whether he played a role in ensuring the fallen Namor made the transition into the new universe. In the final panel we see of him before he makes use of whichever Infinity Gem that was, he appears to be kneeling on the ground by Namor's trident, the weapon still sticking out of the ground following Namor's earlier attack on Doom. The engravings on the shaft of the weapon seem to match up fairly well at any rate.
I like to imagine that T'Challa's final wish before Battleworld was consumed was for he and Namor to have their kingdoms back.
Speaking of Namor, the 30 days leading up to and including the release of "Secret Wars" #9 made for a bad month or so to be a Namor fan. First, we got his unceremonious and uncalled for execution in "Squadron Supreme" #1 of the "All-New, All-Different Marvel" initiative (more on this in an upcoming post), and -- though chronologically earlier -- we now get him being burned to a crisp in the penultimate battle of "Secret Wars."
Granted, he got in a good opening hit and couldn't have really contributed anything to that battle (itself merely a distraction to buy time for the Reeds) beyond this. I suppose it's honor enough that he even made it to this final issue and this battle. He couldn't have expected to make it through the fight when T'Challa likely didn't expect to even while wielding an Infinity Gauntlet.
Another satiafying resolution of continuity that stands out to me about this ending is that Franklin Richards finally fulfilled his destiny of becoming a being on par with or superior to the Celestials. As the shaper of the new Marvel Multiverse, he is the ultimate fruit of the Celestials' labors. Say what one will about Marvel sidelining their properties that FOX holds the film rights to, "Secret Wars" couldn't have done more to honor either the Fantastic Four or mutants. That is personified most of all in Franklin, the son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman -- and also one of Earth's mutants.
Speaking of mortals surpassing supreme cosmic entities, this reader is left curious about the status of the Living Tribunal. Did the new divine trinity see fit to recreate The One Above All's agent of judgment and balance? Did TOAA go ahead with that itself? Are Reed and co. now the closest in existence to the role the Tribunal once served?
For that matter, have all these events -- including the death of the Living Tribunal, the destruction of the multiverse by the Beyonders, and the birth of a new multiverse created by Reed et. al. -- been according to the design of TOAA? Were the Beyonders unwitting agents of TOAA's will themselves or genuine threats from outside its purview? I suppose we'll never know, and that's probably better that way too.
On a related note, it's worth looking at something novel in the ending to "Secret Wars": For perhaps the first time ever, we have superheroes wielding ultimate power being presented positively. The impression one gets, though, is that this is still only possible because Reed and his family have removed themselves from among the world of the "living." When Doom tried living among mortals while wielding the same ultimate power, he set himself up as God Emperor Doom and lorded over what was prevailingly a world of misery.
Even so, whatever his failings with Battleworld and himself, that anything survived at all, that there can be a future beyond "Secret Wars," is thanks to Doom. To his own credit, Reed was able to recognize and acknowledge this fact. Doom may not have been the right person to guide creation into the future, but he had done a lot of good -- had achieved what Reed himself had been unable to.
Tom Brevoort even revealed in the "This Week in Marvel" podcast referenced earlier than an aspect of the plot to "Secret Wars" seeded by "Fantastic Four" #611 was changed along the way to the miniseries' production:
"The last issue of 'Fantastic Four' that Jonathan did -- rather than 'FF,' 'Fantastic Four' -- uh, was the -- the issue where they go into the -- the universe that Doom has, um, where Doom has been, uh, had been left with the Council of Reeds, which was now the Council of Dooms, and he has this universe that he's changing to his own liking, and it all goes wrong, and they come in and they pull him out, and -- in one iteration of the storyline, that was the kickoff to 'Secret Wars.' That that universe being destroyed was -- was the one that went away that caused all the other universes to start kind of crashing together. Um, you know, we ended up not doing that that way, so that story isn't exactly that anymore, but at one point it would have been."
The reasoning for the decision is left unclear, but one undeniable effect of it -- in addition to making the choice of issues collected in the "Secret Wars Prelude" trade paperback confusing -- is that it makes Doom more heroic. In saving what he could of the previous Marvel Multiverse, he wasn't just fixing his own mistake. He legitimately stood up against a looming, malicious threat to all of creation, took them down and saved what he could from them.
Whatever the case for the thought process behind that change, Reed's decision to heal Victor's disfigured face in thanks is a beautiful resolution to their decades-long rivalry. Not so much because giving him a handsome appearance was really all that important in the grand scheme of things, but because it was a kind gesture that shows Reed truly acknowledged and appreciated Doom's contributions.
In a way, for Doom, it has to come across as Reed admitting that Doom was better than him at something even as both of them acknowledged Reed would have done a better job with the Beyonders' power once something of creation had been saved.
It does beg the question, though, whether Doom will be happy now without his family from Battleworld. Perhaps finding them and being reunited will be his new quest going forward in the "All-New, All-Different" Marvel Universe. Certainly he should be in an all-new, all-different place as a person after his experiences.
Before we close, it's necessary to comment on whether the delays for this series -- as well as the publication of "All-New, All-Different Marvel" books rolling out well ahead of the conclusion of "Secret Wars" -- ultimately harmed the impact of the ending here.
To my own surprise, I would argue that it did not. Feeling out the bits and pieces of the new continuity established as we went along created for something of a fun puzzle game for myself, honestly. It was an engaging mystery seeing the clues that we were no longer dealing with the original Marvel Universe -- or even a new one with memories of precisely the same history as the original -- while awaiting confirmation.
Had Reed and his family actually died here, I may feel differently. As is, the references to their deaths in "All-New, All-Different Marvel" titles actually created for a clever bit of misdirection.
The conspiracy theorist in me has also wondered, and continues to wonder, whether the delays were at least partly by design. It doesn't seem out of the question that, recognizing "Secret Wars" could make for such a logical endpoint, Marvel may have decided to hold back the end of this story while rolling out the books for the new continuity in the hopes of hooking longtime readers like me who may see this moment as their jumping-off point.
Rereading all of "Secret Wars" at once shows that it works very well in one big chunk. It feels epic, it feels like the end of something grand, and it feels like the beginning of something equally special. Though perhaps as the beginning of something special for the next generation and not for me.
I continue to see "Secret Wars" as a perfect jumping-off opportunity for me.
I've been a lifelong Marvel fan. I'll be 30 years old this year and have loved comics since before I could read. Marvel became my first love once I was old enough to follow the thinnest narrative strands, but I recognize, for so many reasons, that now is the closest I will get to being fully satisfied with my years as a fan.
Serialized fiction in perpetuity holds less and less appeal to me as I get older while Neil Gaiman's classic remark that "Stories that matter end" rings ever more true. And frankly, comics are a rather expensive hobby that takes a lot of time (for me at least). I have a very full life, and it leaves less and less room for all the things I would like to do. Something has to give.
Of the "All-New, All-Different Marvel" lineup, I will see the weird suburban horror story "The Vision" through to its almost inevitable end at issue #6; check out the first arc to the new volume of "Silver Surfer" since Dan Slott has promised it to be something really special in interviews; and will likely continue buying Jason Aaron's run with Thor's title until it ends, as I've followed it up to now. "Squirrel Girl," of course, will remain a must-have, at least for a while. I can actually see that silly offbeat book becoming the only ongoing title I buy at some point in the not-too-distant future.
Other than that, there are only a few odds and ends -- mostly loose ends -- I'll be on the lookout for. Jim Starlin's "The Infinity Entity" is due out next month, and then "The Infinity Finale" in April. The long-delayed final two issues of Jonathan Hickman and Dustin Weaver's "S.H.I.E.L.D." should also be on the way soon now that "Secret Wars" has wrapped.
I'm also rather interested in a Deadpool comic for the first time in years. Sometime this year will see the release of "Deadpool: Bad Blood," an original graphic novel illustrated by Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld and written by the scribes of the excellent "Secret Wars" tie-in, "X-Men '92," Chris Sims and Chad Bowers. I expect this book will be filled with self-aware nostalgia and genuinely clever humor -- a rarity for a comic with Deadpool these days.
Lest we forget, it can't be said enough what a fantastic job Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina did with the pencils and colors respectively on this series. Aside from one odd rendering of Valeria's face in a single panel toward the end, this final issue is absolutely gorgeous, cementing "Secret Wars" as easily the most beautiful event comic Marvel has ever put out along with being the best written since the original "Age of Apocalypse" in 1995.
As I spoke to earlier, this book feels special. It does everything it should have and everything it promised it would. When was the last time a Marvel event could say that? 'Nuff said.
As alluded to by that summary, the groundwork for the paradigm of the Marvel superhero was also laid with that first issue by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Comparisons drawn by comic book fans and historians continue to this day between DC's paragons of [insert virtue here] and Marvel's collection of often all-too-human foul-ups. This different style was, perhaps, most vividly highlighted in recent days in Jonathan Hickman's Avengers storylines leading into his epic "Secret Wars" finale.
The multiverse-destroying Incursion plot and its fallout in the thoroughly downpressing (opposite of "uplifting," see?) "Time Runs Out" storyline saw some of Marvel's finest heroes grappling with the possibility of whether they could destroy other Earths populated by billions in order to save their own Earth and two universes populated by untold trillions. Marvel's first superhero -- pre-dating even the Fantastic Four -- Namor was able to make the difficult, necessary call when no one else could. Not long after, Captain America and Iron Man, typically serving as the rock of the Avengers and the superhero community at large, found their legacy imploding as they died fighting one another to settle a personal grudge in their Earth's -- their very universes's -- final moments.
It was quite the harsh indictment Hickman laid out with his metacommentary.
After literally tearing down the universe of these heroes, our modern myths, Hickman proceeded to rebuild it from the ground up, culminating in "Secret Wars" #9, in which members of the Fantastic Four -- the family at the heart of Marvel's long history -- create not only a new Marvel Universe, but also begin creating a multiverse of countless new possibilities and unexplored realities. Just as "The Fantastic Four" was once the title in the publication lineup most responsible for the world building and exploration thereof that might find its way into other titles in Marvel's stable, the family of Reed and Susan Richards is now literally (within the books anyway) the assembly of gods responsible for building worlds and exploring the universes they inhabit.
The undercurrent of theology and associated symbolism that has run through Hickman's tale from the beginning was also presented here with the hunger of Owen Reece, the Molecule Man. Serving as the mentally unstable repository of the vanquished Beyonders' power -- the power that allowed Doom to create Battleworld in the first place -- he asks all those who come before him if they've brought him something to eat.
Doom may have been the God Emperor of Battleworld, but Reece has been the one essentially asking those who enter his presence for an offering, like some god of antiquity.
Ultimate Spider-Man Miles Morales is ultimately (heh) the only one to directly procure a favor from Reece by actually meeting this expectation, but the lack of favor curried by others works out favorably for everyone in setting up the final skirmish between Doom and Reed of Earth-616. With neither providing Owen an offering, he -- again, like some god of antiquity -- takes no side in their showdown, deciding to instead allow them to prove which of them to whom he should channel the Beyonders' power.
Interestingly enough, though, Owen does show favoritism between Earth-616's Reed and his diabolical "Ultimate" counterpart from Earth-1610, The Maker. When The Maker attempts a betrayal to remove the good Reed from the equation, the Molecule Man swiftly eliminates him and tells Earth-616's Reed to prepare for Doom's imminent arrival. "Then we'll see what's what."
Despite doing very little on his own with the power of the Beyonders, Owen Reece appears resolved to see to it that they are used only by the person will do the most good with them.
Owen's final decision -- one Doom agrees with even as he curses knowing what needs to happen -- is that the power should pass to Reed. This abrupt shift sees Battleworld explosively come undone at last, as well as those building blocks of myth Hickman has worked with all along find a resting place in establishing a new cosmology in which Reed, Franklin Richards and Owen take on a Godly (capital "G") role that one can't help but to describe as a divine trinity: a father, his son and a (holy? hungry?) ghost creating creating brand new universes that will constitute a fresh multiverse.
And it is a new multiverse. Though a number of fans have misunderstood the issue's denouement with T'Challa in Wakanda, Earth-616 was not restored, nor was time wound back to the first issue of vol. 3 of "New Avengers," despite an identical scene taking place there. The Marvel Multiverse that existed prior to the events of "Secret Wars" #1 was destroyed. None of the universes that existed before were restored. They remain destroyed even now, even as the memory of some will form the basis for new realities. As we've gone over previously, the Marvel Multiverse depicted under the "All-New, All-Different Marvel" banner is a completely new incarnation of creation.
The setting for the main Marvel Universe is no longer even known as Earth-616 it turns out -- it is the Prime Earth in the Prime Universe, as they were the first to be created in the new multiverse. For readers who were confused, Marvel's Vice President of Publishing Tom Brevoort has clarified the matter in an interview with ComicBookResources.com:
"It's effectively a new multiverse. The biggest and most important thing here that nobody in the world will like, and that I'm the only one that keeps poking at, is the fact that the Marvel Universe is no longer the 616. I don't know if by the end of 'Secret Wars' #9 there are 616 universes yet. There will be an infinite number of them. Realities that we've known and new ones that we've never visited before are being constantly created, and then mapped and explored by Reed and his family.
They started by restoring the Marvel Universe. So really, it's now the Prime Universe."
This comment further clarified what Brevoort had previously said in the January 5, 2016 installment of the "This Week in Marvel" podcast (episode #218.5) when asked "What do you hope people take away from 'Secret Wars'?" Brevoort responded, "[laughs] My one facetious answer is that it's not the -- it's not Universe-616 anymore. [laughs] I think that's -- that's more than anything what I want people to take away from it."
Brevoort has also reiterated this new status for Marvel reality in answering several questions from readers on his tumblr:
• Could you explain why it was so important to you to change Earth-616's name to Prime Earth? And by the way, Web Warriors has already refered to Marvel's main reality as Earth-616, so if I were you I'd start paying more attention.
You’ve got it backwards–it’s WEB WARRIORS that should be paying more attention to SECRET WARS.
But even there, it’s not like we were going to reveal the New MU as such before we got to the climax of SECRET WARS.
• Question how can the term "616" shouldn't exist anymore when we've seen it in Web Warriors, which is post SW and still refers to the realities there in using the same system? Also "The Prime Earth" sounds horrible, make up a better term.
The Prime Earth is just a signifier. it’s the Marvel Universe.
And as I said earlier, that’s WEB WARRIORS not getting it right.
• Yeah I'm (and very likely most every other nerd out there) will still call it 616
No, you won’t–because you’ll be wrong, and that will be damaging to your fan cried. This would be like insisting that the Post-Crisis DC Earth was Earth-1. It might be what you want, but it isn’t so, and like in that case, you will eventually come to accept the new normal.
• So Squadron Supreme (great book btw) has members from dead universes. But are those Universes even dead anymore? If not are there doppelgangers for all these characters. You think you explained stuff well in the final issue but you really you didnt
Yes, those universes are still dead and gone. At least until and unless Reed & co. Replace them.
• Hi Tom, I enjoyed Hickman’s whole Avengers run and the main Secret Wars series very much. One question remained for me: does Black Panther’s appearance back in the events of New Avengers #1 (minus the incursion) at the end of Secret Wars mean the incursions and all of Hickman’s run were erased? That doesn’t seem to be what’s been implied in other titles.
Nope, it doesn’t mean that at all.
When the fan from that last question references "what's been implied in other titles," they are referring to the fact that people remember the Incursions, even if a bit unclearly, as seen in "Ultimates," vol. 2 #1 and "Sam Wilson: Captain America" #2.
Along similar lines, in "Silver Surfer" vol. 7 #15, Eternity remarks that the new universe "is the universe you know, but not as you have known it. ... Familiar. Strange. Old and new." Though this was likely a metacomment directed more toward readers, as "Secret Wars" #9 had not yet been released, the point remains that Eternity -- the embodiment of the universe itself -- has said the Marvel Universe is no longer the same.
What does this then make of T'Challa's actions in Battleworld's final moments? We see him close his fist around an Infinity Gem, be swallowed up in the light of Battleworld's destruction, and then come back to coherence -- his tattered costume restored as well -- in Wakanda, the Infinity Gem burned out and turned to dust. Not only does T'Challa find himself back in Wakanda, he finds himself in the scene from the beginning of "New Avengers" vol. 3 #1 at the moment before he first discovered the Incursions -- only there is no Incursion this time, and the Wakandan youth with him do not die.
One could be forgiven for understanding this to mean that time was wound back and the Incursions erased if not for all that we have been shown to make clear otherwise. The Incursions still took place. Wakanda was still destroyed, as was Earth-616 and its entire universe. The mechanics of precisely what took place here ultimately fall to which Infinity Gem T'Challa made use of.
If it was the Time Gem, T'Challa was able to simply pull Earth-616's Wakanda forward in time and roll the damage to his costume backward. This particular turn of events is unlikely, however, as the region of Battleworld in which Castle Doom was constructed doesn't appear connected to Earth-616. The recording left by Doctor Strange remarked in "Secret Wars" #6 that he made sure the castle was built in the domain that corresponded to the Infinity Gauntlet he had procured on Battleworld, as Infinity Gems only work within the borders of their native universe. Earth-616's Infinity Gems were already destroyed back in "New Avengers" vol. 3 #3, so this wasn't those gems, and, consequently, the section of Battleworld in which Castle Doom was constructed was not from Earth-616.
This then leaves us to conclude that T'Challa must have used that reality's Reality Gem. What he did with it to secure Wakanda's restoration is unclear, however. Perhaps he used it to outright alter part of the new Earth into his Wakanda, assuming part of Reed's new creation came from that section of Battleworld. Or maybe he passed his wishes to Reed and Owen, and they fulfilled them for him. It's unclear, and probably best left that way. It's unimportant to understanding what was achieved and unlikely Hickman or Brevoort will be offering clarity on this particular point anyway, as they wouldn't even confirm which gem it was when asked outright by CBR.
A more interesting question than which Infinity Gem T'Challa used is whether he played a role in ensuring the fallen Namor made the transition into the new universe. In the final panel we see of him before he makes use of whichever Infinity Gem that was, he appears to be kneeling on the ground by Namor's trident, the weapon still sticking out of the ground following Namor's earlier attack on Doom. The engravings on the shaft of the weapon seem to match up fairly well at any rate.
I like to imagine that T'Challa's final wish before Battleworld was consumed was for he and Namor to have their kingdoms back.
Speaking of Namor, the 30 days leading up to and including the release of "Secret Wars" #9 made for a bad month or so to be a Namor fan. First, we got his unceremonious and uncalled for execution in "Squadron Supreme" #1 of the "All-New, All-Different Marvel" initiative (more on this in an upcoming post), and -- though chronologically earlier -- we now get him being burned to a crisp in the penultimate battle of "Secret Wars."
Granted, he got in a good opening hit and couldn't have really contributed anything to that battle (itself merely a distraction to buy time for the Reeds) beyond this. I suppose it's honor enough that he even made it to this final issue and this battle. He couldn't have expected to make it through the fight when T'Challa likely didn't expect to even while wielding an Infinity Gauntlet.
Another satiafying resolution of continuity that stands out to me about this ending is that Franklin Richards finally fulfilled his destiny of becoming a being on par with or superior to the Celestials. As the shaper of the new Marvel Multiverse, he is the ultimate fruit of the Celestials' labors. Say what one will about Marvel sidelining their properties that FOX holds the film rights to, "Secret Wars" couldn't have done more to honor either the Fantastic Four or mutants. That is personified most of all in Franklin, the son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman -- and also one of Earth's mutants.
Speaking of mortals surpassing supreme cosmic entities, this reader is left curious about the status of the Living Tribunal. Did the new divine trinity see fit to recreate The One Above All's agent of judgment and balance? Did TOAA go ahead with that itself? Are Reed and co. now the closest in existence to the role the Tribunal once served?
For that matter, have all these events -- including the death of the Living Tribunal, the destruction of the multiverse by the Beyonders, and the birth of a new multiverse created by Reed et. al. -- been according to the design of TOAA? Were the Beyonders unwitting agents of TOAA's will themselves or genuine threats from outside its purview? I suppose we'll never know, and that's probably better that way too.
On a related note, it's worth looking at something novel in the ending to "Secret Wars": For perhaps the first time ever, we have superheroes wielding ultimate power being presented positively. The impression one gets, though, is that this is still only possible because Reed and his family have removed themselves from among the world of the "living." When Doom tried living among mortals while wielding the same ultimate power, he set himself up as God Emperor Doom and lorded over what was prevailingly a world of misery.
Even so, whatever his failings with Battleworld and himself, that anything survived at all, that there can be a future beyond "Secret Wars," is thanks to Doom. To his own credit, Reed was able to recognize and acknowledge this fact. Doom may not have been the right person to guide creation into the future, but he had done a lot of good -- had achieved what Reed himself had been unable to.
Tom Brevoort even revealed in the "This Week in Marvel" podcast referenced earlier than an aspect of the plot to "Secret Wars" seeded by "Fantastic Four" #611 was changed along the way to the miniseries' production:
"The last issue of 'Fantastic Four' that Jonathan did -- rather than 'FF,' 'Fantastic Four' -- uh, was the -- the issue where they go into the -- the universe that Doom has, um, where Doom has been, uh, had been left with the Council of Reeds, which was now the Council of Dooms, and he has this universe that he's changing to his own liking, and it all goes wrong, and they come in and they pull him out, and -- in one iteration of the storyline, that was the kickoff to 'Secret Wars.' That that universe being destroyed was -- was the one that went away that caused all the other universes to start kind of crashing together. Um, you know, we ended up not doing that that way, so that story isn't exactly that anymore, but at one point it would have been."
The reasoning for the decision is left unclear, but one undeniable effect of it -- in addition to making the choice of issues collected in the "Secret Wars Prelude" trade paperback confusing -- is that it makes Doom more heroic. In saving what he could of the previous Marvel Multiverse, he wasn't just fixing his own mistake. He legitimately stood up against a looming, malicious threat to all of creation, took them down and saved what he could from them.
Whatever the case for the thought process behind that change, Reed's decision to heal Victor's disfigured face in thanks is a beautiful resolution to their decades-long rivalry. Not so much because giving him a handsome appearance was really all that important in the grand scheme of things, but because it was a kind gesture that shows Reed truly acknowledged and appreciated Doom's contributions.
In a way, for Doom, it has to come across as Reed admitting that Doom was better than him at something even as both of them acknowledged Reed would have done a better job with the Beyonders' power once something of creation had been saved.
It does beg the question, though, whether Doom will be happy now without his family from Battleworld. Perhaps finding them and being reunited will be his new quest going forward in the "All-New, All-Different" Marvel Universe. Certainly he should be in an all-new, all-different place as a person after his experiences.
Before we close, it's necessary to comment on whether the delays for this series -- as well as the publication of "All-New, All-Different Marvel" books rolling out well ahead of the conclusion of "Secret Wars" -- ultimately harmed the impact of the ending here.
To my own surprise, I would argue that it did not. Feeling out the bits and pieces of the new continuity established as we went along created for something of a fun puzzle game for myself, honestly. It was an engaging mystery seeing the clues that we were no longer dealing with the original Marvel Universe -- or even a new one with memories of precisely the same history as the original -- while awaiting confirmation.
Had Reed and his family actually died here, I may feel differently. As is, the references to their deaths in "All-New, All-Different Marvel" titles actually created for a clever bit of misdirection.
The conspiracy theorist in me has also wondered, and continues to wonder, whether the delays were at least partly by design. It doesn't seem out of the question that, recognizing "Secret Wars" could make for such a logical endpoint, Marvel may have decided to hold back the end of this story while rolling out the books for the new continuity in the hopes of hooking longtime readers like me who may see this moment as their jumping-off point.
Rereading all of "Secret Wars" at once shows that it works very well in one big chunk. It feels epic, it feels like the end of something grand, and it feels like the beginning of something equally special. Though perhaps as the beginning of something special for the next generation and not for me.
I continue to see "Secret Wars" as a perfect jumping-off opportunity for me.
I've been a lifelong Marvel fan. I'll be 30 years old this year and have loved comics since before I could read. Marvel became my first love once I was old enough to follow the thinnest narrative strands, but I recognize, for so many reasons, that now is the closest I will get to being fully satisfied with my years as a fan.
Serialized fiction in perpetuity holds less and less appeal to me as I get older while Neil Gaiman's classic remark that "Stories that matter end" rings ever more true. And frankly, comics are a rather expensive hobby that takes a lot of time (for me at least). I have a very full life, and it leaves less and less room for all the things I would like to do. Something has to give.
Of the "All-New, All-Different Marvel" lineup, I will see the weird suburban horror story "The Vision" through to its almost inevitable end at issue #6; check out the first arc to the new volume of "Silver Surfer" since Dan Slott has promised it to be something really special in interviews; and will likely continue buying Jason Aaron's run with Thor's title until it ends, as I've followed it up to now. "Squirrel Girl," of course, will remain a must-have, at least for a while. I can actually see that silly offbeat book becoming the only ongoing title I buy at some point in the not-too-distant future.
Other than that, there are only a few odds and ends -- mostly loose ends -- I'll be on the lookout for. Jim Starlin's "The Infinity Entity" is due out next month, and then "The Infinity Finale" in April. The long-delayed final two issues of Jonathan Hickman and Dustin Weaver's "S.H.I.E.L.D." should also be on the way soon now that "Secret Wars" has wrapped.
I'm also rather interested in a Deadpool comic for the first time in years. Sometime this year will see the release of "Deadpool: Bad Blood," an original graphic novel illustrated by Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld and written by the scribes of the excellent "Secret Wars" tie-in, "X-Men '92," Chris Sims and Chad Bowers. I expect this book will be filled with self-aware nostalgia and genuinely clever humor -- a rarity for a comic with Deadpool these days.
Lest we forget, it can't be said enough what a fantastic job Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina did with the pencils and colors respectively on this series. Aside from one odd rendering of Valeria's face in a single panel toward the end, this final issue is absolutely gorgeous, cementing "Secret Wars" as easily the most beautiful event comic Marvel has ever put out along with being the best written since the original "Age of Apocalypse" in 1995.
As I spoke to earlier, this book feels special. It does everything it should have and everything it promised it would. When was the last time a Marvel event could say that? 'Nuff said.
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