Secret Wars

 Secret Wars

Essays on essays have been written about Secret Wars (2015). I doubt I can offer anything that hasn’t been observed before. I highly recommend All of The Marvels by Douglas Wolk if you would like an expert's opinion. But to me, this is The Event comic, and absolutely deserves the capital letters, bold print and italics. 

For those of you that only follow Marvel through the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and are curious and hungry for the next big thing, I’m going to issue a spoiler warning now. Avengers: Secret Wars is slated for release in 2027, and although there are two distinct events that bear the name Secret Wars (1984 and 2015), I think they are building up to this one. 1984 is a balls to the wall crossover event where heroes and villains compete for survival on Battleworld as orchestrated by The Grand Master. I think the MCU already played this card in Thor Ragnarok (2017). The current and future phases of the MCU have been heavily circling the multiverse idea; with the events of Spiderman: No Way Home (2021), Loki (2021) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) laying the groundwork for Secret Wars. What's even more intriguing is the mess that's happening over at Sony. Besides the two phenomenal Spider-verse movies, they have brought multiverse shenanigans to their live action offerings.

Last chance to drop off before I give potential spoilers for the Movie.

Secret Wars (2015) is the death of all Marvel Universe as it crashes into the Ultimate Universe. Marvel Comics committed to the bit so intently that they literally stopped producing comics for months after the fatal incursion hit shelves. For the comic fans of 2015, this page was an image scorched into their brain. 

I think we are going to see the same thing happen with the MCU and the Sony Pictures Marvel movies. But two big ingredients are missing for this to work… Dr Doom and Reed Richards. 

What am I Reading?

Secret Wars, 2015, issues 1-9. Written by Jonathan Hickman, illustrated by Esad Ribic. 

What’s it about?

I think this page sums up Secret Wars better than I ever could.

What’s good about it?

As I said earlier, I think this is The Event. Hickman plotted the end of the universe and spun the long yarn through his Fantastic Four (64 issues) and Avengers (77 issues) runs into this climactic crescendo.  Thousands of pages laying down the foundations for the end of everything. Everything dies. Hickman is fantastic at this. The seeds are so meticulously planted, the crop so carefully nurtured, that the fruit of it all is outrageously devastating. If you were reading it at the time, the sense of dread from issue to issue was palpable. Also… the stones on this man… imagine having the balls to pitch “Lets kill the largest piece of collaborative collective fiction so far in human history. Fifty plus years of stuff, just chuck it in the bin and start again” with a straight face.

There is also such a clear devotion for the history of Marvel. Battleworld and Warzones(the names themselves being a callback to 1984) are a patchwork quilt of Marvel’s greatest hits. It's a genius twist on the recognizable. It's What If..? turned up to eleven. What a good idea! It must have also made the pitch more palatable, as it spun off into forty eight additional books set in the new world. Forty eight! Incredible! I’m an avid collector and I’ve only got seventeen of these… It's a feast. 

However grand and cosmic the scale of this event is, it ultimately boils down to two main players: Reed Richards, and Victor Von Doom. Which is pure poetry for the turbulent history of this universe. Marvel was always about these two characters. They are the pure essence of Marvel. Scientists, friends, enemies, testing each other, proving each other right, jealousy and narcissism battling with duty and compassion for each side both internally and externally. Drama distilled and mixed with the impossible imagination. Exactly what Marvel is all about. I don’t think you can point to any other arch nemesis pairings in comics and come close to the chess games between Mr Fantastic and Dr Doom. They are the perfect reflection of each other, not the opposite of each other, and that's what makes it special. Hickman understands that is the crux of this dynamic and Ribic captures it beautifully.

There are also a myriad of little moments amongst the enormity of the action that really bring a level of heart to the book. Sometimes I feel that Hickman is too focused on the big picture to remember the joy to the page, I especially felt that in his Avengers run and House/Powers of X. I love the idea of all the street level villains revelling the end of the world in a bar… until Frank Castle walks in. Miles securing his space in the new world because he had a three week old burger in his pocket is incredibly funny. Namor skewering Zombie M.O.D.O.K… no notes. 

What did I struggle with?

This is going to be controversial; I love Esad Ribic, really I do, I think when he does a big splash spread or an experimental composition or when you need the flow of a sequence to be visceral, you can’t find anyone better. But… and it's a big but… I don’t like his faces. They have this uncanny valley thing for me. They have this level of additional detail, like Frank Quitely or Moebius, without the benefit of their stylisation. It's also not quite alive enough for a photorealistic face like Alex Ross. I think it leaves the subjects with too much of the dead fish eyed look. That feels horrible to say, but every time I read this book, that feeling intensifies. Dr Strange is the worst for some reason. Something about his Dr Strange gives me the heebie-jeebies. They also lack subtlety in their expression; everyone has this slack jaw open mouth, or the deepest frown, or the most maniacal smile, or the moodiest pre-teen pout. 

There is a clear three part structure to the final battle as well. Thanos Vs Doom. Black Panther Vs Doom. Reed Vs Victor. Thanos being dispatched so nonchalantly is perfect. Reed besting Victor through words was inevitable. But T’Challa was disappointing in my view. He has an infinity gauntlet and does precisely nothing with it. He just punches on with Doom. What’s the point in the glove? He could have achieved the same with a mech-suit. It would have been far more interesting to have a battle of magical wills, shaping reality around them in the fight, writing and rewriting the universe to gain advantage, a true clash of kings turned gods. Maybe it was too difficult to put on the page, or they ran out of space / time in the book, but I feel it's a missed opportunity. 

Now the ending of Secret Wars and the birth of the new universe is very nearly perfect in my view. Reed, Sue and the kids going forth into the blank pages of the unwritten, uncreated multiverse, to study reality and be better than superheroes and be a family is absolutely spot on. Jumping into the crossroads of infinity is how Marvel should be reborn.  The fact they leave Ben and Johnny behind is unforgivable. 

Would I recommend it?

If any Marvel comic fans haven’t read this, where have you been buddy? This is a must read. For anyone jumping on to Marvel comics, this is a perfect point; It's the birth of something new and a love letter to all that’s come before. You can use this to look forward and look back. It is the junction to everywhere. If you only know Marvel from the movies… this is batshit mental and would confuse the hell out of you.