Friday, 5 July 2024

Secret Wars (2015) #1-4

Secret Wars #1-4

Originally released in 2015

Written by Jonathan Hickman

Art by Esad Ribic



The Marvel universe is dead.



And from its remnants, God Emperor Doom created Battleworld, the sole surviving planet. Cobbled together from various worlds throughout the multiverse, Battleworld is divided into regions that are ruled by Barons and policed by Thors, all of whom swear fealty to Doom.



Taking a step back to the time of the final Incursion, the main and Ultimate versions of Reed Richards were trying separate last-ditch efforts at surviving the collapse of the multiverse by building life rafts.  Reed intended to save everyone that he could, while the Maker was only concerned with saving himself and his new allies, the Cabal which is led by Thanos.



Some of the heroes of Earth-616 are trying to fend off the helicarriers of Earth-1610, while others are trying to save as many people as they can.  Some are spending the last moments of Earth handling unfinished business, such as the Punisher, who presumably died horribly moments after this. (Several of the villains that he's ambushing, such as Sandman, are immune to bullets)



Several other heroes die in the assault before the destruction of both Earths, though given the nature of this event, those deaths will be undone once Earth is restored. On a related note, Iron Man and Captain America are nowhere to be seen, so I'm working with the assumption that they both died because they were too focused on fighting each other to notice the helicarrier that was crashing into them.



Esad Ribic's artwork is gorgeous, though his faces can be a mixed bag. There are moments where a serious or dramatic moment fell a bit flat because the facial expressions didn't match the intended emotion or looked goofier than intended.  Still, there are times where his drawing of faces shines, like the reveal of what Doctor Doom's face looks like beneath the mask in all of its gruesome glory.



In Battleworld, Doctor Strange is Doom's right hand man, while Valeria ranks equal to Strange. Sue, Franklin, and Valeria are Doom's family, while Johnny is the sun and Reed is nowhere to be found. Only Doom and Strange remember the previous universe (Molecule Man is nowhere to be found beyond there being a statue of him), though that's soon to change.



An archaeological dig uncovers one of the arks from the previous universe - the one belonging to the Maker, Thanos, and company, with Thanos's group being particularly eager to start killing once they break free, as seen above.  They also had a stowaway, the Spider-Man of the Ultimate universe.  The reveal that Miles is aware of what happened in the previous universe prompts Strange to take him to something that Strange had discovered years ago: the other ark.



The ark from Earth-616 was damaged after launch, leaving only a few survivors of the 616 universe: Reed, T'Challa, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Jane Foster, and Cyclops.  Cyclops merged with the Phoenix Egg that he had been preparing before this, though he went a little mad with power as a result.



Reed is understandably annoyed that Strange kept them locked in the ark for three years when he could have released them at any time, and baffled upon learning that the god which Strange talks so zealously about is Doctor Doom.



The conversation is interrupted, however, as the Thors have found the Maker's group and they need back-up.  Strange brings Miles and the Earth-616 survivors to help, which alerts Doom to their existence.



Reed Richards has been conspicuously absent from Battleworld, so naturally, Doom does not take his arrival well.



Rather than risk having them face Doom's wrath, Doctor Strange teleports the heroes away after giving Black Panther something mysterious that he's kept hidden just in case something like this happens.  Doom is annoyed by this turn of events, and expresses his annoyance with fatal results.



Whereas the 80s Secret Wars felt like a vehicle to sell toys, especially at the start, Hickman's Secret Wars is the climax of what seems like a carefully-planned narrative, taking cues from Game Of Thrones and examining Doctor Doom through what he does once he gets his hands on unlimited power. Battleworld is fleshed out, especially in tie-in issues which focus on its different regions through the lenses of alternate universe versions of familiar Marvel characters, and it continues the themes from Hickman's Fantastic Four run about how much a family can mean to someone. I'm planning to save the grand finale for next week, though next week can't come soon enough.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hawkman (1964) #1-9

Hawkman #1-9 Originally released in 1964 Written by Gardner Fox Art by Murphy Anderson