Monthly (Comic) Book Club - March - Secret Wars19217
 If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| Let's do some Friday lunchtime reading. #7 introduces a new Spider-Woman right off the bat. And the Wasp does seem pretty dead, and callously thrown away by Wrecker. Cap's crew isn't willing to go after the villains, but the X-Men take the opportunity to try grabbing some bad guys while they're separated. The X-Men come off a bit better than previous fights, essentially getting a draw against stronger opponents. Wolverine does Wolverine things, cutting off Absorbing Man's arm, but I think the cake goes to She-Hulk. She goes alone to Doom's base and takes out the Wrecking Crew but can't hold out when Titania joins the fight. Cap won't go to save her while on Galactus duty, but things change when the X-Men offer to keep watch. Looks like we're up for another big fight next issue. |
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| Post 26 • IP flag post | ||
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| #8 gives us Cap's team taking it to the bad guys at Doombase. Spider-Man shows off again and the good guys take the day. And Wasp isn't dead, so it's good times all around. Of course, the issue has perhaps the most famous moment in the series, which is when Spidey gets his new suit. ASM 300 wouldn't come out for another 3-4 years, so I wonder if they had anything in particular in mind when this came out. It also seems a little less dramatic since they introduced Spider-Woman the issue before in essentially the same suit. But none of that is important right now, because Galactus seems ready to eat the planet. |
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| Post 27 • IP flag post | ||
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| I think my favorite part of #9 is when Thor thinks Hulk might be feeling down because chairs are so small. Big man problems. Otherwise the big question is what to do with Galactus. Reed originally figures that they should actually leave him alone, because either he'll get what he wishes from the Beyonder and stop eating planets, or the Beyonder will destroy him and Galactus won't be around to keep eating planets. But the other heroes don't agree, and Reed joins in on the fight anyway. Unfortunately, Galactus gets away and starts eating his own world while Doom plans on syphoning off the energy. |
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| Post 28 • IP flag post | ||
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| So, I’m starting to think maybe I focused too much on Iron Man not being plainly shown to be Rhody simply because I know he’s not the “real” Iron Man. I think the observations I made were still correct but they also apply to every other character. No character has really unmasked themselves and everyone refers to everyone else by their codenames if they have one. Again, it feels like the book was written with non-regular readers in mind. In this story it isn’t so much about the people under the masks, the masks ARE the characters. One thing that I think helped me focus on Iron Man is the fact that his costume isn’t just a change of clothes but a full-on shell of armor so it feels a little stranger not to see him take it off. In issue 4 the heroes still feel pretty dysfunctional. Sure Kang tried to kill Doom but that’s what you expect from his type of character. meanwhile, it feels like there’s a lot of duplicity going on with the heroes. X-Men going behind everyone’s back to ally with Magneto, Xavier manipulating Spider-Man’s mind, Wasp seducing Magneto to find out his plan…you could swap all the heroes with villains and it would probably fee more natural. |
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| Post 29 • IP flag post | ||
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| I did enjoy the plot movement in issue 5 with Galactus summoning his ship which gave more solid direction to the various factions. Galactus wants to eat the planet (probably). The Avengers (to generalize Captain America’s group) want to stop Galactus from eating the planet. The X-Men also want to stop Galactus but acting independently of Cap’s team.The villains want to kill the heroes and win the prize. Dooom wants to use Galactus’s technology as a stepping stone to overcoming the Beyonder. I did like the idea that Galactus doesn’t even notice any of the heroes or villains because they are so far beneath him and when he does, it’s little more than a glance just long enough to decide that he should not be concerned. One thing that I noticed in this issue though is, what the heck happened to Lockheed? He’s not with the X-Men, and given how he’s pining for Kitty you’d thibk Colossus would be keeping him close, and not with the Avengers. I se going to be his own faction like Doom and Galactus? I guess we’ll have to see. |
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| Post 30 • IP flag post | ||
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| Issue 6 begins with Wasp and Lizard running into each other. Lizard was apparently injured in the first battle but I went back to check and you only really see him leaping into battle but don’t see him at all after that. Maybe the writers will remember about Lockheed and give him some time in the spotlight, too! I agree that the whole X-Men camp just feels very messy. According to you there was some internal conflict in the regular X-Men titles but did rise to this level? Rogue is daydreaming during battle and gets laid out in one hit because of it. I can understand Wolverine being hot-headed and having that bite him back almost immediately. I still have no idea what Cyclops’ thought process was in unleashing the volcanoes. He doesn’t say why just that he hopes he’s doing the right thing. Then of course the conflict between Storm and Xavier. I’ve said it before but the villains seem far more cohesive as a unit than the heroes and it just feels unnatural. |
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| Post 31 • IP flag post | ||
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| Issue 7 continues the tradition of introducing characters then doing nothing with them. Spider-Woman appears in the very first panel but you don’t see her at all for the remainder of the issue. Xavier seems to pat himself on the back awfully hard after his team intercepts the bad guys and fail to actually stop them. Xavier feels as much a liability in combat as he is a help, if not more. I did find it funny how Storm’s still skeptical and given that Xavier’s been mentally connected to everyone during the battle, he might have heard what she thought. This issue highlights a major frustration I’ve had with the hero team and that’s their very reactionary approach. The villains, particularly Doom, are trying to DO something. They are launching attacks and missions in furtherance of some goal. Meanwhile the heroes are just waiting around to see what happens next. Hell, Galactus is up on a nearby hill building a literal doomsday device and their big plan is to wait around and maybe talk to him about it tomorrow. It felt refreshing that She-Hulk actually went rogue and attacked the villains, even if it did go sideways. |
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| Post 32 • IP flag post | ||
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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Quote:Originally Posted by dielinfinite I have to admit to not having a great comparison because I'm not as familiar with Avengers or other team books, but Claremont was always as interested in the characters and drama as the action. I mentioned the leadership history, and Rogue (as briefly mentioned in her monologues) was new to the team as well after just being a bad guy. Secret Wars was running in 1984/1985, and Wolverine's miniseries was late 70s, so he was still very much in his hothead/loose cannon stage. There was also generally more team turn-over going on, although all the X-Men here aside from Rogue are pretty established. I think when you couple all that with the writing-to-the-casual-fan that you've mentioned (and are spot-on about), you get these The Real Mutants of Westchester vibes. |
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| Post 33 • IP flag post | ||
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| Let's find out if they ever let us in on the secret. #10 has Doom steal Galactus' energy and fly off to fight the Beyonder. It doesn't go well, but Doom is able to trigger some kind of device in his armor and seemingly defeat/absorb the Beyonder in the end. The other characters don't get much to do besides try to avoid being caught in the rubble of the base falling apart. Magneto catches more grief, especially when he makes a move to help Doom, but otherwise the main draw is Wolverine and Captain America. Wolverine, making a point that comes up quite a bit in the various Avengers-X-Men crossovers, asks where Cap is all the times that mutants are being persecuted. Later, things take a turn back toward the friendly when Cap and Wolverine independently go to free the bad guys from being crushed when the base is demolished. Fitting with the general writing level of the book, it's a quick resolution to a tough question. |
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| Post 34 • IP flag post | ||
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| #11 reminds me of the most critical question in this series - what's the deal with 'Owie'? I assume it's pronounced owe - e, but why is that better than Owen? It isn't even shorter. And it looks like it should be pronounced ow-wee. I get cutesy talk but this is too far for me. More seriously, Doom seems content with being the most powerful being in the universe. He lets Owen in on the secret of controlling molecules (he can basically control everything), and disappears. Doom later uses Hulk and Spider-Woman to retrieve Klaw (although I don't know why he needed them) and invites the heroes to come meet him. The bad guys, in the meantime, went back to the chunk of Denver in Battleworld and then flew off. Doom has invited the heroes to make up for bad things he did before he was all-powerful, which is quite the turn. He restores Kang and then sends him back to his time, and tells us that Galactus has been retrieved by Nova. In the previous issue, he restored Captain Marvel to normal after turning her into a hologram. So things seem on the up and up. But Cap is worried that Doom's initial plans are a little too human. And when the heroes all agree to fight back, they're struck by a giant blast. |
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| Post 35 • IP flag post | ||
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| #12, the finale. As one might have guessed, the Beyonder isn't dead. He's the light that floated around Hulk, Spider-Woman, and finally Klaw. Doom is having trouble keeping all his power in check, and Klaw/Beyonder uses that uncertainty to trick him into handing over some power. We get a last big battle between some alien constructs, and Ultron, that Klaw makes and the good guys. But it's background to Beyonder getting his power back from Doom and ending the war. Spider-Man finds out that everyone else is using a different costume machine than he did. It certainly looks like the writers had something up their sleeves when they were writing the story, although I don't know if it was Venom specifically. With the help of some magically wish-fulfillment energy left in the planet, the heroes find a way to send themselves home, pretty much in the same shape they came in. The exception is Thing, who wants to stay on the planet since he has some ability to switch between his Thing and Ben forms. On the whole, I think it was an entertaining enough series. @dielinfinite is certainly right that the story is written to casual fans (or non-fans who were only interested because of the toys), and I wouldn't say it hits the highest highs. But there was some ok stuff in there. |
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| Post 36 • IP flag post | ||
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| I’m going out of town this weekend but it’s a 5-week month so give me through next week to finish Secret Wars and we’ll Start New Gods the week of April 3rd | ||
| Post 37 • IP flag post | ||
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| Issue 8 was mostly a major battle as the Avengers attack the villains’ base to rescue She-Hulk. I thought the battle was very well done with each hero getting a moment to shine. I’m not sure if Hawkeye’s claim about his bow hitting harder than any gun at range is true. We have various match-ups including Spider-Woman’s first action scene, and apparently one of her earliest fights, against Absorbing Man. Spider-Man’s speed outdoes Titania’s strength. Human Torch smolders Ultron and Captain America deems the wounded Doom harmless. After the fight the Avengers get a chance to rest and rearm with Richards tuning up Iron Man’s damaged armor, Thor replacing his helmet and cape, Wasp being not dead, and Spider-Man discovering his iconic black suit. I do like that Spider-Man lampshades the similarity to Spider-Woman’s costume though I think in recent years that has been retconned to the symbiote matching Knull’s appearance. Though I think that explanation doesn’t work as well since, as you pointed out, Spider-Woman is wearing almost the exact same costume and she has nothing to do with Knull that I’m aware of. And of course, at the end Galactus finally starts consuming the planet and Xavier summoning everyone to deal with the new threat. |
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| Post 38 • IP flag post | ||
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| Issue 9, I think, finally puts some context to the greater overall story beyond “okay, now fight.” To some degree, at least. Reed points out that Galactus is different from everyone else the Beyonder took. He’s not so much a person but a force of nature. So is the whole thing about Galactus? We’ll see. The X-Men begin the issue by attacking Galactus but a an exploding drone seemingly kills them. The Avengers arrive and attack but Reed reasons that they should stop and that letting Galactus succeed would be better for the universe. Reed and Galactus are then transported to Galactus’ ship where Galactus tells Reed that he’s a force of nature as well, an instrument of Life where Galactus is an instrument of Death. The two reappear on the planet and the Avengers once again attack Galactus, this time damaging his machine and forcing the already hungry Galactus to retreat and absorb his ship for energy so that he could challenge the Beyonder if he must. Meanwhile, the X-Men are still alive and Doom has plotted to absorb Galactus’ power. I do like that the story has moved beyond “okay just fight” and we seem to be heading in a finite direction now. I would’ve liked to have seen that much earlier than issue 9 of 12 but better late than never. I did think it was a bit weird to so briefly interrupt the battle with Galactus by transporting Reed and Galactus away only to bring them back moments later. I also feel that the story keeps undermining its stakes by faking out deaths at it has. First with the Wasp and in this issue, the entire X-Men team. I guess maybe Kang is dead? Everyone else has gotten injured or captured but that’s par for the course so you don’t feel things getting more dangerous, at least in the ground-level fighting. Is it just me or is Colossus really weird? He started off pining for Kitty and now he’s declaring his undying love for an alien woman he can’t understand. Given that she’s had a somewhat similar effect with Johnny Storm it might be some effect of the alien herself but still, I’d imagine it’s part of the story he’ll leave out when telling it to Kitty. Which reminds me, what happened to Lockheed? |
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| Post 39 • IP flag post | ||
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| The heroes are definitely on the sidelines for issue 10. Doom takes center stage as he first absorbs Galactus’ power and gets used to his newfound omniscience. Soon enough his ambitions lead him to challenge the Beyonder himself. I do wonder what Doom’s plan was when he asked the heroes to help him against the Beyonder. Certainly adding their strength to his against the beyonder would be like adding a drop of water to the ocean. Still, it seemed no one took him up on it, though if he was as powerful as he was made out to be, why need to ask at all? Anyways, when that doesn’t work the Beyonder slaps Doom down and in his curiosity begins to vivisect Doom in one of the gnarliest sequences in the story. Even while he is being peeled like an onion, Doom is Doom and manages to trigger his device allowing him to absorb the Beyonder’s power. Who knows where the story goes from here. Captain America was preparing the heroes to attack and not let up but if they were no match for Galactus, what hope would they have against the Beyonder’s power? |
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| Post 40 • IP flag post | ||
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If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
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| I agree, reading the recaps in short order points out the high number of fake/suspected deaths. I guess that gives the toy collectors an insight into comics - lots of potential deaths, extremely few permanent ones. And yeah, Colossus is pretty deep in his feelings in this series. He was always one of the more sensitive X-Men but I do feel like this was a step beyond. |
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| Issue 11 is a fairly muted affair without any battles going on. Doom realizing his omniscience is a fairly interesting angle and I think it would’ve been great if it was a more central theme of the story. I guess in a way Infinity Gauntlet covers a lot of that ground but with Thanos in place of Doom. Despite the displays of Doom’s awesome power some things suggest he may not be as all-powerful as he himself things he is. Why did he have to go himself to recover Klaw instead of just will him into his presence? Why hasn’t Doom already freed his mother’s soul from Mephisto if it is only a thought away? He apparently needs rest? On top of that, Hulk and later Spider-Woman and Klaw seem to be mind-controlled by some unknown force beyond Doom’s own awareness. The book finally acknowledges that Lockheed’s been missing since book one as well as the fact that Colossus is essentially cheating on Kitty. Speaking of Colossus, I noticed at the table meeting that he was quite empathetic to Doom’s side of the argument. This caught my eye because this would not be the last time that Colossus would empathize with the “villain.” I do believe that it is at the end of Fatal Attractions where Colossus accepts that Magneto has a point and decides to stay on the asteroid and nurse Magneto back to health after his defeat. |
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| Issue 12 concludes the series with Doom’s human uncertainty leading to his downfall. Doom’s arc reminded me a little of the Joker in the Emperor Joker storyline. I do wish the Beyonder itself had played more of a role in wrapping things up. After all, he brings the heroes to the planet and then doesn’t bother to send them home. There is no grand prize. So it ends up being more of a silent plot device despite the Enchantress’ elemental being able to give us some motivation for its initial actions. I think the series as a whole ended rather strongly. The idea that Doom’s own humanity undermined his omnipotence is an interesting angle. I just wish the series had gotten us to that instead of spinning its wheels for half the series with stakes-less battles. Despite being written for a more casual audience Secret Wars actually had a big influence on the characters upon their return home. A few characters brought back new costumes though in most cases I don’t think they necessarily needed an alien machine to make them. Of course the major exception was Spider-Man and his new black costume, which even at this point behaved differently from all the other new costumes so it was clear that they had something in mind for it. With Ben Grimm staying on Battleworld, She-Hulk would take his spot on the Fantastic Four. I’d imagine Xavier played a more active role in the X-Men on their return. Apparently, though understandably, Colossus would break up with Kitty Pryde upon his return because he didn’t love her as much as he loved Zsaji. And while I complained about the Beyonder being something of a non-entity in this story, I wonder if that was intentional as Secret Wars II would be published a year later and the Beyonder would play a more central role in that story. |
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