REVIEW: Secret Wars, #1

[CBR News]

"The End Times" kicks off Marvel's latest event in Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic's "Secret Wars" #1, as the latest Incursion brings the Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Universe crashing together.


Full review here.

[TonySnark]

What is the death you're referring to that only takes up 1/8th of the page? I've been scouring the issue and I can't figure out which one you're talking about.

[AgentFelix]

I think it's in reference to spoilers:

Rocket and Groot. The only other deaths I saw were Sue, Johnny and Ben with the rest of the Richards clan and they deaths got much more screen time

end of spoilers

Small complaint but anyone else notice that Gamora is no longer cosmic? Did she relinquish her Black Vortex powers in the pages of GotG after the event ended?

[Chief Jon]

spoilers:

Could be Natasha and (presumably) Hank, Jessica and Amadeus too.

end of spoilers

Just saying. Man this issue . . . Man.

[InformationGeek]

I agree with the score. It's fine, but could have been better. Felt clumsy at the beginning as it tried to rush out backstory to explain to people just joining what was going on, the pacing felt off a lot of the times (going too fast and trying to do too much or just going very slow in order to try be dramatic), the characterization was okay but nothing too memorable outside of the Punisher bit, the artwork was terrible with depicting characters' mouths, it is inaccessible to anyone who hasn't been reading Hickman's stuff, and the ending sort of peters out.

Still, it succeeds at creating tension and setting up a desperate situation, while there were some nice shots in the book. Hopefully the next issue really picks up now that the end of reality has happened.

[Winterboy]

spoilers:

Could be Natasha and (presumably) Hank, Jessica and Amadeus too.

end of spoilers

Just saying. Man this issue . . . Man.

Jessica's chair is empty. I think she survived.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1p6ifHETx4...%2B001-023.jpg

[LightningBug]

This is a shamefully low score. This is one of the best event first issues any publisher has ever put out. Finally we have an event that rewards long term readership. If readers don't get the context because they didn't read Avengers, that's not Hickman's fault. I'm extremely relieved I didn't have to suffer through any expository catchup meant to hold new readers' hands through concepts that are frankly not that hard to understand. I haven't read an Ultimate comic since Millar left the Ultimates, but I was able to understand everything on that end with a quick visit to Wikipedia. This comic was a huge payoff, and masterfully executed.

[Steve068]

What is the death you're referring to that only takes up 1/8th of the page? I've been scouring the issue and I can't figure out which one you're talking about.

Does it matter considering no one makes it out of the book alive?

[yet another]

What is the death you're referring to that only takes up 1/8th of the page? I've been scouring the issue and I can't figure out which one you're talking about.

Maybe spoilers:

Black Bolt

end of spoilers, in addition to others already mentioned.

[Sam Robards, Comic Fan]

This was one of the most inaccessible and borderline incomprehensible books I've read in a long time. It seems like Hickman (and editorial, by extension) are saying, "Oh, you haven't been reading both Avengers titles for the past 3 years? Then F*%& you. A new reader wants to jump into Marvel Comics through this well-publicized event? Good f*&^ing luck."

I understand that in an event dealing with this many characters in this kind of situation, you won't know everything that's going on with everyone. But I read all the core X-Books, so why is it that I have no F*%&ING idea what Nation X is or why Cyclops has Sentinels? Not to mention whatever the Phoenix Egg is. I mean, you'd think they'd be able to base the X-Men's current status based on their actual books, but maybe I'm just being naive.

I'm sorry if it seems like I'm ranting, which I kinda am, but this issue was such an extreme disappointment to me, especially knowing that I will need to go back and buy a number of Avengers books from the last few months to have any idea why things are the way they are with characters I like (Cyclops, specifically).

I have hope for the rest of the series since it seems that building Battleworld up will be easier to follow than watching both universes end. But this issue was a massive, MASSIVE disappointment.

[Charles J. Baserap]

This was one of the most inaccessible and borderline incomprehensible books I've read in a long time. It seems like Hickman (and editorial, by extension) are saying, "Oh, you haven't been reading both Avengers titles for the past 3 years? Then F*%& you. A new reader wants to jump into Marvel Comics through this well-publicized event? Good f*&^ing luck."

I understand that in an event dealing with this many characters in this kind of situation, you won't know everything that's going on with everyone. But I read all the core X-Books, so why is it that I have no F*%&ING idea what Nation X is or why Cyclops has Sentinels? Not to mention whatever the Phoenix Egg is. I mean, you'd think they'd be able to base the X-Men's current status based on their actual books, but maybe I'm just being naive.

I'm sorry if it seems like I'm ranting, which I kinda am, but this issue was such an extreme disappointment to me, especially knowing that I will need to go back and buy a number of Avengers books from the last few months to have any idea why things are the way they are with characters I like (Cyclops, specifically).

I have hope for the rest of the series since it seems that building Battleworld up will be easier to follow than watching both universes end. But this issue was a massive, MASSIVE disappointment.

The Cyclops thing isn't Hickman's fault--it's Bendis and crew because the issues of Uncanny X-Men, et al were supposed to come out BEFORE this originally and Marvel chose not to hold up the entire thing.

It's like when we saw Steve Rogers come back in the comics before the conclusion to Reborn, etc.

[swerve]

This was one of the most inaccessible and borderline incomprehensible books I've read in a long time. It seems like Hickman (and editorial, by extension) are saying, "Oh, you haven't been reading both Avengers titles for the past 3 years? Then F*%& you. A new reader wants to jump into Marvel Comics through this well-publicized event? Good f*&^ing luck."

I understand that in an event dealing with this many characters in this kind of situation, you won't know everything that's going on with everyone. But I read all the core X-Books, so why is it that I have no F*%&ING idea what Nation X is or why Cyclops has Sentinels? Not to mention whatever the Phoenix Egg is. I mean, you'd think they'd be able to base the X-Men's current status based on their actual books, but maybe I'm just being naive.

I'm sorry if it seems like I'm ranting, which I kinda am, but this issue was such an extreme disappointment to me, especially knowing that I will need to go back and buy a number of Avengers books from the last few months to have any idea why things are the way they are with characters I like (Cyclops, specifically).

I have hope for the rest of the series since it seems that building Battleworld up will be easier to follow than watching both universes end. But this issue was a massive, MASSIVE disappointment.

I thought it was awesome! But then I've been reading Avengers and NA throughout. I I will though save you some money - the stuff with cyclops isn't explained earlier (other than that he had a phoenix egg) and was planning something. We'll just have to hold out for the rest of SW, or maybe it's in uncanny 600 (maybe).

[Sam Robards, Comic Fan]

I thought it was awesome! But then I've been reading Avengers and NA throughout. I I will though save you some money - the stuff with cyclops isn't explained earlier (other than that he had a phoenix egg) and was planning something. We'll just have to hold out for the rest of SW, or maybe it's in uncanny 600 (maybe).

Thanks! I really appreciate the rundown.

As for stuff being explained in Bendis's books, it's certainly possible that they'll lead to this: it just seems like the solicits for his last couple issues don't seem to imply the major status quo shift that seems to have happened in SW. Maybe it does, but that seems like a lot of stuff has to happen in a small amount of time, especially for Bendis. :-)

But we'll see!

I got the broad strokes of the story in terms of the incursions and all that, I was just confused by different character affiliations, statuses, etc.

Seeing as the main book is the only one being written by Hickman, I have high hopes that the rest of the series will be good. I'm also glad we only have to wait a week until #2.

[Sardorim]

This was one of the most inaccessible and borderline incomprehensible books I've read in a long time. It seems like Hickman (and editorial, by extension) are saying, "Oh, you haven't been reading both Avengers titles for the past 3 years? Then F*%& you. A new reader wants to jump into Marvel Comics through this well-publicized event? Good f*&^ing luck."

I understand that in an event dealing with this many characters in this kind of situation, you won't know everything that's going on with everyone. But I read all the core X-Books, so why is it that I have no F*%&ING idea what Nation X is or why Cyclops has Sentinels? Not to mention whatever the Phoenix Egg is. I mean, you'd think they'd be able to base the X-Men's current status based on their actual books, but maybe I'm just being naive.

I'm sorry if it seems like I'm ranting, which I kinda am, but this issue was such an extreme disappointment to me, especially knowing that I will need to go back and buy a number of Avengers books from the last few months to have any idea why things are the way they are with characters I like (Cyclops, specifically).

I have hope for the rest of the series since it seems that building Battleworld up will be easier to follow than watching both universes end. But this issue was a massive, MASSIVE disappointment.

Agreed.

If you weren't reading the Avengers up to this point then you're going to have a rude awakening when all those other characters you were reading about turn up erased and maybe getting a battleworld imposter.

This is a shamefully low score. This is one of the best event first issues any publisher has ever put out. Finally we have an event that rewards long term readership. If readers don't get the context because they didn't read Avengers, that's not Hickman's fault. I'm extremely relieved I didn't have to suffer through any expository catchup meant to hold new readers' hands through concepts that are frankly not that hard to understand. I haven't read an Ultimate comic since Millar left the Ultimates, but I was able to understand everything on that end with a quick visit to Wikipedia. This comic was a huge payoff, and masterfully executed.

I disagree. This makes RR blush with such a huge death toll that happened in an instant.

At least RR kept his Uncanny Avengers mostly self-contained and he reversed things. Here is no such thing.

It's basically Marvel erasing everyone, saving the few they like and then making altered versions (For those that even get that) of the erased to suit what they want without having to deal with canon or history.

The lead-up is also completely horrid if you weren't already an Avenger reader and understandably Spider-Men, Cosmic, Inhuman and X-Men fans have every right to be displeased that the characters they like and read about are now gone forever due to an unrelated book.

[Cryptid]

I disagree. This makes RR blush with such a huge death toll that happened in an instant.

At least RR kept his Uncanny Avengers mostly self-contained and he reversed things. Here is no such thing.

It's basically Marvel erasing everyone, saving the few they like and then making altered versions (For those that even get that) of the erased to suit what they want without having to deal with canon or history.

The lead-up is also completely horrid if you weren't already an Avenger reader and understandably Spider-Men, Cosmic, Inhuman and X-Men fans have every right to be displeased that the characters they like and read about are now gone forever due to an unrelated book.

This response is making a lot of assumptions about what happens next. We know that the Marvel Universe will continue in a different form, and we know that many familiar characters died in this issue, but we have no idea what will be restored and what will be revised. The press releases are telling us that nothing will be the same, but they always say that. This event may be closer to Uncanny Avengers than you are anticipating.