Secret Wars #5 Review (w/SPOILERS)

[Double 0]

Good news! This issue explains a lot! Confirms theories, begins new ones, and leaves important stuff out in the open! This is especially good for those who did not read the build up.

Bad news, it's the slowest issue of the series so far. Thankfully the art was a great as always.


HOWEVER, this issue also allowed for plenty of characterization, something that doesn't particularly happen often in a company crossover event. Hickman is able to show the impact of the end of the last issue by getting into the head of Doom as things start to unravel. He's building a house of cards made of lies, and their effectiveness range from totally working (Susan, Franklin, others), to not working (Valeria), to absolutely not working (Owen Reese).

Yes, Owen Reese is still around, imprisoned within Battleworld post-Beyonder Bomb. Another major lie Doom told his world. Also, he apparently devoured everything. His words, start your "how everything comes back" theories from there.

We get to see what happened after the bomb, and the theories that the bomb was really a bunch of Molecule Men was absolutely correct. Afterwards, Strange left it up to Doom to reshape what was left of the Multiverse due to the overwhelming scope. Owen is still has off-kilter as before, but could easily see through Doom, knew that Strange was dead, and knew what that meant: things are falling apart.

Meanwhile, Doom has ordered Valeria Richards and the Foundation to find the "Rebels" (Cabal, Life Rafters) whom "killed Strange". Doom has to feed her a tub of lies, which she translates to at least "Doom is scared of them for some reason". Nice to see that Hickman at least makes sure that Valeria is still competent even when dealing with god Doom.


The cliffhanger here makes me want to figure out which tie ins have which life rafters and Cabal members are in, as we see where a few of them are.

Doomstrat aka Where Doom and the others live = Black Swan. That's going to be a bit of a problem, but it could be worse.

Doomgard = Thor. Which actually makes a lot of sense due to the vast amount of Thors there.

Bar Sinister = Captain Marvel... Already captured by Mr. Sinister. Not a good look for her.

Egyptia = T'Challa carrying a necklace similar to the Eye of Agamotto. Oh and Namor, because putting those two together is a bright idea. Way to go, Strange!


And lastly, as hinted by Siege...


The Shield = Thanos. Anyone reading Siege knows exactly how that's going to go down. As ugly as possible.



Anyone notice a bit of a gap here? Some people missing? Maximus? Corvus, Proxima, and Terrax? The Spider-Men?


Both Reeds?


I guess we'll find out next issue.

[Double 0]

OH, and an awesome bonus for those who read Hickman's SHIELD a long time ago.

Notice some familiar faces in Valeria's Future Foundation?

spoilers:

NIGHT MACHINE and NOSTRADAMUS!!!! Real sly, Hickman!

end of spoilers

[InformationGeek]

Well that was underwhelming. Molecule Man is still alive (established by the solicit though), MM recaps the final issues of Avengers & New Avengers, we find out how the Beyonders were defeated (after all that build up? That was significantly underwhelming), Valeria is leading a team to find everyone, and Thanos is at the Shield.

Rather lackluster and boring. Just when it felt like things were picking up last issue and I was getting interested, Hickman hits the brakes and dumps a truckload of exposition and "epic" sounding talking.

[celeherald]

^Totally surprising comment.

The pace is a little too slow, but I really liked the filling in the blanks and setting up for a nice big finish in the next three issues.

[jdmorris1124]

^Totally surprising comment.

The pace is a little too slow, but I really liked the filling in the blanks and setting up for a nice big finish in the next three issues.

Agreed. This issue was necessary when you look at this as a stand alone story. If these things weren't explained and somebody is reading this without reading Hickman's Avengers/New Avengers they would never know what was explained here and have unanswered questions.

That being said even though I did already know most of this I still found it enjoyable. It was a good pause in the action to set up for the next 3 massive issues.

Great storytelling.

[jackolover]

If there is still a Molecule Man alive, he will still cause the death of an Earth in 25 years, so he could be a potential threat unless you kill him.

[Nosocialize]

^Totally surprising comment.

The pace is a little too slow, but I really liked the filling in the blanks and setting up for a nice big finish in the next three issues.

I totally agree with you on this one. It's slow, but there are subtle things going on that are game changers.

I wrote a full review of it myself here, used a bunch of pictures too, if anyone is interested.

Jonathan Hickman has basically written himself a eulogy type issue here as Dr. Doom says his goodbyes to Dr. Strange. Strange was his best man, the only man who knew the truth of what happened, and served as his sheriff. Unfortunately Dr. Strange tried to stop Doom from killing Mr. Fantastic and the other heroes Strange secretly found and stored away to protect them from Doom. That got him killed. Dr. Doom did the crime, but in this issue nobody knows it, including Sue Storm and the Thors. There’s clearly some guilt running through the air, however scant the guilt would be coming from the arrogant Dr. Doom, but it’s written well.

[Dog]

So the Thanos in Infinity Gauntlet is not the main Marvel Universe Thanos?

[Hariel0079]

I totally agree with you on this one. It's slow, but there are subtle things going on that are game changers.

I wrote a full review of it myself here, used a bunch of pictures too, if anyone is interested.

Jonathan Hickman has basically written himself a eulogy type issue here as Dr. Doom says his goodbyes to Dr. Strange. Strange was his best man, the only man who knew the truth of what happened, and served as his sheriff. Unfortunately Dr. Strange tried to stop Doom from killing Mr. Fantastic and the other heroes Strange secretly found and stored away to protect them from Doom. That got him killed. Dr. Doom did the crime, but in this issue nobody knows it, including Sue Storm and the Thors. There’s clearly some guilt running through the air, however scant the guilt would be coming from the arrogant Dr. Doom, but it’s written well.

Arrogant and yet not all powerful. He didn't know about the others being hidden and yet he had a feeling they were out there. He "killed" Dr. Strange but was suspicious of him from the ending of NA. Now we have the ominous feeling that it's either him or MM who are holding BW together but also to note that Reece is constantly hungry as well.

We know Doom and Strange "Killed" the beyonders but we don't know how he got the power of them.

Still so many unanswered questions. I'm guessing that SW#6 will answer them.

[Spider-Tron]

^Totally surprising comment.

The pace is a little too slow, but I really liked the filling in the blanks and setting up for a nice big finish in the next three issues.

Didn't require an entire issue to fill in the blanks. Most blanks which were obvious.

Boring issue. They didn't need an entire issue to give the details they did here.

Snoozefest/10

Hopefully this book picks back up

[Mr`Orange]

^Totally surprising comment.

The pace is a little too slow, but I really liked the filling in the blanks and setting up for a nice big finish in the next three issues.

Exactly, it might have been more of a .five than a full issue but it is needed, especially when collected in a trade and first time readers pick it up.

[ShaokhaN]

Well that was underwhelming. Molecule Man is still alive (established by the solicit though), MM recaps the final issues of Avengers & New Avengers, we find out how the Beyonders were defeated (after all that build up? That was significantly underwhelming), Valeria is leading a team to find everyone, and Thanos is at the Shield.

Rather lackluster and boring. Just when it felt like things were picking up last issue and I was getting interested, Hickman hits the brakes and dumps a truckload of exposition and "epic" sounding talking.

Basically how I felt about this issue.

[dzub]

^ what he said ^
how is he gonna cram everything that happened to the rafters in the next 3 issues while wrapping the story up too?

[swayzo]

pretty much what i expected...hickman himself said issue five would explain how battleword was made...so i figured by hickmans past writing style it would be a slow information dump issue

[MindofShadow]

I have a bad feeling about the ending now

This seems to be pulling an "Infinity"... aka GREAT start, epic moments int he middle... but then it was like Hickman ran out of time (issues) and it wrapped up way too quick by useless Universe woman.

I imagine the story is going to shift completely to Reed(s) and T'challa at this point. The others are in the tie ins correct?

Which tie in is Thanos in? That looks intersting