REVIEW: Secret Wars, #5

[celeherald]

I don't think it makes much sense for the black swans to be Valerias. As I recall, some of them weren't even human. There's also a scene where he meets his first recruit, and it seems like an encounter with a random runaway. If anything, I got the impression she was a mutant or something.

Re: Valeria at the end of FF: I think that was the opposite of a loose end. Hickman certainly has a long view when it comes to plotting, but his last issues of FF was a lot of deck clearing. He got her out of the fantastic four book and cleared the way for the next writer, by putting her far away and saying "well, she's got something to do now". Look at that 'parliament of doom' arc that ended up being all of one issue. It's v1.0 of Secret Wars. Had he stayed on that book, I think you'd be seeing a different version of this event right now.

As cool as it would be to have an adult Valeria sighting, I'm not sure it'd make for great storytelling to have a character who hasn't been seen in years, suddenly make an appearance and play an important role.

Re: inconsistencies. I agree Doom's "no. No!" reaction is kind of a head-scratcher, but it probably alludes to him seeing most of the remaining universes destroyed. The other confusing part of this whole story was that Great Society arc with Strange coming back with the black priest power, but not really; selling his soul, but not really; then having all this extra power anyway, with no explanation.

Strange tried to sell his soul but couldn't which was explained in the New Avengers Annual. He used a summoning from the Blood Bible to defeat The Great Society before leaving and and some point joining the Black Priests.

[hobo]

Strange tried to sell his soul but couldn't which was explained in the New Avengers Annual. He used a summoning from the Blood Bible to defeat The Great Society before leaving and and some point joining the Black Priests.

Yeah, but look at the first scene when Strange shows up for that incursion. He utters something that looks like exactly the speech of the Black Priests. Maybe that was a mistake in illustration, but if there was ever an explanation for that, I didn't see it.

Also, as much as I liked that Annual, here's what Barbiere said about his story:

Newsarama: Frank, what can you tell us about the story of New Avengers Annual #1?

Frank Barbiere: The story sees Dr. Strange coming out of the pages of New Avengers, having just sold his soul in a gambit for more power.

So it sounds like he's showing Dr. Strange after he sold his soul... which was never shown in New Avengers. The series doesn't connect to the annual, and vice versa, and there's no follow up at all from that point on. It's pretty frustrating.

[JohnnyMorales]

I think theyre just memorials to fallen heroes who have died protecting the shield

Frigga and Odin in particular have a distinct look in the last Loki comic just as the universe is coming to an end.

In SW #5 the statues are dressed the same. In particular the headress of Frigga and Odin are easy to recognize as the same in both comics.

The reason why he smiles is by finding them he has found what he needs to turn the Thor corps. against Doom most likely.

All indications are the Thor corp. has no knowledge of Asgard or their origins, and worships Doom absolutely.

[JohnnyMorales]

What are the chances that the single attack on the escape ship Marvel 616 heroes created which supposedly killed Sue, Val and Franklin and the Human Torch was actually ruse used by Doom to cover up the fact he pirated them to the world he was creating to play the roles they are playing now on his world

The fact that the FF has defeated Molecule Man several times (MM first appeared in FF comics) might be the reason why Doom fears Mr. Fantastic and the rest of the Fantastic Four.

I imagine the story will evolve into Mr. Fantastic recognizing the trademarks of Molecule Man's power finds a way to locate him (or was sent there by Dr. Strange) and ultimately defeating Doom by somehow defeating Molecule Man or having him join their side.

[Evan]

The difficult thing about this issue is that there's so much stuff cooked in here you didn't want to pull at every thread because then it would have just been 30 pages of me explaining how everything has worked; the mechanics of it all. You don't want to do that because it would be bad comics! This is bad enough. [Laughs]

http://www.comicbookresources.com/ar...lid-foundation

Hickman knew this exposition issue would be a bit annoying.

[jackolover]

What are the chances that the single attack on the escape ship Marvel 616 heroes created which supposedly killed Sue, Val and Franklin and the Human Torch was actually ruse used by Doom to cover up the fact he pirated them to the world he was creating to play the roles they are playing now on his world

The fact that the FF has defeated Molecule Man several times (MM first appeared in FF comics) might be the reason why Doom fears Mr. Fantastic and the rest of the Fantastic Four.

I imagine the story will evolve into Mr. Fantastic recognizing the trademarks of Molecule Man's power finds a way to locate him (or was sent there by Dr. Strange) and ultimately defeating Doom by somehow defeating Molecule Man or having him join their side.

Yes, there is a good chance Reed is doing that right now, between the pages of SW#5 and 6. If Strange teleported Reed to a Secret Lab that had devices that detect Doom power in everything, Reed can make something to detect Molecule Man/Beyonder power at play, and do something to disrupt it so Battleworld begins to fall apart. What Reed does from there is the next question. Certainly, all the Alternate reality domains are going to feel the fracturing of their kingdoms. But before Reed does any of that, I think Doom is going to lower the Shield and let the swarms start killing everybody and that's when Reed attacks.

[ETMike1988]

I imagine the story will evolve into Mr. Fantastic recognizing the trademarks of Molecule Man's power finds a way to locate him (or was sent there by Dr. Strange) and ultimately defeating Doom by somehow defeating Molecule Man or having him join their side.

Maybe Molecule Man will join the forces of Mr. Fantastic and co. after Reed gave Owen some hamburgers!