The Battleworld Series

            Well everyone, Secret Wars is FINALLY over, only a mere three months after it was scheduled to end after countless delays and an additional issue produced to wrap everything up and by now the All New All Different Marvel lines are well underway.  But before we take a look at those series, I wanted to take a look back at all the Battleworld series that I had the chance to read and give some thoughts on each series as a whole.  I do have to warn whoever reads this, however, that there will be varying degrees of spoilers in this post.  I won’t give away the endings or any big act three twists but in order to properly talk about why some of these books do or don’t work some things that happen later in the series needs to be addressed.   So strap into your seats folks because this is going to be a long one.  These are my thoughts on the Battleworld Series.

Secret Wars

            I’ve gone over my distain of this series quite a few times but I do feel that some it bears repeating if for no other reason than maybe, just maybe, the writers will take their heads out of their asses and acknowledge that they screwed this one up and use it as a model for how not to do an event comic.  Yes, the art is great.  Yes, Issues 1, 2, and 9 are legitimately good and the covers by Alex Ross are some of the best artwork that I’ve ever seen for a superhero comic.  But this just doesn’t make up for the slog that was Issues 3 through 8, where actual storytelling and character development took a complete backseat to issue upon issue of exposition for exposition’s sake with no real plot or pacing that just decides to skip ahead a few months to the climax where people are rebelling against Doom for undefined reasons and where the Cabal that survived the destruction of the Ultimate Universe is working with the survivors of the main Marvel Universe for, again, undefined reasons.  Beyond that, there really isn’t much to say without digging deeper into each individual issue and pointing out everything that is wrong with it but that’s a series of post for another day.  It’s just a poorly written mess that completely botched what was a pretty good concept and is ultimately a poor way to start the new Marvel Multiverse.  Thank God the actual series resulting from this are on the whole pretty good.

Verdict

Burn

Future Imperfect

            A reoccurring thing you’re probably going to read in this post is that “this series started out really good but was undercut by a non-existent second act or a third act that had been almost completely cut out or both” and the Future Imperfect series is easily the obvious example of the latter.  The storyline in question takes place in a Battleworld territory where a third World War has more or less wiped out all of the major superheroes save for the Hulk, who now rules over his own city as a brutal dictator and calls himself The Maestro as a resistance force attempts liberate the city from his tyrannical rule.  At the start of the story, The Maestro is able to infiltrate the rebel’s base, take down many of its soldiers before encountering its leader; General Thunderbolt Ross who had been transformed into The Thing.  After a fight where the two cause a good amount of destruction to the city, the two decided to join forces in order to find a secret weapon that will give the Maestro the power to overthrow God Doom and allow him to become the ruler of Battleworld

            The premise is, as you read, very solid and offered up all kinds of possibilities.  Would the two bitter old enemies be able to keep their cool in order to achieve a common goal?  Would Ross be able keep control over his resistance army given his new partnership with The Maestro?  Does the Maestro really intend to honor his end of the deal when/if he has defeated Doom?  Will this secret weapon actually allow him the power to defeat a man who literally has the power of the Beyonders at his disposal?  Unfortunately none of these things are brought up or satisfyingly explored.  You have a few throwaway lines where some of Ross’s men question the wisdom of working with The Maestro and Ross himself making it clear that they aren’t friends but the whole thing just plays out like a treasure hunt road trip where at the end of each point on the map they have to fight a boss before reaching the final prize, lacking any real character development or elaborate storytelling that might have made this endeavor more interesting.  A lot of this has to do with the length of the story.  It’s very clear that this story was intended to be a much longer one and if I had to guess a lot of the questions I just brought up were probably plot points in the original drafts but were ultimately cut due to the restraints everyone had to put up with for a five issue series.

            Ultimately the comic is not poorly written or drawn by any means.  The twists are very well done, the initial world building is fantastic and the art work is nothing short of incredible but you do get the feeling that a lot is missing and when the series ended I found myself thinking about how great it could have been if it was allowed two or three more issues to flesh out its story a bit more.  As it is, the story is just okay and worth reading if you’re in-between issues but I wouldn’t exactly go out and hunt down every issue for it.

Verdict

Browse

Secret Wars: Battleworld and Secret Wars Journal

            There really isn’t a whole lot to say about these two series as they are both anthology comics that’s quality in both writing and artwork vary from story to story.  It’s worth reading for the good stuff and you will always get a good story out of it one way or another.

Verdict

Read

Thors

            What do you get when you have various Thors of parallel dimensions working as cops trying to solve a murder mystery?  An otherwise pretty solid comic that was only bogged down by things that was out of the creative team’s control.  The story in question follows a number of Thors, mainly Ultimate Thor and Thor the Unworthy, (the Thor of the main Marvel Universe who lost his ability to hold his hammer), as they attempt to solve the murder of a number of women who all happen to be the same person over the various dimensions.  What follows is a solid murder mystery full of twists, betrayals, red herrings, and a surprisingly deep reasoning behind the murders, all backed by solid artwork that is visually appealing, drawing upon inspirations from both Film Noir and the more traditional Asgardian aesthetics of the comics.

If Thors is the victim of anything, it’s the victim of a release date that was obviously meant to run parallel with that of Secret Wars and was constantly delayed as a result, killing a lot of the series’ thunder, (no pun intended).  It’s not at all helped by the fact that the second half of the last issue literally ties into Issue #7 of Secret Wars and seems to do so out of the blue without any real build up to it.

In the end, despite its release problem, it’s a solid comic.  The mystery is good, the interactions between the Thors is solid, all the characters have real depth to them and is backed by very solid artwork and I recommend giving it a read.

Verdict

Read

Deadpool’s Secret Wars

            Out of all the Battleworld Series, this one was the most surprising, especially given that the premise of the series wasn’t all that appealing to me.  As I’ve stated before, I wasn’t that big of a fan of the original Secret Wars and to be honest Deadpool has never been all that appealing to me as he comes off more as that annoying friend everyone seems to have who constantly makes bad puns and pop culture references to the point that you want to smack him.  But, surprisingly, it works in this series.

            Taking place during the original Secret Wars, this series focuses on Deadpool as the main protagonist as he fights, puns, and sleeps his way through the highlights of the Secret Wars series, offering new twists and perceptions as to what happened in the crossover event.  Beyond that, however, there really isn’t a whole lot to say about it.  The art work is really good and is vastly superior to the original while staying true to its original designs and the humor is fantastic with every pun hitting at just the right moment with the art work to complement it.  It’s a ton of fun and I could not recommend it highly enough.  Give it a read.

Verdict

Read

Old Man Logan

            Oh dear lord, this comic.  If there was one enormous disappointment in the Battleworld series, it was easily the Old Man Logan series.  Apparently taking place after the events of the original Old Man Logan story arc by Mark Millar the series started off promising when it seemed to follow up on the events from that fantastic story.  But then he discovers a head of an Ultron unit and then the thing turns into a road trip comic as he travels through the various realms of Battleworld.  Unfortunately, that’s really all it is.  Wolverine gets thrown from one realm to the next, enouncing various versions of characters in the Marvel Universe that either want to kill him, imprison him or tell him that he is destined for some bigger journey, all the while just kind of taking everything in with an indifferent disposition.

            I get the impression that this was intended to be a road trip story of self-discover for Wolverine; where he finally lets go of the horrible things that he did before the events of the original Old Man Logan arc as well as discovering more of Battleworld’s secrets and the fact that he has a greater journey ahead of him.  This all good in concept but it forgets that this was quite literally his entire arc in the original story making everything that happened in this story feel redundant and repetitive.  It also doesn’t help at all that the comic itself doesn’t really have much in the way of a story arc.  At the start of Issue #2, he’s wondering around the various realms of Battleworld without any real purpose and that’s how it ends as well.  There aren’t any reoccurring antagonists, plot points or supporting characters to help Wolverine along the way, making the entire series, quite literally, a plot-less road trip full of characters that we encounter once and are never mentioned again. 

            It’s not at all helped by the fact that the artwork is an eyesore.  I generally try not to call out particular styles of art as negatives, (different strokes for different folks), but this one just asks for it.  While the artwork does do its job of keeping events in a coherent order, the art itself can only be described as distorted.  It tends to change from setting to setting, (kudos on creativity on that), but each time the images on display are always distorted, with the earlier issues containing artwork that appear as if a constant sandstorm is going on, covering all the images and issues towards the end only using yellow, red, white and black in very strange ways to color the images that makes everything appear as if it were a dream sequence or something.  It’s not something that I would necessarily call bad but it seems inappropriate for this series, especially how the art style contradicts the other series where these characters appear.

            In the end, Old Man Logan was easily the most disappointing series of the Battleworld Series and by the time it was half way through the idea of reading it was one that filled me with a depressed resignation.  The story never went anywhere. Wolverine didn’t seem to be all that phased by the adventure when all was said and done and the artwork was just an eyesore.  Ordinarily it could easily be written off as a disposable Wolverine story but the fact that they had to make this a continuation of an otherwise great storyline makes it all the more insulting.  I am interested in seeing what they have in-store for this character in the new Marvel universe, but this series is only meant for kindling.

Verdict

Burn

Planet Hulk

            This is a series that is perfectly acceptable for what is, even if it doesn’t aspire to be much.  The story follows a version of Captain America as he travels through a Battleworld Zone known as Greenland with his faithful T-Red companion, Devil and a Hulk creature known as Doc Green, as he attempts to rescue his friend Bucky from a Greenland ruler known as The Red King.  What follows is a perfectly serviceable road trip comic where the three encounter and fight their way through various creatures, Captain and Doc argue about morality and ultimately arrive at the main fortress of The Red King where a few twists are revealed, (some more predictable then others), and the fates of our main characters are ultimately decided.  As I said, it’s perfectly acceptable for what it is.  The artwork is good, you find yourself invested in the main characters’ struggle, and it ends on appropriately bittersweet note.  I say give it a read if you have nothing else better to do but don’t expect the next Watchmen out of it.

Verdict

Browse

Spider-Verse

            Oh dear lord.  Aside from the awful artwork I really don’t have anything to say on this series.  It has a good setup to what could have been a potentially great series but seemed content to just have the characters mull around discussing their shared memory problems while other characters went back and forth from being bad guys to questionable allies to bad guys again all the while supported by the laziest artwork I’ve ever seen in a modern mainstream comic.  Don’t waste your time with it and I refuse to waste any more of mine on it.

Verdict

Burn

The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows

            It’s good.  Read it.  It has fantastic artwork, knows how to play the family angle in all the right ways, shows why Peter being married, having a child and being is probably not a good idea and gives us an interesting new villain for our main characters to fight.  Check it out.  It’s a fun book.

Verdict

Read

Armor Wars

            Now here is yet another a comic that had a fantastic setup but couldn’t quite follow up on it due to it being a five issue miniseries.  The story takes place in the city of Technopolis; a massively polluted city where people can only survive by staying in Iron Man suites where Tony Stark himself rules and follows a series of events that were caused by the murder of this world’s Spider-Man.  At first it seems like it’s going to be a story of corporate espionage instead of the traditional Heroes V.S. Villains story but sadly this isn’t the case.  Talking about it at length is unfortunately not possible because the series is built around twists that start roughly halfway through the story and continue on until the end but I can say that while the twists are good, they ultimately can’t help but undercut the promise of the initial setup.  The artwork is appropriate and serviceable, given the setup of the city, but it can’t help but feel overdesigned, yet still somehow fails to leave the reader with anything all that interesting to look at outside of the novelty of seeing Wilson Fisk and a Thor powered Rhodey running around in Iron Man armor.  Still, when all is said and done, it’s certainly not a bad series and I say take a look if you have some spare time, provided that you can ignore just how much better it could have been.

Verdict

Browse

Civil War

            Aside from Old Man Logan and Secret Wars itself, this was the series that clearly had the most promise to it but only succeeded in being one of its biggest disappointments.  The premise is simple.  The Marvel Civil War continued but rather than actually being about a civil war between the various super heroes led by Captain America and Tony Stark, the series instead decides to be about Tony investigating an assassination on a woman who was determined to bring about peace between the two while Steve begins preparations for an all-out attack on Tony’s forces.  The problem is that the whole thing feels like the ending to a much more interesting story.  Throughout it, they talk about an ongoing war that essentially split the country in half, with Stark gaining the eastern parts of the U.S. while Rogers gained the western half all the while with Tony convincing the other nations of the world to view Captain America’s west as a rouge state and refuse to trade with them.  And to me that sounds like a much more interesting story then discovering who offed the peace ambassador at the tail end of the war.  Even ignoring all of that, the story itself isn’t terribly interesting, featuring a plot that consists of only said war preparations on Rogers’s side and a subpar mystery on Stark’s side that has such a lackluster payoff that you’ll find yourself rolling your eyes in indifference at.

            In the end it’s certainly not the worst story that I’ve read in the various Battleworld series but it was one that simply failed to register any type of emotional response from me, and to be honest, that easily the worst thing any kind of art can do.

Verdict

Ignore

Years of Future Past

            And finally we have Years of Future Past, a comic with a premise so overused that I’m genuinely shocked that anyone even bothered to use it in 2015.  The premise is essentially that President Kelly, a human antagonist of the X-Men, has turned the world into that of Days of Future Past, minus the Sentinels ruling everything, and the older mutants plan on using the younger ones as a means to turn popular opinion, (and perhaps Kelly’s) towards the idea that not all mutants are bad while the sentinels continue to hunt them and other rouge mutants.  The key problem with this series is that it’s essentially using a setting that has been used far too many times over the past thirty years and fails to stand out from the crowd, lacking the time traveling intrigue of the original Days of Future Past and Terminator franchise and fails to portray an interesting war between the Sentinels and mutants.  In truth, there is probably more to say about this comic but in all honesty, I can barely remember a thing about it so I can’t imagine it’s really worth your time either.

Verdict

Ignore

            And that wraps up my thoughts on the various Battleworld series.  Some were good, some were bad, some were great but a lot of them simply felt pointless.  I get the impression that if these series had been allowed to last a few more issues they could have been truly great stories in their own right as opposed to being simply okay ones.  As it stands, the new All New Marvel universe is now in full swing and so far the lineup has been impressive.  While I’m not sure that Marvel really needed to do this whole Secret Wars thing to reboot their universe, (as it stands, most of the series are virtually unchanged), the good series were more than worth my time and made the whole thing worthwhile and I despite their apparent redundancy, I still recommend that you give them a read.

            So until next time, please be sure to follow the site, like the Facebook page, and follow me on twitter.  Until then, let’s hope that the future of Marvel remains bright.

This Week in Marvel Comics: Guardians of the Galaxy #27, Uncanny X-Men #34, Spider-Verse #1, Secret Wars: Battleworld #1, and Planet Hulk #1

           Welcome back to This Week in Marvel Comics; a series of articles that I try and write once a week where I review the latest entries in Marvel comics that I read regularly or a new Marvel comic that I decided to give a shot.  This week we shall be looking at the latest issues of Guardians of the Galaxy, Uncanny X-Men and the new Secret Wars series Spider-Verse, Secret Wars: Battleworld, and Planet Hulk and see just how well the writers have done their jobs this week.  So without further delay, let’s take a look.

Guardians of the Galaxy #27

            Guardians of the Galaxy has been without a doubt one of the best series to come out of the Marvel Now! lineup, featuring great if not deep storylines, fantastic humor, great character interaction, fantastic artwork and a number of great temporary members, such as Iron Man, Angela, Captain Marvel and Venom who all add a significant amount of fun chemistry to the team, all helped by fantastic artwork that is always detailed, creative and fun.  Unfortunately, like the various series’ I reviewed last week, the shadow of Secret Wars looms over this comic and it suffers as a result both within the actual writing of the comic and within the reader’s mind as well as they will know the fate of several of the characters in the comic.

            Taking place after the Black Mirror crossover event, Peter Quill finds himself engaged to Kitty Pride, (if you’re ever at a con with Chris Claremont ask him about that and you’ll be sure to get a laugh), and unexpectedly the elected leader of his home planet, Spartax after he helped oust his father from rule.  With his fellow Guardians in tow, he hesitantly decided to, at the very least, see what this position may have to offer.  Unfortunately, right as he is getting settled in, Spartax is literally attacked by another planet, (aren’t comics great?!?!), and this issue finds the Guardians fighting off said attack and that’s about it.  The whole issue is one prolonged action sequence where all the characters fight off alien invaders in the usual badass ways that we’ve come to expect from them with great artwork that perfectly depicts what is going on with depth and consistent quality.  While this is satisfying in its own right it doesn’t really do much plot wise outside of wrapping up a cliff hanger that was brought up last issue.

            Character wise, the issue fares a lot better.  One of the series’ biggest strengths has always been its character interactions and how well they work off one another and in this issue it’s on in full force with the characters trading witty banter as they fight off hordes of invaders.  However, the real meat of the issue comes from Gamora, Star Lord and Kitty who all have to come to terms with what Quill’s becoming the leader of Spartax will mean.  Gamora, for example has to deal with very real issue that she once served Thanos and that baggage will inevitably go with her no matter where she goes as Quill and Kitty have to decide if his being in charge of Spartax is the best thing and what it will mean for their relationship.  Unfortunately, the actual impact of this is a bit lost as we all know the Marvel Universe ended two weeks ago and it makes much of this feel pointless as a result.

            In the end, this issue is decent but doesn’t really seem to go anywhere outside of wrapping up a cliffhanger from the last issue and setting up the stage for Star Lord and Kitty’s future relationship but it’s all undercut by Secret Wars that renders much of this feeling superfluous.  Perhaps it will pay off a bit more in the long term and will raise my opinion of this issue, but for now it’s just kind of an okay issue in an otherwise great series.

Verdict

Browse

Uncanny X-Men #34

            Uncanny X-Men #34 is probably the first issue I’ve read in a while that manages to escape the cloud of Secret Wars hanging over its head as the fates of many of its characters have yet to be determined.  Like many issues released lately, it’s a comic that features a main story that is mostly self-contained but still draws on events that happened in previous issues as its foundation.  Earlier in the series it was revealed that Mystique had been harvesting mutant growth hormones from Dazzler and selling it on the black marker by keeping her in a chemically induced coma while pretending to be her, taking up her position as a mutant liaison for S.H.I.E.L.D.  Ultimately, she was rescued by Magneto in the events that sparked his solo series, but hasn’t really be heard from up until now.  The issue in of itself focuses on her convincing Maria Hill to allow her to go after Mystique and the inevitable confrontation between the two as she tries to set an example for the mutants who had been introduced throughout the Uncanny X-Men series. 

            Ultimately this issue is serviceable.  Like many other issues that have come out lately, it really isn’t doing anything all that new or innovative and seems to be around mostly to wrap up a story arc that should have been done months ago.  I’ve never really been a big fan of Dazzler and really didn’t care all that much when she fell off the radar so this wasn’t really a story I was dying to read and there really wasn’t any kind of build up to it throughout the series or any real indication that she needed to confront Mystique in order to move on with her life.  The only thing that it really seems to contribute to the series in the long term is what she will do now that this is over and what the younger X-Men will do now that Scott Summers has disbanded their team.

            The art department is nothing to write home about.  The art direction in this series has never been the best but here it seems to really stick out more than ever with the characters and backgrounds lacking any kind of depth or details, as if the artist was short on time.  This is not helped at all by the fact that the color pallet is noticeably dark and just seems to suck the energy out of the entire issue.

            In the end, Uncanny X-Men #34 is just a serviceable issue.  It’s not bad by any means but it doesn’t do anything to make it stand out.  Dazzler’s ark with Mystique is serviceable but not all that emotionally driven or original in the way they go about it and on the whole the issue only seems to be doing anything interesting on the last two pages when the newer X-Men are trying to decide where their fates lay.  All around, like many other comics to come out lately, it’s just okay.

Verdict

Browse

Spider-Verse #1

            Very much like Secret Wars #2, Spider-Verse #1 is clearly a world building issue; one that is meant to set up the world and its apparent rules and setting up the foundation for future stories as opposed to telling a complete story in of itself.  Unfortunately, like Secret Wars #2, it’s not really clear why this place exists and the comic itself does very little to explain, but I’ll try and explain as best I can with what information I have.  As mentioned in my review of Secret Wars #2, this world, known as Battleworld is ruled over by Doctor Doom who allows various barons to rule over various “kingdoms” that stretch all across the world but all seem to be made up of dead characters or various universes that were apparently destroyed during the Incursions.  However the issue didn’t go on to explain just how it was all of these characters were back or the rules of Battleworld itself were as far as technology, time, or the characters memories of the previous lives went and this issue is the first to address this.

            The issue opens with Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen attacking a set of grave robbers but having no clear memory as to who she is outside of scattered memories about being in an Indi-rock band, dying on a bridge and that Norman Osborn, the apparent ruler of this “kingdom” had something to do with it while two other Spider-Men introduced in the Spider-Verse Crossover Event and Spider-Girl try and deal with the same amnesia issues.  Ultimately, that’s all the issue really amounts to; establishing just how lost all of these Spiders are mentally and who the apparent ruler of this Battleworld kingdom is.  In this regard it works but there really isn’t a whole lot to say about the issue otherwise.  This is, after all, a first issue so no major plot or character developments happen outside of the standard end of issue #1 cliffhanger ending that’s meant to get the reader to come back for more.  I assume that this will be explored in future issues and the fact that I’ve actually read the Spider-Verse crossover helps me stay invested but it’s otherwise a hard sell for someone not already familiar with the characters.

            The art department is something of a mixed bag as well.  Each individual panel is well done and knows how to depict action well and keeps the comic going at a brisk pace but faces don’t look right.  It’s hard to explain without an image, but it seemed as if the artist wasn’t sure if he was drawing humans or aliens, often with inconsistent facial shapes, sometimes making it seem as if you’re looking at a completely different character from panel to panel.

            The issue also includes a bonus story featuring Spider-Ham but it’s not really worth noting.  It doesn’t really do much to establish him has a character, (the Spider-Verse crossover event did a much better job of this), and just seems to be in it for the sake of giving him a quick backstory for the sake of future stories.

In the end, Spider-Verse #1 is just an okay setup issue.  It doesn’t do anything wrong per say but it’s very clear that the more interesting stuff is being saved for later issues.  Being a longtime fan of Spider-Man and a big fan of the Spider-Verse crossover event I have every intention of continuing this series but if you weren’t a fan of the crossover or of Spider-Gwen I would suggest skipping this issue.

Verdict

Browse

Secret Wars: Battleworld #1

            Secret Wars: Battleworld is probably the series that will click with readers the least in the whole Secret Wars line up.  The problem with it is obvious; it’s an anthology series and because of this it’s going to be difficult to have any investment in the various characters that all seem to be from parallel universes and somehow made their way to Battleworld.  This particular issue follows some version of the Punisher who was possessed by Doctor Strange at some point, (I have no idea what that was about), and his final stand against The Infernal Four; demonically corrupted versions of Spider-Man, Hulk, Ghost Rider and Wolverine.  The set-up itself doesn’t really have all that much going for it in terms of story.  It’s just a cool battle between the Punisher with magical powers and these four characters and is good for what it, complemented by great artwork that depicts the action fantastically, keeps the story moving at a brisk pace and contains an incredible amount of depth and detail in each panel.  Definitely worth a look at if you have some free time.

            The second story again has the same great artwork but doesn’t work nearly as well.  This one follows M.O.D.O.K. as he recruits fellow M.O.D.O.K.s from various times and dimensions in order to usurp Doom as ruler of Battleworld and things don’t go nearly as well as planned.  Unfortunately, the comic tries and fails to be funny.  Its’ obviously joke is that different versions of a villain wouldn’t work well together but it’s just not amusing in any way, shape or form. 

            And that’s really all there is to say here.  The first half of the comic is pretty cool and the second half just fails to do what it tries to do.  Ultimately, I would say borrow this one if you have a chance because it really isn’t worth the full retail price.

Verdict

Browse

Planet Hulk #1

            Of the Secret Wars lineup, Planet Hulk is probably the first that I’ve reviewed to actually establish a focused narrative as opposed to setting up the foundation of future stories or being a so-so one shot story and but only slightly benefits from it.  This particular storyline focuses on the Battleworld territory known as Greenland; a region populated by gamma irradiated creatures that all possess powers similar to the Incredible Hulk but its actual storyline focuses on a gladiatorial version of Captain America and his companion T-Rex, Devil, (yes companion T-Rex) as he attempts to find Bucky who was separated from him due to unknown circumstances.  After he violates a major gladiatorial rule he is given told that he must go to Greenland and kill one the territory’s leaders and in the process, will find and save Bucky as well as his own life. 

            If there is one thing that can be said in this issue’s favor, it’s that it actually focuses on the story and its central protagonist as opposed to being a world building issue.  From what we see we immediately know that this particular tribe of Hulks is in conflict with Doom and his minions and why it is he wants the issue resolved.  This version of Captain America likewise has a clear motivation in what he’s doing and given what we know about his relationship with Bucky in other series it’s very easy to get invested in his quest.  However the main problem the story suffers from is that it’s just too quick.  Far too much page space is spent on this version of Captain America in this gladiator pit where not much happens and it takes him far too long to actually get to Greenland where the book spends very little time.  It works as a good initial issue but by the time it ends you’ll be wishing that the book entitled Planet Hulk had a bit more Hulk in it.

            The art department is just fantastic with every panel looking perfect, as if the artist and colorist poured their hearts and souls into each nook and corner of it.  The attention to detail is fantastic with an incredible amount of detail put into each drawing so that even when the action itself is a bit on the uninteresting side one can admire the sheer amount of effort the artist put into it.  The coloring is admittedly a bit on the dark and dreary side but I think this appropriately sets the mood for a world that is run by a supervillain and the bleak hopelessness that that would burden a superhero in said world.  Bottom line, the artist deserves every ounce of praise that one can give and I cannot praise it enough.

            In the end Planet Hulk #1 is something of a mixed animal.  I admire the fact that it’s actually putting more of a focus on a character driven narrative then world building or having its characters aimlessly wandering about their region but the storyline never quite delivers on the promise of having Captain America wondering around a land populated by Hulks on top of a T-Rex within this issue.  It’s brought up a few notches by some fantastic artwork but like many of the Battleworld debut issues this one is decent but otherwise disappointing.

Verdict

 Browse

            And that wraps up this edition of This Week in Marvel Comics.  All around it was kind of a disappointing week with Guardians failing to really go anywhere, Uncanny X-Men not getting interesting until the last few pages, Secret Wars: Battleworld only good in the first half and two disappointing debut issues for two promising series.  In the end nothing here was objectively bad but it really felt as if the writers of these series were rushing something out the door and we can only hope that these series get better in the future. 

            So until next time please follow the site, like the new Facebook page, follow me on twitter and come back next time.  Until then, I would recommend just reading summaries of these books on the internet.  They really were disappointing

The Original Secret Wars

            Given the kind of articles I write, I would say that it’s a safe bet that most of the people who regularly read them are up to date on their comic book news and know that Marvel is starting their first full scale reboot through a revival of their Secret Wars series, a series released in the early 80s and was the first major crossover event in comic book history, and with the first issue of the revival having been released this week it seemed like as good as a time as any to talk about this classic series.  Like many other people, I often find the development and creation of certain forms of art to be just as interesting, (sometimes more interesting), then the work itself and the original Secret Wars is no exception to this.  You see during the 80s, there was something of a resurgence in the popularity of action figures, thanks to popular series like He-Man or the Transformers and it was only a matter of time before someone made the connection that comic book characters would probably make a pretty good toy line.  When someone finally made that connection, however, they demanded that Marvel produce a line of comics in order to promote said toy line and what the publishers came up with was the Secret Wars series and both Marvel and the entire medium were changed forever as a result.

            The setup, by today’s standards is about as stock as you can get.  Various heroes and villains from the Marvel universe including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Magneto Iron Man, Hulk, The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, the Lizard, Ultron, Kang Galactus, and Molecule Man are called to central park by a mysterious force that they cannot understand and are transported to a distant planet known today as Battleworld by a mysterious being known as The Beyonder where he demands that both sides slay one another in order to obtain their heart’s desire.  Under the command of Captain America, the heroes fought against the villains in order to survive and find a way back home as Doctor Doom leads the villains in order to pursue a greater prize that will put the entire universe at his mercy.

            If there is one thing that I can say about this comic, it’s that it’s anything but a by the numbers heroes vs. villains story as it’s full of twists and turns and character development that one would not expect from a comic of this time.  Throughout the story, both Doom and Galactus throw curveballs at both the heroes and villains and it requires both sides to think beyond fighting one another in order to obtain the Beyonder’s reward.  A particular highlight is Doom and his attempts to use both the heroes and villains as pawns in order to obtain both Galactus’ and the Beyonder’s power.

            The thing that really caught me off guard is how well the characters are developed in this series.  If there is one problem that I have with modern event comics, it’s that they tend to be so focused on the big battles that are going on that character development is often thrown right out the window but Secret Wars doesn’t do this and shows us the effect being ripped away to a far off planet has on them as well in chaining them in ways that would have long term effects in the Marvel Universe.  Rouge, for example, has to decide if she had made the right decision to become a hero and if she wishes to stay with the X-Men for good, (Rouge was originally a villain who recently made the switch to hero when this comic was being published).  Cyclops had recently returned to the X-Men and Professor X had regained the ability to walk and all three frequently clash over the leadership of the X-Men as a result and show that by the time the story ends that this is an issue that will remain as Colossus faces a major temptation from his relationship with Kitty on Earth. 

            The Fantastic Four also have to decide if they even want to win the Beyonder’s game due to what Galactus would gain if he should win and grapple with the weight of this decision.  Spider-Man gets the setup to a great future villain with his new costume as Hulk slowly reverts to his more savage self after a stint where Banner could control himself in the Hulk form.  The comic also seems fit to address Rhodey’s own personal insecurities about being Iron Man, (Stark was taking a break from the superhero game for a while), as Magneto slowly seems to understand that working with heroes and doing things their way may not be such a bad way to do things.

            The dynamics between the characters is also fantastic as no one really seems to work all that well together.  A major theme of the X-Men has been that they’re a hated and persecuted group and once upon a time this was something that even affected members of the Fantastic Four and The Avengers.  As a result, the teams frequently clash with one another, with several showing their own hatred of mutants and distain of the mutant race.  The only main downside is that the villains get the short end of the stick, not getting nearly as much development as the heroes.  The only characters who get any real development, outside of Doom and Galactus are The Molecule Man and new villain Volcana as the former slow gets back into the gig of fighting and using his powers had has a pretty decent payoff.  He also has a romantic subplot with Volcana and for the time this comic was release it does come off as a bit cute.

            Unfortunately, if there is one thing that has resonated in my mind more than anything else about this come, it’s that it hasn’t aged particularly well.  The thing about comics before the mid-80s rolled around is that they had the problem of telling more than showing.  There would often be tons of narration in the panels or overly long exposition by the character to explain what is going on as opposed to letting the artwork show what was going on.  The panels themselves don’t really seem to properly convey the passage of time or the movement of characters and again relies heavily on narration and dialog exposition in order for the reader to discover just what is going on.  On that note, for as much as I loved the character development in this comic, none of them really talk like real people, again talking in exposition that seems to drag on, as well as talking in circles about the same things.  For example, at one point Colossus falls in love with a non-hero/villain who was brought to Battle World and it felt like they were recycling the same dialog and inner thoughts he was having about this woman and his own problems with his affection towards her over and over again until the comic finally ended the subplot.  As a result, the pacing is terrible and you will spend what feels like an eternity on a single issue. 

            The artwork is also pretty mediocre as well.  I haven’t read too many comics from this period so I can’t say if this was just the style of the era but by today’s standards it’s fairly subpar.  The backgrounds, for example, are not particularly interesting to look at, giving what looks like bare minimum details, if any are put in at all.  There are many instances, for example where what is clearly meant to be a wall or a sky is just a blue or brown backdrop and clearly had no time or effort put into it whatsoever.  The same can often be said about the characters, as the art work on them feels unfinished or showing just enough to know who they are but not much more detail than that.  They also fail to properly convey the scope of certain things.  At one point they say a fortress that the heroes take residence in is as big as a city, yet fails to convince us that what we’re looking at is truly epic in scope and it’s hard to believe that such laziness was ever an acceptable standard for such a major publishing industry.

            In the end, the original Secret Wars is a comic that I did not regret reading, but have difficulty recommending.  It does do a lot right.  The plot itself is very good for what it is and the character development is fantastic, even rivaling that of modern comics.  But one also has to acknowledge that the book is a slog of a read, with poor pacing and mediocre artwork that baffles my modern comic book reading sensibilities.  I would say check it out if you’re a hardcore Marvel fan or if you’re curious about the first major crossover event in comic history but otherwise there are much better books out there to read.  At the time of writing this article, the first issue of the revived Secret Wars has been released and I can only hope that it turns out to be a much more briskly paced book then this one with the same level in its plot and character development.

Verdict

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