Front Lines: Secret Wars (Week of May 20, 2015)

A-Force #1 by Marguerite Bennett, G. Willow Wilson, and Jorge Molina

Summary: The story starts on Arcadia, one of the regions of Doom’s Battleworld.  This region seems to be full of superhero women, everyone from Dazzler to Miss America.  She-Hulk is the Baroness of Arcadia.  A group of the women calling themselves A-Force patrol the borders to keep Arcadia safe…including from mutated sharks.  Actually it was a Megalodon which should have gone extinct 2 million years ago.  Miss America ends up throwing the Megalodon into the Deadlands…which is a serious no-no on Battleworld, especially since she ends up damaging the Shield Wall around the Deadlands.  One of Doom’s Thors arrives (Sam Wilson) to arrest her.  Her sentence is to serve on the Shield Wall for the rest of her life.  She-Hulk tries to protest, but Sheriff Strange threatens to bring the wrath of Doom down on Arcadia.  After Miss America is taken away, She-Hulk summons the Submariners (Namor, Namora, and Namorita) to find out where this Megalodon came from.

Nico is mourning the loss of Miss America when someone crash lands on Arcadia.  Nico goes to investigate and finds someone who looks a lot like a mini-female version of Eternity.

Short Review:  I actually enjoyed this issue a lot, though I do think they could have done a better job explaining exactly what this domain was all about.  Is this supposed to be like Themyscira, a land of only women?  And if so, what’s Namor doing there?  And are all the civilians all women too?  Actually, are there even civilians living here (or anyplace on Battleworld)?  But, I thought the story and characters were great and I liked seeing how the laws of Battleworld work.  This was definitely my favorite Secret Wars Tie-in so far.

Score: 4.5/5

Spider-Verse #1 by Mike Costa and Andre Araujo

Summary: Spider-Gwen is fighting off grave robbers, including one who seems to be the Jackal.  Her memoris and Spider-Sense are real fuzzy.  We see the gravesite of Gwen and Captain George Stacy.  Definitely something odd going on here.  There are other Spider-Man inhabiting the domain, but not the original Spider-Man who vanished years ago.  We see British Spider-Man, Spider-Man India, and Arana.  All of them seem very aware that something is wrong with reality. They have false memories, including false names.  It’s like they see the pieceds of a puzzle that don’t quite fit together. 

Norman Osborn is the Duke of this region, and Ozcorp seems to claim all the credit for any heroics the various Spiders do.  They claim there is no such thing as Spider-Man.  Gwen is working at Ozcorp.  She sneaks into Ozcorp’s special project division and finds a file labeled “Sinister Six,” which is apparently Ozcorp’s code name for the various Spiders.  She also finds Spider-Ham being kept unconscious in a hospital bed.  Osborn arrives saying he had been expecting her.

Short Review:  This was a real cool comic.  I liked the idea that because of The Web and their experiences during Spider-Verse, the various Spiders seem to maintain some sense of who they were before Doom started to tinker with reality.  I had a lot of questions after reading this one, but I enjoyed the mystery.  I also thought it was real intriguing that for the most part, we’ve really only seen one version of each Marvel character (the only exception I can think of is Dr. Strange…and Ultimate End, but more on that later).  Yes, there are many Spider-Men here, but they all have different civilian identities, and no Peter Parkers at all.

Score: 4/5

Deadpool Secret Secret Wars #1 by Cullen Bunn and Matteo Lolli

Summary: We find out that during the original Secret Wars, Wade Wilson was brought to Battleworld with the various heroes and villains.  Wade ended up on the hero side.  Most of the issue is a retelling of Secret Wars with Wade inserted in providing commentary.  At some point, something bad happens and Wade seems to be the only one left standing…but he has been made handsome again.

Short Review:  I don’t always get Marvel’s obsession with Deadpool.  He can be a funny character, and Cullen Bunn wrote this pretty well.  But there wasn’t much special here.  It was basically just jokes at the expense of how much comics have changed over the last 30 years.  And I think Marvel already did a special a few years back inserting Deadpool into the events of Secret Wars II. Continuity fans beware: there was no connection to the new Secret Wars in this issue at all.

Score: 3/5

Loki: Agent of Asgard #14 by Al Ewing and Lee Garbett

Summary: Odin dreams of the end of the universe.  He calls together the Congress of Worlds to announce “The last day has come.”  They don’t seem all that impressed.  The end of the world always seems to be coming and usually Earth is the heart of it.  Meanwhile, on Earth Loki is in Verity Willis’ apartment admitting himself in the mirror.  Loki seems to have gotten taller and speaks differently from last time Verity saw him.  And then he suddenly turns into a woman.  Verity and Loki look at the window and see the final incursion happening.  Loki calls it the end of all stories…and Verity’s powers tell her that he’s lying.

Meanwhile, Future Loki conspires with his daughter Hera.  He brings Balder of out Hel with him.  Odin and Freya arm themselves for battle…with what seem to be heavy duty Earth wepons.  Future Loki and Hera attack Asgard with Balder and the World Serpent.

Short Review:  This was a weird and confusing issue.  I loved the beginning with Odin trying to convince the other “gods” to fight with him, but millennia of Odin being a prick has not made him many friends.  And the end with Odin and Freya being armed to the teeth was real bad ass.  But I thought any part with Loki and his constant changes were confusing for someone not normally following this book.

Score: 3.5/5

Ultimate End #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley

Summary: In Secret Wars #1, we saw 616 Punisher spending his last minutes killing villains.  As this comic starts, we see Ultimate Punisher contemplating killed 616 heroes through the scope of a rifle during the final incursion.

We jump to a map of Battleworld New York, which seems to be an amalgam of 616 and Ultimate New York. 

And then it’s three weeks earlier.  Spider-Man 616 is web-swinging along and there is a crime going on.  He finds a Serpent Squad made up of all women robbing a secret Hydra safe house.  The All-New Ultimates arrive to help him.  Spider-Man has to go to a meeting of heroes, but the All-New Ultimates were not invited.    A mixed group of heroes from both 616 and Ultimate are here, including two Starks.  They are trying to figure out how to restore things to the way they were before. Spidey is freaking out because Ultimate Black Widow is his clone and knows his secret identity.  He soon finds up that all the Ultimates know his name because that world’s Peter Parker’s ID want public after he died.

Fury seems to have some connection to Doom, but he’s here on his own to try and work to solve this.  Apparently, everyone thinks Stark was to blame for combining the two New York’s but starts says he didn’t.  There is a massive rip in reality caused by Amadeus Cho and that is what combined the two New Yorks.

Short Review:  This issue was ridiculously confusing.  I loved seeing Bagley doing the art in this, but it is real hard to place this in the context of Secret Wars.  I did like a lot of the character moments.  Bendis is great at those.  But I didn’t think this pulled together at all.  I wanted to see the last days of Ultimate instead, instead we get a weird mishmash that just didn’t work for me at all.

Score: 3/5

Master of Kung Fu #1 by Haden Blackman and Dalibor Talajic

Summary: The issue starts with a history of how all the Great Masters created a tournament called the 13 Chambers to decide who would lead them.  For the last 100 years, the leader of the Ten Rings, Zheng Zu has been leader.  It’s time for a new tournament, to decide who will take the throne and become the new Master of Kung Fu.  Zheng Zu’s son Shang-Chi is a drunk who believes his father will win and continue his rule.  Some of his father’s students try to chase him off, and he easily defeats him.  This inspires others (including Callisto and Caliban) to fight back against the Ten Rings, especially when they realize that it’s Shang-Chi, the emperor’s own son.  Apparently, Shang-Chi had murdered the head of the Iron Fist clan, and there is a price on his head.   The villagers help Shang-Chi escape.

Zheng Zu finds out this son has returned and starts to send the other clans against him.  He promises the current Iron Fist that he can kill Shang-Chi to avenge his dead master.

Short Review:  I am not usually a huge fan of Kung Fu movies, but this book reminded me a lot of Crossgen’s Way of the Rat (which was the first comic I ever reviewed).  I enjoyed this comic a lot, and I appreciated the use of unexpected characters like Callisto and Caliban.   Put this right next to A-Force among the best Secret Wars tie-ins.

Score: 4.5/5

Planet Hulk #1 by Sam Humphries and Marc Laming

Summary: This comic takes place in Greenland, a savage land made up of places with names like She-Hulk Shore, Gamma Lake, and the Sea of Monsters.  In the Mud Kingdom, a group of Hulks open fire on some Thor Corps flying overhead with flaming catapults.  The Thors destroy their whole village, but now that they will rebuild.  The Thors whole role is to contain the Hulks, not engage them.

In someplace called the Killiseum, a barbarian Captain America and Devil Dinosaur defeated the Wolverine Clan in combat to become champions.  Arcade runs the Killiseum.  When he comes out to present their trophy, Cap takes Arcade hostage.  Cap orders Arcade tell him who happened to Bucky.  Arcade manages to knock Cap out.  When he wakes up, he’s been brought before Doom and Sherriff Strange.   Doom is disappointed in Cap’s actions, but he’s willing to make him an offer.  He tasks Cap with going to Greenland and killing the Red King.  Strange reveals that Bucky is being held by the Red King, and that Bucky had been sent earlier to kill Red King and failed.  Cap agrees as long as they give him Devil Dinosaur back.  Cap arrives in Greenland and immediately meets up with another Doom operative…the Professor Green version of Hulk.

Short Review:  This issue was very different, and that is a good thing.  Cap as a gladiator on a quest in a land of Hulks was unexpected, and I loved how well it worked.  It’s one of those stories that works so much better in execution that it should on paper.

One thing I wanted to mention, I don’t like the backups that raised the price of a lot of these books to 5 bucks.  This issue told the story of how Greenland ended up this way…it was an interesting read, but I would rather pay a buck less and they could have done it as a quick one or two page summary at the end of the comic like DC did for the Convergence first issues.  To me, it really brought down the value of this book.

Score: 4/5

Secret Wars: Battleworld #1

Soldier Supreme by Joshua Williamson and Mike Henderson

Summary: Soldier Supreme is the story of Frank Castle…or at least a version of Frank Castle that ended up with Doctor Strange’s powers and voice in his head.  It seems Strange had been killed by a vampire, and transferred his powers to Castle.   Castle is being chased by the Infernal Four…versions of the New Fantastic Four who has been trapped in Limbo.  Castle has been crossing the borders between regions, and Doom wants him brought in alive.  Castle combines mystical arts with military gear, but the Infernal Four are still a little much for him.  He ends up blowing himself up to take the Infernal Four with him.  Limbo Wolverine ends up surviving to tell Sherriff Strange what happened.  But we find out that Strange’s astral form survived and hitched a ride with Limbo Wolverine back to his homeland of Inferno.

M.O.D.O.K Madness by Ed Brisson and Scott Hepburn

Summary: In a secret AIM lab in a domain called The Iron.  MODOK brings together an army of MODOK’s.  He plans to take over Battleworld.  The MODOK’s start to fight over who would get to rule.  Later some Thors arrive and finds most of the MODOK’s dead having killed each other.  The core MODOK’s asks them to “put me out of my misery and spare me from myself.”

Short Review:  The Punisher story was great.  I liked this version of Punisher and the ending was a nice unexpected twist.  I also liked that it explored…sort of…the questions about  Sherriff Strange.  Strange was standing with Doom and Molecule Man during the final incursion, and I have been real curious how he fits in all this.  This is also one of the few times we’ve seen multiple versions of any characters in Battleworld.

The MODOK story was very funny.  It did kind of feel like filler, and it probably went on a little too long, but it was definitely entertaining.  I didn’t quite feel like this was a story that needed to be told, but I will admit a big part of that is that I’ve never really liked MODOK all that much.  Definitely dragged the score down on this issue for me.

Score: 3.5/5