Front Lines - Secret Wars (Week of August 19, 2015)

Front Lines by Mike Maillaro, Mike Weaver, Grey Scherl, and Gina Maillaro

1872 #2 by Gerry Duggan and Nik Virella

Summary: Ten years ago, during the Civil War, Tony Stark designed a powerful weapon for the Union forced.  He expected them to use the threat of the weapon to force the Confederates to surrender.  But instead, the Union forces used this weapon to brutally massacre Southern soldiers.  This is what set Stark to becoming a drunk.

Now, Governor Roxxon has sent his own killers to take out Sheriff Rogers and Red Wolf.  We also find out that earlier, Mayor Fisk had murdered Deputy Bucky Barnes, leaving his wife Natasha a widow.  Rogers is trying to get Red Wolf a fair trial so he can get it on public record how badly Roxxon’s dam is affecting Red Wolf’s people. But, the judge is racing out of town. He tells Rogers that the trial had already been held, and Red Wolf had found guilty.  He has been sentenced to hang.

Roxxon’s assassins arrive.   Rogers manages to take out Doc Octavius and takes Bullseye hostage to call out Fisk.  He tries to arrest Fisk for obstructing justice.  Rogers also tries to get the people of Timely to rise up and take back the government.  Rogers gets distracted by Grizzly sneaking up on Red Wolf.  This allows Bullseye to shoot Rogers in the chest.  Rogers is dead and fed to the pigs. Fisk is declared Sheriff by Roxxon.  Natasha Barnes manages to sneak Red Wolf to safety, planning their revenge.  Meanwhile, across town, a mysterious cloaked stranger convinces Stark to get his act together and fight back.

Mike Maillaro: A lot of SECRET WARS titles have had long flashbacks that disrupted the flow of the narrative.  I have been critical of this in the past.  But this issue managed to tell Stark’s back story in just a few pages, and it really felt like it added to the story. It was interesting and quick.  I was not expecting Rogers to die this way. Making him a martyr was a great twist.  I also loved the design of Six-Gun Doctor Octopus.  I laughed when someone commented that the reason he needed so many guns was because he had awful aim.

Score: 4/5

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AGE OF ULTRON VS MARVEL ZOMBIES #3 by James Robinson and Steve Pugh

Summary: Timely’s Hank Pym is trying to figure out a way to stop Ultron, but his own knowledge is just not on the level of the Pym who invented the Ultron that currently rules in the Wastelands.   Pym goes for a walk through Salvation, reflecting on the relationships with Wonder Man/Iron Cross, Vision/Agatha Harkness, and Jim Hammond/Ryoko.  And how these very different men managed to create lives for themselves here.

Elsewhere in the Wasteland, Timely’s Wasp fights the zombies.  We find out that she was exiled to the wall because she fell in love with Hank Pym, but Pym was more interested in his primitive steam version of Ultron.  She joined up with a hang looking to overthrow Roxxon and ended up getting arrested by ten Thors.  

Meanwhile, Ultron has figured out a how to blend zombie and Ultron technology together.Months later, he has made an entire army of these hybrids and sends them to attack Salvation.  Pym believes he has a way to stop them, but it will require sacrifices from Vision, Wonder Man, and Jim Hammond.

Grey: Zombie robots. You know what? I don’t think I can explain this book better than that, and I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Zombie robots.

Mike: I think it’s a good thing. This book has been a little slow paced, but the Zombie Robots is a real clever plot point which makes up for a lot.  

Score: 3.5/5

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AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: RENEW YOUR VOWS #4 by Dan Slott, Adam Kubert, and Scott Hanna

Summary: In our conversation about issue 3, Grey said that he was sure SHIELD were the ones who grabbed Peter’s wife and kid, and he was right.  Peter is still fighting with the Sinister Six.  Sandman arrives to help him, but Peter isn’t sure he can trust him.  The skies go dark.  Regent is here.  He uses his powers to easily subdue Peter and Sandman.  

Meanwhile, at SHIELD HQ, MJ meets their leader, it’s Hawkeye.  When MJ tells Hawkeye about the inhibitor chips Peter uses to stay off Regent’ radar, Hawkeye realizes they can be used as a weapon to stop Regent...as long as they can get a sample of Regent’s blood.  Power Pack ends up designing a costume for Annie, much to MJ’s annoyance.  

Regent reveals to Spider-Man that he is looking to take down Doom.  He thinks that Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense would give him the edge he needs.  We also find out that Sandman snuck one of Spot’s portals into Regent’s base hidden inside his body.

Regent’s forces attack the Resistance’s base.  They are under orders to bring back any super-powered children they find and kill everyone else.  Annie ends up giving a serious smackdown on the Sinister Six.  Hawkeye leads his team to attack Regent through the portal hidden in Sandman.  MJ and Annie follow them.

Grey:I loved the page of Annie massacring the bad guys.

Mike: Annie was such a total badass, and the highlight of this book.  

I think Regent’s plan  to take down Doom seems to have a lot of flaws.  Talk about overly complicated.  Actually, that shows how powerful Doom is.  Regent is going through all this.  Maestro decided to go and try to steal The Destroyer armor over in Future Imperfect.  Apparently, if you want to take on Doom, it’s go big or don’t even try.

Another thing I liked about this issue was the use of The Spot.  He was such a lame villain in the day, but he’s had some cool guest appearances lately, most recently in Waid’s Daredevil.  

All in all, this has been a decent mini-series.  Not quite as great as it could have been, but still solid.

Grey: I liked the infodump on Regent, but I kinda wish it had been spread across the last few issues. The pacing really slowed down here. His Doom plan was...interesting? About as well thought out as Maestro’s is over in Future Imperfect, though I did notice that Peter seemed to be making fun of him for saying that Doom is God, which was weird.

Mike: Peter seems to like the blasphemy.  I actually liked this, just because too many people seem to just go along with the whole Doom is God thing.  Nice to see SOMEONE not buying into the hype.  Thanks, Peter!

Grey: There have not been nearly enough atheists on Battleworld! Also, nobody questioning why their God’s name is as sinister as “Doom”. Also, someone needs to start using Sandman again as a good guy. Flint is awesome when he’s not being used as generic super muscle or cannon fodder.

Score: 4/5

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ARMOR WARS #4 by James Robinson and Marico Takara

Summary: Rhodey has recorded a message to his niece Lila to play when he dies.   The story flashback three hours to tell us the story of his death.  Rhodey brought the fight directly to Fisk.  He believed Fisk killed Spyder-Man.  Fisk has no idea what Rhodes is talking about, but Rhodey strikes him down with his Thor powers.  Fisk is dying.  He tells Rhodes that he didn’t kill Spyder-Man.  Rhodes heads back to the Hall of Justice to figure out his next steps.

Meanwhile, Tony tells Arno that he needs to lay off Kiri.  Tony is willing to cut a deal with Arno to make that happen.

Rhodes has Amadeus Cho working on recovering the footage from before Spyder-Man dies.  Rhodes finds out that Tony was the one who killed Spyder-Man to help keep Technopolis’s secrets.

Tony arrives at the Hall of Justice.  He kills Cho.  Rhodes tries to arrest Stark, but Stark takes control of Rhodey’s armor.  Arno neutralizes any backup that might have helped out.  Stark also reveals that he was the one who killed Kiri’s parents. They had also found out the truth behind Technopolis.  Stark kills Rhodes.

Which is why the message got sent to Lila.  Kiri was with her and heard Stark’s confession.  She vows to take down Tony and Arno...in her giant Moving Fortress!

Mike: Full disclosure. My battery was just about dead when I started reading this one, so I did rush through.  I don’t think I missed anything, but I like giving the reader full disclosure.  Armor Wars moves a little slow, but it finally feels like things are coming together.  Still not sure what the secret of Technopolis was that Stark was willing to kill to preserve.  It might have been tired to Stark’s father, but a lot of that felt real unclear.  Still, on a whole, I enjoy this series.  Though the unclear art is really starting to wear on me.  I am ready for this one to be finished.  Also the lost page reveal of Kiri’s flying fortress was already done last issue, so it felt redundant.

Grey: Stark killed Peter. Who was surprised? Nobody? This book has cool ideas, but it’s missing something, and I just can’t figure out what it is.

Mike: Yeah, I feel the same way.  The pacing seems way slow and it just doesn’t feel like it’s moving. But honestly a lot has happened in four issues...and it’s a cool setting.  But I am just not loving it either, and I have no idea why.

Score: 3.5/5

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CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND THE MIGHTY DEFENDERS #2 by Al Ewing and Alan Davis

Summary: In Mondo City, the Council of Seven has been given the authority by Doom and set and enforce their own laws in regards to their neighbor Yinsen City.  Mondo City has 50 million citizens packed into mile-high housing complexes, and not enough resources.  Mondo City has put the people of Yinsen City into detention centers. The Defenders have surrendered, but She-Hulk reveals to the others that she allowed herself to be captured so she could take down Mondo City from the inside.

Boss Cage is torturing Captain Britain to find out where she’s from and what her intentions are.  She is able to use her powers to take about the interrogation chair.  She steps out of the chair and then reassembles it.   Then she summons her sword.  She slices through Boss Cage’s gun and escape the facility.

Meanwhile, She-Hulk tells Psi-Boss Frost that they want to confess.  Frost comes over to Psi-Scan them, and White Tiger unleashes her Tiger Entity from her amulet. She-Hulk rips through their shackles, and they escape.  Mondo City sends a massive tank about them, but Yinsen’s daughter is about to take advantage of the distraction to bring down the entire force field allowing all of the prisoners to escape.

Captain Britain approaches the Thor of Mondo City, Maria Hill.  Captain Britain says that she can tell Mondo City was waiting to invade Yinsen City for a while now, and Doom finally gave them to excuse they needed.  Maria says that they needed Yinsen City’s technology.  Captain Britain says that they should have just asked; Baron Yinsen would have shared with them.  Hill can’t understand that mentality.  She tries to attack Captain Britain, but Captain Britain easily slices through her hammer. Boss Cage arrives to try and arrest Captain Britain, but Hill tells him to stand down.  Hill realizes Captain Britain could have easily killed her, but chose not to.  Hill offers to form an alliance with Yinsen City.  Yinsen’s daughter reluctantly agrees.  Captain Britain realizes that all of these events were manipulated by Doom.  She threatens to go after Doom, but he appears to her in a vision and warns her that she will be too busy protecting her home.  She-Hulk thanks Captain Britain and they display their new flag...The Union Jack!

Gina: I love the fact that this comic struggles with the Secret Wars universe on multiple levels.  We have Captain Britain who is clearly outside of Doom’s manufactured reality but manipulated by it nonetheless. And we have Doom using an outsider as a pawn in promoting his agenda, which would indicate that his godliness is not powerful enough to sustain his stronghold on reality.  I also enjoy the honesty by which the characters make decisions and come to conclusions about what is and if not real about their world.  This book is well written and one of the highlights of the Secret Wars event.

Mike: I liked that it told a good story, but also was having a lot of fun too.  The Judge Dredd-inspired domain was just awesome.  I am now bummed Marvel didn’t do a few more homage domains.  DC has a bunch of them in their Multiverse.  

Score: 5/5  

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GUARDIANS OF KNOWHERE #3 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato

Summary: Yotat stands over the fallen Guardians.  Angela shows up to strike him down with lightning.  Yotat is still standing, but the distraction is enough to allow Drax to get back into the fight and together they take him down.  The Nova Corps arrives to arrest Yotat.  Venom wants to arrest Drax too, but Angela won’t allow him to do so.   She demands the Guardians and Nova Corps go their separate way.  

Angela then insists on talking to Gamora.  Gamora insists that her cosmic awareness has convinced her that Doom is not God and Battleworld is unnatural.  Angela is getting pissed off by this blasphemy. She insists that Gamora needs to prove her claims.  They fight briefly.  And then some kind of hole opens in space.  A woman appears, a tall powerful looking warrior.  She reminds me a little of the Starchild from A-FORCE.

Grey: I want to like this book, but it leaves absolutely no impression. Yotat was a dumb villain that you knew would fall. The Guardians are just themselves minus most of their personality, though Mantis is there, and I do love Mantis. Then we get the actually interesting inclusion of the Nova’s, and they are more or less stuck in the background.

Mike: Sadly, Mantis is dead.  I didn’t know this until I read the “Previously In” page.  I think this comic would be so much better without Yotat. He just seems like page padding.  He doesn’t serve the story at all.  

Grey: I had that same reaction to Moondragon, where I remember her looking at Drax and Rocket, and then I remember the Nova’s being like “She’s dead”, and I completely blanked on the how or why.

Score: 3/5

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HOUSE OF M #1 by Dennis Hopeless & Marco Failla

Summary: Magneto reflects on his life and how he became the leader of the Monarchy of M.  Luke Cage tries to rally the last vestiges of the Human Resistance Movement.  He wants to put Lord Magnus into the ground.  But before he can explain his plan, mutants arrive to capture of all all remaining humans.  The mutants make short work of the Human Resistance, though Black Cat, Hawkeye, and Misty Knight manage to escape.

Meanwhile, Magneto’s son, Pietro has returned from trying to negotiate a peace treaty with Atlantis to have breakfast with his sisters in Magneto’s palace.  Quicksilver is definitely up to mischief.  We also find out that Scarlet Witch’s twin sons like to commit acts of civil obedience defying their grandfather.

Sentinels have tracked down the fugitive humans, but they are rescued by a young girl called Deathlocket.  She tells them to come with her if they want to live.  

Polaris tries to convince Magneto that Pietro is up to something, but Magneto doesn’t seem all that interested.  She warns that last time they had problems with Atlantis, it almost led to war.  Magneto seems to want that war to come, just to help get rid of his own boredom.  We find out that Pietro is conspiring with Namor to start that very war.

Grey: I wasn’t sure what I was expecting here, I mean, House of M was a warped reality where people were fighting to put things back to normal, and this time around the reality is just normal. So the focus on the politics of the world, Magneto’s desire for a war that he knows he isn’t strong enough to fight, Wanda’s rebellious children? These things work. Pietro looking to usurp his father’s throne? This works even more. Dennis Hopeless does it again!

Mike: Yeah, like Civil War, this was far better than the original House of M.  I really enjoyed this comic far more than I expected it too.  Like you said, Hopeless strikes again!

Score: 4/5

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HOWARD THE HUMAN #1 by Skottie Young and Jim Mahfood

Summary: In New Quack City, a human private eye named Howards walks into Conner’s Pub.  He’s the only human, everyone else is anthropomorphized animals.  He hasn’t paid his tab in three months, and he also owes money to the Vulture.  He quickly finds himself surrounded by heavily-armed animals.

So he starts to tell a story about how bad his day has been so far.  He got called in this morning by some K-9 cops about a murder scene.  Someone murdered a possum. A possum that snitched on the Black Cat.  Howard had been hired by the Black Cat to find him...but now he’s dead.  Howard tells Black Cat, and she says that she didn’t kill him. That just creates more problems for her. She demands Howard clear her name.  If he fails, she will kill him.

Howard goes to talk to Mouse Murdock, a blind rat lawyer, to see if he can provide him with some guidance.  Matt suggests he needs to figure out who had the post to gain from Black Cat being framed.  Howard realizes that it had to be Fisk!  They also realize Fisk (a gorilla) had been following them.  Fisk can’t let them reveal this knowledge. So he calls for a NINJA ATTACK!  Murdock manages to take all the ninjas out.  Howard gets knocked out, and Fisk escapes in the confusion.

The cops start to arrive, causing Howard to escape to Conner’s Pub, which brings us back to where the story began.  Black Cat enters the bar.  Vulture and Black Cat’s thugs start to fight.  And then the police burst in.  Howard reveals that the possum was alive the entire time, and he was manipulating events to get Black Cat and Vulture arrested to clear all his debts.

Mike Maillaro: This was such a weird, but fun comic. It was a real good humor mystery story.  I loved these animal versions of Black Cat, Vulture, Lizard, Daredevil, and Kingpin.  All of them were real cleverly done.  And Howard as the human was a perfect fit.  His master plan made a ton of sense, and I was kind of glad it all worked out in the end for him.  Scottie Young and Jim Mahfood really hit this one out of the park.  A perfect one-shot.

Score: 5/5

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INFERNO #4 by Dennis Hopeless and Javier Garron

Summary: Illyana has her demons taking over all of Limbo.  Longshot is stalking her, taking out demons who get in his way.  Sheriff Strange and several Thors arrive.  Illyana is ready to fight them but Strange says that since Baron Summers failed at keeping peace, Doom wants Illyana to become the new Baron of Limbo.  Illyana accepts.

Scott and the other refugees are in the subways.  Jean is trying to convince Scott they need to leave this domain. Scott says he can’t abandon his duty as Baron.  Longshot reveals what Sheriff Strange did.  Scott still refuses to leave.  Syn and Illyana’s warped version of Nightcrawler arrive, bring Illyana’s forces with them.

Elsewhere, Colossus still leads his forces to continue trying to fight back.  But Colossus’s headfirst approach has decimated most of the demons he was leading.  Boom Boom appears out of nowhere.  They are surprised she survived.  She convinces them they need to follow her.  She leads them to the battle between the X-Men and Syn.  Goblin Queen is able to bring Nightcrawler under her mental control. Colossus and Cyclops take out Syn.  Colossus tries to apologize to Cyclops, admitting this was all his fault.  Scott is pissed off and blasts Colossus.

Sinister arrives, leading a small army of hybrid mutant/demon Boom Boom clones.  He admits that he’s a villain, but today he’s here to save the X-Men.

Mike: There was a weird shortcut in this one, getting Colossus’s team to just happen to be close enough to the X-Men for Boom Boom to lead them there.  Hopeless is too good a writer to rely on those contrivances.  I still really enjoyed this one, either way.  Really makes me excited to see what Hopeless can do with All-New X-Men.

Grey: I love his take on Sinister.

Mike: The best part was how honest Sinister was, “Yeah, I am a horrible evil dude.  But you don’t have much of a choice but to trust me to save the day.”

Grey: Which is exactly what he should be. He was brilliant, the whole “Yeah, I made her suggestable” line about Boom Boom made me laugh, just pure gold.

Score: 4.5/5

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LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD #17 by Al Ewing and Lee Garbett

Summary: The old gods confront Loki and Verity after the end.  They want the legends and lives of the gods to feed on.  Loki starts to tell them a story.  3000 years ago, during the Nordic Bronze Age, there was a terrible storm.  A storyteller started to tell his tribe stories of the Asgardian Gods to take away their fear of the storm.  Loki tells the old gods that some stories are so good that the universe itself ends up believing them and brings them to live.  ‘

He also argues that if a story is so big and brilliant, it can go back in time to change other stories.  Man’s stories created the gods.  Maybe the god’s stories created the old gods.  This angers the old gods, but they can’t contradict his words.  He offers to tell the old gods how their story ends.  They beat a hasty retreat.  Verity asks Loki if any of this was true. Loki admits that he doesn’t know.

They find King Loki alone in the vast whiteness.  Loki approaches him and rips off his mask, revealing another young version of Loki.  They talk a little bit, and the former King Loki seems contented.  Loki decides he needs a break and wants to “skip ahead a bit.”  He creates a door that says “NEXT” and offers to lead Verity through it.

Mike Maillaro: I thought this was a really cool way to end this series.  I like Kid Loki.  I won’t pretend I understood all the stuff with Loki talking to King Loki, but I love stories about stories.  This was real well done.  Looks like Loki decided to pass on SECRET WARS entirely.  Can’t say I blame him.  I guess we’ll catch up with him on the other side.

Score: 3.5/5

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RUNAWAYS #3 by Noelle Stevenson & Sanford Greene

Summary: The Runaways have escaped Doomstadt and slipped into the Wild West domain of Timely. They are looking for supplies, but the locals recognize them from wanted posters Doom set up all over town.  Molly decides to run an audible and declares this is now a stickup.  The locals open fire, and the Runaways are forced to flee. They make it back to their ship and the other Runaways, but they are running low on fuel.  Amadeus Cho suggests they should go see his parents.

Back at the Doom Institute, Sanna turned herself in.  Valeria tells her to prove her loyalty to Doom by helping Bucky retrieve the Runaways.  Tandy is spying on Valeria, and teleports to the others to tell them what’s going on.  The ship runs out of power in Weirdworld.  A giant robot tries to attack them, and Tandy teleports them to the Warzone, Cho’s hometown.  The place looks abandoned.  Cho leads them to where his parent’s lab was…which is now a giant crater.  Cho believes Doom must have done this.  Molly says they need to go after Doom.  Bucky and Sanna arrive with Leech to shut off the Runaways’ powers.  Cloak throws rubble at a landmine to create a distraction.  Delphyne decides to attack Bucky; he slices her arm off.  He orders his forces to arrest the others.

Gina:  Although I like the premise for this book, I am still not sure where I stand on it,  Valeria was almost bipolar in this issue, a mature and commanding leader in one moment and a little kid the next.  I am not sure whether the author wanted to remind the readership that Valeria is still only a child in this universe, or that she has an underlying mental issue. I am compelled to continue reading, but am concerned that after 3 issues our Runaways have no plan other than running, and that is going to get old very quickly.

Mike: Valeria is often written that way...and not just in SECRET WARS.  She’s a character I truly hate and have never found anything but annoying.  She gets “Go away” heat from me.  

Score: 3/5

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SECRET WARS JOURNAL #4

“Primary Function” by Mike Benson & Laura Braga

Summary: Punisher is providing orientation to Apocalypse Domain’s Iron Fist, a new arrival on the shield wall.  Punisher sees movement on the north side of the wall...an Ultron drone that seems to have someone made it to the other side of the wall.  Punisher blasts the Ultron and they go down to check it out.  They find an underground workshop being run by the Mole Man of Technopolis.  He’s been using stolen Ultrons to tunnel under the wall to escape being exiled into the wastelands.  The Ultrons suddenly go rogue, attacking Moleman and his Moloids.  Punisher and Iron Fist take out any escaping Ultrons as the lab explodes.  They head back to the wall.  Nothing can be allowed to get over or under the wall.  Meanwhile, a surviving Ultron has burrowed it’s way under the wall.  THE END?!?

Mike: I loved the horror movie ending here.  I also liked seeing Mole Man from Technolopolis.  There was a lot that was unclear in this one.  Why did the Ultrons suddenly decide to revolt?  And what happened to Mole Man?  It sort of looks like Punisher and Iron Fist decided to just let him be after all the trouble he caused.    Punisher and Iron Fist made a cool team, but there just wasn’t a lot for me to grab on to here.

“Another Last Stand” by Sina Grace and Ken Lashley

Summary: In the Sentinel Territories, Kyle Jiradu has gone to the suburbs to recruit Psylocke for help.  Psylocke has been using her telepathy to live a normal, married life after faking her death. Kyle asks her to help rescue his husband, Northstar, from a Sentinel prison camp.  She doesn’t want to be that person anymore.  He heads off to rescue Northstar himself.  Psylocke ends up wiping her husband’s memory and following.  They find Northstar.  Kyle removes his inhibitor collar.  Psylocke sacrifices herself to give them the chance to escape.

Mike: Some huge flaws in the logic of this one too.  All of this to rescue one mutant...but they are going to just leave the rest to rot?  Seems damn selfish.  Also, Psylocke abandoned and mindwiped her husband to sacrifice her life.  It is a heroic act, but not one that made a lot of sense in the context of the story.  There was just too many plot contrivances here for me to enjoy this one.  

Score: 3/5

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SECRET WARS SECRET LOVE #1

“Guilty Pleasure” by Michael Fiffe

Summary: In Limbo, Daredevil fights Typhoid Mary.  Karen Page watches and wonders if Daredevil is cheating on her with Mary.  Apparently Mary has been haunting Daredevil’s dreams.  During the fight, Mary reveals herself to be Mephisto in disguise.  Karen realizes she’s been a fool and beheads Mephisto.  Daredevil and Karen reunite...just in time for both of them to die as the demon hordes rampage the city.

Mike: WTF?  This one was a little creepy to say the least.  Mephisto is a freak, trying to molest Daredevil just to have a little bit of mischief before Illyana’s demons wiped out all like in New York.  

“Fan of a Fan” by Felipe Smith

Summary: In the Killiseum, Robbie Reyes is fighting a giant crab monster in the Ghost Races.  Robbie’s girlfriend and brother are cheering him on.  After the race, Kamala Khan (who happens to work at the Killiseum’s Circle Q) has been tasked with getting Reyes to help promote the “Magnum Slurpee of Doom.”  Bruno still has a huge crush on Kamala in this reality.    

Suddenly, the crab monster attacks.  Robbie turns into Ghost Rider, and Kamala reveals herself to be Ms Marvel.  They right the grav while Bruno and Robbie’s girlfriend watch.  They are both getting jealous at the playful banter between the heroes, before they realize that Robbie and Kamala’s only interest in each other is as “crossover besties.”

Mike: Liked the ending here.  Just fit Kamala so well.  I had no interest in Robbie Reyes as Ghost Rider, but I have to admit, the SECRET WARS stories with him have been pretty entertaining.  I also thought it was hilarious to have a convenience store in the Killiseum.  It was just weird enough to be completely believable.

“Misty and Danny Forever” by Jeremy Whitley and Gurihiru

Summary: In the walled city of Yorkville, Misty Knight stops by her old friend Colleen Wing’s apartment to borrow makeup and talk about her strained marriage to Iron Fist. Meanwhile, Iron Fist is talking to Jessica Jones and Luke Cage about the same thing.  Jessica and Luke are babysitting Danny and Misty’s daughter to allow their friends to have a date night.  Date night seems pretty awkward...until a T-Rex shows up.  Misty and Iron Fist team up to take it down, which reminds them exactly what works about their relationship.  They later crash on the couch to watch a Kung Fu movie.

Mike: I thought this was a very honest story.  Even the best marriages hit some bumps, and it’s important to figure out what makes your relationship work.  I loved that Iron Fist named his kid Lucy.  It never occurred to me that Luke Cage named his daughter Danielle because of Iron Fist being named Danny.  This was definitely my favorite story in this book.

“Squirrel Girl Wins a Date with Thor” by Marguerite Bennett and Kris Anka

Summary: Squirrel Girl wins the annual Supertriathlon for Animal Welfare earning her a date with Thor.  She proves to be a very clumsy date, smashing Thor into a table and trying to put out Sunfire by ripping off Thor’s shirt.  At the end of the date, he takes her home in a massive squirrel-driven chariot.

Mike: Short, but pretty entertaining.  I loved that Squirrel Girl named Thor’s Abs...individually.  And the end with the massive Squirrel Chariot was one hell of a striking visual.

“Happy Ant-iversary” by Katie Cook

Summary: The last story takes place on Bugworld.  Ant-Man is planning a surprise for Wasp.  Wasp follows the clues he leaves behind that leads her to her Bug Avengers teammates each holding more clues. At the end, she finds Ant-Man and all their friends waiting to celebrate their anniversary.

Mike: This story was real cute, though it might have gone on a little too long.  But still a lot of fun.

All in all, this was a good book. The highs were real good. BUT, the opening story really dragged the whole thing down.  Way too freaky.

Score: 3.5/5

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SPIDER-VERSE #4 by Mike Costa and Andre Araujo

Summary: Gwen is shocked to see Peter Parker is alive.  Venom suddenly appears,.  He had been sent by Osborne to follow Gwen, but now he finds Peter alive.  He tries to attack, and Gwen punts a tree into Venom’s face.  Gwen takes off with Peter and quickly realizes he doesn’t have his powers any more.  Apparently, Peter went underground after losing his powers, and he has a wife and family to protect.  Noir knows that he’s still alive.  Venom catches up to them, and snatches Peter away.

Back at Oscorp, Anya feels out of place among the big brains trying to figure out the Web.  Spider-Ham tries to make friends with her.  He says that he’s seen Norman sitting in a “Caesar's Palace Chair” wearing a crown going on about “storming the gates of heaven.” Anya insists that Ham show her what he’s talking about.

Gwen attacks Venom from behind.  She rescues Peter and rushes off.  She lores Venom to follow her into an abandoned guitar shop.  She turns up the volume on an app, and uses the power of rock to force the symbiote to remove itself from Brock.  Peter punches Brock, knocking him out.  They decide to confront Osborn directly.  Peter sends him a text saying they need to talk.  Peter expects this to set Osborn off, and he’s right.  Osborn orders the Sinister Six to suit up.  

Ham brings the others to the “throne.”  It is some kind of massive technological device with Celtic runes around it.  Captain Britain suggests that it says Siege Perilous. Ham says that he thinks Osborn wants to use it to take down Doom (didn’t I say earlier that everyone wanting to take down Doom had crazy plans?).  The chair starts to glow in the presence of all the spiders.  It seems connected to the Web.  Suddenly a Thor shows up ordering them to step away from the chair.

Grey: For as stoked as I am for the upcoming post Secret Wars Spider-Verse title, this book really does very little for me. Gwen is doing a poor job as the central character here, and I just wish more focus were being put on the other Spiders.

Mike: Yeah, I don’t get Marvel’s obsession with Spider-Gwen.  She’s a fun character, but nothing all that special.  I would much rather read Silk or Spider-Woman.  Or Ms Marvel for that matter.  Spider-Gwen is just gimmicky.  I really loved Spider-Ham’s constant confusion.  Caesar's Palace for the Siege Perilous was kind of brilliant.

Score: 3.5/5

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X-TINCTION AGENDA #3 by Marc Guggenheim and Carmine Di Giandomenico

Summary: Aldus Kludge has used Triage to start the process of bringing Cameron Hodge back to life.  Kludge seems to be responsible for creating the plague that is attacking mutants.   He is also working on building Hodge with adamantium and the transmode virus.

Meanwhile, several X-Men are being sent into Genosha to rescue their captured friends.  They are warned that exposure to the plague would be fatal to any mutants.  In Genosha, Boom Boom and Wolverine express their disappointment at Rictor working for Genosha.  Meanwhile, Triage and Rogue are working on curing the plague.  The X-Men arrive to rescue them.  The Genoshan mutants want to fight back, but Triage tries to convince them to let him talk to the X-Men and let him solve this plague. Phoenix insists there is nothing to talk about.  Longshot slips into the prison and breaks Boom Boom and Wolverine out.  

Wolfbane realizes that Kludge created the plague.  Bulletproof ends up infected the technovirus, but switches sides when Wolfbane makes her revelation.  Bulletproof kills Kludge, but then Cameron Hodge arrives in his fully amped up glory.

Grey: Another day, another mutant killing virus on Battleworld.

Mike: That is basically exactly how I feel about this book.  There isn’t a lot here that is grabbing me, but it’s mostly because there are so many mutant related Secret wars books, and many of them are far more appealing.

Score: 3/5

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WEIRDWORLD #3 by Jason Aaron and Mike Del Mundo

Summary: Magma Men attack Arkon and Warbow.  They manage to escape, landing in a boat sailing across a sea of lava. Warbow believes that Prince Crystar has life even in the shattered form they found him in.  As promised, he turns over his map of Weirdworld to Arkon.  Arkon doesn’t recognize anything on this map, even though he has traveled Weirdworld for years.  Warbow says that the land is always changing and growing.  Arkon calls the map useless.  Warbow offers to accompany Arkon on his quest, but Arkon refuses.  He heads off on his own.  Morgan Le Fey decides that Arkon is a nuisance that needs to be dealt with. She summons Skull the Slayer to kill him.

Arkon is lost in a snowy mountain.  He knows someone is trailing him.  He finally reaches a pub, and sits down with Skull to swap stories.  Arkon drinks to forget his lost home.  Skull drinks because he has to kill Arkon.  They end up fighting, and falling into someplace on Warbow’s map called the Forest of Man-Things.

Mike Maillaro: I love the cover on this one.  One of my favorite pieces of art to come out of SECRET WARS.

WEIRDWORLD tends to jump all over the place, changing settings rapid fire.  I kind of like that, though it does make it a little hard to follow at times.  I loved the scene with Skull and Arkon talking in the pub.  It was just a great bit of dialogue.  Weirdworld is a great setting; it seems it will continue to exist in some capacity after SECRET WARS. I hope we get to see a lot more of this bizarre place.

Score: 4/5

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X-MEN ’92 #7 by Chad Bowers, Chris Sims, and Scott Koblish

Summary: The massive Sentinel attacks the X-Museum to kill Robert Kelly.  Cassandra’s warped X-men arrive to assist in rescuing civilians. Psylocke sends War Wolves to attack the Sentinel as she tries to get Kelly to safety.  Kelly’s forces assume it’s at attack and they open first on Psylocke.  Archangel arrives to rescue her.  The rest of X-Force, the X-Men, and the Rej-X arrive to save the day. They rescue the civilians and start to attack the Sentinel.  Wolverine breaks free from Cassandra’s control, realizing he needs violence to be a hero.

Cassandra Nova tries to kill Kelly herself.  Jean stops her using the Phoenix Force.  This softens Cassandra up enough for Professor X to join in the fight.  He uses Onslaught’s powers to fight Shadow King in the Astral Plane.

Mike Maillaro: Are we done yet?  Just about the worst series to come out of SECRET WARS.  Can’t wait for it to be over!!

Score: 2.5/5