MARKLEY’S FEVERED BRAIN: TO WAR! (SHUSH, IT IS A SECRET)

This post is Filed Under:

Home page Highlights,
Interviews and Columns,
Product reviews

Wayne Markley

by Wayne Markley

Secret Wars

As marvel slowly wraps up its monster crossover secret Wars, I thought I would take a two part blog to look at most, if not all, of the series that tied into this version of secret Wars. all of these titles took place within the context of secret Wars on different sections of earth that were created when all the various dimension collided together and formed a patchwork earth consisting of multiple areas with different policies and environments. some of the books were labeled with big mastheads called Battleworld, and other were not, even though all of the books are part of Battleworld. The books that have this banner I have marked as such. I will review the whole secret Wars story itself when it is concluded and collected down the road. At this point it looks like it might wrap up in December. As a quick aside I think it is remarkable that you would do an eight part miniseries (now stretched out to 9 parts) and not have it done far enough in development for it to come out on time. secret Wars is at least two months late at this point and it slips additionally every week. In fact, the new post-Secret Wars titles started shipping last week, and while they do not give away the conclusion to secret Wars, they show quite a bit of what need to happen at the end. I will go over this at a later date, but ideal off the bat I would recommend the new Invincible Iron man and remarkable Spider-Man books. now onto the secret Wars limited series.

1602: Witch hunter Angela

1602: Witch hunter Angela was a four issue series by Marguerite Bennett and Stephanie Hans and others. I did not care for this series as it suffered from the same problems I had with the monthly books Angela and Loki. That it is heavily fantasy based and to me it was not a very clear story. like Loki, the story is far a lot more complicated than needed for the sake of creativity and doing something different. I know it was a nod to Shakespeare, but it did not work for me. I cannot even come up with a basic synopsis of this story. but to be fair I know a number of people who loved this book.

1872

1872 is a four issue series by Gerry Duggan and Nik Virella. This story is set in the old west, in 1872 to be exact, and it is set in a town called Timely. There, Sheriff Steve Rogers is trying to stop Roxxon from building a dam and half the town is incredibly corrupt. Along the way there are appearances by Red Wolf, Ghost Rider, doctor Banner, Natasha, Carol Danvers, a hybrid Punisher/Iron man and much more. This was a clear vision of the marvel universe set in the past with a great story and tons of action. It is very creative and original without being so complex that the story gets lost. I would not mind seeing this world continued in another series. Recommended.

Korvac Saga

Korvac Saga is four issue series by Dan Abnett and Otto Schmidt. This was a story inspired by the classic Avengers Korvak Saga but is nowhere as good as the original. This tales features the Guardians of the Galaxy and wonder Man. This is a science fiction tale that attempts to do a whole cosmic event but I found this to be lacking drive or passion. The story did not draw me in and I did not care about the outcome by the time I got to it. I also found the art to be very muddy and dark.

Age of Ultron Vs. marvel Zombies

Age of Ultron Vs. marvel Zombies (Battleworld). This was another four issue series this time by James Robinson and Steve Pugh. This story is set in a steampunk world and while not the best of these miniseries (they are coming, not to worry) it was not bad. As the title suggests a number of Avengers, or versions of them, including wonder Man, Wasp, Vision and others fight a hoard of marvel Zombies led by a zombie versions of Ultron and Magneto (I know, a zombie robot?). It is overall a fun romp with tons of action and some interesting characters based on the standard marvel characters.

Marvel Zombies

Marvel Zombies (Battleworld) is a four issue series by Simon Spurrier and Kev Walker. This is generally shield vs. marvel Zombies. Well, by shield I indicate Elsa Bloodstone, agent of shield vs zombies. She is trying to save a special baby (I will not give away why he is special) across a wasteland filled with zombies. The art is beautiful and the story is well thought out. This is mostly fights and the heroes getting in a tight spots and then finding a way out of it, but it works. It was fun to see a lot of the various marvel heroes as zombies as drawn by Kev Walker. A good book that is a very different feel that the Age of Ultron vs. marvel Zombies book.

Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders

Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders is a two issue series by Al Ewing, Alan Davis and mark Farmer. This was one of the best of these miniseries if only, and largely, because of great art by Alan Davis and mark Farmer. This is a quick story telling the tale of a new female Captain Britain and the political struggle after the protectors of Yinsen city are killed. as with a number of these series there are ramifications for the bigger secret Wars storyline where certain characters suspect all is not what it must be. This is another title where I could see the characters continuing in a post secret Wars world.

Captain marvel and the Carol Corps

Captain marvel and the Carol Corps is a four issue series by Kelly sue DeConnick and Kelly Thompson with great art by Laura Braga and Paolo Pantalela. I loved this series. This book paid homage to the concept of Bombshells while telling an complex story about the Carol Corps, an all female flying battle squadron in the Battleworld who seem to suspect something is not as it seems. The story was clean and quick paced and kept you guessing till the very end where it was going. I really took pleasure in the art that has a great good girl feel while having great colors. Yes, colors. It is unusual when the colors actually stick out but they did in this book. I would seek this one out.

Civil War

Civil war is a five issue series by Charles Soule with art by Leinil Francis Yu and Gerry Alanguilan. This book is heavily influenced by its namesake as it tells the story of a breach of the peace between Iron and the Blue. This leads to conflict and tensions between Iron man and Captain America and a slew of other marvel heroes. This book looks good and reads well and is a lot of fun. It is not as good as the book that inspired it, Civil War, but it is a very entertaining book that is on the better end of all of these miniseries. There are a number of twists and turns as the story moves along which I appreciated as this was not just a rehash of the original concept.

Mrs. Deadpool and the howling Commandos

Mrs. Deadpool and the howling Commandos is another four issue series by Gerry Duggan and Salva Espin. now as I have pointed out in the past, I am not the world’s greatest Deadpool fan, but this book was great. first off you have the howling Commandos, no, not Dum Dum Duggan, Gabe Jones and the crew, but the Monster of Frankenstein, Living Mummy, Werewolf by night (complete with a symbiote), Man-Thing and Deadpool’s wife.   It is a mix of action, adventure and a large dose of humor as the good people take on Dracula and the bad guys. Of course Deadpool is also in the story, but as a ghost, which seems quite proper given the rest of the cast of characters. overall a very fun read that has me looking forward to the upcoming (monster filled) howling Commandos title.

Deadpool’s secret Secret Wars

Deadpool’s secret Secret Wars is a four issue series by Cullen Bunn, Matteo Lolli and Matteo Buffagni. This books gets my vote as the most creative concept as the story is set in 1984 during the original secret Wars except it is being retold with Deadpool (looking very good for Deadpool) in the middle of the whole war. even if you have read the original secret Wars this book is creative enough to entertain and offer a few surprises. nearly all of the marvel universe pops up here in one place or another and there is a fair amount of death and mayhem. There is humor, but not as much as you would generally expect with Deadpool.

Ghost Racers

Ghost Racers (Battleworld) is four issues from the writer of the most current incarnation of Ghost Rider, Felipe Smith and art by Juan Gedeon. This has a special story that involves a large variety of Ghost motorcyclists having races for Arcade and a worldwide audience. The story is generally set up like a video game but the lead character, Robbie Reyes, is written in such a way that you actually care for him and the outcome of the story. After the first two issues I was going to give up on this book but I am pleased I did not as I really like the conclusion which I did not see coming. It is also very entertaining to see all the different Ghost Riders, including the original western Ghost Rider, T-Rex Ghost Rider and lots of others.

Guardians of Knowhere

Guardians of Knowhere is four issue series written by Brian Bendis and drawn by Mike Deodato. This series is clearly created to be one of the bigger draws of these miniseries and it features the Guardians of the Galaxy and friends. It is a complex story with Gamora breaking Doom’s law and Angela going after her but the Guardians stepping in and all sorts of the guest stars and the standard marvel cosmic factors. This is very well done book but it left me cold. It is rare that I do not like a Bendis book this one for some reason do not work for me. It might be I need to go back and read it in one sitting as often Bendis’ work is better when read as a whole rather than monthly installments, such as Powers for example.

This wraps up my look at the first half of the secret Wars crossovers. I will attempt to cover the rest of the series in my nextinstallment which will include an exceptional Hulk series and Thors, which was one of the best of these books. It must be noted that a number of characters appear in a lot more than one book in different situations and time periods and dies in one Battleworld yet lives in another. As far as I could tell the few characters that remained the same across all the books were Dr. Doom, sue Storm, Dr. Strange, and the Thors (like the Ghost motorcyclists there are many different Thors, some which are familiar and some which are hybrids of other characters and the Thor we all know and expect.) also I must note that all of these miniseries will be collected into trade paperbacks starting next month.

That is all for this time. As always everything I have written here is my opinion and the thoughts expressed here are in no way reflect the thoughts or opinions of Westfield Comics or their employees. I welcome your feedback about all of these books. What did you enjoy? Why? What did you hate? Why? I can be reached at MFBWAY@AOL.COM. Well…to be continued.

Thank you.