Secret Wars - copyright: Marvel Comics, written by Jim Shooter and art by Mike Zeck and Bob Layton
When I am reading a comic book or watching a movie
about superheroes, sometimes I start to reason “what if a different character
would have done if he or she was there?” For example: imagine an action scene
where Spider-Man is fighting both Dr. Octopus and the Lizard. In the final of
the story, he loses the fight. Then, you could think: what if Captain America
was there to help him? Would the battle final be the same?
If you know a little bit about how comics work,
you will know that the Marvel characters (or many other comics company, such as
DC Comics) live in the same universe, but do not interact very often. The
reason is simple: characters like Spider-Man and Captain America have their own
titles. Therefore, if you want to read Spidey stories, then you should look for
his comics. Of course, they still interact in big crisis, in special stories or
in hero groups like the Avengers.
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| There is even crossovers between the Marvel and DC comics (but that is a story for another post) |
And if you think about the entire Marvel
universe, then the encounter of all different characters and groups is even
more difficult. And that one reason why the story called Secret Wars is so
remarkable: it is considered one of the first comics to group such a large
roster of characters. Secret Wars is able to satisfy (some of) the curiosity
about how would it be if the heroes could help each other when facing a deadly
menace.
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| Secret Wars first issue front cover |
Written by Jim Shooter and draw by Mike Zeck and
Bob Layton for Marvel Comics in 1989, the story had twelve chapters and lots of
action scenes and cliffhangers. Secret Wars main plot is not astonishing
nowadays, as it is regularly (re)used by different series and stories.
Nevertheless, it was very interesting when it was released. It even inspired
some sequels (that are not as good as the original) and a modern “Secret Wars”,
released three years ago with many similar concepts.
The story is as follows. A group of superheroes
and a group of super villains from the Marvel Universe were gathered by a super
powerful cosmical being, called Beyonder, with a single purpose: to fight and
show to him what means “good” and “evil”. They are left in an unknown planet,
created in a region many light-years away from the Earth. The planet is full of
war bases and technological devices, courtesy of Beyonder, which increases the
possibilities of how the conflict can be settled.
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| "The War Begins" |
The winners of the war will have all their
wishes come true. The heroes rooster includes members of the Avengers, the
Fantastic Four, the X-Men, among other “independent” heroes: Thor, She-Hulk,
Spider-Man, Wolverine, Mister Fantastic, Wasp, Magneto among many others. The
villains rooster is also respectable, counting with Galactus, Doctor Doom,
Enchantress, Ultron, Doctor Octopus, Molecular Man, and others.
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| The villains group is as strong as the heroes group |
The plot develops along each edition, always
full of battles and surprises, like the discovery of new war bases and
extraterrestrial people. The presence of a Galactus adds new possibilities to
the conflict, as he is a very powerful cosmical being like Beyonder. Besides, more
than just battles and cosmical threats, it is very interesting to see the how
the each character deals with the situations in a personal way.
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| The story is full of great action scenes |
There are many great examples of individual
struggles: Reed Richards is very worried about his pregnant wife, Sue, that
stayed at Earth; Magneto, put in the heroes side, must deal with the distrust
of his companions; Doom sees the conflict as an opportunity to gain great
power; Ben Grimm, facing many “blackouts” in his “Thing powers”, have to choose
his actions carefully; Captain America tries to be a leader worth of his team;
Hulk, that at the time was intelligent, slowly started to become irrational
again. All these elements (and many others) create a unique and rich story,
with many great cliffhangers and changes in the story development.
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| A classical frame: Hulk saves the heroes literally holding a mountain on his back |
The series had some effects over the characters
regular series, such as the Thing leaving the Fantastic Four, being replaced by
the She-Hulk, and the end of Colossus relationship with Kitty Pride. Probably
the most significant is the first appearance of Spider-Man black uniform, which
later would become one of the most significant villains of the neighborhood
friends, the deadly symbiote Venom. Other characters were also introduced, such
as the second Spider-Woman and the villains Volcana and Titania.
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| The appearance of the Spider-Man Black uniform |
Secret Wars has two (minor) issues: the art
standards and the plot consistency. While most of the time the characters and
environments are nicely drawn, there are a few frames with poor quality. It is
like the artists had to draw these frames fast, lacking precision and even the proportion
of the characters. And talking about the plot, it is good in general, but
sometimes the story fells a bit stretched. This can explain some of the characters
inconsistent actions that only seem to exist in order to justify more pages. Nevertheless,
these facts are just exceptions in the saga.
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| It is great to see all these characters together in the same story |
If you always wondered how Wolverine, Thor,
Spider-Man and The Thing would work together, wonder no more. Secret Wars is a
comic books series where the Marvel greatest heroes and villains are set in a
cosmic fight, where the winner side can have their dreams come true. It has a
great story, good art and added/changed many characters and facts to the Marvel
canon. More than a great comic by itself, Secret Wars was a pioneer in great
crossover events and deserves its place among the most classic stories ever.