Secret Wars (Comics)

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.

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. 

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.