Skip to Content

‘Secret Wars’ #1 is an epic, fun, and bloated event comic

‘Secret Wars’ #1 is an epic, fun, and bloated event comic

4224908-secret_wars_1

Secret Wars #1
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Esad Ribic
Colors by Ive Svorcina
Published by Marvel Comics

Secret Wars #1 is partially a giant victory lap for Jonathan Hickman, who has been plotting a huge multiversal destruction story since his run on Ultimates in 2011 and partially the Marvel Universe as a disaster film to end all disaster films. In Hickman’s Avengers run, he showed how the entire multiverse was dying through incursions, and a group of geniuses led by Reed Richards, Black Panther, Tony Stark, and Dr. Strange had to find a way for their main Marvel universe to survive, which included destroying other worlds. Now, it’s down to two Earths: Earth-616 (the main Marvel Universe) and Earth-1610 (the Ultimate Universe where Miles Morales is Spider-Man, Nick Fury is black, and Mr. Fantastic is evil). Secret Wars #1 shows the battle between the heroes and villains of these universes as the last ditch efforts to save their worlds with scheming from Dr. Doom and the god-like Beyonders in the background.

Esad Ribic is a good fit for Secret Wars #1 as he mixes panoramic shots of heroes going into battles against huge Helicarriers and ships with more intimate reaction shots of some of the biggest players in the Marvel Universe. His work has a mythic quality to it. Even though the plot of Secret Wars #1 is derived from a complex, hard sci-fi premise, Hickman and Ribic still have time to focus on the characters of the Marvel Universe(s) from Spider-Man helping out civilians in the face of Armageddon to Rocket Raccoon cracking jokes about the ineffectiveness of Helicarriers and a pair of Mr. Fantastics, who have completely different solutions to this problem of universal destruction.

There are lots of balls juggling in the air in Secret Wars #1 with a variety of responses to the final incursionSecret_Wars_1_pg_1 between the Ultimate and main Marvel universe. Hickman clearly delineates the main players’ motivations before cutting loose with the superhero action. Colorist Ive Svorcina is the title’s secret weapon as he differentiates the crackling blue lightning of the Beyonders from the red and orange explosions of the Avengers, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy shooting down the Ultimates’ ships and weapons and the light purple of Ultimate Reed Richards’ Doomsday weapon.

Secret Wars #1’s weakness is the lack of connective tissue between the framing narrative featuring Dr. Doom and the Beyonders and the battle between the universes. Ribic turns in some of his best work with the divine stature of both Doom and the mysterious Beyonders with blue/white coloring from Svorcina, but this connection is barely touched upon in the story. Also, it is difficult to keep track of some of the characters, and what/why they’re fighting as the Inhumans, Miles Morales, and Cyclops drop in, something happens, and isn’t expanded upon. This is one downside of featuring 59 characters from 9 teams/factions in one comic.

For the most part, Hickman and Ribic keep Secret Wars #1 from being too bloated with timely reaction close-ups of characters, and little jokes or insights into them, like Thanos being disgusted with humanity’s fear of death or the aforementioned Rocket joke. Esad Ribic’s storytelling makes this comic work as a pure work of superhero action with cutting panels for his sharp fight scenes. He also uses well-placed  montages as the stakes continue to get higher as the comic progresses. Secret Wars #1 is a true superhero epic with wide-screen action, the occasional character insight, and real consequences even if it may be a little too expansive at times.

 

[wpchatai]