Monday, February 23, 2009

Classic Comic Review: Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars



Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12
Written by Jim Shooter and illustrated by Mike Zeck
Published by Marvel Comics


I saw a couple of these comics when we were cleaning up and I liked the cover of the first issue with all of the heroes on it and the one where Spider-Man was standing in his black costume. I was going to read them and then told my dad that maybe I could do reviews for some older comics that used to be popular once in awhile and he thought it was a good idea. I don’t know if I’ll do it a lot because this series wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be but if anyone has ideas on what other old comics could be good I might read those.

Secret Wars is a 12 issue comic where a mysterious god type person called the Beyonder grabs a bunch of heroes and villains and takes them to space. The Beyonder separates the good guys and bad guys and tells them that he’s going to put them on a planet to fight each other. He makes up a new planet made up of pieces of other planets for them to fight on, too. The Beyonder says that whatever team wins is going to get any wish that they ask for.

It was weird that Magneto was on the good guy’s team. Even he didn’t know why he was there. None of the good guys wanted him on the team and when everyone gets to the new world Magneto just leaves and starts his own base. The good guys vote that Captain America should be their leader because he is used to being in charge. Wolverine is a bit of a jerk in this one and says that he isn’t going to listen to Captain America and the other good guys all yell at him. Dr. Doom wants to be the leader of the bad guys but he pretty much wants to be on his own, too.

Some of the battles are really cool. I like when Spider-Man is spying on the X-Men and they’re talking about what they’re going to do in the battle and they find out he’s listening so they all attack him. I thought it was pretty cool that Spider-Man was able to beat the whole team of X-Men by himself, but when he was going to tell the other heroes what happened Professor X used his powers to make him forget what he was going to say. I liked the part where the bad guys drop a whole mountain on the super heroes and the Hulk has to hold the whole thing up by himself. He was really, really strong in this book. And I liked how Mr Fantastic asked a bunch of heroes for all of their weapons like Iron Man’s armor and Spider-Man’s web shooters so they could blow a hole in the mountain to escape.

I thought it was really funny that the Wasp gets killed in this story, too. I don’t know a lot about her except that she’s an Avenger but she has gotten killed in three stories that I read this year. I don’t know any other characters who get killed so much, but she has to be the worst hero ever. She does get better at the end of the story when some alien girl helps her out but it still doesn’t change that she was killed again. I don’t know why she was being friends with Magneto anyway. She knew he was a bad guy so it was stupid that she was trying to be his friend.

The part I liked the most in the book was probably when Spider-Man got the black costume. I know Venom was an alien creature but I never read the story of how he got to know Spider-Man. It’s pretty dumb that Spider-Man didn’t check before he went to the machine to get the new costume but I did like how funny and happy he was that he could turn his costume into shorts and short sleeves and stuff like that. I like when Spider-Man just jumps around making jokes and everyone else starts to get annoyed with him.

The parts in the end with Dr Doom going after the Beyonder was okay. I like how Doom thinks he can do anything he wants and cuts that guy Klaw up to make a weapon to try and take Beyonder’s powers and I liked the art when Doom got all messed up and had his arm and legs cut off. The book got a bit boring at the end when Doom was in control and the super heroes really didn’t do anything to try and stop him because he kept blowing them up and killing everyone. I didn’t like how they made Captain America’s shield broken, either. It didn’t look right.

I like how everyone got into teams at the end when they went home and the Thing wanted to stay on the planet by himself. I don’t know why he was going to stay back even if he could turn human because he wouldn’t have any powers but I guess he got back because he’s in comics now.

Some of the battles were cool and it was neat to see all of the characters together on the same teams and battling each other but the story was way, way too long. There were a lot of parts where they kept going over the same things over again. They kept showing the beginning of the book where the Beyonder talks about the rules like 3 or 4 times and they didn’t have to do that. And there were a lot of parts where the superheroes are just standing around doing nothing. If it was going to be a book about a war there should have been a lot more action than it was.

It was okay but not as good as I thought it was going to be. Secret Invasion was a lot better.

My Rating: 6 out of 10

13 comments:

Adrian B said...

I don't really care for Secret Wars either.

Liam said...

It wasn't as good as my dad and other people were saying. There were cooler super hero battles in other books and they were not as long.

Gavin said...

Yeah, I didn't care for Secret Wars either. Stick to some of the more modern comics, and then when you're older read Alan Moore's Miracleman.

adampasz said...

Try Crisis on Infinite Earths. It came out shortly after Secret Wars, and was waaay better.

Liam said...

I might try the Crisis comic but that one looks really long too. The art looks cool though.

Anonymous said...

Liam, try some of the GI Joe comics. I think you'll like them a lot. You'll LOVE GI JOE #21, it s one of the best comic books ever. You should also read some of the first Venom stories in Amazing Spiderman, I think you would like those a lot too.

JB Sapienza said...

I 100 percent agree with your review on Secret Wars. It is wicked dumb, with one or two really cool parts. The best part is Spider-Man taking on the X-men and winning.

I also like the wrecking crew. And Absorbing man.

Liam said...

I looked at the GI Joe comic and it seemed pretty boring. There are no words in the entire comic. Maybe ninjas and Snake Eyes can't talk but the girl was in the book, too and she wasn't saying anything, which was dumb. I like when I can read comics and not just look at the pictures. I won't be reviewing this one.

Darth Duff said...

A single tear rolls down my cheek. How about trying one of the GI JOE issues with words than? Issues 22-24 are great issues (JOES capture Cobra Commander and Storm Shadow has to try to rescue him). Actually, most of the GI JOE issues from 22-80 are great.

Darth Duff said...

You might also like some of the older Hulk comics. And try Planet Hulk and World War Hulk, these came out just before you started reading The Hulk and you might like them. You like Batman, so you might like the JLA: Tower of Babel story.

Anonymous said...

I was about your age when Secret Wars came out — my brother and I were really into it at the time. But the last time I looked at those old comics, I didn't think they held up well at all.

I was curious how a "modern" kid would like them. Great review!

And this "Classic Comic Review" feature is a great idea.

Anonymous said...

I broadly agree with your analysis of Secret Wars (although I think your score is rather generous!). Vastly overrated. As for older comics you should try:

- Anything from the first eighty issues of FANTASTIC FOUR by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

- Steve Ditko's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (although you might prefer the Lee/Romita run that comes after it)

- The early issues of Chris Claremont's run on UNCANNY X-MEN (his collaborations with Dave Cockrum and, particularly, John Byrne)

- ALIAS. Just kidding. ;)

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this saga was amazing, really a master piece of art, all since begging to end, the characters involved in this conflict, the history all was cool.

 
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