Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars

Boy, was this a slog. I could appreciate the kitsch for only so long. I was reminded of the quote from John Waters: "Good bad taste is celebrating something without thinking you're better than it... Bad bad taste is condescending, making fun of others." Unfortunately, Jim Shooter's reckless, overwritten mess of a script inspires the latter.

I could see recommending Secret Wars for its historical value, and for the fact that Dr. Doom has got to be one of the ripest villains for popular revision. He is far and away the most interesting character in this (and other) stories. The camp can be rich, as in this morsel - the Wasp in book 6:

"Oh, no! I broke a nail! I don't even have an emery board and I'm thirty-seven trillion miles from my show more manicurist and it's her day off anyway!"

Moments like these are just too rare to make the book entertaining. No, mostly it's just boring, which is the worst thing a comic can be. show less

Boy, was this a slog. I could appreciate the kitsch for only so long. I was reminded of the quote from John Waters: "Good bad taste is celebrating something without thinking you're better than it... Bad bad taste is condescending, making fun of others." Unfortunately, Jim Shooter's reckless, overwritten mess of a script inspires the latter.

I could see recommending Secret Wars for its historical value, and for the fact that Dr. Doom has got to be one of the ripest villains for popular revision. He is far and away the most interesting character in this (and other) stories. The camp can be rich, as in this morsel - the Wasp in book 6:

"Oh, no! I broke a nail! I don't even have an emery board and I'm thirty-seven trillion miles from my show more manicurist and it's her day off anyway!"

Moments like these are just too rare to make the book entertaining. No, mostly it's just boring, which is the worst thing a comic can be. show less

This came out when I first started reading comics and so I have a lot of affection for it. Sadly, I'm afraid it's not very good. The art is solid, but the writing is a little painful, as is the dialogue. The premise is wafer thin and the characters are often written drastically differently then they are normally. There are many contrivances and painful coincidences. The early issues, where the book just keeps throwing characters at each other is fun, but even that breaks down as the final few issues are just cosmic musings.

3.5

Reads as really dated and the dialogue is... not great. But the concept and story are fun and I get how this was a major event for its time.

The compilation of one of Marvel's most ambitious mini-series, in which an all-powerful entity, the Beyonder, sets up a contest between Earth's forces of good and evil (although this being Marvel, there is inevitably some gray areas and crossovers) on a planet in a distant galaxy. Much of the action is a see-saw series of battles, neither side winning definitively. When Galactus makes a move to end the conflict by consuming the battle planet, Dr. Doom steals his power and uses it to contend against the Beyonder. Eventually he prevails, although the outcome is short-lived. As it happens, the most lasting repercussions of this conflict are Spider-Man's new black uniform, and Thing's new-found ability to switch back and forth from Ben show more Grimm to the Thing. As far as I recollect, nobody even dies, except for an alien female healer, Zsaji. A pivotal story, with interesting conflicts and alliances among the players. I especially like following Spider-Man's endeavors in these stories. My son Ben and I are both unimpressed with the artwork, although it is servicable, and in a book with such a large cast, the simplicity of the artwork can actually be a help - although you couldn't prove that by the work of Alex Ross in "Kingdom Come". show less

"Oaf! Watch who you're jostling, or I, DOCTOR OCTOPUS, will--"

"Hey, I'm SORRY, butt-head! I, Crusher Creel, the ABSORBIN' MAN, was busy watchin' the show outside! That's keepin' me real busy right now, but when it's done I'll ram you through a bulkhead so's you and your stupid tentacles won't be underfoot no more!"

Classic.

Take a bunch of Marvel Super Heroes and Vilains from different comic threads and send them to a planet where they are going to fight for survival.

It's funny to see how some of the characters have changed over the years. Many of them for the better. These were originally published in the 1980's and there age is showing quite badly.