Secret (Civil) Wars

If there's a theme this week, at the halfway point (Secret Wars #4 came out), it's that Battleworld is an unstable place, and that Doom is, uhm, doomed to lose control of it. He may be its "God", but he isn't all-knowing and all-powerful, or else Dr. Strange couldn't have hidden the survivors of the Multiverse from him. So they're out there, and sure to cause problems for his regime (especially if and when Reed realizes Doom has taken the Fantastic family for his own). Strange even describes Battleworld as "unnatural" and a "place of testing -- of constant conflict". Perhaps a homogenous world will one day emerge, but we're far from it; even the rules are different from domain to domain.

Doom's grip is slipping in the other books too. A-Force has the team discover illegal portals to other domains. In Secret Wars Journal, denizens of one domain have been infiltrating another by replacing their counterparts. Future Imperfect posits that Maestro wants to depose Doom. Red Skull #1 - the one new series of the week's lot - brings Killville assassins together that have all acted against Doom. The other books are filled with war and violence - human against mutant, mutant against mutant, and 616 against Ultimate - with not a Thor peacekeeper in sight. Obviously, for the Marvel Universe to be restored in some form, Doom has to lose. There is no way he would give up Battleworld for a fuller multiverse he did not control.

Violence in superhero comics is to be expected, but the week's offerings were violent to the exclusion of much else. Red Skull tried to be a kind of Suicide Squad, but with this issue, the Marvel Zombies are officially overused in the event, and I'm not invested in any character that dies. The X-Tinction Agenda showcases everything wrong with the X-books in the 90s, mutant-on-mutant violence with no hope for the layman to figure out who's who. Years of Future Past is comparatively peaceful, and it's a series set in the Days of Future Past reality! Ultimate End has two Punishers bloodily squaring off in addition to the other murders they commit. Future Imperfect is really just one big fight. That leaves the core book, A-Force, and Secret Wars Journal as the only books with some kind of story going on, with Journal #2 coming off as the surprise hit of the week. The competition isn't fierce, mind you, but it's one of the event's better tie-in issues, period.

I suppose it's normal for the second issue of a mini-series to follow set-up with action, but in this case, it left me rather cold. Consequently, there will only be 3 Favorite Moments of the Week, and be warned, spoilers ahead.

3. Film noir Wolverine naturally still has a thing for red heads. This short from Wars Journal has a cool pulp/detective take on the Marvel Universe I wish had been expanded into a whole mini-series. Great ideas throughout.

2. Lockheed in the Years of Future Past. Awesome.

1. Finally something to Hulk out about:

This is from the other Wars Journal short story, in which we follow Doc Samson treating patients for anger management issues in a domain poisoned by its proximity to "Greenland". I picked a joke because I didn't want to spoil the rest of the story, but it includes a very nice Peter Parker moment as well.

So what did you think of this week's Secret Wars?