Secret Wars

[Rufio]

Was secret wars all that great? I've read some of it a while back, i and can't help but wonder, Is it really worth my money to go buy the graphic novel?? and what the hell is up with Crisis on infinite earths...?? Help??

[Spy Master]

The first secret wars was were the black suit for spider came from. worth reading just for that. but seriously if u are a marvel fan and want to see all your fav's heros fighting alot of bad guys , buy the graphic novel , as for crisis on infinite earths, similiar idea but in DC .

[kraven]

Well i have a question to, Was it a bad price to buy Secret Wars 6 and 7 for a dollar each

I was going to buy #8 at a comic book store but it was $22.00!

[four_winds]

Not to mention the fact that hulk carries an entire mountain range on his back,something like 400 million tons!Anyway the series was awesome and well worth the purchase.

[four_winds]

If you can get any other at a dollar buy it!Number 8 is $22.00 because of the black spidey suit.

[Spy Master]

Yeah and to then see Dr Doom try to absorb all of the Beyonders powers , and then explode from the sheer power was incredible.

It is a worth while investment to be sure.

Kraven i cant say if it was a good buy or not since i dont know the condition the 2 issues u bought were in and maybe the #8 issue was the big ending , which would make it more valuable than the others .

[MarkFinn]

Originally posted by four_winds
If you can get any other at a dollar buy it!Number 8 is $22.00 because of the black spidey suit.

Or you can just get the whole cockamamie thing as a Trade Paperback for, what? $24.95?

If you want to read it, that is.

It was, in my mind, the beginning of a not-so-good period of ten years at Marvel that culminated in the 1995 meltdown.

However, there were and are many many fans of Secret Wars. Check it out for yourself. It's an either/or kind of thing.

[Spy Master]

thanks for the info four-winds i thought that was it but wasnt sure , been out of comics for almost 10 yrs now , amazing how things slip your mind LOL

[hoffmandu]

Screw 'em both. Pick up an iss of Infinity Gaunlet. That's were the actions at.

[four_winds]

I just got back in with the clix but as for the 80's I know enough about marvel to hold my own.Thanks.

[paladin72]

I bought the full run of Secret Wars comics on ebay for like $20. It is really a great read. The Infinity Gauntlet is great too. You can't go wrong with either one.

[four_winds]

Pick up an iss of Infinity Gaunlet. That's were the actions at
Very true,Infinity gauntlet was one bada$$ mini series that I enjoyed straight through,but secret wars had all the villians instead of just one and was a great story in its own rights.

[maveric28]

The Secret Wars was typical of most Marvel comics in the 80's... decent artwork, corny dialogue, and lots of action. If you can get the graphic novel, or all 12 of the original comics, I'd advise anyone to do it! The things that happened in the Secret Wars had eventual repercussions on all sorts of storylines throughout Marvel comics for years afterward...
--Spider-Man met and became (eventually) bonded to the alien symbiote.
--we meet the new Spider-Woman for the first time.
--Rogue decides once and for all to the make the choice to really be a hero, not just an X-Man.
--Absorbing Man and Titania meet and fall in love.
--Molecule Man finds the love of his life.
--Doom heals his disfigured face.
--Colossus realizes that he's not really in love with Kitty Pride.
--Magneto has a steamy affair with the Wasp.
--Thing becomes Ben Grimm (human again) for an extended period of time, and uses that time to get to know himself again. During this period, She-Hulk becomes a member of the Fantastic Four, and Ben loses the love of Alicia Masters (eventually. This stuff actually happens immediately following the Secret Wars, not during).
--Kang the Conqueror is actually killed by Ultron, at Doom's command. (Wonder how that fight would look in Clix-stats....)

Sounds good? It is, so don't worry about wasting your money... as 80's stories go, it was pretty full. But the Crisis on Infinite Earths... well, it was just a way for DC to do away with the old Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-X nonsense. They used the opportunity to rewrite a bunch of heroes histories (Superman never was Superboy, Wonder Woman never goes to Man's World as an air force officer Diana Prince, etc.). I would have been far more impressed with it had DC not tried to redo the whole history again with the Zero Hour storyline several years later. It's okay, and the artwork is absolutely fabulous, but the story is patchy at best. Borrow it from a friend and read it, if you like, but don't waste the $30 dollars on it.

[Silverlynx35]

Don't forget. Secret Wars shows Capt. America's Shield shattered on the ground. Not a very big deal but fairly impressive for its symbology of the series.

SL35

[Gator]

Secret Wars was a good story with OK art. There are definitely memorable moments as noted above. I still like those first issues of the regular series when they all returned!

However, Crisis is far superior (and I say that as a Marvel Fan). The scope of what they did, combined with Perez (?) art makes this the best series of all time for my money

[CyberVenom]

In my opinion, if there's 10 must read TPB's out there, it'd be these one's, in no particular order:

1. Watchmen
2. The Dark Knight Returns
3. Infinity Gauntlet
4. Secret Wars
5. Crisis On Infinite Earths
6. The Authority: Under New Management (I think that's the title. The one with the Pseudo-Avengers)
7. Earth X
8. Universe X
9. Paradise X (When it finally finishes and comes out)
10. Kingdom Come

Top 5 Honerable Mentions:
1. Batman: The Long Halloween
2. Origin
3. The Death of Superman
4. Spider-Man vs. Venom
5. JLA: Tower of Babel or JLA: World War III

[Quarantine]

I really didn't care too much for Secret Wars for the mere fact that the "traditional" Marvel Super Heroes got a blatant preference over the X-Men. I mean, I like Spider-Man as much as the next guy, but do you think he could really take out the X-Men all by himself? That doesn't make too much sense to me.
Everyone who was a mutant was intentionally written like they had a inferiority complex when it came to the Avengers/FF people. If anyone's read Toyfare's send-up of the Secret Wars, you've got my opinion of the series summed up right there. The only thing worse than the Secret Wars? Secret Wars 2...

[Spy Master]

Secret wars 2 wasnt that good i agree but the whole x-men not being included was based on the fact that they werent really that popular at that time of the printing of the first secret wars , that came out befoe i started collecting and i started over 15 yrs ago. That and they only had a limited space available for the storyline and used the ones that seemed the most popular at that time.

[Spy Master]

Also in the comics being a mutant was considerred a stigma. It was predjudice in the worst kind. Every one who was a mutant was shunned and shyed away from . Dont get me wrong I loved the X titles along with the others. It just seemd like they wanted them to have this bad karma about them. When they got popular it was time to remove that and use it to an advantage , which marvel did.

[PantherPriest]

Cyber Venom, I think you would like the tpb "the client" (black panther of course) give it a shot it reads like some of the ones you mentioned.

Secret Wars was good, I personally love the lines involving race between captain america, wolverine, iron man (black at the time.) and reed richards. Reed by the way was phenomonal in the book. And Captain America was quite well written, he had complete understanding of his team and was always barking orders. I was very young at the time I read, perhaps I shall read it again, maybe I'll like it even more.

IG was good, very good, I only read the first few pages, but as soon as surfer crashed into the docs window I knew that it was going to be solid gold.

[Rogueslaw]

The best thing about IG is it helped to show all the people that didn't know much about Thanos, how much of a bad mofo he is. As for secret wars it was ok but, to me I HATE spidey and I'm not that big on the rest of the non mutant heros. Don't get me wrong I respct all the other heros and I even colect avengers but, all and all X marks the spot. Though I do have to say if u didn't respect Doom prior to Secret Wars u sure as hell did afterwards.

[techdog]

I think that Secret Wars is one of the best tpb out there. It has a lot of great twists and firsts in it, plus you got to see all of the heroes interact with each other and see how they rank. I mean it is almost a blue print for hero clix. 2 teams of super powered people on a planet made for battle to see who is better. Sure the clix don't turn on you like Doom did on the Beyonder, but you see where I am going here. It had an effect on the entire Marvel Universe and it was really well written. And without Secret Wars there would have been no Venom.

[Rogueslaw]

maybe without venom then spide would have been hurting even more before clone saga and then once clone saga hit he would be part of thepast like bucky, dazzler, and a few other marvel heros.

[snapcitymadman]

Secret Wars was the beginning of the end for Marvel, a 12-issue toy advertisement disguised as a comics "event", it laid the groundwork for everything that has been wrong with the comics industry for the last 15 years or so..ruined Spider-man, mainstreamed the X-Men, and introduced the Beyonder (arguably the most inane character ever to soil a comics page). Contest of Champions was a more engaging story, and more plausible. Dumbest...story...ever...

[Ro-gan]

Secret Wars can NEVER compare to Crisis.

Crisis was the best maxi-series ever (next to the Watchman, of course).

[farmer]

CyberVenom, i think that you forgot two very excellent TPB's

Batman: Year One (the best origin type story ever) and also
Sandman : Season of the Mist

i would reccomend each of those being in everyones library

[squidblatt]

Secret Wars is entertaining, but pure candy. I do recommend it, but it's nothing but sensation. Infinity Gauntlet is better, but it's also pure entertainment.
Two series that actually elevate graphic novels as an artform are:
Watchmen, and, more especially, The Sandman.
But if you're just in the mood for a fun battle-royal, Secret Wars is one of the best out there.

[Doctor Strange]

Originally posted by maveric28
The Secret Wars was typical of most Marvel comics in the 80's... decent artwork, corny dialogue, and lots of action. If you can get the graphic novel, or all 12 of the original comics, I'd advise anyone to do it! The things that happened in the Secret Wars had eventual repercussions on all sorts of storylines throughout Marvel comics for years afterward...
--______ ___met and became (eventually) bonded to the alien symbiote.
--we meet the new _____-_____for the first time.
--______ decides once and for all to the make the choice to really be a hero, not just an _____.
--_______ ____and ______ meet and fall in love.
--_________ ____finds the love of his life.
--_____ heals his disfigured face.
--________ realizes that he's not really in love with ___ ___.
--_______ has a steamy affair with the _____.
--_____ becomes ___ ______(human again) for an extended period of time, and uses that time to get to know himself again. During this period, ________becomes a member of the Fantastic Four, and ____ loses the love of ____________(eventually. This stuff actually happens immediately following the Secret Wars, not during).
--_____ the __________ is actually killed by ______, at Doom's command. (Wonder how that fight would look in Clix-stats....)


Don't you think that part of the fun is discovering the stuff while you read it? Saying the best parts of the book takes away a lot of the punch from people who haven't read it yet.

;) lol

[Melkoloran]

I loved Secret Wars. Great storyline, as was Infinity Gauntlet.

Speaking of Sandman, the entire run of TPBs is worth getting, as is the Preacher run.

[forbush-man]

As a dyed in the wool Marvel Fanatic, I have to admit that "Crisis" was a fantastic story, and Secret wars was just 12 issues of Bovine Scatology. Save your twenty two dollars or use it to buy a second "Crisis" TPB to keep in pristine conditon while your kids destroy your first one.