Spider-Man & the Secret Wars #1 (2010)
by Paul Tobin & Patrick Scherberger
Before we return to the proper schedule of reviews with the 2015 Secret Wars, let’s give a look at this weird anomaly: a sort of companion piece to the original Secret Wars.
Given the writer is the same one of Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil, I originally thought this was part of the Marvel Adventures timeline… but looking into it, it’s the mainstream Marvel.
We start with one of the most famous moments of the original: specifically, Secret Wars #4 where Molecule Man dropped a whole freaking mountain on the heroes.
The only minor chanGes I can spot is that Captain Marvel has a different hairstyle and Rogue is wearing her hood, but other than that, these are the 1984 versions of the characters.
It even has some (rather valid) commentary of the inconsistencies of how the original teams were assembled.
We start to deviate from the original when the Hulk fights Enchantress directly.
As a companion piece of the original, it jumps around A LOT. To the point that I don’t think you’d be able to understand what’s going on without the original… but at the same time it DOES add a few good bits of characterization, like Spider-Man being overly suspicious of Hulk.
You’re not making the best first impression with Cap, Spidey.
(I saved the recolored version of that meme two years ago; I don’t even remember from what review it was. Occasionally wondering if I’d ever get to use it a second time. You have no idea how happy I am now.)
All that was just the backstory to how the Hulk ended up supporting the weight of a mountain.
Notice that Hulk thinks his cousin is the strongest hero after him in this situation, and he’s probably right: at this point the Thing has turned into Ben Grimm and Thor is not there.
The only other potential contender would be Colossus, but I have my doubts he’s stronger than She-Hulk.
The original had Reed Richards devise a way out AND annoy the Hulk into getting angrier.
This one splits the duties with Spider-Man, which I thing is a good call: while the original showed that Reed is more nuanced than you’d expect… the situation calls for THE BEST EVER at this job!
The heroes break free like in the original, but it’s a bittersweet ending.
Spider-Man Secret Wars #2 (2010)
by Paul Tobin & Patrick Scherberger
Maybe Spider-Man had a point about the heroes being at a disadvantage if he has to fight ALL OF THEM.
We finally meet Doctor Doom at the piece of Denver that has been transported to Battleworld.
In the original, Denver was there MOSTLY as an excuse to bring Titania, Volcana and Spider-Woman into the story. But here, they have to defend themselves against an alien attack.
Quite possibly the only comic book in history where Spider-Man goes into battle with the rallying cry of “For Denver!”.
Ben Grim might not be the Thing at the moment, but he still has the stones to fight an alien invasion WITH A BASEBALL BAT.
I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about Denver other than the fact that it seems to be one of places that fiction loves to make fun of for being a bad place where to live.
To the point that this might actually the first story I’ve ever read that has ANYTHING good to say about Denver!
(to the point that I wondered if Paul Tobin is from there, but all I could find is that he was born in Iowa)
I really, REALLY like the fact that in this version Reed took the time to explain to the people of Denver what is going on! Granted, in the original he does have the excuse of not learning about Denver being on the planet for a while, but after he does he has no excuse.
And this is a VERY Reed thing to do.
Even Lockheed is given more to do! He barely does ANYTHING in the original, disappearing for nearly the entire series.
I guess we can add Doctor Doom to the people who like Denver, because he’s just chilling there.
Granted that’s not much of an endorsement.
That’s obviously a joke, but if we take it literally… WOULD Doom enjoy playing cards?
I can see him enjoying poker. He wouldn’t like the chance aspect too much but he would absolutely love the idea of having a bad end and still winning thanks to manipulating his opponent… and of course Doom would have an unfair advantage at keeping a poker face!
There’s something unsettling about seeing Doctor Doom act like a regular person, isn’t it?
Doom doesn’t need a Spider-Sense to know he’s being watched.
The reason for why Doctor Doom is hanging out in Denver is that he’s scouting for new supervillains to create; in fact, this is sort of an extended version of the origins of Titania and Volcana.
See what I meant about the series jumping around? We SAW Titania and Volcana in the previous issue, but THIS is their origin!
However, I do like how Doom didn’t just pick two civilians at random but gave a lot of thought about who he’d give powers to.
SHOCKINGLY, Spider-Man doesn’t volunteer to follow Doom.
That was the backstory to how Doom ended up fighting side-by-side with Ben Grimm wielding a baseball bat.
It’s also entirely possible that Doom is dragging this out because he wants to observe how the candidates act.
But he does seem to still have some humanity.
While I really like both Titania and Volcana in the original Secret Wars, they barely had any origin to speak of. And while Titania’s backstory HAS been expanded in the mainstream comics… I think this is my favorite version of the origin.
Spider-Man Secret Wars #3 (2010)
by Paul Tobin & Patrick Scherberger
Having gone through the greatest hits of the original, could we skip the symbiote?
I’m not reviewing this since Doom is not in it, but I have to say that it probably deviates from the original far more than the other issues.
I do like the idea that just being NEAR Galactus messes with your mind.
An underrated part of the lore of Galactus is that he might look like a slightly goofy giant with a weird hat, but he’s some sort of Loftcraftian horror.
Yeah don’t sweat it, Spidey. I’m sure that black costume won’t be important later.
Spider-Man Secret Wars #4 (2010)
by Paul Tobin & Patrick Scherberger
We end with the other big moment: Doctor Doom has the powers of the Beyonder.
Or maybe Spider-Man does?
0.000000001 seconds later, Spider-Man defeats Galactus.
So what’s going on? Well, turns out that gaining the powers of the Beyonder meant that Doom ALSO knows about his imminent future and defeat.
That’s a neat idea that will eventually be used to explain how Thanos felt after gaining the Infinity Gauntlet, but it’s also true for Doom.
Doom also doesn’t have problems admitting Reed is smarter than him. At least before he gained omniscience.
Spider-Man and Wolverine then have to fight a lot of hallucinations…
…as this whole thing is cause by the battle between Doctor Doom and the Beyonder.
The latter looks as he will during Secret Wars II, but the comic made it a point that his power transcends time so it might almost make sense.
Before Doom received the Beyonder’s power, it briefly went to Wolverine and Spider-Man.
Just for a moment, though.
But that would be too complicated for continuity, so Doom erases everything.
Historical significance: 0/10
As far as I know, it’s never been referenced.
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really.
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
The fact that you absolutely HAVE to read the original to understand anything is a point against it, as is the confusion caused by constantly jumping back and forth in time.
Having said that, it does fill a couple of gaps and makes minor adjustemnts that work out quite well.
Reed warning Denver and Doom being more careful in choosing allies really stand out as considerable improvements over the original.
It was a Doombot all along
Doom definitely wouldn’t spend all that time personally interviewing all candidates, but it might be him at the end.