Read This Comic! Secret Wars #1

Sometimes, individual comic issues are too good to not share. Secret Wars is the culmination of some big and very long term plans set by the Marvel writing team, and its effects on the near future of the Marvel Comics universe are profound. If you’re a longtime reader, Secret Wars wraps up numerous threads that have been teased out for years. If you’re a newer fan (perhaps the Age of Ultron movie has finally pushed you over the edge to try the comics?) then Secret Wars #1 is undoubtedly going to be a little confusing, but it’s nonetheless an ideal starting point before digging into what comes next.

Writer Jonathan Hickman has had several years to build up ideas in his Avengers run during the lead-up to Secret Wars, and this first issue feels like the pay-off for months of complicated story arcs. Hickman’s tenure on Avengers has been characterized by very high-concept science fiction, notable for its musings on the nature of reality, the sometimes terrible moral cost of staving off extinction, and at times a frankly confusing introduction of new characters and power groups. Secret Wars #1 may not have all the answers, but it does prove that all the complications have been leading somewhere, and that somewhere has now arrived. 

Secret Wars has a lot of twists and turns, but the basic set-up isn’t hard to understand. The traditional Marvel universe that saw its first comics in 1961 is on a collision course with the Ultimate universe, which saw its first comics in 2000. As this issue begins, it’s no longer about preventing the event; these two worlds are literally going to collide, so the story is all about what our heroes and villains are going to do in the final minutes of existence. 

Hickman walks a fine line in issue one, portraying the terror of this inevitable catastrophe without losing touch with the characters and their emotions. In many instances, the issue succeeds by focusing on how each individual responds to the disaster, from Spider-Man’s unfaltering optimism to Kingpin’s devil-may-care fatalism. Dozens of heroes and villains make an appearance, and it’s a testament to Hickman’s skill that a consistent story thread is maintained throughout. 

With the apparent demise of major characters in both universes, this first issue doesn’t lack in dramatic weight. Esad Ribic’s eye for the expression of clear emotions from his characters gives the entire issue a breathless, frantic quality in presentation. Scenes are often framed from ground level, offering a view of the action as heroes charge off into certain death, even as the worlds creep closer to one another, lending a sense of helplessness and horror. Ive Svorcina’s colors support Ribic’s bombastic mid-air battles with aplomb. The stark and simple black and white color schemes that open and close the issue are a memorable bookend to a meaty center of bright orange explosions.

Secret Wars #1 is the first of an eight-part series, and the second installment is on the way next week, so we don’t have long to wait to see where things go next. Non-comics fans often balk at the idea of event stories like this, proclaiming how nothing really changes in the end, and everybody eventually comes back to life. Comics fans shoot back; that’s not what it’s about – it’s about how the characters get where they're going that’s fun. Undoubtedly, it’s not as if Marvel is going to stop making comics with their star characters, so the end of issue one has to be a little bit of a fake out. Even so, with clearly announced plans for most of Marvel’s titles to go through renaming and/or relaunching this summer, it’s clear that Marvel intends Secret Wars to be a pretty thorough reshuffling of its fictional sandbox. 

For my part, I haven’t been so excited by the end of a comic issue in a long time, and while I’m not yet totally sold on the dramatic splintering of settings that seems to be on the way in the questionably named Battleworld, the first issue of Secret Wars has me thrilled to see where things go next.