Greetings from Battleworld: Secret Wars Week 18

Three Secret Wars mini-series wrap up this week. Dan Grote looks at the end of Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos and Red Skull, while I say farewell to Marville in Giant-Size Little Marvels: AvX.

Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos #4 (of 4)

Story: Gerry Duggan

Art: Salva Espin and Val Staples

Well, that took a turn.

Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos wraps as a Shakespearean tragedy of Hamlet-ish proportions, but with monsters. And a ghost, because there’s always a bloody ghost.

In the end, and regardless of the outcome, the fighting between Shiklah and Dracula was futile because, as Deadpool’s ghost rightly points out, there’s a bigger monster up on the surface world: God Emperor Doom. And Doom can’t be taken out with a MacGuffin left on a world he created. Also he has Thors, lots and lots of Thors.

P.S.: Kudos to Salva Espin for drawing Thors that don’t look like the Thors from all the other Secret Wars books. Most books are still drawing Beta Ray Bill even though he (at least one of him) died at the end of Thors #1. And Eric Masterson. Espin’s got funky-afro Thor, lizard-Thor, monkey-Thor, centaur-Thor, a Thor that looks like Marvel editor Jordan White, etc.

Shiklah’s fate in this reality spooks ghost Deadpool – who, like us, already knows he’ll be alive again after Secret Wars ends – and drives him to look up foreshadowing in the dictionary. Writer Gerry Duggan has said on his Tumblr that he has “big plans for her,” which is good, because I enjoy the dynamic between Shiklah and Deadpool. She’s certainly a healthier paramour for him than Death, even if she is a demon succubus.

As for the Howling Commandos, look for them and SHIELD mainstay Dum Dum Dugan in a new series written by Frank Barbiere and drawn by Brent Schoonover.

Red Skull #3 (of 3)

Story: Joshua Williamson

Art: Luca Pizzari and Rainier Beredo

The first two Secret Wars books I read all the way through – Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders and Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde – had happy endings. This week’s miniseries finales, not so much.

One could argue there was never anyone to really root for in Red Skull. The Skull was clearly trying to make himself a mythic figure and a symbol of rebellion, but he was still the same Nazi scum who spent decades plaguing Captain America by doing ridiculous things like disguising himself as a Hollywood producer and the secretary of defense. Magneto has his moments where he’s a tragic figure trying to do right in a world that hates and fears him, but he’s neutered so frequently in this book that by the end you just feel sorry for him. Who does that leave? The snarky zombies shuffling around the Deadlands looking for scraps? Annihilus’ bugs? Crossbones, who arranged this whole suicide mission in the first place?

Certainly if this book has a hero, it’s the concept of doublecrossing, which shines brighter than any of the villains practicing this lost art. There’s also Abigail Brand – a friendly, green-haired face I haven’t seen in a long time – who makes short work of protecting the Shield from the Skull’s insurrection without calling in a single Thor, just a squadron of plastic Sentinels.

So hooray for doublecrossing! Here’s hoping it gets its own All-New, All-Different series and that Williamson, Pizzari and Beredo get to continue on as the creative team.

Giant-Size Little Marvel: AvX #4
Story: Skottie Young
Art: Skottie Young & Jean-Francois Beaulieu

The Secret Wars mini-series are ending, and I'm going to miss many of them, but none more than Giant-Size Little Marvel. Skottie Young had produced four issues of hilarious fun that reaches it's climax this issue with the X-Men, the Avengers, and now the Guardians of the Galaxy competing to get twins Zoe and Zachary to join their teams. This issue is, more than any of the prior issues, a showcase of Young's skills as an artist. There are three two page spreads, one at the opening and two in the middle, full of details and characters that you should pour over to see all the details. Everyone will see a particular version of a character that will grab their attention: for me, a child of '90s X-books, it was seeing a classic Shatterstar in Little Marvels style. Who ever thought they'd see that? The issue ends with another group joining in, and there's a great bit about the fallacy of naming your team the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Oh, and the little cute "theme song" sequence at the beginning of each issue? This one includes a panel with a variety of versions of Cyclops (try to name them all), including "Quitely Lips and floppy 90s hair." That alone is worth the price of admission. I don't expect to see a Little Marvel ongoing popping up anytime soon, partially because Young is going to be busy with his creator owned I Hate Fairyland and writing the new Rocket Raccoon and Groot series, but I would love to see an annual special set in Marville, just to see how many different characters Young can squeeze into an issue.

Greetings from Battleworld: Secret Wars Week 10

Welcome back to Battleworld. Today we start with Dan Grote looking at the new version of a favorite X-Men reality and at Ms. Deadpool's continuing adventures...

Age of Apocalypse #1

Story: Fabian Nicieza

Art: Gerardo Sandoval

This isn’t your father’s Age of Apocalypse.

I mean, it mostly is. A lot of the same elements are there. Strictly speaking, it’s not Earth-295, the reality in which the original 1995 story took place, later revisited in Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force and a short-run series by David Lapham. If it were, a lot of the characters in this book would be dead, not the least of which being Apocalypse himself.

That said, it IS a world (or a domain of Battleworld) ruled by En Sabah Nur in which Magneto and his X-Men are considered terrorists. AND it’s written by Fabian Nicieza, one of the architects of the original AoA. Not to mention artist Gerardo Sandoval is clearly channeling a darker shade of Joe Madureira, the artist on Uncanny X-Men during that era.

The POV character in this series is Doug Ramsey, aka Cypher, whose mutant power is to translate any language. Doug is apparently the chosen one of this story, or The Special, to steal a phrase from The Lego Movie. Because like that movie’s Emmett Brickowski, his abilities are so classically uninteresting as to be overlooked by almost everyone. But the X-Men want him on their side, and they sacrifice a number of their own in a failed attempt to save him, so there must be something to him.

Doug ends up in the hands of Mr. Sinister, who has his prelates, Scott and Alex Summers, take him to the human ghetto, where he learns by playing Alphabet Soup with the dialogue that the humans are planning to unleash a virus to kill all the mutants. Leading the humans are Carol Danvers and Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau.

Like Inferno and X-Men ’92 (still my favorite of all the Secret Wars books), this one trades in nostalgia for a time when the X-Men sat atop Marvel’s editorial heap. It’s weird that so many of these Secret Wars X-books exist solely to say “Don’t you miss us, guys?” as if it were the fans who had changed tone and direction so drastically over the past 15+ years and not the books themselves. That said, I am looking forward to this fall, when Jeff Lemire and Humberto Ramos’ Extraordinary X-Men hopefully restores the missing flagship in the X-line.

Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos

Story: Gerry Duggan

Art: Salva Espin and Val Staples

Last month, the big question about this book was “Why isn’t it Mrs. Deadpool VS. the Howling Commandos?” seeing as Dracula sent his monster minions to accompany Shiklah on her quest to spread her brothers’ ashes with the order to kill her.

Turns out the Howlers don’t like Drac either. How could they? He’s got that weird white hair and body armor and is not at all charming, flying in the face of everything that made Tomb of Dracula a great read. Oh, and they didn’t kill the Invisible Man; they just left him behind to spy on their master in their absence. So now we have a true Legion of Monsters team-up book.

As ever, the heart of Mrs. Deadpool remains its humor, inspired by those Looney Tunes shorts where Bugs Bunny messes with the big, furry, orange monster. Shiklah attempts to pull the Medusa trick a second time, only to find the titan’s head has been replaced with a watermelon and bananas and the real thing is hiding in the Living Mummy’s extra-roomy wrap. Marcus the Minotaur with a symbiote and manageable diabetes is an endless font of horse-related fight puns. Frankenstein’s monster smashes zombies with the joy of a psychopathic child, until his fear of fire gets him burned at the Man-Thing’s touch.

Ghost Deadpool sticks around as the book’s narrator and teller of Man-Thing jokes, and has a hard time watching his wife-in-another-reality kissing other dudes, even if it is just to hurt them and establish dominance over them. The arrival of Ghost DP’s guardian angel may be one of the book’s best moments.

At book’s end, a pair of funky and scaly (respectively) new Thors show up at Dracula’s castle with questions about “some crazy exorcist jive,” widening the book’s scope from standalone monster romp to Secret Wars-adjacent monster romp. Stay tuned.

And I'm looking at the third issue of one of the earliest Secret Wars tie-ins, Inferno...

Inferno #3
Story: Dennis Hopeless
Art: Javier Garron & Chris Sotomayor

While Age of Apocalypse is just getting its start, Inferno is ramping up to its conclusion. Colossus's attempts to free his sister, Illyana, from her evil other self, the Darkvchylde, have ended badly. Of his team, Nightcrawler is now a dragon monster in Darkchylde's thrall, Boom-Boom is missing, and he and Domino are working with the Goblin Queen, Madelyne Pryor, and her thrall/boyfriend, Havok. So things aren't good for our heroes. This issue is centered around a massive battle, as Illyana finally has a way past the magical dome that keeps her and her demons prisoner, namely Nightcrawler's teleportation abilities. What we get is a massive battle scene, including a breathtaking two page spread, that is just crammed with cameos of all sorts of X-Men character. Most any X-character you can imagine is in the background here, fighting demons. Javier Garron does an excellent job of making the pages crowded with demons and mutants, but never losing any clarity; you can still follow the scenes and the fights while checking out the backgrounds for cameos. Colossus and Domino are now trapped in the dome without Nightcrawler to get them out, and the two share a heart-to-heart about how Colossus needs to think and deal with Goblin Queen, as it's clear she's using him. Hopeless uses most of his Cable & X-Force team as the main characters in this mini-series, and continues to write them very well. I liked that team a lot, and it's nice to see them back. Frankly, I would love to see more of young Cable in this series. Cable makes a lot of sense as a ten year old, after all; all the padding and big guns are perfect for the mindset of a kid that age. If Old Man Logan can come back to the Marvel Universe after this event, why not young kid Cable? The issue ends with the appearance of a character who I think all X-fans have been expecting in this series, since he was central to the original "Inferno" storyline. Now past the halfway point, and with a fourth faction in place with the debut of Sinister (my favorite X-villain), Dennis Hopless has a lot of balls in the air to catch safely over the next two issues. Inferno is an exciting mini-series of high action, and I'm looking forward to the payoff.

Greetings from Battleworld HALFTIME REPORT

Today marks the release of issue 4 of Secret Wars, which means we’re halfway through Marvel’s multiverse-reshaping epic. Seems like a good time to take stock of what’s come so far. And so far, most of what Matt and I have read has been thoroughly enjoyable. With that in mind, here’s a power-ranking of the Secret Wars titles to date.

X-Men ’92 (Dan): An amazingly faithful extension of the old Saturday morning cartoon show, and the best of the books by my accounting, though admittedly it’s among the least involved in the larger Secret Wars story. I would love love LOVE if this series carried on into All-New, All-Different Marvel.

Thors (Dan): This book about Battleworld’s hammer-wielding enforcers of the will of Doom is a spot-on police procedural, right down to the angry captain, the forensics nerd and the drunk racist cop. Who killed all those Jane Fosters? I can’t wait to find out.

Secret Wars (Dan): The first issue of the main book felt more like what should have been the last issue of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers run, but it redeemed itself quite nicely with issues 2 and 3, exploring and explaining the mysteries of Battleworld. One of my favorite Secret Wars moments comes in issue 3, when 616 Reed Richards learns the universe was saved by Dr. Doom, who is Battleworld’s god. Imagine what happens when he finds out what became of the rest of his family.

Future Imperfect (Matt): It's not like most of these regions of Battleworld are cheery, but Dystopia, home of the Maestro, might be the darkest. In a world populated by Peter David characters, always a good sign, we see a cunning evil Hulk getting ready to wipe out the resistance to his reign, but even evil Hulks can't smash everything easily, especially when the ever-lovin' blue eyed Thing standing against him. Peter David at his best.

Giant Size Little Marvels: A Vs. X (Matt): I love all ages comics. I love Skottie Young's art. So a story where kids versions of the X-Men and Avengers duke it out in cute and wacky hi jinks is a perfect fit. It's charming, funny, and yet still finds a way to reference the overall Secret Wars more than some of the more traditional tie-ins.

MODOK: Assassin (Dan): What’s yellow and pink and red all over? This fun, violent series from Chris Yost and Amilcar Pinna featuring America’s favorite big-headed Metal Organism Designed Only for Killing and his new crush, Angela.

A-Force (Dan): #INeedFeminism because watching She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Dazzler and a bunch of Marvel’s other greatest female heroes – in their best outfits, no less – punching megalodons is awesome. Glad to hear G. Willow Wilson and Jorge Molina will be continuing this series into the fall.

Secret Wars 2099 (Matt): Peter David once again goes back to his previous work, only this time with a twist. Sure, Spider-Man 2099 is here, but he doesn't have powers and is an evil corporate douchebag in this realm. What he does get to do is introduce a whole new team of Avengers 2099, all of whom are tools of evil corporation Alchemax. And the Defenders 2099, who it looks like are about to throw down with the Avengers. Oh, and Hercules is there, who I miss after the end of his Van Lente/Pak series. 

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows (Dan): Dan Slott continues his run on Spider-Man by giving longtime readers what they’ve long been denied – the reunion of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson – but then having Peter quit being Spider-Man after his family is threatened. Watching Peter give zero f---s about a supervillain defeating the Avengers and taking over New York City was among the great end-of-first-issue shockers of the early Secret Wars issues.

Infinity Gauntlet (Matt): The original Infinity Gauntlet was a broad, huge, cosmic epic. This new series is instead an intimate story about a family lost in a Battleworld kingdom overrun by Annihilation Wave bugs. It's a well characterized story about survival, with hints so far of greater cosmic implications. And Thanos, which is always a plus.

Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars (Dan): Marvel rewrites history by letting Wade Wilson come out and play during the original 1984 Secret Wars. Now if I only I could find his Mattel action figure mint-in-packaging with the lenticular shield.

Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos (Dan): Deadpool may be dead, but his demon-succubus wife, Shiklah, is alive and well and doing her darnedest to thwart armored-poseur Dracula and his legion of monsters, including a diabetic symbiote-covered minotaur.

Inferno (Dan): You want an old-school X-Men story, you got an old-school X-Men story! Colossus, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Illyana, Madelyn Pryor, Boom-Boom: The gang’s all here.

Runaways (Matt): When Dr. Doom likes an idea he likes, he takes it, so Runaways is set at the Von Doom School for gifted youngsters, and features a ragtag group of teen characters from throughout Marvel histotu, including Molly Hayes of the original Runaways Team, a bunch of mutants like Jubilee and Pixie, and Amadeus Cho as The Breakfast Club of Battleworld. 

Where Monsters Dwell (Matt): A solid Garth Ennis joint with dinosaurs, World War I pilots, and plenty of moral ambiguity. However, as we're ranking Secret Wars tie-ins, and this book has gone half its run without mentioning anything to do with the crossover, I can't rank it higher.

Greetings from Battleworld: Secret Wars Week 6

Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos #1

Story: Gerry Duggan

Art:  Salva Espin and Val Staples

Much like Generalissimo Francisco Franco, Deadpool is still dead. In this domain of Battleworld, Wade Wilson challenged Dracula for the love of the demon succubus Shiklah and lost. His head. And his corpse was put in an acid-filled coffin and thrown in the ocean.

Fear not though, dear reader, for the not-actually-Mrs. DP’s adventures on Battleworld are narrated by Ghost Deadpool ... when his attention span allows for it.

But yes, the star of this book is Shiklah, in a story that is basically “What If … Deadpool lost Dracula’s Gauntlet?” With DP out of the way, Shiklah remains forced to marry Dracula to fulfill the vampire king’s plans for conquest of the underworld. First though, Shiklah makes up some excuse to go on a time-buying quest to properly put her slain brothers to rest. Not content to let his bride-to-be skip out the door dressed like Lara Croft, he makes his most trusted enforcers, the Howling Commandos – Werewolf by Night, the Living Mummy, Frankenstein’s monster, the Man-Thing and Marcus the Minotaur with a Symbiote – go with her.

We’ve talked a bit about Shiklah before, how because she’s so powerful in her own right, she never had any reason to fear Wade and therefore made the perfect, most stable partner he’s ever had. It’s those same qualities that allow her to carry her own book. Dracula may be trying to force her into marriage, but this ain’t no damsel. When you can turn into a giant purple monster, you don’t fit neatly in a fridge. Shiklah pwns the Howlers from jump, using the severed head of Medusa to turn them to stone in a bit that owes more to Bugs Bunny than Clash of the Titans.

So yes, Ghost Deadpool, you’re right, “Why isn’t this called Mrs. Deadpool VERSUS the Howling Commandos?” Give it time.

P.S., Matt, I’m with you. I much prefer the old Gene Colan-style Dracula to the Armored Poseur that has crept up in Marvel books and cartoons of the past few years.

P.P.S.: In case you were worried that a Deadpool-adjacent book starring the Man-Thing wouldn’t include multiple jokes about that character’s unfortunate name, there are multiple Man-Thing jokes.

Secret Wars 2099 #2
Story: Peter David
Art: Will Sliney

While Peter David's Future Imperfect feels like it's plopped down right in the thick of Secret Wars, with mentions of Doom and the Battleworld status quo, Secret Wars 2099 feels a bit more removed. This is one of the Secret Wars tie-ins that (so far) just feels like a way to give fans of a certain era something to latch on to. Which is not to say it's a bad comic. Not in the least. After the first issue introduced us to the Avengers of 2099, controlled by Alchemax and its executive Miguel Stone (yup, in this altered reality, Spider-Man 2099 is a corporate cog, and takes after his dad, the evil Tyler Stone, in sheer manipulative amorality), this issue spends time fleshing out some of those new characters. We see the new Captain America, who seems to be a personality hiding in the head of an Alchemax employee named Roberta Mendez, whose husband is spying on here ala Orphan Black. She is attacked by The Specialist, who is the Kenny of the 2099 universe; he gets resurrected by Doom magic just to die immediately again. We see that Hawkeye and Black Widow both have a dark side. We get to see Hercules training by smacking around Junkpile from X-Men 2099, one of those great cameos that Peter David is master of. And after the prophetic end of the previous issue, we get to meet the Defenders of 2099. I don't recall if Peter David ever wrote Hulk 2099 in the past, but as master of Hulks, it felt right. It was a good choice, in my opinion, to step back and let the reader and characters breathe before the stuff hits the fan, especially since the entire team are new characters, with the exception of Hercules, who is a delightful character and one I'm glad to see Peter David writing; after Van Lente and Pak mined so much of Peter David's Hulk run in parts of their wonderful Incredible Hercules, it's nice to see David take Herc out for a spin. Next issue looks like Avengers/Defenders War 2099, which should be fun, but I want to get back to the Vision introduced in the previous issue, since that character had the feeling of Delphi of the Pantheon, and the only person in the world who likes a retro Peter David reference more than Peter David himself is me.