Secret Wars

When the original series came out, it was torturous to wait for the next month's copy to come out. The storyline and artwork were dynamic and enjoyable for the first seven issues. Then the storyline got too convoluted and the artwork took a turn for cheesy. But it was an overall, entertaining time and Marvel struck gold on the series. Great Job!

I just finished the book. I remember reading parts of secret wars when I was 8 years old and 24 years later Im reading the whole book. It was great to see the super heroes again fighting. Its a great story. I recommend it to all ages. Thanks guys :D

This is the comic book series which started all of the cross-over craziness. The series is pretty good. Spider-Man's alien costume was introduced in this series. A new Spider- Woman was introduced, and the series reaffirmed Doctor Doom as being a major player in the Marvel Universe.

Better than Infinity Gauntlet but not as good as Injustice. I think that the character development and the story were pretty lackluster, but that doesn't change the fact that this is a well remembered edition and probably should be among your collection if you're a moderate to high-level Marvel fan.

This series was clearly not published for the purposes of having a well developed story that would hold any significance in the Marvel Universe. It is even explicitly stated in the text that this was nothing more than a means to market the franchises most popular characters through an underlying theme in order to sell action figures. Now I wouldn't have a problem with this if the characters were actually fleshed out and if the story actually held any weight in regards to how the Secret Wars event subsequently affected them.

Secret Wars is a poor excuse to bring Marvel's best together in an aimless battle for survival. Now again, I would be okay with this battle royal module if the fight scenarios and the way in which these characters interacted were actually fun and interesting, but sadly this is not the case. So there's no story, there's no purpose, but to add insult to injury the dialogue is terrible, Jim Shooter exposes himself as A POOR MAN'S STAN LEE with corny catch phrases, and the personal struggles that some of the characters undergo are just bothersome and disturbing.

THIS WAS JIM SHOOTER AT HIS WORST. Peter Rasputin (Colossus) is struggling with his pedophilic desires, the Wasp is overly feminized with her apparent obsession with cosmetics, and there is a tremendous amount of emphasis on the fact that Iron Man is black. James Rhodes is constantly referencing his skin color as means to exemplify the color blind notions held by the white characters and what's worse is that in one particular interaction with Captain Marvel, this character is projected in a manner that equates being black with being undignified and the polar opposite of the classy Tony Stark.

TO BE FAIR, this was Marvel's first attempt at publishing a series that was inclusive of all it's major heroes/villains. For readers who are looking for any excuse to have all their favorite characters under one umbrella, this is a good one time read for sentimental or historical purposes. For those looking for a well developed story line, look elsewhere.

Reading the 2015 Secret Wars, I figured I'd check out the original, and made the mistake of believing the high ratings here. This is the worst kind of comics--poorly written, where random plot elements are introduced just to give the characters something to do (hey, there's a big storm out of nowhere! Hey, this desolate planet actually has a city full of orange people who need protecting! Hey, here are some new villains that just appeared in the 4th issue! You get the picture).

Other than the meandering nonsensical plot and the poor characterization (yes, there are several panels devoted to The Wasp worrying about breaking a nail with cheesy 80s dialogue), the rest is Groundhog Day with different fight matchups. Jim Shooter did a lot of great work back in the day; this is not it.

an amazing tale as heroes and villains alike are ripped from there homes to take part in the Beyonder's Secret Wars Drawn from Earth across the stars, the Marvel Universe's greatest villains and heroes are set against one another by the mysterious and unbelievably powerful Beyonder, with the winner promised the ultimate prize. But as battle lines are drawn, new alliances forged and old enemies clash, one among them is not willing to settle for anything less than godhood. Can even the combined might of the Avengers, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men prevent Dr. Doom from becoming the most powerful being in the universe? Collecting MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS #1-12. jampacked with tons of extras and a list if toys that they made to go along with the story

Secret Wars is great. Sure, you know the good-guys will win. But the story itself is not very predictable, and many classic things happen in this story: Colossus and Kitty Pryde and Colossus end their relationship, the Beyonder is introduced, and the most memorable of all, Spider-Man gets the black suit, which, as we all know, later becomes Venom, one of the most classic Marvel characters ever, and one of the most classic villains in history. Almost every character is in it, too. Strangely enough Ant-Man is missing, yet Wasp is present and one of the main characters in the story. Where Ant-Man was during this time I do not know, but I did miss his presence. Overall, Secret Wars is a great, action-packed tale to astonish, and worth getting.

Originally written 5-14-11

A small portion of Earth's mightiest heroes and villains; the absolute best of the best, find themselves transported into the far ends of space in separate vessels. They begin to question what's going on, then suddenly, they witness an entire galaxy destroyed and a planet being created right before their eyes. Next, a void opens up, and they hear the words from what claims to be an omnipotent being; "I am from beyond! Slay your enemies and all you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish!". Afterwards, both parties are sent to the planet dubbed Battleworld, and the battle to claim the prize from the being called the Beyonder now begins. -summary

Secret Wars written by Jim Shooter is a classic good vs. evil showdown that takes place over 12 issues. At first, it becomes pretty straight forward when the villains, whom are pretty much leaderless decides to go after the Beyonder's reward. Chaos ensues as both sides clash and we're given a few good fights here. For awhile, it does appear to be standard superhero fare. However, ulterior motives run rampant as Galactus gets hungry and decides it's time to eat the planet, The X-Men would rather join forces with Magneto, and Doctor Doom will not play the pawn of any being: cosmic god or otherwise. Therefore, he puts his own plan into motion and the villains will have only two choices; follow Doom or die by the hand of the sinister robot Ultron, whom Doom has full command over. Despite the oversized line-up and many encounters taking place. It's Doctor Doom who no doubt overshadows everyone involved in the story.

During the course of the battle many characters will be put on the spot, some will get a chance to shine, while others will just be plain misused. The X-Men stand out in particular here as they're trounced single-handedly by Spider-Man, and even by another character that took me by complete surprise. The Molecule Man shows why he is quite possibly the most powerful man in the universe. Plus, there are several first appearances here, such as the evil strong woman Titania, whom goes one on one with the She-Hulk and later on with Spider-Man; in which the latter encounter would effect her for years to come. The high energy blasting Volcana and a new Spider-Woman makes their debut as well.

The large amount of characters pretty much makes it impossible to develop all of them, but the reader will be given enough on multiple characters personalities to either hate or love some of them. The Absorbing Man stands out with his wit that almost always makes me laugh, and I constantly get a kick out of the Enchantress whom cries over her beer literally due to her latest failed attempt to seduce Thor. The Beyonder is also developed in a subtle way and I found him to be interesting, since he's this all powerful god that destroyed an entire galaxy and created a planet only to see what makes mortals tick. I think the writing is pretty well balanced providing a real good mix of comedy, suspense, and action.

Although most of the action was pretty good and the artwork wasn't bad; the designs felt too average even for that time. Characters were lacking many features and those whom were in the background weren't exactly a mystery, but they lacked way too many details. It also appeared pretty rushed going towards the end though with some unimaginative drawings for the monsters. On a real positive note, the cover art for the original issues are intact with cover #10 being the absolute best. I thought the dialogue bubbles were easy to follow and well placed, and speaking of the dialogue, it had some highs as well as some major lows. In any case, a majority of the interactions were fun to read, and I enjoyed the brief altercation between Wolverine and Captain America in regards to mutants being at war with humans, along with his reference to the Nazi's going after the Jews not being much different from what the mutants go through.

In retrospect, Secret Wars does have that Marvel "big event" feel. However, it feels like your average story. Although there were some changes in the lives of characters such as Colossus and Kitty Pryde breaking up, and She-Hulk joining the Fantastic Four; these little situations were pretty much forgettable with only Spider-Man going through the biggest change. The black costume Spider-Man gained on this planet to replace his torn up red and blue, would later be revealed as a living alien symbiote attempting to bond with him. This would later result in the creation of Spider-Man's deadliest enemy Venom. Therefore, when comparing this to DC's epic, it comes up very short when considering that DC's Crisis on Infinite Earth's made huge ever lasting changes to the status quo.

In closing, Secret Wars is still something that I would recommend to serious Marvel fans. It's an interesting, fun, and easy to follow read. Even up to this day, I get the feel to re-read it and there are some stand out moments for me that always bring a smile. It's not among Marvel's best, but if you find it cheap then check it out.

Pros: Some very good action, Dr. Doom, funny dialogue at times, nice plot twist

Cons: Some characters looked too weak, some looked too strong, some awful dialogue at times

This was the "limited series" that hooked me with Marvel's limited series. It also hooked me with Hulk, Captain America and the Avengers. I remember taking the 151 Devon bus to Larry's Comics near Devon and Broadway to pick up each issue as it was released. Oh the days. Now everything is instant.

Anyway, I've been reading this with my children and they love it. It's so much fun.

The best part is I don't need to hunt down the issues I sold or lost. All twelve issues are included in this great book. It also includes the last pages of the lead-in comics as the heroes were swept into the Beyonder's realm. The artwork is also fantastic. Those were the days of india ink and half-tone shading. You'll enjoy it.

The issue of Crossovers always was some kind of a big deal to fans. On one hand it combines, mostly, the greatest characters in the comics-world, sometimes even cross-companies. On the other hand the oh-so-high cost.

This is the first Crossover. It is the one who started it all, at least in the large-scale sense of it. It's not perfect, it got some holes in it both story/plot-wise and both continuity problems, but do not mistaken - it is a great story. The question is - why?

It got the best of the best characters in the Marvel Universe, and not skipping even the mighty Galactus himself. It got a great theme that maybe can't work in the modern days in a modern comic-book but back in its day - it was an amazing concept. It had many plot-twists, for the good. Great dialogues - it's been a long time now since I actually felt the character's personality via the dialogues, and it fits their back-then character marvelously. It's even funny!

But still, it just don't sit well in this fast-pace modern world, because it's too slow, taking it's time to explore the characters thoughts too much for the modern reader, and it's not the best story there is in the modern very harsh comics world.

I still think that it's one of the best there is,

Maybe because I'm simply old-fashioned.

Check my blog -

The issue of Crossovers always was some kind of a big deal to fans. On one hand it combines, mostly, the greatest characters in the comics-world, sometimes even cross-companies. On the other hand the oh-so-high cost.

This is the first Crossover. It is the one who started it all, at least in the large-scale sense of it. It's not perfect, it got some holes in it both story/plot-wise and both continuity problems, but do not mistaken - it is a great story. The question is - why?

It got the best of the best characters in the Marvel Universe, and not skipping even the mighty Galactus himself. It got a great theme that maybe can't work in the modern days in a modern comic-book but back in its day - it was an amazing concept. It had many plot-twists, for the good. Great dialogues - it's been a long time now since I actually felt the character's personality via the dialogues, and it fits their back-then character marvelously. It's even funny!

But still, it just don't sit well in this fast-pace modern world, because it's too slow, taking it's time to explore the characters thoughts too much for the modern reader, and it's not the best story there is in the modern very harsh comics world.

I still think that it's one of the best there is,

Maybe because I'm simply old-fashioned.

Check my blog -

[...]

Ok, this book has it all. Big Heros. The biggest. Big Battles. The biggest. On an alien planet, all the heros of Earth must work together to win a common WAR! This is by far the most ambitious work from Marvel since Busiek's Marvels. Follow every Big heros from Marvel Universe in the 80's plow through the enemy. The fighting scenes were smartly and tightly drawn. I loved it. And the story and dialogue? Good as well! No shortage of good story and characterization in this department! Marvel should do this ever so often. A reunion of the Heros. So powerful a force. This is shown beautifully and excitingly. The price is a bit high, but remember, you are buying a BiG book! Lost of issues here crammed into one graphic novel. The single issues themselves would cost you the same amount, but treasuring this is much much easier. I missed it when the single issues came out. I didn't when the paperback came out. I'm glad I bought this. It gave me a great feel for the heros of the 80's. The Marvel Heros.

SECRET WARS is arguably the most popular and creative superhero team up ever conceptualized by Marvel. I have waited years for this compilation and I am very satisfied with the end product. Perhaps my only complaint, however, is the overall quality of the book, which is printed on thick but evidently acidic paper as opposed to coated/glossy paper typically found in DC/Image compilations which I personally prefer. Nevertheless, this is still a good buy even for those who do not usually follow the Marvel mythology since the story is more or less self-contained.
I hope they follow this up with a SECRET WARS II compilation (probably unlikely since the second series was comparatively unpopular) with maybe the SECRET WARS III story (as seen in Fantastic Four) included therein. These stories bring back very fond memories of a time when comic books were really fun to read, a far cry from the current crop of "grim and gritty" titles most of which are all form and no substance.

I was really hoping for a great crossover story that had a huge number of heroes and villains from Marvel, and while i did get a crossover, it was very lacking in story. Finishing it was a chore and in the end there was no resolution as to why the events even took place. Perhaps I'm just used to the most modern story lines and type of writing for these characters, and maybe that's this story fell very flat for me.

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars has spurred a lot of debate in the last twenty years. Many fans dismiss it as nothing more than a year long commercial for the Mattel action figure line. Others dismiss it as a blatant attempt to rush out and upstaged DC Comics Crisis on Infinite Earths far more historical series that came out at roughly the same time. Neither of these claims can be denied and even Marvel has admitted the transparent commercialism of the series. Still, when it comes right down to it, while perhaps nothing critical to the Marvel Universe came out of the series (Other than Venom) one certainly can't deny that it was an enjoyable series to read. It was a 12 page battle royal pitting most of Marvels top heroes against their top villains on neutral territory, all for the amusement of the God-like being known as The Beyonder.

The Beyonder was an all-powerful being from beyond our universe. His origins would be explained in much more detail in Secret Wars II. But basically the Beyonder entered our universe through a pinprick in the fabric of reality and became curious as to our world, and particularly Earth. The Beyonder then created a world and plucked out a few dozen heroes and villains and basically told them to battle each other to the death to get whatever they desired. The selection of heroes was pretty solid and included Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Spider Man, The Banner Hulk, Wolverine, She-Hulk, The Fantastic Four, Cyclops, Storm, and Professor X. The villains are much more of a mixed lot which includes heavies like Dr. Doom, Kang, Magneto, and Ultron, but some curious minor leaguers like Wrecking Crew, Titania, Klaw, and The Molecule Man.

Each issue is basically a big slugfest as the two sides vie for the upper hand with Doom leading the way for the bad guys. While all of this is going on Galactus shows up on no side and with every intention of devouring the energy of the world created by the Beyonder. Doom of course can never be trusted and soon backstabs the rest of the villains by actually stealing the power of the Beyonder and becoming omnipotent. Doom would destroy all the heroes but the Beyonder restores them to life and they finally defeat Dr. Doom. As the heroes win, The Beyonder grants them whatever they desire which is just to return home. Their wish is granted and the story comes to a close.

As mentioned, perhaps the only real significant event that came out of the whole storyline was Spiderman finding the strange alien material which he took as his new, black costume. This material would turn out to be an evil alien symbiote that would eventually become Venom when it merged with Eddie Brock. Of course this happened almost four years later when Todd McFarlane was on his memorable run on Spiderman and there's no evidence that Secret Wars writer Jim Shooter ever had this in mind when he created the suit.

The art by Mike Zeck is solid if unspectacular. Zeck has done better work, notably on The Punisher. The art in some of the issues looks a bit rushed lending credence to the argument that Marvel wanted the series out before DC's "Crisis". Taken on just the merits of the story it's an enjoyable read. I've read it numerous times over the years because it really was the first such mega-series event of its kind that included almost every major hero. These cross-over event stories have become common place today, but was still monumental back in 1984. Thus while the story itself had no great historical influence it still must be considered a landmark in comics history.

Review by Tim Janson

Finding the issues in the flea market years ago around ten years of age, I was immediately hooked. All of the main Marvel characters are here, and even today its a fun read, though a little dated and the characterizations are a little out of date. Yes, it helped to start the mass cross-overs that later overwhelmed comics in general. But, this one is fairly well written, has excellent art for its time, and was a cross-over that actually had real impact in the ongoing books. This includes the replacement in the Fantastic Four of the Thing by the She-Hulk, the Hulk turning back to his more savage nature, permanent changes to the Molecule Man, Magneto sliding to the good side, and of course, the introduction of the black costume to Spider-man (probably the best of the changes in costume to occur over the years to different heroes) which eventually led to Venom, a great villain who was played out after awhile. The Doctor Doom characterization is dead on, and is one of the finest Doom stories. The only heroes to get a short thrift are the X-men, who are not portrayed particularly well, outside of Colossus. (And Daredevil, since he was totally left out). I recently gave it to my ten year old cousin and he was hooked on the Marvel Universe as well. It's not high concept, it's not full of philosophy, it doesn't try to change the world, it's just a really fun book. Remember those?

A fun, no holds-barred superhero slugfest in the grandest sense. Yes, it is a Marvel pimpfest for their line, but in this case, it doesn't stop it from being entertaining in the biff the bad guy sense. They probably wanted an event to match up with Crisis a little bit to get back some attention. Sound familiar?

Anyway, a whole bunch of popular Marvel Heroes and villains are kidnapped from earth for a small time via an all powerful being called the Beyonder, sent to a planet, and ordered to beat each other up, basically.

Much craziness and violence ensues. Hulk get mad, Hulk lift mountain range, etc.

What a great 12 comic issue cyclone! All your favorite heroes and bad guys from back in the day sent away to another planet by the "Beyonder"! The original, actual real telling (Marvel sytle) of the alien costume, Galactus, heroes getting buried under a mountain, it's insane! Great story telling, great art, this is great for all readers and especially for die hard fans!

The first of the Great Crossover Series. Thought up by Marvel Editor Jim Shooter, this was the first of the Great Crossover Series that started it all. Later DC Comics would copy their success with Crisis on Infinite Earths, but without Secret Wars none of the following Crossovers like Crisis, Infinite Gauntlet, or especially Secret Wars II would ever have happened.
See the Avengers and X-men with three members of the Fantastic Four take on a Rogues Gallery of Marvel's Greatest Villains, including Kang the Conqueror, Dr. Octopus, The Enchantress and especially Dr. Doom as they travel to another world created by an Omnipotent Being calling himself The Beyonder.
See the origin of Venom, with Spider-Man getting his Black Costume on Battleworld from an alien machine. Apparently the artists at Marvel at the time had a hard time drawing Spider-Man's famous Red Spiderwebbed Costume.
"Slay your enemies and everything you ever dreamed of shall be yours. Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish!"

A quick overview of the storyline: cosmic being becomes interested in what superheroes and supervillains think. To find out, it conducts an experiment transporting a couple dozen people to another world and has them bash each others brains out. Predictably, the good guys win.

What's good about the story: there are a few twists which enhance the value of the book, firstly, the X-men fiasco, then the Galactus event, the Doctor Doom thing and the somewhat weird ending.

The fighting scenes are good, and the powers of each character seem to get a good run.

However, there are quite afew areas which the story could improve on. Firstly, like most storylines, the ending is far too abrupt, leaving you somewhat disorientated by the sequence of events. Secondly, none of the characters get any real development (with the exception of Rogue), so the outcome is basically that this whole storyline is produced for an "ultimate slugfest" theme. Thirdly, the slug fest really isn't much of a slugfest. (and here I contradict myself) There is alot of fighting, but there is so much attempted to be crammed into so little space that none of the character's powers really registers, and it seems to resemble a super-powered bar brawl more than anything else. Finally, there are some really weird things which happen in the story which sorta leaves you thinking "huh? what was that all about?"

It's a good read, i'll admit to that, but Marvel has had much better to offer. The idea was pretty refreshing, and could have been developed alot better, but in the end, it stops short of being anything truly memorable. Buy it if you are a marvel die hard fan, or like reading about super heroes and villains fighting like street thugs, otherwise, see if you can borrow one off a mate before you test it out.

I wasn't around when this was originally published (I hear they hung up most of the main titles for around year), but this is as epic as it gets. All the mainline heroes, the Hulk holds up an entire mountain, Dr. Doom is at his most awesome, the origin of the black symbiote Spider-man suit, and more. Everyone who reads Marvel should at least be familiar with this.

Awesome story with a LOT of roots for your favorite characters! Certainly pricey, but well worth checking out. I think this was one of the first comic books I ever read and if you're looking for a classic entry point into the world of Marvel, I'd certainly recommend this.

This series when it first came out got dismissed because of the Crisis On Infinte Earths that cast it in the light of being a knock-off.
Rereading this series twenty years later shows it to be a fun romp with many elements of the silver age in place (with big kudos to Jim Shooter who pracitcally built the fondly remembered Legion of the 1960s).
If you want serious pass this up-you want fun this is the spot for you.

The previous reviewer who ridiculed the behind the scenes "brainstorming" of Marvel's editors probably isn't too far from the truth. I remember when this series came out and how it was put out around the same time as DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths on purpose and I also recall reading a Mile High Futures review that panned Secret Wars as a blatant attempt to compete with Crisis rather than come up with a great story that would bring the Marvel Universe together for some cosmic menace or something equally absurd. The Beyonder has to be the most contrived "villain" ever and the point of this story is that there is no point other than the strange Beyonder who has infinite power, but doesn't understand humans! He couldn't just read their minds or absorb a brain or something? The peripheral stories that took place after the Secret Wars ended were far better such as how Colossus dealt with his "love affair" in the X-Men and how Spidey got his alien costume in Amazing Spiderman. Mike Zeck's art is kind of weird (what's with the narrow ankles and massive thighs?!) but I thought it was still not bad (his better work was on Captain America where JM DeMattis penned some good stories and on the Punisher miniseries with Steve Grant). The problem is the dopey story by Jim Shooter. For 12 issues we get the heroes and villains getting played like chess pieces by the Beyonder and that's it! Nothing happens of any consequence other than a great deal of pining and whining and sporadic battles as the heroes are led by Captain America as their general versus Dr. Doom and company. I'm simply amazed that this book has an overall average that is so high! There's just no justice in this world! Please don't give Marvel any more money for this stupid series. Even as a kid I thought it was garbage, but in those days I paid .60 cents and used to buy a bunch of comics so it wasn't a big deal. No way am I paying for a tradepaperback for this junk now though. Go buy the far superior Crisis on Infinite Earths. You'll thank yourself in the morning.

Having just finished reading the story, I can tell you that this was not a bad story. However, I think a mistake was made in the original comics in making this 12 issues long, as there were many extraneous moments that really did not need to take place. (The Lizard/Enchantress battle, for example.)
If you pick it up, you won't be disappointed, but there are better graphic novels.

Too many battles with lame villains, no decent character development; bizarre plot developments are never explained, especially with Galactus. The X-Men are very poorly treated, with Wolverine being overly aggressive and Colossus falling in love with an alien woman for no reason. Cyclops, Rogue and Storm don't do a whole lot; neither does Spider-man, although he does get the famous alien costume (in three panels--not worth getting the book for). The Thing's turning into Ben Grimm is never explained (or maybe it is in the next "awesome" crossover). All in all, you should only get this if you're a big fan of Captain America, Mr. Fantastic, Dr. Doom or The Molecule Man.

This book is cool. It has Spider-Man, Reed Richards, Human Torch, The Hulk, The Avengers, Iron Man, She Hulk, the X-Men, Galactus, and Magneto in it. The villains are The Lizard, Dr. Octopus, Dr. Doom, the molecule man, the absorbing man, and many others. Whichever side wins gets what it wants by the Beyonder. It's the biggest battle ever fought by the Marvel Super Heroes. This also has Spider-Man's Symbiote costume in it. You should get it.

Mostly they were stick figures.Not entirely trash.Praising it with faint damnation.Dr.Strange never found them.Nor anyone else.Odin,Zeus...etc.Doom had no strategy.NONE.Taking into account what it is ,it could have been worse.Bruce and Jennifer had no interaction.NONE.Yet,there was sharp character insight.

Nothing has ever made me appreciate Stan Lee more, than reading someone else try to do his shtick. Comic books are silly, I accept this, but when Stan Lee wrote them, everyone had a real reason for doing things. Yes, they felt the need to talk about it a lot, and the science never even tried to make sense, but there were real people in there. This is not the case with Secret Wars. I feel like the creators are just making it up as they go along.

The dialogue in this book is strikingly bad, which is partly because it was written in the 80's (my favorite line: "Like tubular to the max!" -SheHulk) but their are other comics from this era (Daredevil, Batman) that were above this. In general, there is too much gobbledygook and no real motivation for what comes out of their mouths. There is also some really yucky thought bubbles, mostly from Colossus (sic: "I miss Katya. I had so many plans for what we could do together when she is old enough") which make you understand why Frank Miller abolished them.

Once the action actually gets going-- and it takes a while-- the story becomes more interesting...somewhat. Doctor Doom is surprisingly well-written, so much so that he jumps off the page; he is even generally better drawn than the other characters. I also enjoyed the weird romance between Volcana and the milksop Molecule Man. In general, the villains fared better in this book than the heroes; the one exception is Spiderman, who kicks the whole of the X-Men's butts in a memorable scene, and later gets a suspicious new black suit that modern readers will quickly recognize.

I think this was the first "event" comic of its kind to be released, preceeding the Crisis on Infinite Earths (also a snoozer) by a few years. This is now the bread-and-butter of the comics publishers, so it is interesting reading how it started. Still, I had a lot more fun reading Identity Crisis, or even the dubious House of M.

The quality of this used product was vastly below that indicated in the description. I feel lied to. The pages are falling out, ends are crumbling off, there was no indication that it was a library book (which it is). The book itself is a classic. But the person who sold is misleading consumers on the store and should not be allowed to sell products through the website

This maxiseies is one of the most overblown and overrated superhero stories ever.It is basically just a massive fight scene and the most interestingpart of the story, Doctor Doom usurping the Beyonder's power is underdeveloped and lacks resonance.The way Doom is defeated is also unsatisfying. It is not a worthless comic but it is pretty bad.

This is an answer to all marvel comics fans prayers. Where the best of the Marvel Heros and villans are put against each other on a planet away from all that they know. This special book contains all 12 ishs of the secret wars. This is a must have for any Marvel Fan.

The product was in great condition. I happen to love comics, and this is a classic mini-series. Secret Wars paved the way for many comic book crossovers and epic storylines in the future, the most recent being Civil War: A Marvel Comics Event.

Incredible. Thanks, the store. I would do you if you weren't simply a series of html code pasted together and trapped as a web page on the internet, with my monitor serving as the only barrier standing between you and I.

Damn you, monitor! DAAAAAMN YOUUUUUU!

Secret Wars is perhaps the most unnecessary story ever told in comics, period. As Tom DeFalco makes clear in the introduction to this book, the 12-issue series was simply designed to sell toys. Continuing to admit that the toy line didn't sell well, he contends that the series generated massive sales for Marvel. Well, generating massive sales and earning them are two different things in the comic world, where back issues of once-blockbuster comics often end up not being worth the paper they're printed on. While SW certainly was a huge deal in the '80s, the release of this trade collection 20 years later got me wondering: was it really justified?

I was there when Secret Wars made its debut in comic shops throughout the US, and like any other 13-year-old, I was thrilled to see my favorite heroes and villains square off on a grand scale, similar to the old Silver Age DC team books. In Secret Wars, the stakes were high, as the winning team, heroes or villains, would receive their hearts' desires from an entity known only as "The Beyonder", who had spirited these characters away to an alien world and goaded them into combat. Even better, some events from Secret Wars tied into other titles and had major effects, most notably Peter Parker's alien costume. Having these fond recollections, I shelled out a wallet-busting thirty bucks for the new softcover printing on nice glossy paper, despite having sworn recently that I would never buy another of these overpriced trades again. If only I had stuck to my guns.

Anyway, twenty years later I read this story and find that Tom DeFalco's introduction is absolutely correct: this is a 350-page advertisement for a toy line, and an utter crap-fest. The story, by Jim Shooter, is clumsy at best - very surprising for such an accomplished writer. The initial issue sets up the plot at breakneck speed, skipping quite a bit of exposition and leaving out major points that, when introduced later, are inexplicably glossed over (for example, supporting characters that appear from nowhere). Then, frequent stalls and boring characterization continue for the remainder of the book. By the 4th issue, I just didn't care anymore, but I had to force myself to finish in order to give a complete review. The further I got into it, however, I became aware of printing problems that I see more and more frequently in Marvel's books: sloppy coloring and low resolution. While they certainly did put some effort into Mike Zeck's beautiful cover, the interiors are dull and soft, apparently having been reprinted from the comics instead of the line art. So what I'm saying is that even the store's discounted price isn't justified for this mess. It's bad enough that the story is awful, but then to charge so much for this book with little concern for quality is unconscionable. Marvel, you have deemed a 3rd-rate story worthy of fancy treatment, yet not followed through. You get an F.

Classic comic. This story is pretty much full of action and great characters and villains from magneto, doctor doom, molecule man, ultron, to the x-men, spider man, fantastic four, iron man and the hulk