Secret Wars Battle Report, Week Thirty
By Matt Conner
Two books this week, none next week. Bam Smack Pow is committed to bringing the reader what you need to keep up with this lengthy crossover as we prepare for the final month of Secret Wars.
Hail Hydra #4
What happened: Nomad fights Hydra’s Avengers and attempts suicide twice before finally disappearing in an explosion, holding the dying body of his sister.
Was it good: The last three issues have been grim and pointlessly cruel. This one was just boring. Suicide is a tacky way to move a plot forward, and Remender draws from that well more than once. To be fair, one of the suicides was to bust out of a dream sequence, but the dream sequence is another trope of which I am not fond. Plenty of Secret Wars tie-ins have let me down, but none of them have felt so much like an attack on decency.
Is it necessary: I refuse to believe it even exists.
Should you buy it: No. No, no, no. No.
Silver Surfer #15 (Last Days)
What happened: Silver Surfer and Dawn Greenwood are almost finished remaking the universe when they realize that Secret Wars is over, and if they finish work on this perfect world, it will overwrite their real one, so they give up and return to the main continuity.
Was it good: After the wonder and majesty of the last two issues, this fell a little flat, but it’s still a great issue of a great series. And it’s a cute wink at the publishing schedule that this tie-in knows the main book won’t be done for a couple months after the rest of the publishing line has moved on.
Is it necessary: No. The spoiler for Secret Wars is that the new universe is, according to Eternity, “Familiar. Strange. Old and New.” So… yes, that is the opposite of illuminating, and it’s nothing we haven’t read in the three or four weeks of post-Wars books that have been published.
Should you buy it: If you’ve been reading, keep reading, but otherwise, give this one a pass.
Essential Reading:
Really, just Secret Wars. Well done, Marvel.
Recommended Tie-ins:
A-Force, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, Captain Marvel And The Carol Corps, House Of M, Inferno, Inhumans: Attilan Rising, Marvel Zombies, Old Man Logan, Star-Lord & Kitty Pryde, Thors, X-Men ’92 (digital version), and Ms. Marvel or Silk (Last Days).
Good Books That Just Don’t Make Top-Tier:
1602 Witch Hunter Angela, 1872, Age Of Ultron Vs. Marvel Zombies, Captain Britain And The Mighty Defenders, Civil War, Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars, Ghost Racers, Giant-Size Little Marvel: AVX, Hank Johnson, Agent Of Hydra, Howard The Human, Infinity Gauntlet, Korvac Saga, Master Of Kung Fu, M.O.D.O.K. Assassin, Red Skull, Runaways, Secret Wars 2099, Secret Wars: Battleworld, Secret Wars Journal, Secret Wars: Secret Love (for two stories), Secret Wars Too, Siege, Spider Island, Spider-Verse, Squadron Sinister, Weirdworld, Where Monsters Dwell, X-Men ’92 (print version), and X-Tinction Agenda.
Books To Skip:
Age Of Apocalypse, Armor Wars, E Is For Extinction, Future Imperfect, Guardians Of Knowhere, Hail Hydra, Mrs. Deadpool And The Howling Commandos, Planet Hulk, Ultimate End, Years Of Future Past, and any of the Last Days titles you weren’t already reading.
More from Bam Smack Pow
- The Expanse: Every character ranked from worst to best
- James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy casts more major DC characters
- New Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer pushes Arthur to his limits
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episodes 1 and 2 review: Aftermath
- 7 actors who could replace Ezra Miller as The Flash in the DC Universe
Follow the Battle Reports here!