“Secret Wars,” Big Expectations
The big news this week was that the Marvel Universe will end with the upcoming “Secret Wars” event. Except it won’t really as the series will be about the Battleworld that consists of characters from lots of different alternate universes and previous Marvel events. It’s by Hickman with art from Esad Ribic and is also the culmination of the writer’s epic “Avengers”/”New Avengers” storyline he’s been spinning for the past couple years. I am completely sold on it due to these things alone and will be picking up the hardcover collection as soon as it comes out.
Also worth noting is that I was kind of on the mark way back when I predicted that the Ultimate Universe would wind up being grist for the mill of Hickman’s “incursion” storyline. In fact, the Universe itself gets the featured role of being the one that sets “Secret Wars” in motion as the heroes of both universes fail to stop their Earths from colliding. Given the quality of the stories that have come out of the Ultimate Universe in the past year, I think that this is as good a fate as could be hoped for from the once-mighty imprint. Bet on Miles Morales and a few other characters finding a home in the Marvel Universe after all is said and done, though.
That’s because the Marvel Universe that we know and love will still be around when all of this is over. Yes, the Earth will be made up of several different Earths during “Secret Wars,” but I’d bet on the multiverse being restored once all of this is over. Only there will be some new characters and a few more versions of familiar characters running around than before. (See also: “The Age of Apocalypse.”) Any speculation that this will lead to a Marvel reboot is just that. The company has shown that it can get along fine without needing to pull a stunt like the “New 52” so they won’t. Doesn’t mean they can’t drum up some additional excitement just from teasing it.
What I am curious about is how all of the titles being published during the event are meant to feed into it. I can’t imagine that every single Marvel title will suddenly take place on this Battleworld. Particularly since some are launching new storylines in the coming months and new launches during the event are being teased as well. Maybe it’s just a fancy way of saying that there will be lots of tie-ins, like there are for every event.
…Now that I’ve written that, I’m convinced that’s the most likely solution.
All this boils down to is a bigger-than-usual event for Marvel. They managed to hit commercial paydirt with “Avengers vs. X-Men” and have been faced with diminishing returns ever since. You can’t go that big again without some rest and some proper buildup. However, “Infinity”may not have sold as much but it was certainly the better event. I believe that came down to how it was masterminded by just one person (in this case, Hickman) and the eighteen-plus issues he was given to tell his story. A solid creative vision and space: How many events in the last decade can say they had that?
This is what gives me hope for the overall quality of “Secret Wars.” It’s spinning out of one writer’s run and acting as the capstone for it. Granted, the scale and amount of characters involved with it could mean things will get a little messy over the course of this thing. Wait. What am I saying? This is a Marvel event. OF COURSE things will get messy by the time the story is over. It’s just my expectation that as this is part of Hickman’s “Avengers”/”New Avengers” story that things will hold together just a little bit better than they normally do. Like with “Infinity.”
As an eight-issue series launching in June, it’s not clear yet if we’ll see a collection before the end of the year. It all depends on how often the issues for this miniseries will be double-shipped in a given month. I’ll pick it up as soon as it hits — such is the hold that Hickman’s storyline has on me right now. In the meantime, we’ll see if “Time Runs Out” manages to fan the flames for this event in a suitably exciting fashion.