SECRET WARS II
Secret Wars II Omnibus Review
The Solicitation
He rescued the Hulk and destroyed the New Mutants, he wrestled the Thing and made a deal with Mephisto, he created Kurse and Thundersword and a tower of gold! Doctor Strange tried to teach him; Dazzler tried to romance him! The Avengers wanted to recruit him, Daredevil to sue him, and Puma and Deadpool just wanted him dead! Hero, villain, force of nature and deus ex machina all in one: the Beyonder! For good or ill, he was one of the most powerful agents of change in the eighties, and now you can see all of his work all at once! Plus: the menacing Moondragon, the nefarious Nebula and, oddly enough, the origin of Armadillo! Featuring Tabitha Smith, later of New Mutants, X-Force and Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. fame!
Reprints: SECRET WARS II #1-9; NEW MUTANTS #30 and #36-37; CAPTAIN AMERICA #308; UNCANNY X-MEN #196 AND #202-203; IRON MAN #197; FANTASTIC FOUR #282, #285, #288 and #316-319; WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #6; AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #268 AND #273-274; DAREDEVIL #223; INCREDIBLE HULK #312; AVENGERS #260-261 AND #265-266; DAZZLER #40; ALPHA FLIGHT #28; THING #30; DOCTOR STRANGE #74; CLOAK AND DAGGER #4; POWER PACK #18; THOR #363; POWER MAN AND IRON FIST #121; PETER PARKER, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #111; DEFENDERS #152; DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #1 and QUASAR #8.
Release Date: May 13, 2009
Special Bonus Features
- A 2 page illustrated introduction by main series artist, Al Milgrom
- 24 pages of Sal Buscema's unpublished pencils for Secret Wars II #1
- 25 pages of Al Milgrom's uninked pencils for Secret Wars II #1
- 2 pieces of unpublished art, featuring different designs for the Beyonder
- 8 pages of original art
- 5 pages of the tongue-in-cheek, continuity-defying Secret Wars II crossover from Deadpool Team Up #1 (1998)
- 7 pages of Secret Wars II house ads
- Ed McGuiness variant cover
Story Synopsis
Curious about humanity after observing the heroes during the first Secret Wars, the Beyonder comes to Earth to learn more about humanity and his purpose in life. Chaos ensues.
Readers expecting a sequel done it the same vein and tone as the first Secret Wars will be disappointed. The first Secret Wars shone a spotlight on Marvel's stable of heroes, with the curious Beyonder occasionally playing a role. Conversely, the focus of Shooter's follow up is the Beyonder and his curiosity, with the heroes relegated to a supporting role. This is the Beyonder's story, and his journey is front and center.
The Good
Even if the story disappoints, this Omnibus is an encyclopedia of the best creators of the era, working on titles that defined their careers, John Byrne's Fantastic Four. Ron Frenz and Tom DeFalco's Amazing Spider-Man. Walter Simonson's Thor. Bill Sienkiewicz's New Mutants. John Romita and Chris Claremont's X-Men. David Mazzucchelli's Daredevil. Roger Stern and John Buscema's Avengers. All of Marvel's Omnibuses present the artist's work on oversized paper, and all these legendary artists' work can be seen in better detail than ever before.
Considering the sheer number of pages in this volume, the colour reconstruction is remarkably tidy and accurate.
This book's binding is sewn, which means that, despite it's massive bulk, it is quite easy to read, and lays flat on a table.
The 2 page illustrated introduction by Al Milgrom is brilliantly clever. Marvel Omnibuses usually feature scholarly essays around 2-4 pages in length. Skillfully mixing words and images, Milgrom sums up Shooter's motivation and his own personal feelings and experience using no more words than necessary.
This Omnibus also collects the Holy Grail of Secret Wars II lore. The series was originally to be pencilled by Sal Buscema, who had finished drawing the first issue before leaving the project. His original treatment of Secret Wars II #1 is included here. It is an interesting exercise to compare Buscema's original ideas with Milgrom's finished product.
The book contains enough bonus features (outlined in detail above) to justify the price tag alone. Marvel's Collected Editions editors went above and beyond the call of duty to pack this full of goodies!
Minor Nitpicks
There are several errors in the table of contents (incorrect issue numbers) and credits (creators for the New Defenders #152 are omitted). Like all the criticisms listed here it is far from major, but it may annoy some readers.
The Ed McGuiness cover is nice, but does break the Omnibus variant tradition of reinterpreting an actual cover from the series. I think a painted interpretation of the cover to Secret Wars II #3 would have been far more effective.
The solicitation reads that this book collects Deadpool Team Up #1 (1998), but that is a slight misrepresentation. Only the 5 pages revolving around the psuedo-Secret Wars II crossover are reprinted, and they are shrunken down so that they all appear on a single page. Deadpool fans beware!
Unfortunately, this collection was unable to include two crossovers into titles that Marvel no longer holds the rights to, Rom #72, and Micronauts #16. Rom does briefly appear, and is mentioned by name in Secret Wars II #4, however.
The inclusion of Quasar #8 (1990) is an odd choice for this volume. In terms of story, this issue would have been better collected in the first Secret Wars Omnibus. A more relevant choice here would have been the backup story in Fantastic Four Annual #23, which was a sequel to Fantastic Four #319's "Secret Wars II" storyline.
Lastly, the ordering of the issues makes for some awkward reads in places. I recommend following the reading order on this website's Issue Reviews page for optimal chronology.
Series Highlights
Daredevil #223
The Incredible Hulk #312
Fantastic Four #285
Cloak and Dagger #4
Amazing Spider-Man #274
New Mutants #37
Avengers #260
Not Recommended
New Mutants #30
Captain America #308
Iron Man #197
Fantastic Four #282
The New Defenders #152
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Secret Wars II™ and © 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. unless otherwise noted herein. All rights reserved.