Secret Wars #9 Comic Book Recap/Review

Secret Wars #9 Recap/Review – Beyond

Secret Wars #9 Comic Book Recap

Everything dies.  You.  Me.  Everyone on this planet.  Our sun, our galaxy, and eventually… the universe itself.  This is simply how things are.  It is inevitable… and I accept it.

[Related: Marvel’s Secret Wars 2015 Complete Reading Order Checklist]

So this is how it is.  All this chaos has been orchestrated by the Black Panther and Namor.  Doom is furious, but they don’t care, and say goodbye to god.  With the power of the Infinity Gauntlet, they turn Victor into glass, and shatter him. <SFX>  But it can’t be that easy.  It won’t be.  It did hurt Doom, but he reforms, and blasts them with a tremendous wave of energy.  T’Challa is able to block the blast with his gauntlet, but Namor is gone.  Doom now is giving the Black Panther his full attention.  It is time for them to battle as gods.  <SFX> On the earth.  In the sky.  And the heavens above.

In Doom’s castle, Sue and Valeria confront the two Reed Richards.  Sue only recognizes the man through an image, of when Reed and his people murdered Dr. Strange.  Reed is devastated to hear this is all his wife knows of him, and explains that this was Doom’s work.  Victor is a killer and a fraud.  And Reed is here to fix things.

As the Panther God clashes with the God of Doom, Reed enters Molecule Man’s realm with the Maker.  As the two versions of Reed Richards look on at the source of Doom’s power, Reed asks how Reece is doing.  Owen is still starving, but Reed’s Ultimate counterpart doesn’t care.  Using a device he cobbled together, he regresses Reed into the form of an ape.  He would be sorry for this betrayal, but he can’t tolerate weakness in his 616 companion.  He saw it when Reed nearly cried in the presence of Sue.  After all, who would want a weeping god?  Owen says he would, and that he is hungry for some pizza.  In an instant, the Maker is sliced into pieces, and devoured alive.  Owen returns Reed to normal, and says Richards needs to pull himself together.  He‘s going to be here soon.

Outside, Doom has finally managed to overpower T’Challa.  He beats the man down, and Victor declares himself the superior being.  But something is wrong.  The Black Panther is smiling.  All this chaos was orchestrated, and even T’Challa was a distraction.  Doom teleports back to his castle, where he is confronted by Sue.  When she asks about Stephen, Doom only says he is sorry, and that he tried.

Inside Owen’s home, Doom confronts his rival, truly outraged at this madness.  He had to meddle, didn’t he?  They saved millions, while Reed only saved himself.  And it’s time to die.  <SFX>  Doom realizes something is wrong, and Owen says that Doom didn’t bring him any food, just like Reed.  That makes the two of them equal, doesn’t it?

The two men begin a savage fight to the death.  Victor is exasperated at this.  He asks if Reed thinks any of this was easy.  He was given impossible choices, and did the best he could given his options.  But Reed knows better.  Victor erased Reed’s entire life just to indulge Victor’s whims.  He stole Reed’s family!  He closed his hands around everything left in reality and called it his own.  Victor is astonished at this, and accuses Reed of genuinely believing that he could have done better with all this power.  Reed says he could have, he would have, and they both know it.  Doom admits this is true, and Owen says, well… if they both agree…

<SFX>

T’Challa activates the Infinity Gauntlet, and everything goes white.  He wakes up… home.  Astonished that it worked, he looks on as his people are mapping another solar system.  He congratulates the men.  The west has abandoned their space program, but where they flounder, Wakanda excels.  They dared to dream bigger, and their prize… <SFX> is the stars themselves.

[Related: Marvel’s Secret Wars 2015 Complete Reading Order Checklist]

EIGHT MONTHS LATER

Miles Morales thinks back on his encounter with Owen Reece.  He was so grateful for that burger… Owen says he would repay the boy.  Peter Parker greets his companion.  He asks if Miles ate a snack and did his homework.  Morales confirms that he has, so Peter says it is time to beat up some bad guys.  They swing out into New York City.

At the edge of all that is, the Future Foundation has gathered.  Owen Reece has a new guide for all his power.  With Reed Richard’s instructions, and Franklin Richard’s formidable powers, they have rebuilt the multiverse, one universe at a time.  Each universe is tethered by a version of Molecule Man, and by splitting himself apart, Owen becomes better… whole.  He is healed.  But that’s just the start of everything.  These realms of reality will need to be cataloged and explored.  The Future Foundation is ready to do this, together.  Sue finds her husband, and tells him that this really is something.  Franklin asks if they aren’t super heroes anymore, and Reed says that for now, they are a family of scientists and explorers.  For now, that is good enough.  As their son leaves, the couple talk about Ben and Johnny, and how they will miss them, but their story isn’t over.  Those two have more to do.  Sue looks on at all of reality, around them, and says that as super heroes, it was a pretty amazing final act to save all that is.

Reed says that he learned the difference between living and dying is managing fear, and not being so afraid of losing the things you love that you hold them too tight.  He used to believe in entropy.  That all things must die.  But he’s changed his mind.  He’s letting go.  Because now, he believes in expansion.  He believes in endurance.  You.  Me.  Everyone on this planet.  Our sun, our galaxy, and the universe itself.  This is simply how things are.  Everything lives.

It all started with two men.  One was life… and one was death.

Secret Wars #9 Comic Book Review

Hello and welcome to Comic Island!  My name is Arden, and this is my recap, and review, of Secret Wars #9.

Well… holy shit.  After years, literal, actual, years, of buildup, we finally have gotten to the very end of Secret Wars.  It’s been a long, strange, and completely insane journey, but at long last, we have our ending.

This issue was awesome.  I’ll talk more about the event as a whole when we get to the complete story.  I really liked it though.  From the cool artwork to the excellent and epic end of Battleworld, this is a phenomenal story I thoroughly enjoyed.  I liked how the writing tied into the very beginnings of Time Runs Out, and on the whole, this was a pretty satisfying conclusion to this story.

I did notice this last page kind of lost it’s impact because we already know this is what happened to Victor what with him traipsing around in the Iron Man comics for the past few months, but still, it was fun.  It was big.  And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comic quite as large in scale as this one.

And after all this, I can’t help but get behind the characters too.  It’s simply good writing when I can feel T’Challa’s relief when he finally goes home, when Miles is happily united with Peter Parker in this new world, or Reed’s rage at Doom over all of this.  I even feel bad for Doom when he has to answer to Sue over all he’s done, and he can’t even look at her, and yeah, I was happy for the guy when his face was finally restored.  After all this it felt earned, and marked a real turning point in the story.

Yeah, there are little annoyances, like the Maker and Namor were ushered so fast out of this story that it barely registered with me, but… <SIGH>  I don’t know.  It was awesome.  Why nit pick over something I enjoyed?

[Related: Marvel’s Secret Wars 2015 Complete Reading Order Checklist]

Oh, but there is that other thing… and this probably will upset some fans.  Reed Richards, Sue Storm, and all the Future Foundation characters have effectively been written out of the story with the exception of The Thing and the Human Torch, and I am kind of okay with that.  Yes, I know, Marvel is making their universe closer and closer to the movie universe, and it’s all very… convenient for them.  But you know who was the biggest, baddest character in all of Marvel for 2015?  Indisputably Doctor Doom.  And he’s a front and central figure in this new universe, who I’ve been really enjoying and look forward to seeing more of.

So it can’t all be just about the movie rights, and honestly?  It feels like Reed and Sue are simply heading in a new direction as characters.  Marvel has been trying for years to sell Fantastic Four as a comic and every time, they have failed.  Sales flag, the comic gets rebooted, and the cycle has repeated over and over.  It’s time to challenge ourselves.  It is time to move slightly out of the box.  And it is time for things to finally move in a new direction.  It’s a new day in Marvel Comics, and I can’t say I’m all that against it.

So yeah, it’s far from perfect.  Few things are.  But it was a good ending to a surprisingly good story overall, and yes, I would recommend it.  So I hope you guys enjoyed our coverage of this story here and Comic Island, and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and keep reading comics.