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Secret Wars #8: Review

Dec 2015
Jonathan Hickman, Esad Ribic

Story Name:

Under Siege

Review & Comments

Rating:
2.5 stars

Secret Wars #8 Review by (December 13, 2015)
Now we've found the last of the Cabal, Terrax, just in time to see him killed. But remember that he isn't the Terrax from Universe-616, he came from 1 of the universes found by the Illuminati in New Avengers. But it really wouldn't have mattered if he *was* a genuine 616 character, since those all seem to be getting resurrected at the end of the series anyway - including previously dead ones like Demolition Man. Thanos leads the Annihilation Wave from New Xandar (seen in the Infinity Gauntlet series) from the other side of the Shield Wall that used to be the Thing (as seen in Siege #4 and last issue). This Thanos is the 1 who came for Earth-1610 with the rest of the Cabal. He doesn't have the Infinity Gauntlet, but Black Panther does (as seen on the last page). Dr Strange left it for BP. Confusingly 1 or more different Thanoses (I think) fought over a different Infinity Gauntlet (I believe) in the tie-in series with that name. Annihilus (seen in #2 and the Red Skull tie-in) ruled the AW in New Xandar, but he seems to have just tagged along with Thanos until he switches sides when Dr Doom kills Thanos. Since the Shield Wall is no more since the Thing went walkies, I don't know why Black Panther and Sub-Mariner needed the Siege Courageous to transport the zombies from the Deadlands. Except of course that it would get them here quicker, and a marching zombie army might have been difficult to control. But the Siege doesn't seem to have done the promised transformation to the zombies.

The end of the WARZONES tie-ins:- SECRET WARS: AGENTS OF ATLAS #1 It's the Agents of Atlas vs Baron Zemo's Agents of SHIELD in an otherwise unmentioned domain Metrapolitia. SECRET WARS: SECRET LOVE #1 A 1-shot with 5 tales of love in Battleworld, unless they're actually set back in the real Marvel U. We get Karen Page suspecting Daredevil of having an affair with Typhoid Mary. The latest Ghost Rider and the latest Ms Marvel. Iron Fist and Misty Knight (and Jessica Jones and Luke Cage). Squirrel Girl wins a date with Thor. And Ant-Man and Wasp have a date too. SECRET WARS TOO #1 An anthology of humorous strips. SPIDER-ISLAND #1-5 What If the villainous Spider Queen won in the Spider-Island event? Spider-Man is dead, and Agent Venom leads few remaining the good guys - Spider-Woman and Vision. They free some Avengers from Spider-Queen's control by turning them into supernatural 'monsters'. Then Spider-Man returns. Spider-Queen is defeated but turns into a monster. Venom sacrifices himself to kill her. Peter Parker is made Baron. Plus a backup featuring the MC2 Spider-Girl grown up to be Spider-Woman continuing from her appearance in the Spider-Verse event. SPIDER-VERSE #1-5 Spider-characters from from various realities seen in the Spider-Verse event are assembled in the Arachnia Zone. (They seem to remember their previous existences.) Spider-Gwen rescues Spider-Ham from Baron Norman Osborn. The rest of the team trust Norman, but he's really a baddie as usual. Peter Parker returns from the dead, explaining that it was clone Ben Reilly who died. Osborn has built the Siege Perilous to wrest control of reality from Dr Doom. But Peter wrecks it, destroying Osborn's mind.

SQUADRON SINISTER #1-4 Utopolis is ruled by Baron Hyperion and his villainous Squadron Sinister. They annexed Supremia zone (based on the Shadowline/Doctor Zero universe) and defeated the Squadron Supreme. The New Universe characters are in here too in the Nutopia zone, plus lots more. Then Nighthawk turns on his own team. But then Doom takes a hand. Now I'm not sure how or if this series will connect to the Squadron Supreme series. WEIRDWORLD #1-5 Barbarian warlord Arkon fights his way through the monsters of the Weirdworld zone (strangely *not* below the Shield wall) looking for the way home. Warbow drops in from the old toy tie-in Saga of Crystar, Crystal Warrior series. Throw in Man-Thing, Morgan Le Fey and Skull the Slayer too. He *does* find out where Polemachus is, and there's a big battle between Arkon and allies and Morgan. But then Weirdworld is recreated (by the end of Secret Wars?), and Arkon is propelled into the post-SW series. WHERE MONSTERS DWELL #1-5 WWI anti-hero pilot Karl Kaufmann (Marvel's Phantom Eagle, not the Nazi war criminal) flies Clemmie Franklikn-Cox from the Far East Zone to the Valley of the Flames Zone. Or maybe this isn't Secret Wars at all and the flight is from the Far East to the Savage Land. His male chauvanism gets him in trouble when they meet a tribe of Amazons. Then he takes command of a pygmy tribe to attack them. Clemmie finally lets Kaufmann escape in his plane, but not before explaining the secret reason why she hired him and taking her revenge. X-MEN '92 #1-4 Robert Kelly is Baron of the Westchester zone, and the X-Men are honoured heroes after they won the mutant war against Magneto. But who wouldn't be concerned that the mutant rehabilitation camp is run by Cassandra Nova, especially when she's been possessed by the Shadow King? A version of X-Force weigh in too.

X-TINCTION AGENDA #1-4 An assembly of X-people try to rebuild Genosha after the X-Tinction Agenda event. (I can't figure out where this is physically on Battleworld.) 1 X-bunch are living safely in X-City while others outside are dying of a disease. Havok leads an invasion of X-City to get a cure. Then enter old X-foe Cameron Hodge, so all the X-men band together to defeat him. YEARS OF FUTURE PAST #1-5 Set in the Sentinel Zone this series fleshes out the Days Of Future Past future and introduces us to some children of the X-Men - Chrissie Pryde and Cameron son of Wolverine. Except it turns out he's actually Chrissie's brother, son of Kate Pryde and Colossus. And everyone seems to have plans for them. In the end it's Cameron vs Chrissie representing 2 views of mutantkind's future. DEADPOOL'S SECRET SECRET WARS #1-4 Deadpool reveals his involvement in the original Secret Wars on the original Battleworld, messing with individual scenes like the creation of Spider-Man's Venom suit. And in a backup he's in Contest of Champions too. As I understand it this all has nothing to do with the current Secret Wars - but who knows?




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Secret Wars #8 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Doom’s generals are fighting on the battlefield against one another when the plane piloted by Star-Lord and carrying the two Reed-Richardses arrives and is brought down by a Hulk. The Reeds go off telling Star-Lord to wait in the castle. The gigantic Thing knocks the Maestro’s ship out of the sky….

Galactus arrives on the scene and stomps on Terrax when he offers his services to his former/alternate master. Franklin, “piloting” Galactus, challenges Thing; when Ben realizes that the kid is Susan’s son, he refuses to fight and is destroyed by the World-Eater….

Black Swan finds Peter Quill in the castle and tries to kill him but Quill takes a small sliver of wood and jams it into a huge root; it instantly grows into a giant Groot, tearing the castle apart from within…. 

Valeria takes her mother to uncover Doom’s biggest secret and they encounter Reed Richards of 616….

Doom enters the field himself and is confronted by Thanos; the alien conqueror boasts of his own divinity and demands Doom submit. When Thanos admits he does not have his Infinity Gauntlet, Doom rips the skeleton out of him. Doom commands Annihilus to devour the attackers when the Siege Courageous opens in the air and the army of the unliving pour out and attack, led by Black Panther and Sub-Mariner….



Esad Ribic
Esad Ribic
Ive Svorcina
Alex Ross (Cover Penciler)
Alex Ross (Cover Inker)
Alex Ross (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Black Panther
Black Panther

(T'Challa)
Hulk
Hulk

(Bruce Banner)
Star-Lord
Star-Lord

(Peter Quill)
Thing
Thing

(Ben Grimm)



> Secret Wars : Book info and issue index

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