Battleworld comes tumbling down.
It took a few months longer than originally planned, but the final issue of Secret Wars is here. And regardless of all the marketing hype and the delays and the fact that the rest of the Marvel Universe has already moved beyond Secret Wars, this issue delivers a fantastic finish for Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic’s massive story. This issue works as a fitting conclusion not just to Secret Wars itself, but to Hickman’s entire Avengers saga and even his Fantastic Four run. It’s a love letter to the Marvel Universe that was and the new universe that rises from its ashes.
For a comic featuring an entire planet at war and a titanic battle between two godlike opponents, it’s remarkable how intimate this issue really is. Secret Wars and the stories that preceded it have delivered plenty of shock and spectacle. Without a strong emotional core to this issue, the entire house of cards would collapse. Thankfully, this isn’t a problem. This entire conflict really boils down to the decades-old feud between Reed Richards and Doctor Doom. Here Reed has one last, desperate chance to challenge Doom’s reign, reclaim his family and redeem the whole of existence in the process. As he’s demonstrated many times in the past, Hickman writes Reed, Doom and their complicated relationship better than just about anyone who’s had a hand in the Fantastic Four franchise. Hickman is no longer writing God Emperor Doom, but the scared, pathological Victor von Doom.
Not that other characters diminished by this emphasis on Reed and Doom. Hickman writes a terrific Black Panther as well, and T’Challa is very much on display as he wields his own cosmic might against Battleworld’s master. This issue is also a great showcase for the rest of the Richards clan, the Future Foundation and even Molecule Man. The latter character proves as vital to this tale as anyone else.
The shipping delays were more than justified considering that they allowed Ribic to illustrate the entirety of Secret Wars on his own. Too many event comics are marred by fill-in art that detracts from the reading experience long after the trade paperback has been published and the original delays have been long forgotten. As with every issue of the series, Ribic delivers a tremendous sense of scope and and grandeur in his art. But keeping in line with Hickman’s script, this issue has a more up close and personal quality to it. Ribic focuses more on facial work and emotional intensity than epic carnage. Even the mighty clash between the omnipotent Doom and the Infinity Gauntlet-clad Black Panther is a secondary concern. That makes those moments of massive spectacle stand out all the more when they do occur.
So. That all being said, what makes the finale to Secret Wars worth a 10 rating? It really boils down to the immense feeling of joy Hickman and Ribic create as they wrap up this sweeping tale. This issue really is the perfect cap to Hickman’s Avengers run in how it parallels and subverts the conflicts that have been at play since the first issues of New Avengers and Avengers. Hickman’s run was fixated on death – the slow death of the multiverse, the inevitability of entropy and decay, the futile attempts to sacrifice some life to save the rest. Reed and his allies find victory by finally rejecting those ideas. Death isn’t inevitable. A hero doesn’t have to sacrifice some to save the rest. This issue celebrates the joy and thrill of creation and the idea that even the lowest villain can find redemption. It pays homage to the powerful legacy of the Fantastic Four and their role in shaping and defining the Marvel Universe as it is today. If Secret Wars winds up being Hickman’s final bow at Marvel (and hopefully it doesn’t), it’s a tremendous farewell to this universe and its heroes.
If Secret Wars didn’t already qualify as one of Marvel’s best event comics, it clinches that title now with a pitch-perfect final issue. Secret Wars #9 manages to be both epic in scope and completely intimate, focusing more on the bitter rivalry between Reed Richards and Victor von Doom than the chaos unfolding across Battleworld. And whereas Hickman’s Avengers saga was preoccupied with death, this issue is instead a celebration of life and creation. It’s a fitting payoff to years of buildup.
