Existential ecclesiastical and... boring. ( )

Jim Shooter and Al Milgrom’s Secret Wars II collects the nine-issue miniseries from 1985-1986 written by Shooter, penciled by Milgrom, with inks by Steve Leialoha, colors by Christie Scheele, Juliana Ferriter, & M. Hands, letters by Joe Rosen & Rick Parker, and covers by Ed McGuinness, Mark Farmer, & Jason Keith. Secret Wars II followed on the heels of the 1984 twelve-issue miniseries event Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. In the original story, the Beyonder assembled various heroes and villains from across the Marvel Universe to fight each other on Battleworld, claiming they would win all that they desire for slaying their enemies. In this sequel, the Beyond visits Earth in search of enlightenment and comes into contact – and conflict – with various characters from throughout the Marvel Universe. On his odyssey, the Beyonder learns about power and desire and love before trying to conquer death itself and experimenting with his own mortality. Where some sequels merely repeat the format of the original, Shooter and Milgrom created something entirely new in this story that engages with deeper existential issues and the human condition itself.

While the title itself was only nine issues compared to the original series’ twelve, the full story included crossovers in Captain America, Iron Man, New Mutants, Uncanny X-Men, The Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Web of Spider-Man, Avengers, Daredevil, The Incredible Hulk, Alpha Flight, Dazzler, ROM, Doctor Strange, The Thing, Cloak and Dagger, The Micronauts: The New Voyages, Power Pack, Power Man and Iron Fist, New Defenders, Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Quasar. It also references events in the Hasbro-licensed Transformers series. All told, readers had to pick up 34 comic book issues across 22 titles in addition to the nine-issue Secret Wars II series to get the full story, with some of those titles having since left the Marvel canon – specifically ROM after Marvel ceased to have the license. The only way to get the full story with all the crossover issues in a single volume is to purchase the Secret Wars II omnibus, but it’s been out of print for several years and is unavailable, so this volume works to get the main story. Ed McGuinness’s modern cover art for this paperback edition that collects the nine issues of Secret Wars II leaves something to be desired, especially as the portrayal of the Beyonder more closely resembles Iwan Rheon than how Milgrom depicted the character in 1985. Secret Wars II had an epilogue in Avengers no. 266 that wrapped up the remaining plot threads. Finally, the original Secret Wars and Secret Wars II event series concluded in Fantastic Four no. 319 in a story titled “Secret Wars 3” in which writer Steve Englehart and artist Keith Pollard further explored the nature of the Beyonder.

Like the use of Crises in the DC universe, Marvel returned to the theme of Secret Wars a couple times afterward. In 2006, Dwayne McDuffie and Scott Kolins portrayed the Beyonder kidnapping heroes and villains to Battleworld again in the six-issue miniseries, Beyond! In 2004-2005, Brian Michael Bendis and Gabriele Dell’Otto’s Secret War storyline followed the model of Secret Wars II with a five-issue miniseries and several crossover stories throughout the other Marvel titles. Though it uses the name, it is unrelated to the original Secret Wars or its sequel, instead focusing on Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. recruiting a team of heroes to overthrow the Latverian government, which is acquiring advanced weapons technology and recruiting supervillains. The story itself is a commentary on military intelligence in a post-9/11 world. Finally, Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić’s 2015 nine-issue Secret Wars storyline worked to streamline Marvel’s continuity by pitting the various different elements of the multiverse against each other and creating a new Battle World amalgamated world from each element, including the Ultimate Universe, the 1602 world, the 2099 world, the Age of Apocalypse, and more. Like Secret Wars II, the full story played out in the core miniseries and in various standalone titles. It evoked the spirit of the original while also serving as a great way to explore all the different Marvel universes and, like the Secret Wars that preceded it, the Molecule Man played a key role. The tradition began with Jim Shooter’s original two miniseries, however, which have cast long shadows influencing stories for 36 years and easily outlived the Secret Wars toyline. Both represent some of the best 1980s comic book storytelling. ( )