ISBN: 9780785158301
Price: $29.99
Publisher/Year: Marvel, 2011
Artist: Al Milgrom
Writer: Jim Shooter
Collects: Secret Wars 2 #1-9
Rating: 1/5
A year after the success of the original Secret Wars, Marvel published a follow-up in an attempt to keep the ride going. I remember reading some of the original comics in 1985, but it was reading this trade that makes me think that though the marketing probably worked, the story lacked the same flair that the original mini-series had.
We have the return of the “One from Beyond”, or simply the Beyonder. He’s trying to figure humanity out and decides to become human himself to learn from the experiences. This doesn’t work all too well. It also seems as though every superhero that meets-up with the Beyonder tries to attack him on site. I think that would be a clue to him to leave Earth and go back to his own little area of the universe.
My biggest problem with this trade is that if you want to follow the entire story, you have to also pick-up specific issues where the Beyonder makes an appearance. Reading this trade alone, you receive a sense of what happens in some of the other books. This is where the marketing probably worked because if you wanted to follow the complete Secret Wars 2 story, you’d want/need to buy the additional comic books. If you were an active reader of certain titles and the Beyonder made an appearance, then you might just get interested in what else was going on and pick-up the Secret Wars 2 issues. Here are the list of tie-ins for this storyline alone:
New Mutants #30; Captain America #308; Uncanny X-Men #196; Iron Man #197; Web of Spider-Man #6; Amazing Spider-Man #268; Fantastic Four #282; Daredevil #223; Incredible Hulk #312; Avengers #260; Dazzler #40; Alpha Flight #28; Rom #72; Avengers #261; Doctor Strange #74; Thing #30; Fantastic Four #285; Power Pack #18; Thor #363; Micronauts: The New Voyages #16; Power Man and Iron Fist #121; Cloak & Dagger #4; New Mutants #36; Amazing Spider-Man #273; Uncanny X-Men #202; New Defenders #152; Spectacular Spider-Man #111; New Mutants #37; Amazing Spider-Man #274; Avengers #265; Uncanny X-Men #203; Fantastic Four #288; Avengers #266; Deadpool Team-Up #1 (Deadpool sent by Kingpin to kill Beyonder)
The story is also very lacking in depth. This isn’t a “Good vs. Evil” story like the original Secret Wars was. This story is centered on the Beyonder, and there’s not enough to make him interesting. There have been very few trades that I have read that I don’t enjoy, but this is one of them. I’m keeping this in my collection simply because I am a completist and without it there would be a continuity hole in my collection.
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