Secret Wars II (Secret Wars II (1985))

Fondly I remember the Marvel Secret Wars storylines during the mid-80s, when I was first getting into comics. Not having money, I'd get what was available at the library, so it was great to experience all major heroes & villains in a few short issues--a feat which otherwise would take years and many separate titles.The Secret Wars II sequel, nicely collected in this paperback, fanned out across many other titles, but the mainline 9-issue story is here. Those who didn't want the 2009 hardcover  Secret Wars II Omnibus  (which includes all cross-overs), will find this edition to their liking. But note that, due to the cross-over nature that was the intent of SW2, some scenes in the mainline series seem "cut" and disjointed, but with a short caption explanation.The first  Secret Wars  was essentially an all-action shoot-em-up. In this sequel, the omnipotent Beyonder (instigator of the 1st series) comes to Earth to learn more about this intangible element "desire" which drives all men. As such, SW2 plays more like a treatise on philosophy: how does one who is omnipotent find satisfaction? For me, a pre-teen barely in junior high, this was pretty awesome stuff. (Having cut my teeth on this, I remember years later scoffing at the movie  Dogma , which others thought so profound.)There is also much humor early in the series as a naive Beyonder appears out of nowhere in Steve Rogers' (Capt. Amer.) body, asking Peter Parker, "Why is eating?" or munches on a glass bottle of soda or chops carrots in a blender whilst driving a Lamborghini...in the sky!Ah, the Bronze Age of 80s comics! An age when the story reigned supreme and art sometimes took a back seat. Compared to modern comics, the art of SW2 might be deemed less-than-quality--indeed, there is one issue where a hot-dog vendor randomly acquires a brown suit jacket for a single panel, then goes back to his apron! There are other such goofs, but for me that only adds to the charm (though it still loses a star for lack of quality control in the art dept.).But what stories! Each issue of SW2 is packed with lots to read on every page, such that a single issue would take me about 25min. to read, compared at 6-7min. for modern comics.SW2 is definitely an acquired taste. And I would like to say this book is for fans only; but the thing is, how does one become a fan of anything without experiencing it for the first time? If you find modern comics to be bland, story-wise, SW2 is definitely worth checking out. If you only want to look at pretty pictures, and find captions, speech balloons, ideas and literacy a distraction, you'd best keep looking.

Secret Wars II the sequel to Secret Wars is a good but not great crossover novel. The protagonist an essentially all powerful being from another universe comes to Earth to try to comprehend earthlings since he is the only being who exists in his universe. There is some good humor and interesting philosophizing at times but it gets tedious at times mainly because it gets too wordy in some places. The main point of these crossovers is a lot of action and while plenty of that exists it isnt as compelling as its predecessor. I also Milgrom 's art is not as the Zeck art in the original Secret Wars but it still is a good read

I really didn’t enjoy this series. I’ve gone back and read many of the classic stories from the 80’s like Secret Wars (original), infinity crisis, etc. This one was very weak and very shallow. It was only a trunk from which all other crossover stories could be branched off of. The books only had enough story to meagerly link one crossover issue to another or to act as a teaser for another series crossover. The actual story of the Beyonder’s fulfillment could (and should) have been condensed to two issues. I recall the same feeling of buyer’s remorse when I actually bought every crossover issue of the Inferno plot line from few years after this one was released. The story did have impact on the three main X titles of the day, but the Thor, Fantastic Four, Power Pack, etc. issues were a very weak tie-in and contributed nothing to the actual plot line. Similar to this, the limited series had some effect on the major Avengers family of titles. But this series itself in a vacuum is not worth the money and certainly not worth the time spent reading.

This book collects every issue of the Secret Wars II saga, but ONLY those of the Secret Wars II title. Between each issue, readers will be told where in the Marvel Universe the story continues. Examples include New Mutants #30, Captain America #308, X-Men #196, and Iron Man #197. If Marvel had included these issues, I would have given it five stars. Those familiar with the Marvel Universe will have no problem making the leaps. Those new to Marvel or unfamiliar with this point in Marvel's history may find the jumps hard to make.

The overall story of the Beyonder's return is interesting but for the story to work, you need to read the tie-in issues from the related superhero comics. Without those, the Secret Wars II issues are just a shell for the larger narrative. Most of the action takes place in the tie-in issues.

The extent of this crossover is huge, but since half of it occurs outside of the pages in the series, you will looking for a lot of old comics to get the full picture. But, the story contained in this mini series is more than enough for fans of the Beyonder.

Fun, complete and cool, like comics used to be before it turned into pompous philosophical nonsense. One text balloon beats anything Hickman puts out.

Amazon kindle, please release the missing marvel masterworks for iron man, hulk, avengers, and thor so they all will be up to date with the marvel masterworks from spider man, fantastic four, and daredevil. Thank you.

Item is a fairly Used Graphic Novel collecting Secret Wars 2, issues 1 through 8. The Front and Back cover are slightly battered but have have protected the internal contents - A Reader copy.The Story about the Beyonder on Earth is interesting and NOT your usual Super-Hero action but an attempt to narrate the attempts of an Omnipotent Being encountering a real World ... which happens to be the Marvel Universe.It has it's positive moments.As a Completist, I think I would have liked to have the Secret Wars 2 Omnibus which has the Crossovers issues set within the Marvel Universe but that has been out of Print for a long time and is hard to obtain.

I have always wanted to read this story and although this isn't the full story I really enjoyed every single issue that I read and thought the story flowed well and never got too complicated. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a crossover event and trust me when it is written this well who wouldn't want to read it???

Perfect.

Simply Marvel-lous......

I have the comics lurking in my mum's loft but they are out of reach and wanted a reread. Great story