Secret Wars

I'm making my way through the history of the X-Men, and I purchased this book because I didn't want to skip this 12-issue part of their story that's squeezed in between Uncanny X-Men #180 and #181. I knew that this giant multi-team crossover was created only to promote a series of Mattel action figures, so my expectations were quite low. As it happens, the story Jim Shooter created is pretty intriguing, and the book itself is packed with extra features that definitely made it well worth the purchase for any comic fan.The book doesn't shy away at all from its origins, with an introduction by Tom DeFalco detailing the Mattel connection. There are even six pages of text, with photos, describing all of the action figures. Other extras include an article from Marvel Age #12 announcing the series and several pages of original pencil artwork from Mike Zeck, Bob Layton, and John Beatty, as well as cover art from previously published volumes.The nicest extras, however, surround the story itself. There is an 18-page prologue featuring pages from eight different comic books, showing how all of the heroes were drawn to the Beyonder's mysterious fortress in Central Park. And a page at the end of the book describes what became of each of the heroes after their return to earth.The story itself covers a typical comic book theme - good pitted against evil for survival and to save the universe. But there are plenty of twists and turns, including suspicions held by the other super heroes regarding the mutant X-Men, and the layered ambiguity of villains such as Magneto and Dr. Doom. The large cast of characters means any given hero may not get a ton of pages - some issues barely featured the X-Men - but every character contributes in different and significant ways.The fact that it's a self-contained story with no cliffhanger or on-going interaction with other comics makes it an especially good read for somebody who just wants to read a fun story without needing a ton of backstory.Marvel had always interwoven characters and storylines through some of its different comic series - the so-called Marvel Universe was well-established - and spinoff books and limited-run series were getting to be more and more commonplace in the early 1980s. Whilte the artwork and dialogue of Secret Wars may not be break any new ground, the idea of placing so many different heroes and villains into one smashingly cool story-line was new, and THAT'S what makes Secret Wars a groundbreaker.

Back in the 80s, Marvel's Secret Wars was released a year before DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths. Both storylines were big deals and changed their respective universes in many ways, and it was the first major crossover event for both companies. Secret Wars affected all Marvel comic books. From Spider-Man's black costume that would ultimately become Venom, to The Thing staying off-world and continuing his solo adventures in his own series, to She-Hulk joining the Fantastic Four, and much, much more. Not to mention the coinciding action figures that were released. And I loved that the continuing comic book series jumped ahead a year and we had to figure out what happened during the Secret Wars as it was released month by month to catch us up. It was a new concept at the time, and it invigorated the comics. I purchased this trade paperback of Secret Wars 40 years later so I could reread the story and relive the experience I first read as a teenager.

To have this great and important storyline all together in one book is great. I've only read the story once or twice since I was a kid, and wanted to get it again.On to the packaging. In a word...a 5 year old could have packaged the book better. What I got was a box that was about twice as large as needed for the book. Also, and most mindbaffling...there was no protection for the book it was just the book sliding and bouncing around in the box. LUCKILY, the book seems to be undamaged. No dinged corners or folded cover or folded pages. In 20 years of ordering from amazon, I've never seen even the smallest object NOT wrapped with even a single layer of bubble wrap. I just don't get it.So, to anyone that reads this, and wants to order this book....just check the book over real carefully when you get it to make sure nothings wrong.