Jimmy Attempts To Read All Of Secret Wars Part Twenty

Much like my trip through DC’s Convergence, I’ve fallen woefully behind schedule.  At the very least I am caught up on reading everything.  Writing about them is another story.  I’ve also been pretty busy with our latest pet project: The Secret Wars Power Rankings.

After the break I’ll take a look at Infinity Gauntlet #2, Weirdworld #1, Weirdworld #2, Red Skull #1, Ultimate End #3 and very briefly touch on Giant Size Little Marvel AVX #1, Giant Size Little Marvel AVX #2 and Giant Size Little Marvel AVX #3.

Some other important links:
Tom’s Road To Secret Wars: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7.
The other parts of this series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

Infinity Gauntlet #2

In the domain of New Xander a long thought dead Nova has returned to save her family from the Annihilation Wave.  To keep them alive she also “deputizes” them, making them all Nova’s as well.  Even the dog.

The family make their way to the old Nova headquarters only to find it destroyed by the Wave.  And someone has used the attack as cover to steal one of those pesky infinity stones.  “Who?” you ask?  Have you seen Guardians of the Galaxy?  So, basically the same as the plot for that movie, Star-Lord and Gamorra have it.

Flash forward to the future and we see our good friend Thanos fighting mother Nova.  They both process two infinity stones in their respective gauntlets.  Thanos has apparently killed her family at this point, but is no match for the Nova and he knows it.  But, he has the time gem.  And it appears he’s been using it to travel back in time over and over again until he gets it right and can defeat Nova.

Weirdworld #1

Ever heard of Arkon?  Probably not.  He’s been around since 1970 and is the “warlord and ruler of the extra-dimensional world of Polemachus” according to our friends at Wikipedia.  This guy is calling out for a Tom Kelly Misplaced Heroes entry.  that’s about all I can tell you.  He seems to be Conan with a healing factor, and gets pulled out of retirement whenever Marvel needs a Sword and Sorcery type.

In this story we find our hero trapped in the domain of Weirdworld.  All he wants to do is get home to Polemachus.  All he has are his smarts, a kick-ass sword, a quiver of battle-bolts and an incomplete hand drawn map that is every bit as weird as the domain it surveys.

After slaying many beasts Arkon claims a dragon as his own.  As it is flying over Weirdworld, it appears Arkon may finally be on his way home until some aquatic apes use a giant puffer fish in a reverse bit of fishing to drag Arkon and the dragon down under the sea.  Yes, aquatic apes.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Arkon, his new dragon actually belongs to the Baroness of Weirdworld: Morgan Le Fay.  And she is not happy.

Weirdworld #2

“Escape From Apelantis”.  Weirdworld #2 definitely wins the best story title so far during Secret Wars.

Our hero Arkon is being held captive by the water-apes.  In their dungeons he makes an ally of Warbow, a warrior of the Crystallium.  Not familiar with that?  I’m not overly either but I do kinda remember this guy:

The pair fight their way through an army of apes but while trying to reach the surface of the water, Arkon loses his map.  Arkon wants to go back for it but Warbow says that he too has a map, and if Arkon helps him locate his prince, the map is his.  Arkon agrees.

Warbow neglects to tell Arkon a few details as they battle to reach their destinastion.  One, his leige Crystar is being held in the middle of Morgan Le Fay’s liquid magma stronghold.  And two, Crystar is actually just a crushed up bag of crystals at this point.  As they retrieve the shards, Le Fay’s army of Magma Men close in for the kill.

Red Skull #1

It’s Marvel’s version of the Suicide Squad.  Five villains who have pissed off God Doom are  brought together against there will and forced to wear power dampening collars.  But instead of just throwing them over The Shield, Doom has something else in mind.  He wants them to bring him the head of the Red Skull.  (For some reason the power of a God does not allow you to search your planet with ease.)

As most of the powerful villains in these Secret Wars books seem to have done or are planning to do, the Red Skull attempted to overthrow Doom and become leader of Battleworld.  When he failed, he was cast over The Shield.  But rumors persist he has survived, and others even use his symbol as a rallying call against Doom.  This must be quashed.

The assembled “team” plus Winter Soldier who voluntered because he and the Red Skull have “unfinished business”, are dropped over The Shield and make their way to the Deadlands.  I hope you haven’t grown attached to this squad over the first 17 pages, as they don’t last long.  Marvel Zombies are not easy to kill.

Magneto is the only one that makes it out alive (hey, just like in the original Marvel Zombies!) when he is saved by the Red Skull!

Ultimate End #3

This issue attempts to give some background on the lead up to and eventually the resolution of last issues epic Hulk battle between the “616” (I still don’t think this is the 616) Hulk and the 1610 Hulk.

The story picks up after the battle and Ultimate Nick Fury has “616” Bruce Banner captive and is interrogating him.  Most of the heroes of the domain are also on hand, looking for answers.

It seems the “616” Hulk was working on a solution to their “we have two domains mixed up in one” problem, even though Doom has outlawed it.  Ultimate Banner/Hulk believes that what Original Recipe Hulk is doing is only going to make things worse.  Ultimate Banner gets mad…you can figure out the rest.

And you know what, Bendis never does explain how the fight ended.  It’s just implied that somehow the heroes and S.H.I.E.L.D. stopped two Hulks, captured and sedated them.  Something that “616” Tony Stark has a problem with as “616” Banner is a friend.  And Stark is not not one to stand by and do nothing.  After everyone has left, he sends in a suit of Iron Man armor that rescues Banner and brings him back to Stark to help work on their “domain crossover” problem.

Meanwhile, the “616” and Ultimate Punisher come into conflict.  (Which completely contradicts the end of the Punisher during his Last Days story as I will continue to use quotes around 616.)  One of them dies (does it matter which?) and the other goes off to kill…everybody.

Giant Size Little Marvel AVX #1

Giant Size Little Marvel AVX #2

Giant Size Little Marvel AVX #3

What if the Avengers and the X-Men were kids and lived on intersecting streets?  That’s the basis for this series that is on the lighter side of Battleworld.

I won’t cover these issues in detail.  The jist of the story is that a new set of normal twins move into the neighborhood.  The Avengers and X-Men, who are endlessly competing at everything, stage an epic battle of oneupsmanship to try to get the new kids to join their team.

A fun aside if you are into these types of things and the work of Skottie Young.