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Jun

29

Secret Wars II Omnibus

Filed Under Books | 7 Comments

I’m actually quite surprised this compilation is coming out, having read a lot of bad reviews of the series overall throughout the years. It was by no means an earth shatteringly good series, and the easily impressed teenager that I was when I bought it wasn’t that impressed either. But there were some really memorable moments in it that for some reason stick to me even today.

A standard compilation would have been plausible.

But a hard cover OMNIBUS? Wow, a hard cover omnibus.

It’s already up for pre-order at Amazon.com:

Product Description

He rescued the Hulk and destroyed the New Mutants, he wrestled the Thing and made a deal with Mephisto, he created Kurse and Thundersword and a tower of gold! Doctor Strange tried to teach him; Dazzler tried to romance him! The Avengers wanted to recruit him, Daredevil to sue him, and Puma and Deadpool just wanted him dead! Hero, villain, force of nature and deus ex machina all in one: the Beyonder! For good or ill, he was one of the most powerful agents of change in the eighties, and now you can see all of his work all at once!

Collects Secret Wars II #1-9; New Mutants #30 and #36-37; Captain America #308; Uncanny X-Men #196 and #202-203; Iron Man #197; Fantastic Four #282, #285, #288 and #316-319; Web of Spider-Man #6; Amazing Spider-Man #268 and #273-274; Daredevil #223; Incredible Hulk #312; Avengers #260-261and #265-266; Dazzler #40; Alpha Flight #28; Thing #30; Doctor Strange #74; Cloak and Dagger #4; Power Pack #18; Thor #363; Power Man and Iron Fist #121; Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #111; Defenders #152; Deadpool Team-Up #1; and Quasar #8.

Product Details

* Hardcover: 1168 pages
* Publisher: Marvel Comics (December 3, 2008)

I actually want to get it. Specially since the crossover issues are included as well. The series itself was, like I said, wasn’t that impressive, but there were a couple of issues that have sort of endeared themselves to me. Like the issue where the Beyonder fell in with the mob and he slowly worked up the ranks. It was a surprisingly involving story with characters that really came alive for me. It felt like reading a mini epic that carried with it the weight of the passage of time.

The next issue, where Beyonder tries to win the love of Dazzler, with disastrous results, is another memorable issue, and gave a young teener like me some pointers on the peculiarities of love.

I bought the complete Secret Wars II set when it first came out, but I sold them with most of my collection in 1993 when I ran into some urgent financial troubles. I’ve since bought my favorite issues again from Mark Navarro a few years ago. Thanks man!

The rest of the series went from all right, to tedious, to OK. But some of the cross over issues were pretty good. These are what I remember:

Daredevil: Beyonder gives Matt Murdock sight in a David Mazzucchelli drawn issue. Watching Matt see and sunset and breaking down was particularly emotionally effective.

HULK: Bill Mantlo comes up with a really emotionally involving flashback to the childhood of Bruce Banner.

Fantastic Four: John Byrne, in one of his best stories, tells the tale of a young kid who sets himself on fire trying to emulate the Human Torch.

New Mutants: Beyonder kills all the New Mutants. My favorite Chris Claremont written story after Dark Phoenix. The kids’ deaths were terribly convincing, and you really felt they were never coming back. I felt awful for a long time after reading it.

I can’t believe I’m saving up some money right now. I’d love to have this in my collection. Again.

Comments

7 Responses to “Secret Wars II Omnibus”

  1. Planet Comic Book Radio on June 29th, 2008 3:55 pm

    In a way I’m surprised it took them this long to come up with a hardcover compilation. I too bought the series and didn’t think much of it. I’m not even sure why they call it Secret Wars II. The name just didn’t fit the series. I did like Molecule Man tho’.

  2. Reno on June 30th, 2008 9:16 am

    That Fantastic Four tie-in was the first comic book I bought from Filbar’s. :)

    Had to convince my dad to shell out 25pesos for a measly comic book. hehehe.

  3. Gerry Alanguilan on June 30th, 2008 10:39 am

    Reno, I still remember the 25 pesos per new imported comic book! Actually, the first time I started buying, it was still only 19 pesos! :D

    It was a time I splurged a whopping 65 pesos on a Paul Smith back issue of Uncanny X-Men. That was huge back then. My friend thought I was crazy to spend so much on a comic book, so much so nagsisigaw sya sa bintana (“oy mga kapitbahay! si gerry bumili ng 65 pesos na comics!!)/

  4. Eusebio Yu on June 30th, 2008 7:21 pm

    I always thought Beyonder was a stupid name for a character. I mean, he comes from beyond, then is called Beyonder? Had a few issues of the first series. Didn’t like it that much. Hated the 2nd series even more. I think Al Milgrom was ther artist.
    Anyways, in the Hulk crossover, the story about about Bruce Banner’s abused chilhood written by Bill Mantlo was actually Barry Windsor Smith’s concept. Or so he claims in the magazine ‘Spectrum’. In that interview, Marvel supposedly rejected his story-which was to be called The Prometheus Project-because of the subject matter and BWS’s refusal to make some changes or compromises. I saw some of the unfinished art and it was quite good. To be sure, this was a wasted opportunity to see a truly great piece of work.

  5. Luis K on July 4th, 2008 3:45 am

    I remember the 25 pesos per comic book days. My parents thought I was crazy too. And since my allowance couldn’t cover the cost, I would actually sell or trade or rent the comics I did have just to buy new ones. I was a junkie, basically. ;)

    I couldn’t afford Secret Wars II when it came out, though I had enjoyed the first Secret Wars immensely. (Mick Zeck art! Spider-Man beating the X-Men!) So I would go to my cousin’s house (thank God he was a comics addict too, and much richer than me) and read his copies while eating everything in his refrigerator. Good times.

    I remember that one of the things I enjoyed about the series was that each issue seemed positively packed with story: the Dazzler romance in one issue, the Thing vs Everyone in another, the gangster story, the Beyonder-as-superhero story… Nowadays it seems that any *one* of those concepts would be stretched out into a whole company-wide crossover.

    Of course it doesn’t hold up when you read it as an adult. But I enjoyed the hell out of them as a kid. (Not as much as Crisis though, which was my absolute favorite ‘event.’)

    Sorry, long post. ;p

  6. Gerry Alanguilan on July 4th, 2008 6:54 am

    Luis, I agree with you on Secret Wars… it seemed it took me a long time to finish reading one issue, packed as it was with story. Reading the gangster issue it felt like reading a short book or something.

    I loved Crisis. I wanted to buy that hardcover thing a while back but it was just too expensive.

  7. Luis K on July 4th, 2008 6:46 pm

    “I wanted to buy that hardcover thing a while back but it was just too expensive.” Yeah, me too! Luckily the TPB is pretty nice, better paper than usual. :)