Secret Wars #4
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Esad Ribic
Colors by Ive Svorcina
Published by Marvel Comics
After spending the previous two issues introducing Battleworld and the New World Order of God Doom, the most recent issue of Secret Wars treats readers to a gigantic brawl between the heroes of Reed Richards’ life raft, the Cabal, and the Thor Corps. While the miniseries has yet to stall or run in place, as most event comics often do, issue four does suffer from certain pacing and mechanical issues that lead to it being the weakest installment yet.
Although the majority of this issue is dedicated to the battle between the Cabal and the assorted heroes, outside of the two major deaths, the newest installment seems meaningless at times. Because Jonathan Hickman did such an excellent job in conveying and justifying Doom’s divinity in the previous issues, any reference or further explanation of his godly status seems heavy handed and unnecessary. The only two bits of warranted character development for Dr. Doom come in a flashback or when Valeria Richards refers to him as “Father” signifying that Doom has completely co-opted Reed Richards’ life as if it was something that Doom always wanted.
The structuring of issue four plays a major hand in the overall weakness of the issue as well. Up until this point, the reader feels like they are on a ride touring through this eerie, yet oddly familiar land. Everything that was previously introduced to the reader felt new and exciting. Yet, in issue four, because the majority of the battle is seen through the same voyeuristic lens that Doom observes the conflict, the battle doesn’t feel as massive or threatening as it should. In fact, because it even takes Dr. Doom some convincing to join the fray, the battle is almost rendered trivial as a result of his indifference. Readers are then left watching heroes and villains fight each other into a stalemate until Doom arrives onto the scene.
Meanwhile, Dr. Strange, Dooms’ right hand man, explains the genesis of Battleworld to the heroes even though readers are already well aware as to the origin of this amalgamated planet. Wasting time on exposition and framing the plot of the story so that the reader spends about a quarter of the issue watching Doom watch a battle are the biggest culprits as to why issue four loses its footing. Instead of focusing further on Dr. Doom and Dr. Strange’s battle with the Beyonders, that brief explanation is swept aside in favor of the latter reiterating that the former is firmly in charge of Battleworld. Again, something that wasn’t previously explained is being shafted in order to reiterate the plot point of Dooms’ omnipotence, something that Hickman already convinced his readers of by the end of the second issue.
What also separates the most recent issue of Secret Wars from prior issues is that in the first three issues, the cast of characters was relegated to those who mattered. Issue four is beset by random and frivolous interjections by other characters with no real motive but to remind readers who made it out of the life raft alive. Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Star-Lord, and a handful of other characters spout incredulous one-liners just to remind readers that they’re still alive. Further complicating matters is that Cyclops sort of sounds like Apocalypse by the end of this issue, which for fans of the character is a bitter pill to swallow as it again proves that Marvel writers still have no idea how to process the character in light of Avengers Vs. X-Men.
The shining moment of the newest installment comes at the very end with Dr. Strange finally confronting Dr. Doom. Doom’s response is both true to the character, and yet even more merciless than normal, as it no doubt conveys Dooms’ quivering sense of self-reliance. The only gripe is that Strange’s change of heart seems a little too sudden, as he spends the previous issues as a loyal servant of God Doom. Although it seemed like Strange was a begrudging adherent to the will of Doom, his actions by the end of the issue aren’t really predicated on any overt moments of treachery.
Artist Esad Ribic seems to have toned down the wacky nature of his pencils that had been plaguing the previous three issues, although odd facial expressions continue to be a problem. There are times when Dr. Strange looks constipated; there’s one panel where Thanos looks like Beaker from the Muppets, while other characters (most Sue Richards) have got a bad case of anime eyes.
Overall, issue four proves to be the weakest installment thus far as it slows the plot down to a crawl and feels purely like a transitional issue meant to set up the final half of the miniseries. If this is a necessary sacrifice to ensure that the final four issues will be even better than the first three, so be it. At this point, there should be no cause for alarm as readers should trust Jonathan Hickman with his plans. After three astonishing issues, and one decent issue, Secret Wars is still on pace to be Marvel’s best event since Civil War.