Customer Reviews

Secret Wars II Omnibus

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was a fun, epic feeling story. It's a bit heavy handed and melodramatc in places (as comics of it's time generally were,)and the action doesn't pack the same punch as the action in modern comics, but it held up better than I expected and was more enjoyable to read than I thought it would be. It's great getting the entire story with tie-ins in one massive volume, and the tie-ins worked better/added more to the story than I would have thought.

At nearly 1200 pages telling one story with a distinct beginning, middle, and end, the story really does feel epic. Touching on pretty much every title Marvel had in the mid 80's, it also gives a fantastic overview of the Marvel universe at the time. The reproduction quality is great as well. The only thing I would have liked to have seen is some sort of text overview of how the series was put together, how well it sold, how it was received by fans and critics at the time, and how it is looked at now, 25 years later.

Overall I'm glad I bought this. It was better than I expected and (taken as a whole) I liked it a lot. Was it as well done as most modern comics? Absolutely not -- comics have come a long way in the last 25 years, the writing, art, coloring, pacing, fight choreographay, intensity, level of sophistication, and production values are all dramatically better now -- but this was still a fun read. I read both this and the latest Green Lantern collection this weekend (Green Lantern Secret Origin,) and that just highlighted how far comics have come in the last twenty five years (and how much better they are now on so many levels,) but that didn't stop me from enjoying this as well.

On the fence about ordering this?

It's 1200 pages and oversized. But is it any good?

Here's the basic overview...

What if you landed in the Marvel Universe? A place full of web-swinging vigilantes, blind lawyers, Canadian government teams, family dynamics, persecuted mutants, and wealthy superheroes?

How would you react to them? By studying them closely.

Oh, and you have the power to do ANYTHING you wish.

It is the Beyonder's interactions with these heroes and the world around him that tries to corrupt him that makes this story. WHY does Daredevil, having lost his sight, continue to fight the good fight, both metahumans AND in a court room? WHY do mutants save humanity despite being hated themselves? WHY is Captain America the man he is?

The Beyonder doesn't view a street-walking prostitute as a "dirty, girl of the streets"...he sees this girl from an alien perspective and she changes him for the better. A touching esrly chapter in the story.

Get this before the price goes up. It cover all of Marvel in the 80's and will you give you a fresh perspective on your favorite characters.

Maybe 3-1/2 stars. It's the mid-80's, the Beyonder's back, and craziness ensues!

I really like Al Milgrom's simplistic penciling style because I think it goes *great* with the bright & clear colors of the 80's. It's 80's comics-making on a grand scale! If these same comics were re-colored today, I probably wouldn't like the effect. Thankfully Marvel uses these bright & clear colors on this current omnibus cover.

Yes, I really like these main 9 issues, and a few of the tie-ins are definitely solid, but most of this volume is average at best. It's truly the good, the bad & the ugly of the mid-80's. New readers in particular might consider this shockingly bad. So why do I essentially rate this above average? The 1st reason is that I like to see these main 9 issues in a high quality collection. Marvel has yet to release this in trade paperback form, so this is currently the way to go. The 2nd reason is that it's simply neat to see such a sweeping storyline collected in one place, regardless of the quality. Still, I think I would prefer a nice TPB instead of this heavy omnibus. I really only recommend this for die-hard 80's fans.

P.S. I think it's great that Marvel managed to squeeze Deadpool into this. He appears on 1 page in the back of this volume, since they reference the Beyonder in Deadpool Team-Up #1. I like it.

P.P.S. My copy has the *great* John Byrne cover. An Ed McGuinness variant may also be available.

UPDATE- A new, and I believe 1st ever, Secret Wars II trade paperback printing is now being listed. A much more inexpensive way to see this series again.

I read the original story when it was first published and, as a kid, I enjoyed it a great deal. This is one of those times when I wished I could have my childhood memories restored because what I read really wasn't nearly as good as I remember it to be.
There were some standout stories that did make it worth the read. I found all the Spider-man tie in really fun to read and I found the Thing story, where he wrestles the Beyonder, well done. I also did find the last two issues of the Secret War II books very compelling and I wished the entire run was that well done.

I guess one of the problems with writing a stories like this, where you have a god who can do anything, are the stakes are so low you wonder why they even bother. You know any character killed will be brought back by the end. You know all the events will be rendered pointless and that makes it not as much fun to read as it should be. I'd wanted to see some consequences for the Beyonder's actions instead of having each issue reset what happened at the end.

It was kind of neat to see all the characters in their old worlds but in the end if you have good memories of Secret Wars II from when you were a kid don't bother reading them as an adult.

The Arwen

These omnibus editions are very cool, and I love these marvel epics wherein they tried to tell an epic over multiple issues. The problem here is the story isn't as compelling as Secret Wars original which was actually pretty good. The story here just doesn't seem like a very inspired one, which is too bad, because if Marvel was doing epics that had great stories on the level of Stan Lee, John Byrne, early Chris Claremont or Alan Moore- then they would be selling a lot more than they have.

With these comics its clearly the talent of the writer and artists that really make them and here the writing is ok but not great and the art is hit or miss, with the Byrne issues being the best along with the Claremont stuff....so only buy if you are a hardcore fan.

I still hope marvel puts out omnibus editions of all the best stuff from the 60's thru present- including all Stan Lee written early issues, all John Byrne issues, etc, etc..

The spine was not glued very well so pay attention to that it seems marvel has skimped on this but lets hope they make these really well in which case these omnibuses are great.

With a wealth of classic material at its disposal, it's disappointing to see Marvel choosing to give two of its lamest series the prestige "omnibus" treatment. Secret Wars I and II were badly produced limited series designed largely for the promotion of a line of kids toys. As for the Beyonder, well, the Beyonder is never going to be "classic" or "iconic" material. Period. Silly little series with a bunch of fighting. Perfect for the 8 to 10-year-old reader. Not perfect for this format.

Maybe Marvel is hoping a lot of the folks who read this junk as kids will rush out to buy a copy. Personally, I'll be saving that money for a copy of one of the following:

Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus 2
Fantastic Four Omnibus 3
Tales of Suspense/Captain America Omnibus I
Journey Into Mystery/Thor Omnibus I
Strange Tales/Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD Omnibus I
Captain Marvel Omnibus I
Tales to Astonish/Sub-Mariner Omnibus I

Of course, there's no telling when those books will be released. Given Marvel's priorities, I suspect those titles will take a back seat to the U.S. 1 Omnibus. 'Nuff said.