Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Secret Wars #3 of 8
Marvel Comics
Hickman, Ribic & Svorcina
"Secret Wars" plows forward with another exposition heavy issue. This particular issue manages to bring the survivors of the universes together, which leads to more questions but does provide some answers. The comic book is absent action, which combined with the heavy dialogue makes for a very slow read. The goal of the issue was to bring together some of the survivors and that part was successful. This was a slightly above average read.
The book is presented in a very logical manner. Hickman switches off between Doom-centric conversations that are mostly about the burden of power, which is a theme of this series, versus the investigation around the death of one of the Thors. The Doom components of the issue seem to drag on too much.
Doom converses with Strange. Then he converses with Susan. These two pieces of the book give the reader an idea of how the world was formed and how Doom assumed control. Further, these conversations reveal his self-reflection and the difficult decisions he's had to make and live with. Within a collected edition these scenes are critical. Reading as an individual issue, where both are present and absent action they drag the pace down horribly.
The scenes with the death investigation are more interesting but bring up a ton of questions. At the scene of the crime, the Thor Corps is sent out to look for the crew from the ship. The younger Thor remains behind with Strange for reasons that are never explained and Strange forces out a character in hiding. Again, this is not explained as to how Strange knew he was hiding nor is it revealed as to what the character was fearing once the villains left.
Strange then brings the younger Thor and the surprise character back to his secret base where he's been hiding a ship for eight years. The characters within were in some kind of stasis all this time and are somehow magically awakened when the doors open. They are unaware that any time has passed. Again, more questions than answers.
The artwork is solid. Without action there are a lot of close-ups of characters talking, which is handled well. The new world is not really explored so there isn't much for the art to render with any imagination. For the most part this is a fine looking comic book for an okay story.
Secret Wars continues to look at the nature of power and the responsibility that comes with it in this issue. The comic book focuses on Doom and how he came to power and the kinds of regrets he's dealing with. The comic is a slow, but dense read. The plot movement brings together some of the surviving characters from the last incursion. Generally the book is a fine read but it isn't anything terribly memorable. There are some key moments that will provide more punch in a collected edition, but as a single issue they make for a slow paced, average read. This is worth a look.
3 out of 5 Geek Goggles
