1985 - Fantastic Four #285

Grabbed from Comic Creators on the Fantastic Four - John Byrne:

>>What's your Favourite FF story by you?"'Hero' in FF #285, the one with the kid who sets himself on fire. I hate the fact that the Beyonder is in it. You look at that issue and you'll notice a woman doctor, Dr. Janet Darlin, is prominent in the first part of it and then suddenly disappears. That's because I was halfway through that issue when Shooter told me it had to be a  Secret Wars Crossover issue and I had to be the Beyonder in it. So the Beyonder got to do what the doctor was supposed to do which was to show Johnny the kid's shrine to the Human Torch. Ralph Macchio once wanted to reprint that story and I actually offered to redo the Beyonder pages for free. I was willing to redraw them and put in the doctor as originally intended."

1985: Alpha's Beta Flight part V: Byrne 'n Body Switcheroo... Plus the Beyonder too!

By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

In the fifth and final entry of Alpha's Beta Flight, John Byrne's finally on his way out the door but his send off includes the return of Omega Flight, a visit to the West Edmonton Mall and more guest stars you can shake a stick at... But Alpha will try and do just that anyway.

"As if the Beyonder wasn't bad enough..." 

Your name is John Byrne. You're a wildy succesful comic book creator forced to do a series you never particularly cared for. What do you do? In the Summer of 1985, after 28 issues of Alpha Flight, John Byrne found a way to escape to greener pastures by somehow convincing Incredible Hulk writer Bill Mantlo to trade titles. Let's review how Byrne worked towards his great escape. 

As you might recall, #25 ended with the reveal that Alpha's leader Guardian wasn't really dead after all. Sure, his explanation how he survived the seemingly fatal explosion of his battle suit was a tad farfetched to say the least... But everyone mostly seemed happy to see Mac again. So, it's no surprise #26 opened with a "business as usual" vibe as Guardian leads his team against the threat of the Macro System.

"You look like reasonable robots, I'd think the choice would be easy, eh?" 

After a few pages of Alpha busting up these Transformers/Go-bots/Shogun Warrior rip-offs it turns out the robots were actually created by the Canadian military and the Flight were invited to fight them as part of a final field test. The Macro System never appeared again after this, so it's likely they failed this test or maybe the good people at Hasbro caught wind of the project and filed for copyright infringment. 

So far so common for Alpha Flight, but things were about to take a turn for the terrible.

"Say, what's this, eh?" 

The soldier delivers a message from Heather Hudson to Guardian, informing him that she and Northstar had uncovered a situation at the West Edmonton Mall deserving of Alpha Flight's attention. However, Aurora had suffered a few cracked ribs fighting the Macros, forcing Shaman and her boyfriend Walter Langkowski (still stuck in the Box armor) to stay behind and care for her. Guardian left with Puck and Talisman and as soon as they arrived at the evacuated mall they learned that their teammates were still inside, along with the reason for Heather's distress call: Omega Flight. 

The Alphans quickly entered the enormous shopping mall to look for friend and foe. But unfortunately for them, Omega Flight had a mysterious new leader who helped his teammates beat the heroes almost singlehandedly. 

"Boss! NOW!" 

That's one down...

"I have one last very special fish to fry..." 

And another...

"Ungh!"

Can you guess who it is? The reveal is wonderfully subtle, showing Byrne's clear choice to build the suspense by slowly showing more and more of this mysterious new threat. Still, Heather Hudson had no idea who it was when she caught up with her husband. She was understandably relieved to see him... but then his voice suddenly shifted to that of Omega Flight's deceased leader Jerome Jaxon and the final, awful truth was revealed at last.

"It allows me to complete my programmed instructions:
  the destruction of Alpha Flight!"

No, Jaxon is still dead... That's actually his robot aide Delphine Courtney who was also instrumental in Guardian's death back in #12. Courtney had herself outfitted to resemble James McDonald Hudson and once and for all dispelled the notion that robots don't possess imagination by coming up with that utterly ridiculous "I was stranded 10.000 years in the past on Jupiter's moon Ganymede where a race of ancient alien ice squids rebuilt me into a cyborg..." excuse for Mac's seeming survival. 

Still, one wonders if Byrne would have reveal Delphine's trickery if he hadn't been scheduled to leave the book. After all, there's a natural arc to these kind of stories and reintroducing a long lost character only to have him turn out to be the bad guy halfway through the next issue doesn't exactly deliver the big, emotional pay off you'd be aiming for. But with only two issues left to go, Byrne was in a hurry as we'll see in the opening pages of #27.

"No way do I summon Shaman for you." 

Courtney expected Talisman's lack of cooperation, that's why he/she/it simply started to torture Elizabeth until her father's mystical senses picked up his child's distress. This would bring the remaining Alphans to Edmonton where Omega would be waiting for them. As plans go, it's actually not the worst idea in the world. Shaman was still in the team's Vancouver base where he'd just used a combination of western medicine and magic to take care of Aurora's injuries. Together, they accompanied a very excited Walter Langkowski to the lab of Roger Bochs. Turns out he'd found a suitable new body for Walter to inhabit.

"Look! There he is!" 

Gee, wonder who *that* could be, eh? Before they could explore the options of getting their hands on this new body, Shaman sensed his daughter's pain and teleported himself, Box and Aurora to her location. Unbeknownst to everyone, Snowbird had also felt Talisman's pain and started to make her way towards Edmonton. This was a big deal, since she'd actually been pretending to have left the earthly planes altogether after killing Sasquatch in #24. 

"Guardian" meets Shaman, Aurora and Box as soon as they arrived. Unaware of their leader's true nature, they initially buy his cover story about Alpha Flight having already taken care of Omega Flight. However, "Guardian" (along with human rights activists everywhere) loses his cool when Shaman casually mentions he's still carrying the miniaturized, comatose Omega Flighter Smart Alec around inside his medicine pouch. Incensed, Courtney grabs the Sarcee's medicine bag and flies off in hopes of retrieving Alec. When the bag proves to be empty, the frustrated robot turns it inside out, figuring there might be a secret pocket he missed. 

This move released the void, the universe that dwells beyond the mouth of Shaman's pouch. It needed to be contained quickly before it took over all that is. Before he could do anything, the Void claimed most of Alpha Flight even as Omega Flight made a run for it. Still, Shaman needed help and that's why he called on his barely conscious, drugged and tortured daughter.

"Talisman! Talisman! Elizabeth, can you hear me?"

Yes, wouldn't every loving father call his injured daughter by her codename twice before actually remembering her real one? And it got worse, he convinced her to dive inside the void to get Alpha Flight out before exposure to the maddening effect of otherworld would turn them incurably insane. Reluctant to risk her own sanity, Shaman assured Talisman he'd do everything to make sure she got out too. And we know Michael Twoyoungmen's as good as his word... Just ask his dead wife. 

Still, despite the fact she could barely stand or form a coherent sentence, Talisman did her job and retrieved her fellow teammates while Shaman used his own powers to slowly drive the void back into his pouch. All in all, it felt like an easy victory... until this happened.

"This will take but a moment, Elizabeth. Be brave, I shall not fail you." 

Unbelievable... It's like Shaman gets his powers from continuously making the wrong call. Even if he decided to save Snowbird first, he does so by reaching into the same void he needs to pull his daughter out of. You went to medical school, didn't you Michael? Remember how they taught you humans actually have two hands? Try and use them next time.

Shaman's attack shortcircuits Courtney's robotic structure, forcing her to flee and allowing him to finally turn his full attention to Elizabeth. But, you guessed it... 

"You can do it! You have the power!!" 

You have the power? C'mon, Shaman... Don't blame this on the power of Grayskull, she's Talisman, not She-Ra. 

#27 closes out with a horrified Shaman realizing he'd just doomed his daughter. And, what's an even bigger travesty: she would actually be rescued by the Beyonder in Secret Wars II#4. Yes, the tail end of John Byrne's Alpha Flight run coincided with Marvel's first company wide crossover, a sequel (in name only) to 1984's smash hit Secret Wars. The Beyonder was on Earth now and up to all kinds of mischief. In his Jim Shooter penned limited series, the One from Beyond popped up all over the place to make the lives of the heroes... and their creative teams... miserable. 

For instance, Beyonder appeared moments after Talisman vanished to get a gift for Dazzler, who he had been trying to romance earlier that issue.

"...And fish out what I came for." 

Byrne's take on that particular scene from Secret Wars II#4 appeared in Alpha Flight I#28, which opened with the final fate of Omega Flight. As they were fleeing the mall, they were attacked by Madison Jeffries who had also come to Edmonton to help Alpha Flight. He singlehandedly defeated the team by turning a station wagon into Rover, a mechanized Deadpool lookalike avant la lettre. Jeffries then focused his attention to Delphine Courtney in a rather gory sequence, even if it's "just" a robot.

"You killed the real Guardian, Courtney...

                                                              Now you're gonna pay..." 

With Rover guarding the unconscious Omega Flight members, Jeffries was free to enter the Edmonton Mall to look for Alpha. He caught up with them just as the Beyonder was finishing his conversation with the team and teleported away. Right around the same time, Talisman woke up and to say she was a tad ticked off is putting it mildly.

"Shove it! I don't want to hear any more of your lies!" 

And who can blame her, really? After rattling off the embarrassingly long list of instances he'd failed her, Talisman got even more furious when Heather Hudson tried to make her see Shaman's side. Not exactly the smartest thing to do when a daughter just watched her father condemn her in favor of saving a relative stranger. Fed up, she teleports all of them to their Vancouver facilities, except for Snowbird who (rather conveniently) can't be teleported against her will. Once home, the full weight of all his bad choices finally hit Shaman.

"I have used her, manipulated her. And even though my intentions have ever been for the best... 

In the end, I have treated her no better than one of my mystic tools." 

Well, it takes one to know one, eh? After all this drama, and the realization she'd just lost her husband *again*, Heather Hudson ordered a mandatory two hour break before debriefing. After taking a hot bath and worrying about Shaman's shattered self confidence possibly eroding the control over his powers, she suddenly finds herself even more in the dark than usual. A major power outage blankets the base in darkness, because Box, Bochs and Shaman have gone a-fishing for a new body...

"Roger... What in blue blazes are you doing here?" 

Truth be told, there is something inherently comical about a robot holding what is essentially an electronic fishing rod hoping to get a bite in the vast, extradimensional drink. Meanwhile, in Incredible Hulk I#313, we see the effect of Alpha Flight's attempts to get Walter a new body. The "lure" has latched on to the Hulk and, with a little help from Shaman, the spirit of Walter Langkowski is sent across countless dimensions to inhabit this newly found form. But Walter soon discovered the body wasn't exactly unoccupied when he encountered its former inhabitant Bruce Banner...

"Walter Lang...? I once roomed with you back at the university..." 

What are the odds! Guess it's a small pandimensional crossroads of realities after all. After talking it over, Banner was thrilled with the idea of Langkowski as the new Hulk, in no small part due to the fact he'd been craving the sweet release of death. However, that didn't sit well with Walter who decided it'd be for the best if he sacrificed himself to make sure Bruce was reunited with the Hulk again.

Gee, thanks a lot roomie... 

"No! I don't want to be the Hulk!" 

Seconds after that, back in Alpha Flight I#28, Box finally manages to reel in his catch of the day. In Byrne's closing moments with the team they discover they were responsible for bringing the Hulk back to Earth following his banishment by Doctor Strange in #300 of his own book. The Hulk, angry as always, punches a hole in Box and that's all Johnny wrote. 

The new creative team of Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola resolved the situation in Alpha Flight I#29 in the most elegant way possible... The Hulk simply left. 

"He said he wanted to go back to the deserts..." 

Now, as for the ever lovin' wrap up...

Fans of Alpha Flight most likely were fans of John Byrne first. After all, he was the one who (co)created the team and the main creative driving force behind the bulk of their adventures to date. Imagine the culture shock if you were only a casual reader, happened to skip #28 and came in a month later to find Mantlo at the helm. It wasn't the smoothest of transitions, in part because of the obvious visual differences between Mignola and Byrne art. But let's not forget Mantlo's scripting also tended to be a bit more... verbose.  Take the last page of #29 for instance, in which Mantlo managed to cram in a lengthy motivational speech along with all the necessary set up for the team's new status quo.

(.... So. Many. Words...)

Mantlo wasted little time making the book his own, deciding Alpha Flight would be best off as an actual, properly organized team, complete with government funding. In a way, this move proved the inherent cyclical nature of comics. After a while, all the old tricks are new again. Case in point: Byrne kicked off Alpha Flight I#1 with the team completely defunded and out on the street. But as soon as he left, they were back in business with unlimited backing to boot. 

In closing... John Byrne's time with Alpha Flight is without a doubt the most beloved and best remembered period in the entire history of the team. His run has been reissued numerous times, presented in polished up collections, recolored and printed on high quality paper. But, 30+ years on, one has to wonder why John's take is considered the definitive "Flight". Could it simply be because he got there first?

For one, Bill Mantlo stayed on considerably longer, chronicling the team's adventures until January 1989's #67. In fact, the first volume of the book lasted 130 issues. For most of that run Alpha Flight was in no way comparable to the non team appearing in Byrne's initial 28. In interviews about his time on Alpha Flight, John Byrne has repeatedly stated he experimented to find out what would work, eventually settling on the non-team approach as the least terrible way to fulfill his contractual obligations. But despite all their bickering, Alpha Flight never came close to the Defenders in that respect... Perhaps in no small part thanks to the average Canadian's inherent politeness. So, what good is breaking the mold when the next person to come along simply uses another one?

In the long run, was Byrne's Alpha Flight nothing more than an aberration? Yes and no. While it wasn't exactly comparable to what would follow, Byrne's work is a reminder art doesn't exist in a vacuum... Not even reluctant art. Even though Byrne himself had trouble finding a way to make the team work, his struggles served as an inspiration to all those who followed. To borrow a popular phrase from the X-Men franchise: "Omnia mutantur"... Everything changes, even the initial flight.

In the end, it's rather simple if not slightly paradoxical... John Byrne's Alpha Flight made us feel good, even if Alpha Flight under John Byrne didn't. 

... And nothing else compares.

1985 - Anatomy of a cover - Daredevil #223

http://www.icollector.com/John-Byrne-Daredevil-223-Cover-Original-Art-John-Byrne-Daredevil-223-Cover-Original-Art-Marve_i5586473

1985 - The cover to Secret Wars II

According to I Love Comic Covers who was apparently quoting John Byrne:

"Sal Buscema drew [the Secret Wars II cover] originally, but Shooter found fault with his version and called me in to do a "better one". I took one look at Sal's and drew exactly the same thing, just in my own style."

Later, Fantagraphics used the rejected illustration for the Amazing Heroes cover, which was published one month before Secret Wars II #1."

These are the original pencils taken from Amazing Heroes #66. As you can see a whole lot of characters were cropped out of the background, including Dazzler in her old school uniform, Legion, and Magik. And Magneto and Rogue were added in to the final cover below.

Here's the original cover:

1985 - The New Defenders (Part Three)

The New Defenders: Teaming up the non-team part III
By: Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)

Wrapping up this three part look at The New Defenders, one conclusion already seems obvious. It should really have been titled ‘Moondragon… featuring the New Defenders’.

Both Peter B. Gillis and his predecessor J.M. DeMatteis were rather taken with Moondragon, featuring the arrogant telepath prominently during their runs. Gillis especially seemed determined to mine her backstory for all it was worth. Hinting at a deeper darkness growing underneath Moondragon’s exterior, Gillis revealed how young Heather Douglas grew from an innocent little girl to be the haughty high priestess of the mind.

As it turns out, Moondragon took her codename after beating an evil entity known as the Dragon of the Moon. This immensely powerful, immortal, and subversive creature tried to corrupt her, planting part of his evil inside her head. Refusing his offerings, Heather fought valiantly to remove his presence from her mind. Thinking she had succeeded in defeating the Dragon, her confidence quickly grew to borderline arrogance. In reality, the Dragon had left its permanent mark on her, an ever present and increasing temptation to give in and accept his power.

This approach allowed Gillis to show a new side to Moondragon. She had always been portrayed as a stuck up snob who was in love with her own power, which of course she was. But by having her resist the Dragon’s influence, rightly believing it would corrupt her, she became something of a lamentable anti-hero. At least, that’s what she considered herself to be.  She felt she was fighting hard and doing the right thing and grew increasingly frustrated over the fact she didn’t receive any credit for it. A tragic notion that added a new layer to an otherwise one note character and led to an unexpected breakdown.

This outburst was her first step on the path to humility. Remember how Odin had placed that headband on her to dampen her powers, forcing Moondragon to relearn the ways of man? It finally came off when the Defenders were forced to go up against a band of Asgardian trolls who were planning an invasion of Midgard. The team was captured and the trolls offered to remove Moondragon’s headband. Despite being tempted by both her own desire to be free ánd the Dragon of the Moon, she outright refused and redeemed herself in the eyes, well, eye of the All-Father.

Freed from the headband, Moondragon’s full powers returned with a vengeance. Luckily, recent experiences had indeed tempered her arrogant behavior and she actually became a valuable and willing member of the team. Alas, disaster soon struck when the gamma spore creature formerly known as Ephraim Soles returned to threaten the Defenders again. After their initial fight in Gillis’ first issue, the creature escaped as a handful of tiny spores that infected the grass of a local cattle farm. When a rather unlucky cow ate the spore grass, it became pregnant… the eventual birth resulted in a revolting scene that somehow made it past the Comics Code Authority.

Quickly mutating into a massive, uncontrollable form, the spore creature made its way to the New Defenders base where it infected and invaded all it could find. The team defeated it, thanks to an ingenious combination of Moondragon and Gargoyle’s powers. But Moondragon didn’t escape unscathed, as subsequent issues revealed. She had been infected by the sentient spores who were slowly mutating her body into a new host… a process she would not survive. Faced with certain death, Moondragon finally succumbed to the Dragon in a moody, foreboding tale told in issues #143 & 144.

“I am free again, young ones.”

Over the course of # 144, the vastly more powerful Moondragon cleaned the New Defenders’ collective clocks. Blinding Angel, turning Gargoyle’s demon body against him and casually teleporting Valkyrie away, the Dragon seemed assured of victory. That is, until Brunhilda dramatically returned with her fellow Valkyries in tow. Odin had been aware of the Dragon’s presence in Moondragon, that’s why he released her in Valkyrie’s care, in preparation for the creature’s reemergence. In final combat, it was Cloud who delivered the apparent deathblow to Moondragon, but her remains were never found.

In the months that followed, Gillis dealt with the impact of the Moondragon controversy. Angel’s blindness proved incurable, Cloud was revealed to be a sentient nebula that assumed the forms of two teens who were both left comatose following a car accident, the team got a visit from the former Ghostrider and also gained a new member in the Atlantean warrior woman Andromeda. They also finally got around to electing an official leader: Angel’s girlfriend Candy Southern who didn’t have any superpowers but proved quite adept at handling the non team’s official team business. And while all of this was going down… In Siberia a mysterious stranger decided to go for a walk.

All in all, the New Defenders finally seemed ready to have another go at being a proper superhero team. Alas, there were two threats about to end their existence altogether. Moondragon had survived, still possessed by the Dragon and ready for revenge… But there was a far more lethal threat on the horizon: imminent cancellation. The year was 1986, the 25th anniversary of Marvel Comics and then-editor in chief Jim Shooter decided to celebrate a quarter century of established and beloved characters by starting a completely New Universe.

To make room in the company’s publishing schedule, several struggling titles received the axe. Power Man and Iron Fist was cancelled and the New Defenders shared their fate. Under the gun, Peter B. Gillis rushed to wrap up the book… and what better way to end things than by having Moondragon return to kill the team once and for all?

The New Defenders’ swansong was told in issues # 151 and the double sized  152, which was jam packed with the biggest wrap up and deck clearing exercise of the 1980s. The mysterious stranger turned out to be the Interloper, an Eternal who was the Dragon of the Moon’s arch enemy. Interloper revealed he had trained the insane telepathic hitman Manslaughter, who popped up wanting to join the team and actually proved invaluable during the final confrontation with Moondragon...

Gillis gives an impressive final showing in his portrayal of Manslaughter’s madness. Trying to preserve her sanity, Moondragon flees the scene in an attempt to exorcise the demons that just got pumped into her mind. And who would show up during this struggle but… The Beyonder?

Heck, this was still 1986 after all, there had to be a Secret Wars II tie-in at some point, right? The Beyonder did what every other jerry curled deus ex machina does best: show up and mess things up. Not recognizing Moondragon’s deeper issues, the one from beyond falls for her line that she wants to be his disciple… He grants her a fragment of his vast powers and departs, leaving her to head straight back to Defenders headquarters for a final showdown.

It turned out to be a brutal battle, one that only ended after Valkyrie, Andromeda, Manslaughter and the Interloper gave up their very lives to stop Moondragon. Only Beast, Angel and Iceman were left standing when the…dust… settled.

Ashes and dust… all that’s left of the once noble and proud New Defenders… AngelBeast and Iceman were the only ones left alive. They would soon join Cyclops and Jean Grey to form the first incarnation of X-Factor. And what of their fallen comrades? Apart from the Interloper, most of them would eventually return from the dead in a series of tales Gillis wrote for Solo Avengers #16,18, and 20. But those are stories best left for another time.

On a closing note: despite the rush of impending cancellation, Gillis brought Moondragon’s story full circle on the book’s last page. In spite of her being juiced up by the Beyonder’s power, let alone the Dragon’s corruption, she used her final moments to do the right thing. She restored Angel’s sight, cured Cloud’s comatose templates and even healed Chris Larmouth, a largely forgotten victim of the gamma spore creature’s second attack.

More importantly, she performed these Samaritan acts not as Moondragon, mistress of the mind or high priestess of the soul… but as Heather Douglas of Earth. Finally, she had learned just what being human meant… No longer did she seek to impose her will on her fellow man, all she did was give them the chance to live their lives. Heather Douglas triumphed over all her flaws and inherent evil, proving herself at long last to be the most human of us all.

1985 - Anatomy of a cover - Alpha Flight #28

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=444860&GSub=5668

Beyonder Mark II by John Byrne (circa 2003)

1984 - Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars
12 issue miniseries
May 1984 - April 1985
Writer: Jim Shooter
Penciller: Mike Zeck/Bob Layton
Inker: John Beatty

Jim Shooter, Editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics, was prompted by fan mail to create a story similar to Marvel's first limited series, The Contest of Champions. Originally called Cosmic Champions, Shooter saw this series as the fulfillment of the Marvel Universe's destiny (Comics Interview, August 1984). The series was renamed the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars and was tied in to a Mattel line of action figures and toys.

This series was a financial success and would spawn a sequel, Secret Wars II. It would also later inspire more limited series involving most of the Marvel Universe's heroes, such as The Infinity Gauntlet, The Infinity War, and The Infinity Crusade.

The Secret Wars featured a mysterious, omnipotent being, calling itself the Beyonder, who was intrigued by humanity and the concept of good and evil. The Beyonder whisked away the more prominent heroes and their villainous counterparts to a world that would be their battle arena.


The heroes kidnapped by the Beyonder were: Wasp, She-Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Professor X, Nightcrawler, Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Cyclops, Colossus, Lockheed the dragon, Hulk, Spider-Man, Mr. Fantastic, Thing, and the Human Torch. The villains were Galactus, Dr. Doom, Kang, Enchantress, the Wrecking Crew (Piledriver, Wrecker, Thunderball, and Bulldozer), Lizard, Dr. Octopus, Absorbing Man, Ultron and the Molecule Man.

The Beyonder plainly set the ground rules for this competition: "Slay your enemies and all you desire is yours". Galactus, who was not amused at being kidnapped, confronted the Beyonder. Galactus had been, until that point, the most powerful cosmic being in the Marvel Universe and was batted aside effortlessly by the Beyonder. The heroes and villains, intimidated by Galactus' defeat, began to play the Beyonder's little game.

In early 1984, the characters of the Marvel Universe were undergoing a lot of changes: Jim Rhodes had replaced Tony Stark as Iron Man; Bruce Banner's intellect controlled the Hulk; Professor X could walk and joined his X-Men in battle; and Susan Richards was expecting her second child.

These changes were good subplots that added a bit of depth to a rather shallow story line. Rhodes had the Iron Man image to uphold and he became conformable with his new role. Professor X came into conflict with Storm, who refused to be overruled as leader by her teacher who lacked battle experience. Reed Richards worried about Sue and their unborn child.

Unlike The Contest of Champions, The Secret Wars had an impact on the core Marvel titles: the Thing's departure from the Fantastic Four and subsequent replacement by the She-Hulk; Spider-Man's new costume, that would turn out to be a living creature and become a deadly enemy called Venom; Colossus' romance that forever changed his relationship with Kitty Pryde. The Secret Wars as a whole prompted a closer relationship between the characters in the Marvel Universe.

This series established Captain America's leadership in the Marvel Universe and the respect the other heroes had for him. Dr. Doom showed Molecule Man the full extent of his power which established him as a major power in the Marvel Universe. This series also introduced several new characters, such as Titania and Volcana, who where created by Dr. Doom, and a new Spider-Woman who joins the heroes.

The Beyonder's battle world setting removed heroes from their usual locales and allowed them to engage in an all-out battle with little collateral damage or concern about civilians getting hurt.

I didn't really like John Beatty's inks. They seem a little heavy and choppy. However, I liked Mike Zeck's penciled art so much I eagerly hunted down his run on Captain America. Jim Shooter's script is unspectacular, but he tries his best to build a story around a weak, action-driven plot.


One of the most spectacular (and one of the more unbelievable) events occurred in issue #4, when the Molecule Man dropped an entire mountain range on the escaping heroes. The Hulk managed to hold up part of the mountain while Reed tinkered with Iron Man's repulsor rays to tunnel them a way out.

The Secret Wars #8 was the best read simply for its fan appeal. The heroes finally took the offensive and attacked the villains: Captain America took down the Enchantress, just after she subdued the Hulk; Spidey dished out a humiliating defeat to Titania; and the Human Torch defeated Ultron with his nova flame.

How the villains were chosen wasn't explained, leaving the impression that Shooter had added the most physical villains (such as the Wrecking Crew), but even then, that's a questionable theory, with so many of the Hulk's foes not included such as the Leader, Abomination, and Rhino. Galactus' presence was strange especially when Byrne had strongly emphasized in Fantastic Four #261 that Galactus was a neutral cosmic entity!

Interestingly, Dr. Strange, Power Man, Iron Fist, the entire roster of Alpha Flight, Daredevil, Namor, Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Moon Knight were some of the more prominent heroes left out. Kitty Pryde was originally included in the promo material, but later removed as one of the series' plot points involved Colossus falling in love with someone else.

Another great Shooter catalyst was putting Magneto among the heroes. Magneto was slowly making the transition from a megalomaniac to simply a maniac. A few years later, Magneto would actually become the headmaster at Xavier's Institute. This plot point was a great source of conflict with the X-Men who had to reluctantly defend Magneto from the scrutiny of the other heroes. Also, another interesting twist was the Magneto and Wasp romance.

The manner in which the series was released was a bit awkward. The heroes were taken in one issue of their respective issues, and returned the following issue, while the series itself ran a full year. When the heroes returned to their regular issues, all the changes that would happen at the end of The Secret Wars were revealed, but had yet to happen in the actual limited series.

Here's a look at some of the Secret Wars toys. I guess Baron Zemo was a last minute drop from the villains' roster.