Review: Secret Wars 4 & 5

Secret Wars #4

It kicks off with the battle of The Cabal vs The Thors with the exposition of what BATTLEWORLD is done off  panel by Dr. strange as he speaks to the Final Incursion survivors.

Dr. Strange tries to explain and justify Doom's reign over BATTLEWORLD. Strange's ideology of course is challenged by the survivors but this ends abruptly when they are interrupted by the nascent Thor being summoned into battle against the Cabal.

 Meanwhile...

Doom is prayed to by one of the Thors and then begins watching the battle continue with the arrival of Strange and the survivors. At first he thinks nothing particularly strange until Susan spots Reed (616 Reed), a persona which Doom has never been able to previously locate in BATTLEWORLD.

Doom finally intervenes to confront Richards. At first Doom tries to get the group to serve him but is attacked by Cyclops/Phoenix (who seems to have gone nuts in his ideology). While Doom retaliates, killing Cyclops, Strange takes to opportunity to use his powers to disperse the Incursion survivors across BATTLEWORLD before Doom could get to them. In the end Doom kills Strange because of this.

Likes? : A pretty solid story. It flows well and is keeping with what I come to expect from the book. Beautifully illustrated. It keeps me intrigued and wanting to see where it goes.

Dislike?: Nothing in particular except maybe the fact that Cyclops died.

I Give it 8.5/10

Secret Wars #5

This issue starts at the funeral of Dr. Strange. The incursion surviving Thor is there with the nascent Thor and the rest of the Thors but Doom doesn't seem to recognize this. Nobody knows that Doom is the one who really killed Strange and Franklin seems bent on avenging his death.

Doom sends a questioning Valeria to work on finding the missing survivor while he visits a hidden away Molecule Man, to inform him of Dr. Strange's death.

A long exposition follows (which I don't care to detail) regarding how Doom became ruler of BATTLEWORLD.

Not much else happens outside of a bit more exposition from Valeria and her team (which I didn't mind) as thy discuss what possibly happened to the people dispersed accross BATTLEWORLD. Valeria is intent of finding what "scares God so badly". We also get a glimpse of where some of the survivors of the old world were scattered to.

Likes: It was still an OK issue, with a few shortcomings.

Dislikes?: I guess this is more of a transition issue in tho the final act. I didn't care much for the convoluted exposition. It would have been sufficient for m to know that Doom simply killed The Beyonders and took their power and then I'd simply suspend my disbelief in the matter. The long backstory kind of made the issue boring and uncomfortable as I tried to understand what really went down to make BATTLEWORLD.

I give it 7/10