Thoughts

Ok. Time for a sidestep away from the main X-titles. To join the first major Marvel crossover event, Secret Wars. The last we saw the X-men they vanished from Central Park. And with this miniseries we find out where they are.

The story behind Secret Wars is pretty well known. Marvel agreed to a comics title to support a new range of action figures. And so a storyline was concocted to most suit a toy range – all the action figures are made to fight.

Knowing that the title would take all the heroes from their own comics (and their own creative teams), Marvel Editor in Cheif Jim Shooter decided he would write the thing. If all the writers were equally angry at him, it would be easier than if he picked one who’d face the emnity of all the other writers.

This means we’re not dealing with Claremont’s writing anymore. The X-men taken out of his hands for this mini-series. It also means that the X-characters are sharing the pages with a lot of other characters, so there’ll probably not be enough for the usual format. Just the basics.

Anyway, this first issue is simple set-up stuff. We get to see the Beyonder’s Godlike powers in action as he creates a world for all the fighting and swats Galactus like a fly. And we get the rosta of heroes and villains who are going to fight here.

But from a Mutant perspective a couple of points to note here. Firstly Magneto appears on the hero team, much to the consternation of some of the non-mutant heroes. This is a nice nod to the story as its been developing in the main title. Conversely Xavier appears in a wheelchair. Which is very much not up to speed with the latest news.

Still the final panel promises what we’re going to be dealing with here.