Skip to main content

marvel - How did Secret Wars fit into regular comics continuity?


I’ve just read Marvel’s Secret Wars series from 1984/5. (Fun!)


In it, a bunch of heroes and villains are transported to the far reaches of the universe, and (in a surprising turn of events for a comic book) fight each other a lot.


My question is: how was this tied in with the continuity of the comic series in which these heroes were regularly appearing at the time?



Secret Wars was published between May 1984 and April 1985. I’m pretty sure that, for example, Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four didn’t stop publishing for a year while we saw what the heroes got up to on Battleworld. But the events of Secret Wars certainly had lasting consequences for the characters:



Spider-Man got a mysterious alien suit, and the Thing even left the Fantastic Four and stayed on the planet.



So how were these events integrated? Were the Secret Wars not referred to in the participants’ regular titles until they were over, and was there then a break in storylines in the regular titles to allow for Secret Wars to have happened? Or was Secret Wars pre-planned, meaning regular series could show post-Secret Wars events even though Secret Wars hadn’t finished publishing yet?



Answer



God bless the internet: here’s a fantastic guide that details all of the regular series issues that tie in to Secret Wars:



As mentioned in other answers, the degree of integration varied between titles. Here’s some indicative examples of how it worked:


 Spider-Man



At the end of Amazing Spider-Man #251 (April 1984), Spider-Man is drawn to Central Park in New York, from where he is transported to the galaxy where Battleworld will soon be formed. He returns in the next issue of Amazing Spider-Man (#252, May 1984) along with Curt Connors (the Lizard, who was also on Battleworld for the duration of Secret Wars) and his new black suit.


Readers didn’t see Spidey acquire the black suit until Secret Wars #8 (Dec 1984), but at least some of its abilities were shown before that, for example in Amazing Spider-Man #255 (Aug 1984).


Fantastic Four


Mr Fantastic, the Human Torch and the Thing are transported from earth at the end of The Thing #10 (Apr 1984).


The Thing #11–22 (May 1984–Apr 1985) then chronicles the Thing’s time spent on Battleworld after the end of Secret Wars, despite being released at the same time as the Secret Wars issues.


The departure of (three of) the Fantastic Four is also shown as a flashback from the Invisible Woman’s perspective in Fantastic Four #265 (April 1984), as is their return from Battleworld with the She-Hulk in place of the Thing.


The Avengers


The Avengers are transported in Avengers #242 (Apr 1984), and return in the next month’s issue.



This must have somewhat undermined the tension when the Wasp “died” in Secret Wars #7 (Nov 1984).




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

Which Doctor Who works are canon?

I have been watching a Doctor Who documentary and they mentioned that Paul McGann did audio stories so he wasn't just a one-hit Doctor (and that there are novels featuring his Doctor as well). My question is: is Doctor Who canon just the show, or is it like Star Wars where some books and audios are canon and some are not? The documentary also shows that before 2005 they did audio stories where the Doctor is female and obviously that cannot be — not the female part, but the show doesn't count any female Doctors in episodes like The Day of the Doctor . Answer Nothing, and also everything The definitive piece of writing on Doctor Who canon is this blog post by writer Paul Cornell . I'm essentially going to be summarizing his post here, much less eloquently, but one section I want to quote directly is this: Nobody at the BBC has ever uttered a pronouncement about what is and isn't canonical. (As I'm sure they'd put it, being such enthusiasts for good grammar.) Be...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more