Secret Wars is a mammoth event — Marvel has populated an entire Battleworld with Wolverines, Captains America and Spider-Men. There’s a lot in here that’s worth reading, but we don’t always have the time to dig deep into all of them. The solution? A quick survey of what we’re reading. Today, we’re discussing Thors 3, House of M 2, Spider-Island 3 and Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde 3.

Thors 3

Patrick: Interrogation sequences are inherently talky, and talkiness tends to slow our dear comic books to a frustrating crawl. In Thors 3, writer Jason Aaron and artists Chris Sprouse and Goran Sudzuka double down on the just how intimidating a giant wall of text really is on the page, letting it serve as an obstacle for the characters as much as for the audience. The crux of this issue is Ultimate Thor’s interrogation of Loki and — as we’ve grown used to seeing in films — the captive is the one that holds all the cards (and he’s able to hang on to said cards, even as he’s getting wailed on). I absolutely love how Aaron, Sprouse and Sudzuka embrace the laborious pacing, allowing the words themselves to ratchet up the suspense all by themselves. It’s a rare two-page-splash that depicts not an all-out brawl, but a wordy battle of wits.

The ceiling of this room is all stormy clouds and lightning, reportedly with the power to break anyone that has to live under it for too long. Notice how that all fades to white behind a wall of Loki’s duplicity. Also, the acting on this page is phenomenal: we’re lead to believe that Thor spends this whole time eagerly leaning forward, hoping for anything to go his way, while Loki doesn’t give a fuck. Plus, my favorite detail of the whole issue has to be Loki’s knit cap mimics the look of his forked crown.

House of M 2

Spencer: It’s hard to tell what the main focus of House of M is supposed to be. Is this a series about a conqueror whose life has lost meaning now that he’s defeated every worthy enemy? About the antics and betrayals of a spoiled royal family? About the struggles of an oppressed minority and their attempts at revolution? Dennis Hopeless and Cullen Bunn attempt to include all these threads in issue 2, and by doing so, aren’t able to give any of them the attention they deserve. Magneto’s keeping Fing Fang Foom around long after his defeat and his disappointment in his would-be assassins is an interesting exploration of his boredom, but this thread is literally derailed by the arrival of Quicksilver and Namor. Pietro’s betrayal is woefully underexplored — why does he want to overthrow his father? — and the antics of Wanda and her children are nothing more than antics at this point. Even the horrific plight of the non-mutants is overshadowed by the lighter tone of the rest of the issue. With the possible exception of the rebellion, which has been done to death in the world of Secret Wars, any one of these plots could make for a compelling read, but by trying to include all of these stories and more, Hopeless and Bunn simply don’t have the room to dig into what actually makes these plots interesting. House of M could be a great story if it had a bit more focus. Instead, it just feels scattered.

Spider-Island 3

Drew: Tropes and genre fiction go hand-in-hand, and no genre is more trope-y than superhero action. I’ve often pointed out tropes to dismiss story beats, but more often than not, those familiar tropes are actually a boon to the story, lulling us into a sense of security before yanking the rug out from under us. Spider-Island 3 revolves around “Trap is the Only Option,” where the heroes recognize an obvious trap, but elect to trip it anyway because the bait is too tempting. It’s such a common trope, I honestly can’t think of a time where a hero has recognized a trap and then simply avoided it altogether. Unfortunately, in spite of knowing exactly what they’re getting into, Agent Venom et al apparently forget that it’s a trap, failing to remove the tracking devices from the people they were rescuing — the only thing that actually made it a trap in the first place. Inevitably, the spider-queen finds and attacks their hideout, putting our heroes on the run.

It’s a Giant-Man-sized misstep, all the more frustrating because the rest of the issue is so good. Writer Christos Gage manages to squeeze real pathos out of a Goblin-ified Tony Stark opting to make the ultimate sacrifice, and the dynamics within the team — especially now that Peter Parker is in the mix — is stellar. I’m particularly enamored, though, with Gage’s almost daring commitment to giving us just what we need, skipping abruptly from beat to beat. The smash cut between Agent Venom resolving to knowingly go into the trap and actually going into the trap is brilliant, and gives me the slightest hope that “forgetting” about the tracking devices was part of his plan that we just weren’t privy to.

Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde 3

Patrick: For as much as Secret Wars is an amazing what-if engine, the event also serves as something of a transition between the old Marvel publishing line and the new — or All New, All Different, if the marketing materials are to be believed. Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde embraces that space between stories, relishing the goofy nonsense of Doom’s patchwork planet, while still treating the unknown future with a proper sense of trepidation, excitement and some good old fashioned nostalgia.

This is probably best demonstrated at the end of the issue, when Peter Quill and Club-Owner Drax are trying to do with the rest of their lives, now that the series’ premise has wrapped up. Peter is looking to reach a kind of equilibrium, and is already proposing that he and Drax team up to start robbing dudes just like Gambit the Collector. It’s a sweet moment that reminds us that the characters are just as eager to get back to some recognizable version of the status quo as the readers are. But there’s this amazing little twist: Peter says that he’d like to clone an army of Rocket Raccoons (Rockets Raccoon?) from the anomalous tail: an army. Quill is making up his own variation on a theme we already know – it’s a little closer to “Guardians of the Galaxy,” just, y’know, with more Rocket Raccoon. That’s exactly the kind of thinking gives us a land full of Hulks or the literally howling Howling Commandos. I love seeing that change motivated from within the narrative.

Also, I’m totally misrepresenting this series by focusing entirely on it’s last couple pages. For all the smart serious material Sam Humphries and Alti Firmanyah’s series is a joke parade. Entire plans hinge on the goofiness of Peter wooing a robot with a love song, or Drax dressing as Doom. Even when Humphries introduces the uber-serious Thors, he’s able to squeeze in a joke.

“Thou hast misspelt ‘sucks'” gets an automatic laugh from me, but I also love that Gambit just sorta wakes up muttering vaguely Cajun sounding words (and lands some solid comedy K sounds too boot).

Did you read some Secret Wars tie-ins that we didn’t? Sure you did! There are holes in our pull list. Holes that you’re encouraged to fill with your comments. Let’s keep talking about Secret Wars.