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 Infinity Gauntlet 4, Secret Wars Journal 5, Spider-Island 4, and Spider-Verse 5.

Infinity Gauntlet 4

Drew: Of all the effects a work of art can have, imparting a sense of chaos might be my favorite. That’s not the result of an affinity for chaos itself, but because of how carefully artists have to work to hide their control over the situation. A chaotic moment must be just as carefully planned as any other, but with the added challenge of seeming out of control. There are a number of ways to achieve this in a comic, and Dustin Weaver and Gerry Duggan might just try them all in Infinity Gauntlet 4.

Narratively, this issue is the opposite of the first three issues, which held themselves to no more than two storylines each, and consistently brought them together. Instead, issue 4 breaks those threads apart in a massive battle scene. The bulk of the issue is spent cutting across the morass to check on each character in turn. Of course, that brings us to the more fundamental way Weaver and Duggan make this scene chaotic: shifting the cuts off of the page turns.

This page is a prime example of this effect — it opens and closes with the same characters (which spills over onto portions of the previous and following pages), but breaks temporarily to check in elsewhere. It can make it difficult to get your bearings — especially when everyone is wearing Nova outfits and you don’t always see their faces — but that’s a fair simulation of the chaos going on in this scene.

All of that chaos effectively builds towards one hell of a cliffhanger, with Thanos wearing a nearly-complete Infinity Gauntlet and allowing the Behemoth bug to destroy what’s left of civilization. I’m not sure that ending would have quite the same punch if Weaver and Duggan hadn’t made the lead-up quite so frenetic. It’s a clever way to launch us into the final act of their little mini, hooking us into the action in spite of our knowledge of the ever-approaching end  of Secret Wars.

Secret Wars Journal 5

Michael: Secret Wars Journal 5 is my first exposure to the Secret Wars anthology tie-in, and I must say I liked what I saw. The first half of the issue: “Risk of Infection” is a zombie shoot-em-up that boils down to The Night Nurse vs. The Undead. The story is written by Sylvia and Jen Soska: a twin sister team known for their work in the horror film genre. So naturally the Soska sisters set their one-off tale in Secret Wars’ zombie land The Wastelands. There is a very basic and familiar story structure, but it’s a horror movie, a Western, a feminist battle cry and a championing of the nurse profession simultaneously. The Soska sisters’ script acts like a compelling lawyer that leads us to the conclusion that yes, a nurse WOULD feel responsible for fighting off the undead hordes . As the Night Nurse says “You’re nothing more than an aggravated infection.” With “Sheriff Strange” seemingly MIA, Linda Carter is now the law and the healer – two very important roles in an Old West town. I like the idea that evil is a sickness and virtue is a cure; as Linda’s “holy buckshot” proves. I’d like to believe that artist like the opportunity to draw rotting corpses, as Alec Morgan details this unholy infection with maggots crawling in and out of the undead and their deer-skulled leader. Though expositional flashbacks were used throughout the story, the creative team made an interesting choice to have one such memory be an actual flashback that Linda was experiencing at that moment. That narrative switch-up was pretty cool, as was the featuring of early days black mask ninja Daredevil.

The second story by Aaron Alexovich and Diogo Saito stole the show, in my opinion. With a deep character pull, “Mill-E: The Model Citizen” is a goofy story about a robot trying to spread Doom’s will across Battleworld with PR tactics. I knew I was going to enjoy it when Mill-E started rapping like all white people have always rapped “My name is ___ and I’m here to say…”; perfection. Even though she’s a machine that is trying to help an evil tyrant further control the planet, you’ve gotta admire Mill-E’s naiveté and spunk. Alexovich writes Mill-E as the uncool dad who is trying so hard to fit in with his kids’ friends, which he nails – the joke never gets old. Actually there is an uncool dad in this story as well – who keeps complaining about exploding playing cards to no effect. I majored in PR in college and hated it, so I relish in the chance to watch asinine marketing strategies be employed and miserably fail. Diogo Saito gives Mill-E’s earnestness weight – look at her eyes and you can see how badly she wants people to listen to the gospel she’s preaching. His style feels somewhat manga-inspired; which is emphasized even further when Doom “chibis” appear to help Mill-E drop some Doom knowledge on a crowd. I would love to see more of Mill-E after Secret Wars, if possible.

Spider-Island 4

Patrick: Christos Cage and Paco Diaz’ Spider-Island is most successful when its playing to its strength as a spectacle-parade, and issue four is no different, doubling down on the absurdity of its stunts. Unfortunately, this also means doubling down on the series’ shallow themes – sometimes almost literally stating its ideas twice where once would do just fine. There’s a scene early in the issue where just about every conceivable leader defers to Venom’s judgement. Not only is this a scene we’ve read in previous issues, but it also sorta goes without saying: we should be able to see that Peter is rusty and that Steve is slipping into feral wolf behavior, rather than being told that that’s why they’re letting Flash call the shots. Also, I’m not sure what’s meaningful about that message — Flash is best suited for the job of leader because… the symbiote is being chill with him? Instead of presenting Flash as a survivor and warrior, and letting those traits qualify him for his teams’ respect, it’s like he’s the leader simply by virtue of his particular set of superpowers.

And that’s all fine if you’re willing to just sit back and enjoy the crazy ride. Once the characters stop gabbing through the muddled exposition, Dr. Stegron reanimates some dinosaurs from the Museum of Natural History and we’re off to the races.

It’s a lot of good fun, and it’s particularly rewarding to see Vampire Captain Marvel, Lizard Hulk and Captain Wolf America all kicking ass together. But that fun comes to a halt when the issue tries to veer into more philosophical material. The end of the issue comes down to a very Peter-Parker-y question of “we have to find a solution that doesn’t involve killing.” That’s hardly been part of this series at all, so it’s weird that the heroes would pose this question literally the second before they have to make the decision over what to do with the Spider-Queen. Also: the answer seems obvious: Flash would kill her, so you kill her. He’s the goddamned leader, remember? Anyway, they don’t kill her, she turns into a bigger spider and suddenly Peter recants on no-killing policy. Great. Glad we talked about it.

Spider-Verse 5

Spencer: Spider-Man’s never exactly been known for his teamwork — he only became an Avenger within the last ten-to-fifteen years, and his tightly-kept secret identity has kept him an elusive and sometimes distant figure within the superhero community even afterwards — but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a boon to him. The recent “Spider-verse” crossover event showed how much the various Spider-Men can accomplish when they band together against a common threat, and the Secret Wars tie-in mini Spider-Verse expands upon that thought, showing how effective and powerful the Spiders are when they band together against any threat.

Mike Costa and Andre Araujo first represent that quite literally through the concept of the web of power that tethers our various Spider-Men (and women) together and only grows stronger as they unite forces; Osborn hopes to harness the web’s power to rebel against God Doom, to give an example of just how tremendous a force their fellowship can create. This is also demonstrated in the subtle, yet distinct skills each individual Spider brings to the table, be it Paviitar’s cunning, Ham’s cartoon immortality, Gwen’s instincts, or Noir’s stealth and pragmatism. Costa and Araugo also point out, though, that not all the benefits of their team-up are so battle-oriented in nature.

Each of these Spiders understands the burden of bearing responsibility like no other, and are in a unique position to help one another shoulder that weight. Why in the world would they ever not want to keep working together?

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.