This is the end of everything we all know about the Marvel Comic Universe. Also, it is the start of something new. Even the casual reader needs to own this issue in their collection. - See more at: http://fanboysinc.com/comic-book-review-secret-wars-1-earths-collide/#sthash.7d1V3PQp.dpuf Read Full Review

Secret Wars # 1 kicks off to spectacular start. There is something for everyone in this book. And the sheer amount of things you see in this issue will make sure to be burned in your brain for the rest of your life. The art is simply amazing and the writing is some of Hickman's best. This is a comic that everyone should experience at least once. Read Full Review

Jonathan Hickman delivers in a big way here and with the splendid artwork of Esad Ribic and the gorgeous coloring of Ive Svorcina, Secret Wars is in excellent hands and plans to take us on a the ride of a lifetime. Read Full Review

A lot of people were worried that Secret Wars was going to fall under Marvel’s trend of mediocre events. I never doubted it, because I have learned to trust Jonathan Hickman. Secret Wars #1 may be the end of everything but it is also the beginning to what will undoubtedly be a fantastic event. Hickman writes with an impressive sense of scope, while portraying the chaos of the situation so adeptly by constantly moving from character to character. And with all of that, Hickman still manages to bring us small character moments that give this book a lot of personality. Secret Wars truly is the payoff Avengers fans have been waiting for. Read Full Review

We've been looking forward to this for some time and Jonathan Hickman delivers in a big way. For a first issue, there is no holding back. The seeds have been planted over the last couple years. Now they're coming to fruition. If you've been reading Hickman's Avengers book, you have an idea what's going and that's all you really need to know. Those that haven't, might be a tiny bit confused but it's easy to figure out the basics of what's going on. Esad Ribic's art and Ive Svorcina's colors are gorgeous. The characters are depicted in a glorious and fitting fashion as they put everything on the line to fight for survival. The crazy thing is this is an eight-issue story. With all the action and outcomes from this one, it's hard to imagine what could possibly come next. Read Full Review

This is a bold move for Marvel to make. A publisher that has prided itself on its long history and maintained continuity. I think it's in the best hands. It's rare for me to say the first issue of any event can stand on its own and is probably one of the best issue's I've got to read in a long time, but this is it. This one got me, and I hope it gets you too. Read Full Review

Regardless of this, this issue really does feel like a celebration of all things Marvel, any fans who have ever been affected by or grown up with Marvel as part of their lives owe it to themselves to check out this event. It's a superb beginning that actually feels event sized and serves not only as incredible payoff for those following Hickman's Avengers run but also as an incredible end for anyone who's ever loved Marvel. I have no idea where we go from here, but wherever it is it's sure to be epic. Don't be put off by the onslaught of event comics in recent years, this comic is worthy of the title and is worth all the hype. Read Full Review

No punches pulled, the months of foreshadowing hyperbole are indeed to be heeded! It's been quite a while since Marvel's had an event truly worthy of "capital-E" standing. Like it or loathe it for fear of the unknown, this is the new cornerstone all the same. On to Battleworld! Read Full Review

The story does leave a lot of questions as to what is going on and why it is happening, but if those questions are answered as the series progresses, this will seem like a good first segment before the break in the greater story. Read Full Review

Cramming more incident into this first issue than some events do in six, Hickman and Ribic have created a must-read book for those interested in where Marvel is heading. Even if its denseness may be a challenge to new readers, there's still so much promise that we could be in for something special. Now they have seven more issues (and endless tie-ins) to try and keep the ball in the air. At this point, I can't wait to see what happens next. Read Full Review

Secret Wars #1 is an adept and beautiful first chapter in this universe-shattering epic. Jonathan Hickman is a master of packing decompressed storytelling with as much plot as possible; he's been planning for this over years, and the quality of care shows in every page. Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina complement Hickman's vision perfectly and capture a visual aesthetic fitting of an event of this magnitude. Secret Wars should be on every Marvel fan's pull list. Read Full Review

That's a damn fine thing, because coupled with Ribic's eye-grabbing splash pages is Alex Ross' monstrously classic jam covers, which giveSecret Warsthe feeling that it's far more than a cynical summer crossover, or a mere house-cleaning cash-grab. As a whole, Hickman'sSecret Warsisthe real deal, taking away everything we've ever come to know while paradoxically making the Marvel Universe feel everlasting. Which is great.Being a Johnny DC myself, I know a Crisis when I see one. Read Full Review

In all, this issue was a fantastic kickoff to what will hopefully be the best event that Marvel has put out in a long time, and hopefully, this one, unlike many others, will have a lasting impact on the marvel universe that will keep readers talking for years to come. The art is splendid, the story well told with emotion and action extremely well balanced, and the content is well worth the higher end cover price of 4.99. Secret Wars is a must read event, for any comic book lover surely, as Hickman pens the end to his epic saga. Read Full Review

The art team of Esad Ribic and Ive Svorcina are a powerful force to be reckoned with in conveying the power of Jonathan Hickman's Multiversal Mayhem in Secret Wars #1.Secret Wars #1 is a book that by nature is critic proof, people are going to grab this comic no matter what. It's nice to see though that Secret Wars is better than I could have ever imagined. I'm still behind on a lot of the reading of Hickman's run that built to this point and I still loved it. Even though this isn't the most new reader friendly book at points, it's enough to make you want to catch up to learn some backstory. It's the Silver Age style of comic book storytelling brought to life in the modern day, that's pretty amazing. When you see certain things here it'll beg you to want to know more and that's a good thing. The Secret Wars have arrived and now it is time to see what Battleworld has in store for us. Read Full Review

And so Secret Wars has begun, I would highly recommend the book to any loyal fan of Marvel comics and look forward to the 2030 cinematic release of Secret Wars, the Movie! Read Full Review

Secret Wars #1 gives readers a look at the end of the Marvel Universe as we know it. What is coming next, I have no clue but I will tell you this: the fact that I have to wait a week for more of this pisses me off because it is damn good. Hickman, Ribic and Svorcina are the A-list team an event like this deserves and I'm all in for this mayhem. Time has run out, so many huge events occur in this issue that I don't even know where to start, and I'm crazy excited for them all. Bring it on, Hickman. I'm ready for your Secret Wars. Read Full Review

SECRET WARS #1 is a tough egg to crack if you're coming into the story blind, but those who have done their homework will know that the hype was true. At least for this one issue. Read Full Review

Secret Wars #1 has made me a believer in a storyline I once dismissed. Rarely have all of Marvel's characters and universes come together and felt so cohesive. This herculean task is handled by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic so effortlessly that many may miss out on what makes this task just so spectacular. Read Full Review

Secret Wars issue 1 feels and reads like an obituary. Indeed the last page says as much. But it also feels like a small chapter in a much larger scheme. And after this first issue, I am 100% on board. Read Full Review

The odds were against this book, and surprisingly it outdoes the hype. Its a smart tribute that stakes its claim as earth shattering with a tremendous final page that is sure to be talked about for months to come. It may not start off with the insane amount of action some were anticipating, but instead smartly builds the tension to a boil before offering a glimpse of an even larger conflict on the horizon. And, it looks gorgeous while doing it. Secret Wars #1 is a huge home run for Marvel. Read Full Review

Right off the bat, there are two things to say about Secret Wars #1: it is a well-written, exciting comic about Marvel's superheroes teaming up to stop the literal end of the world, but considering these sorts of Big Events have been happening every year for a decade now, the excitement is muted. It's not Jonathan Hickman's fault that Marvel has been hitting us with so many 'world ending team up' comics recently, but he and his art team can't quite shake the event fatigue that permeates the first issue of Secret Wars. Read Full Review

The first issue makes it clear that both Marvel and Ultimate Universes are dead, so what's going to happen next? Are the remaining heroes going to somehow rebuild a universe together? Anyone else survived? I can't wait to read the next issue, and it's all thank to a wonderful start of a promising start. Read Full Review

The art is wonderful. It is fitting that Esad Ribic iSW1s joining Jonathan Hickman for this book because they launched the most recent volume of Avengers together. The action sequences are big and exciting while the scenes with Doom and his crew are dark and foreboding and the artwork does a great job of capturing this. Read Full Review

It's not a perfect issue, but it packs a solid punch. I would have liked a little more work on the facial expressions by Ribic and less open-ended ominousness from Hickman. Marvel has given hints as to what happens in Last Days and Battleworld which steals a bit of the issue's thunder, and the sheer amount of cliffhangers along with the lack of bodies leaves the door swinging wide open. Read Full Review

Only time will tell how well newer Marvel readers respond to this comic. But anyone who has been following Hickman's Avengers work to date should get a kick out of what is basically the first chapter in an epic climax to that run. It's got plenty of spectacle, but more than enough emotion and foreboding to balance it out. Plus, it's great to see Hickman and Ribic jamming together once more. Read Full Review

This is a solid first issue that focuses on the action, but also brings the reality of the situation to the forefront with the emotion. Solid all around. Read Full Review

There are still a lot of answers left for this series. This first issue introduced what the overall tone of the series will likely be, but offered little more of substance other than a long action sequence. It is not a bad introduction to the threats ahead but neither is it very descriptive of what is to follow. As far as being a crossover it is therefore pretty much of a blank slate, which could be good as crossovers tend towards being disappointing as opposed to being monumental. For now it is "wait and see" but at least the ride for the first issue was entertaining enough. Read Full Review

Two universes are colliding and while there's a lot of potential for confusion down the line, Secret Wars is off to a big, fun, bombastic start. Read Full Review

Hickman does a good job, and Esad Ribic is right there with him, though there were bits and spots that I didn't really dig. At times his art is a little puffy (though that may be the coloring) and some of the facial expressions didn't channel the pure terror happening around the characters. On a more macro level I'm happy with the selection of Ribic to helm this. He is not a household name, and while style is very grandiose it has a mythic feel to it. I think that fits in with the whole Beyond(ers) riff raff. Read Full Review

That all said, even with the end of the world upon us, I come into Secret Wars with a surprising sense of hope. I've been more than critical of Jonathan Hickman's plodding, even self-indulgent pacing with his twin Avengers books, but here he steers away from the navel-gazing and gives Marvel fans what they want " every superhero they can think of, united against a common threat. Still, I can't help but be reminded of other Marvel event books that had a decent first issue, and fizzled out a chapter or two later. But if this issue is any indication, this might be the most fun superhero book I've seen Hickman do yet. Read Full Review

Like the opening to chapter to many other Marvel events, Secret Wars #1 is off to a promising start. But, this latest epic genuinely feels like it may succeed in fulfilling a promise where so many others have failed. Hickman's plot has three years of dedicated planning to support itself, and Ribic and Svorcina are without peers when it comes to designing larger-than-life stories. If Secret Wars #1 is a fair indication, then Secret Wars will be the first great superhero event in a very long time. Read Full Review

While the question remains if the rest of the series can live up to the first installment, based on this issue they're off to a great start. Read Full Review

And it's a good thing Ribic's able to maintain some characters' humanity because Hickman does tend to skimp on them quite a bit. A large part of that is the narrative-heavy focus of his “Avengers” run and how much of the “Secret Wars” story was earned there. If you want to know why Doom and Dr. Strange were hanging out and what's causing any of this, you'll have to wade through around a hundred issues of backstory. That's lame for people who are – be it because of Age of Ultron or Free Comic Book Day – making this their first foray into the Marvel Universe. For those following along, the wait has been worth it as the full consequences promised back in “New Avengers” #1 are finally coming full circle. Read Full Review

TL;DR: +7.5 for quality and relative accessibility, -2.5 for being accessible because new and old readers alike will undoubtedly feel like they've missed something, somewhere. The quality makes it worth checking out next month. Read Full Review

Time will tell whether this event will be worthwhile in the long run for more than just collapsing the ultimate universe, but at the time being it is just alright. It stands as a good example of the good and bad that comes with this body of continuity. The continuity that we all love as comic readers. It is always difficult to deliver on the demands of a voracious audience that wants to know who would win in various match-ups and so on. Its good, its just not yet where I think its going to be. Read Full Review

I thought this first issue paid off, but for someone looking to jump in here, or for someone who may not be as familiar with the Ultimate Universe, for example, it may all be a bit overwhelming (even I'm not sure why the Ultimate version of Reed Richards is a bad guy and I read a lot of comics). If you can get past this first chapter it looks as though the fast pace sets up the second issue for what's next in the Marvel Universe. It may be a while before we get back to the Marvel Universe we're all familiar with as this first issue seems to change everything, even though that's an all too familiar phrase we've heard many times before. Although I enjoyed this first issue, I'm actually more relieved that the three year journey that Hickman has led us on in preparation for this is, for the most part, over. We can now finally see and read about what's next. Read Full Review

Is Secret Wars bad? Surprisingly, going by Marvel's track record, no. It's very impersonal and whatnot, but none of the story elements are inherently offensive or lacking in thought. Is it great? no, it's not that either. It feels kind of like a standard comic book issue where it isn't extremely bad or extremely good, but it serves a purpose and gets the reader excited for what's to come. Read Full Review

What did you think of the first issue? Are you a fan of the massive reboots? Rate the issue and comment below. Read Full Review

This first issue was light on substance, but heavy on the action and made my innerseven-year old do a happy dance as everything fell apart and felt like one big giant action figure show down (you all know fine well what I mean). Hopefully there will be more meat on the bones of future issues, but as it stands, I think I need a wee lie down before I tackle any more of this Read Full Review

"Secret Wars" #1 is filled with characters and suspense. With fifty-seven characters identified on the cast page near the front of this issue, readers are in for a whirlwind tour of the Incursion site. Earths have been smashing together for years, but Hickman and Ribic make this story feel new and fresh, urgent and exciting. At no point is "Secret Wars" #1 predictable, which is unsettling to the readers, but -- on the other side of that coin -- isn't that exactly what readers claim to want more of? This is a decent first offering, but the rubber really hits the road from here on out and I'm looking forward to what Hickman, Ribic, Svorcina and Eliopoulos do from here. Read Full Review

It's got one thing going for it" an overwhelming tone of doom as things go from bad to worse to oblivion. The focus is on the clash between giant forces and on a small band of refugees, with the culmination of three years worth of story ending with three blank pages of negative space. It's a curious choice for the first issue, which was billed as a status quo-changer but ultimately does not give any closure to the answers we've been hoping for, nor does it create any new status quo until people emerge from oblivion into issue #2. "Everything Dies," except for this storyline. Read Full Review

Secret Wars has a lot of build-up. It appears to have a lot of prerequisite reading. A reader coming into this cold will have a lot of questions about the plot and won't find too many answers in this comic book. Readers of either Universe may miss some of the background on the intended characterizations. Overall, the book's goal was to kill off two worlds and it appears to have been successful in that regard. This is a decent read. Read Full Review

In a lot of ways this event starts with a whimper rather than the bang it so desperately wants to accomplish. It feels like it simply exists and is one of the flattest opens to an event I've ever read. Unfortunately there's no dramatic tension nor any semblance of drama to speak of and instead focuses more on preparing the pieces for the remaining seven issues. Ultimately summer comic book events should be fun, but this feels like work. Read Full Review

I went into this wanting to love it as much as the original event and was hoping we would get something that would trump Spider-Man getting his black costume but I closed that last page wondering why I wasted money on it. Secret Wars #1 is awful and serves as another attempt to reboot and re-imagine the Marvel Universe with some of the best the Ultimates have to offer, such as Miles Morales (Spider-man). Read Full Review

Overall, it's hard to say whether or not Secret Wars seems like the right way to go about things. Honestly, I feel that the concept is going to be much more interesting than the actual execution. I'm more excited to read recaps once this whole thing is done " to see who wins, who dies, and who lives " than to actually dig through the nitty gritty and figure that stuff out on my own. Read Full Review

This was a crazy issue.

A Marvel fans dream I’m not kidding just read it

The artwork and writing are amazing. The covers from Alex Ross are stunning and this is
really worth the money

This is the best comic i've ever read

They killed off so many Favs of mine... and I still loved it.

Well done.

The build up in the Avengers titles has all been driving to this moment and the big question has been: will it live up to the hype? The simple answer is yes. It is the end of the Marvel universes and everything about this book, from the art to the story telling, creates a feeling of panic, dispair and hopelessness. If I were to have one minor critique it would be that the issue was a little abrupt. I would have liked at least a few more pages as it definitely left me wanting to read on.

see, DC this is how you write an aniversary event

Take notes Convergence, this right here is how you do a multiverse story! The only downside is that it is not friendly to new readers. If you have been casually keeping a pulse on the Marvel and Ultimate Universes though, you shouldn't get confused. The only part that perplexed me was the part with Cyclops, was that covered in Uncanny X-men? This will be a typically grand and complex network of a plot, Hickman's specialty, but so far it has been much more exciting and emotional than many of his other stories of late. So I'm excited for this event and I haven't felt that way since AvX, here's to hoping it progresses at this level of quality.

Off to a good start.

Epic!

Jonathan Hickman sure is an ambitious writer. If we weren't accustomed to how superhero comics work, we could actually believe that everything was destroyed and everyone dead in this first issue of "Secret Wars", but we all know it's not like that. It will be fun to see how things will change after this, and I have to say that the scale of the story is one of the biggest I've ever seen. Esad Ribic is a fantastic penciller, although I spotted some drawings he already used for other stuff, and his epic style well fits the story. The real problems with Hickman's events are that they are over-stuffed with characters and sub-plots, and that they are over-complicated and it's sometimes really hard to grasp the meaning of what is actually going on. Other than that, good start. more

Hmmmm

Not bad, but I feel like you need to have invested in Hickman's Avengers titles to fully enjoy this event which means you would have been reading for a few years to truly appreciate Secret Wars. While it may be a bit confusing to new readers who jump in, you can already tell this is gonna be epic but will it be memorable? Some comics you read, enjoy a massive roller coaster ride, and then after you get off you tend to forget. I'm hoping it won't be but we won't be able to tell until the last issue. Also, this could potentially be a disaster with so many characters but Hickman has done a fine job with his opening. You see your favorites but they don't all bog the plot pacing down. Overall, this issue #1 does exactly what it's supposed to which is makes you anticipate issue #2. Hopefully it'll be worth it because the next issue also hits us with a premium $4.99 price tag. more

I'm five years behind on my marvel comics (barely finishing up Siege). So I know I jumped a lot of back story and it shows. If Marvel was looking for new readers it's going to be a daunting task for the new reader because you don't know what the hell is happening. BUUUUUT what makes up for it is the amazing and jaw-dropping events that happen. OOOOOOH the people they have killed!!!!!! lolol I just wish it was more beginner user friendly that's all. Or maybe it's an ode to the people who went through all the history. Either way there is something for everyone to enjoy!

Good but expected. Only the Sue Storn part was noteworthy.

Typically the kind of book that makes me yawn and drives me to binge watch the Golden Girls again, because this is too freaking heavy and so full of tension its arteries might blow up.

The most interesting thing about this comic is the fan response. And no, I never factor that in to my reading of any comic, movie, music etc. But this time, the response is more interesting than the product. Don't get me wrong: Secret Wars 01 sucked.

Listen closely to the people who defend this gimped product. Listen to their rebuttals to the idea that the thing just didn't make sense, and wasn't satisfying. We have entered an age where comic book "fans" have been conditioned to take what's given, no matter how flawed the story may be. We have gone full circle from "Every comic should be someone's first" to "Screw you if you haven't read everything else." It's a sad state of affairs, and I don't think Hickman realizes the limitations of his art craft. I blame the Marvel editors for that, and a great many missteps over the years. more

Can we just skip to the end?

Typical overhyped "SUPER EPIC BACON EVENT" crap. Wish Hickman would stop being wasted on this sort of promotional pulp.