5 issues in and they're finally pulling back the curtain. Everything about this book is incredibly fresh, yet Stephenson and co manage to deliver a world that I believe I could walk out my front door to.

Incredible. I haven't been this excited for more content since I wrapped the first arc of Saga.

Incredibly boring despite the ultra-violence.

This might be the single most awful issue of a comic I've read in the last year.

The dialogue is incredibly natural and easy to follow despite the relatively complex dealings our characters explore. Stephenson, Bellegarde and Bellaire have delivered something that promises to be new and fresh, but the real award here goes to Fonografix for his brilliant layouts, lettering, and designs throughout the series. All at once ultra-modern and comfortably classic.

After pushbacks and a completely botched release of the Post-Secret Wars universe, Hickman and Ribic deliver a satisfactory ending to the Secret Wars event. The main issues with Secret Wars 9 are more related to the underlying philosophy than the story itself. In the final pages we see Hickman's big questions of dualism and god-hood answered with such overly-simplistic reasoning it nearly implies hypocrisy, which, given the general consensus of Richard Reed's temperament, may have been Hickman's plan all along. Even still, Secret Wars will likely be one of the most memorable of Marvel's big events, with Esad Ribic's artwork setting the bar very high.