There is a very famous panel in this first issue which shows Galactus and (Dr. Doom) being thrown out of a space rift by the Beyonder. That's just wrong. When something like this happens I create comic books of my own in my head. Too bad you can't buy Galactus Beatdown issues 1 to 12, where Galactus pretty much uses the Beyonder like a dishrag. When you read this issue ignore that panel. The Beyonder CANNOT throw Galactus out of anywhere. Galactus Rules!
Moving on.
Jim Shooter's concept is pure fun. Take some major heroes and villains (plus Galactus), put them in a battle world and have the Beyonder tell them that the winner gets to ask for anything. This is Secret Wars!
I'd like to focus on two personages in particular : Magneto and Dr. Doom. In the hierarchy of Marvel villains, these two pretty much occupy the top rung (along with a select few like Loki, the Kingpin and others). Magneto has been the biggest bad guy for the X-Men since issue 1 and Dr. Doom has pretty much plagued every Marvel hero; specially the Fantastic Four.
First of all, why is Magneto grouped with the heroes? That was a big surprise back then and it must have given future writers some ideas because from then on, storylines would be ambiguous regarding Magneto's villainy. In fact, right now, he's one of the X-Men.
Ah Doom. I don't know if he's more powerful than Magneto but he's certainly more arrogant. It's just the first issue and Doom gets to collapse a whole building on the other villains and power blast the heroes. That is such vintage Doom.
The heroes have a base and so do the villains. A measure of the sheer "auctoritas" of both villains is that Magneto goes and gets his own base while Magneto takes control of the villain's base, naming it Doombase. Bring on the bad guys!
Posted by Pete Albano - January 9, 2012
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3 : Tempest Without, Crisis Within