“Yesterday’s” Comic> Secret Wars II #1

For the answer, see Secret Wars 1.

Secret Wars II #1

Marvel (July, 1985)

The Beyonder, the guy who brought the world’s heroes and villains to Battleworld to engage in the original Secret Wars, has come to Earth hoping to understand the meaning of our little lives. After an encounter with the Molecule Man, Beyonder journeys to LA, where comes across a disgruntled TV writer. Giving him superpowers is a mistake as “Thundersword” now seeks to wipe out everything he never got to write against, from corporate things to showcasing actual violence to show how bad violence is. (Yes, he’s kind of a hypocrite at the moment.) Luckily, a weakened Professor X (from events in the X-titles) was able to detect the entity’s approach and still sent a telepathic warning to Earth’s heroes. Captain America and a Magneto-led grouping of X-Men and New Mutants head that way, with Iron Man popping up after Thundersword’s assault. In the end, Cap and Iron Man deal with the writer and turn him back to normal while the Beyonder causes a terrible situation for the New Mutants before he disappears, secretly following Captain America.

Tie-In Comics (none of which I own)

• New Mutants #30
• Captain America #308
• X-Men #196
• Iron Man #197

What they got right: There’s a quick catch-up about the first Secret Wars for people like me who missed it. I like the concept of an all-powerful being trying to understand the human race and unintentionally (and possibly not caring) causing problems for the superheroes.

What they got wrong: I’m not sure about the name of this series. Outside of the Beyonder, what connection does this have to the original Secret Wars when there is no battle between heroes? The whole series and the tie-ins are just the Beyonder traveling the US learning about humanity. And what was the point of turning Magik into Darkchilde? There’s no reason other than “oooh, what’s this”, but even that is only guessing on my part. I’d suspect he only did it because the New Mutants writer at the time wanted to do something with Magik/Darkchilde and saw a way to speed that up.

Recommendation: Honestly, I’m not very impressed thus far, in part because this doesn’t feel like it deserves the title. Just calling “The Beyonder” and we’re good. the story itself seems more interested in setting up the whole event than anything else. We’ll see in the coming weeks where the Beyonder’s travels take him (note that I’m missing the final issue) to see what my ultimate recommendation is.