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[LordOfLore]

Link.

A few weeks ago, the assembled heroes of the Marvel Universe took on the Hydra-aligned Captain America with the fate of all reality at stake, in the final issue in Marvel Comics’ controversial Secret Empire event.

The series and the stories leading into it have been subject to much debate about the responsibility of storytelling within the superhero genre. Now that everything is officially over — with the publication of the event’s epilogue issue, Secret Empire: Omega #1 — it’s a good time to reflect on the events both in and outside of the comic, and to assess whether Secret Empire was worth all the hubbub.

While the lead-in to Secret Empire seemed like the event itself was going to have something to say about the nature of American fascism, the actual series focused more on being a standard superhero romp without much to say. Over the course of eighteen months, the story of Captain America’s turn towards outright fascism has caused pain, anger and outrage and ultimately just wasn’t worth the the offense, the excuses or the effort.

There’s also the matter of the other Captain America, Sam Wilson. Since donning the red-white-and-blue, Sam has lead sidekicks to their death, let billionaires off the hook, stood on the sidelines while private police terrorise minority communities and eventually decided it was all too hard and quit to go camp out in Montana. While it’s hardly the character’s fault — he deserved much better — Sam Wilson was a terrible Captain America. And now that the real Steve Rogers is back, he’s heading back to becoming the Falcon. It’s a missed opportunity to have him to actually live up to the name and mantle of Captain America in the wake of Hydra’s takeover.

A glance at Marvel’s schedule for the next few months shows a surprisingly meagre amount of Secret Empire fallout, especially for a publisher that usually ends events with line-wide branding, like “The Initiative” after Civil War and “Dark Reign” after Secret Invasion. The X-Men books are going straight into a crossover event in the Mojoverse; the Punisher is taking over the War Machine armor, after working with Hydra of his own free will; and the Avengers are going straight into a crossover with the Champions featuring the High Evolutionary.

Secret Empire is the second worst selling event comic in Marvel’s history. Furthermore, it failed to bolster sales of its tie-in issues — series launched out of Secret Empire, such as Secret Warriors, were already hovering around the cancellation line just a couple of issues in. Marvel has spent a lot of time and money on this event, and has come out of the other side with lower sales and lower confidence from readers and retailers alike.

No one comic or story is going turn things around for Marvel. It’ll take some really good stories and a sincere sign that things will change for the better to regain the trust of those driven away from Secret Empire. At the end of this month, Secret Empire will be a distant memory in the Marvel Universe — or at least that seems to be the hope — but whether fans can forgive and forget remains to be seen.

Bunch more at the link.

 

[mreddie]

Never have I seen such promise go up in flames.

 

[Nairume]

No. Not only was the timing infinitely poor, it was just never a good story and neither the regular ending nor Omega issue really gave much justification to it.

 

[BoogieWoogie]

Black Widow is dead and no one cares.

 

[mjc]

No, and Marvel should take it as a sign to let events sleep for a while.

 

[mreddie]

No, and Marvel should take it as a sign to let events sleep for a while.

Problem is the last time a event bombed this hard, they had to adjust a Avengers plot to a event.
The Alonso reign is trigger happy with events and I feel the no more events for a year will be broken next year.

 

[Aizo]

Just a waste of money.

I did actually enjoy supper with Ultron because of how silly it was, though.

 

[CalamityPixel]

No, and Marvel should take it as a sign to let events sleep for a while.

 

[Nairume]

Black Widow is dead and no one cares.

Spoiler

Omega suggests she's alive. Rick Jones is so dead he's married to Death now,
though.

 

[The Elite]

Black Widow is dead and no one cares.

I don't even remember her dying... oh wait. I do. They didn't seem to give a shit either.

 

[SENPAIatLARGE]

Would have been less controversial is Trump hadn't won. People freaked out on what amounted to a what if storyline.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

The opening issues were very good. I they lost me immediately after the Ultron dinner. Everything just seemed so rushed. So glad I didn't buy into the tie ins for this.

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

Well, I have not read it but I'm gonna go with no... Probably?
It was ill-timed, obviously, and that's not really their fault. But most Marvel events are never worth it. Secret Wars was the odd one out.

 

[Blackage]

Er so what was the resolution? Is Cap still a Hydra agent? I'll take full spoilers.

 

[Kinyou]

Black Widow is dead and no one cares.

"Hey I'll restore reality but your friends stay dead, it's a lesson or something, lol, cya"

 

[Nairume]

Er so what was the resolution? Is Cap still a Hydra agent? I'll take full spoilers.

Spoiler

Cosmic Cube brought normal Cap back into the world, but Hydra Cap still exists as a separate person. Story ends with Good Cap becoming Cap again, while Nazi Cap is in prison.

Unsurprising to anyone, the prison guards are Hydra members.

 

[Eppy Thatcher]

Er so what was the resolution? Is Cap still a Hydra agent? I'll take full spoilers.

Real Cap is a Hydra weirdo and got beat up but he's still around and still evil.

"Good" Cap is a hard light reconstruction built out of hope and money via cosmic cube fuckery and he is also still around.

 

[Moonlight]

Real Cap is a Hydra weirdo and got beat up but he's still around and still evil.

"Good" Cap is a hard light reconstruction built out of hope and money via cosmic cube fuckery and he is also still around.

what the fuck

 

[NandoGip]

The last 2-3 years of of Marvel comics has been a huge mess, and this is coming from someone who has been reading them for like 10 years now. I've pretty much stopped for the last 1.5 years or so because it just seems so all over the place

 

[Dj Convoy]

It made a lot of people upset, and didn't really serve any purpose in doing so. Gonna say no and hope that Marvel somehow has started to understand the law of diminishing returns on these dumb events (they won't).

 

[The Silver]

It had great build up but ran out of steam fast in the actual event, I liked the Omega issue though.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

 

[Blader]

The last Marvel event that was worth it was Annihilation.

 

[SargerusBR]

The last 2-3 years of of Marvel comics has been a huge mess, and this is coming from someone who has been reading them for like 10 years now. I've pretty much stopped for the last 1.5 years or so because it just seems so all over the place

Agreed, ever since the end of Secret Wars they have yet to get their bearings. Old Man Logan so far is excellent though.

 

[BoogieWoogie]

Marvel is just so boring now. It seems like it died when Hickman left.

 

[WrenchNinja]

I'm trying to think of a Marvel event that was worth it in the long run or provided some interesting stories afterwards.

Annihilation gave way for GotG

I suppose Civil War was worth it for the Iniative book, Ellis' Thunderbolts, Incredible Herc and uh...yeah that's all I liked out of that.

Secret Invasion had the God Squad trying to take out the Skrull God. That was cool.

House of M made mutants desperate again and there was a string X-Men events that I dug with the Messiah Complex, War, and Second Coming. Also gave way for X-Force and Necrosha and the pretty good Cable run with him running around through time with a baby being chased by Bishop.

 

[PaulExcellent]

The concept was dumb.
The way it was executed was really dumb.
They ruined far too many characters.
Marvel is so fucking dumb right now.

Sam should have been a decent Captain America, but they kept fucking up his run from the very start of his run. It's like they WANTED to make him look like a useless moron.

Cap shouldn't have just been brought back the way he was, but Marvel had written themselves into a corner. Hell, Hydra Cap shouldn't even be around anymore! He's useless and shouldn't be brought back.

This was a fucking travesty in every way possible. It goes right next to AXIS.

The only good things to come out of it was Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur teaming up with other Inhumans. That was neat.

Also fuck Nick Spencer. He's absolute trash.

 

[Krixeus]

Real Cap is a Hydra weirdo and got beat up but he's still around and still evil.

"Good" Cap is a hard light reconstruction built out of hope and money via cosmic cube fuckery and he is also still around.

So there are 2 Steve Rogers running around now? Is "Good" Cap basically immortal if he's not even real but is somehow tangible?

 

[kswiston]

Secret Wars was great because Hickman built to it over several years. Most of these events have very little lead up, so they don't feel organic at all. I haven't been reading Marvel in the last couple of years, but from what I have gathered in these threads, Secret Empire actually had more build up than most thanks to a year's worth of Captain America stories prior.

 

[D i Z]

Secret Empire is the second worst selling event comic in Marvel’s history

What's the first worst selling? One of the Civil Wars?

 

[BoogieWoogie]

What's the first worst selling? One of the Civil Wars?

Fear Itself maybe?

 

[kswiston]

What's the first worst selling? One of the Civil Wars?

The first Civil War is one of the best selling events of all time. Not sure how the second did.

Are we counting stuff like Age of Ultron?

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

What's the first worst selling? One of the Civil Wars?

I'm pretty sure Civil War 1 was actually one of their best selling.

 

[LordOfLore]

What's the first worst selling? One of the Civil Wars?

AXIS.

 

[Bronx-Man]

No and fuck Nick Spencer.

 

[BoogieWoogie]

The last Marvel event that was worth it was Annihilation.

Infinity and Secret War are amazing.

 

[otakukidd]

So when is evil cap and evil reed Richards teaming up. Now they just need evil wolverine and they got themselves an event.

 

[Blader]

Infinity and Secret War are amazing.

Oh I did actually like Secret Wars, for the most part. Infinity didn't do it for me though. The Avengers vs. Builders stuff just felt like a really hollow distraction from all the Thanos stuff on Earth, and I never liked the idea of making the two plots completely unrelated to each other.

 

[CazTGG]

Real Cap is a Hydra weirdo and got beat up but he's still around and still evil.

"Good" Cap is a hard light reconstruction built out of hope and money via cosmic cube fuckery and he is also still around.

...People got paid to write, edit and approve this.

This is the best they could come up with for fixing the whole "let's turn comic's original antifa into a Nazi".

 

[D i Z]

The first Civil War is one of the best selling events of all time. Not sure how the second did.

Are we counting stuff like Age of Ultron?

I'm pretty sure Civil War 1 was actually one of their best selling.

I remember it being popular, but never got a read on how well it sold. No wonder they couldn't wait to jump back in all half assed with 2.

AXIS.

Ah. Ic.

 

[LordOfLore]

...People got paid to write, edit and approve this.

This is the best they could come up with for fixing the whole "let's turn comic's original antifa into a Nazi".

"We won't use a Cosmic Cube to reverse this."

---

"Look, we didn't reverse all of it with the Cube."

 

[Glix]

I'm glad this sounds like it was a commercial disaster.

Marvel has got to get back on track and hopefully this will be a wakeup call.

They have a lot riding on Legacy at this point, and I'm worried, so few of their creative teams excite me.

Edit - Is Barf gonna get his own series?

 

[mreddie]

About Widow's death setting up a spinoff Marvel won't give a fuck about anyways.

She died on national TV, so who's out killing the people she wanted killed? [...] Bucky doesn't think that it's here. Hawkeye definitely believes its her. [...] A really great, slick espionage book.

Umm, they were no cameras.

Issue 1, that sort of comedic horror moment of Barf throwing up a Captain America lunchbox. It's a moment that seems like a bit of nonsense, but it turns out ultimately to be the key to the heroes turning things around a bunch of issues later. The fact that the character came back and was so important so made the right people unhappy and upset.

Brevvort loves pissing off fans, see Spider Man 600

 

[BobTheFork]

They've hit Carnie booking at this point. Hydra Cap came from being desperate for anything shocking or unexpected, regardless how it would progress past a single panel.

 

[Bronx-Man]

Between the one-two punch of Civil War II and Secret Empire, Marvel Comics' reputation is crumbling. They gotta get their shit together asap.

 

[Fury451]

Black Widow is dead and no one cares.

 

[mreddie]

Between the one-two punch of Civil War II and Secret Empire, Marvel Comics' reputation is crumbling. They gotta get their shit together asap.

They still lead on marketshare only because they glut the market, if they lost that, dominoes will fall.

 

[AlexBasch]

I kinda spoiled the whole thing by reading it in wiki and looks like I should grab a Marvel subscription or something to get into comics (any way to resume 65+ of comic book stories so I can catch up? No? Okay.)

So...what I'm reading here is that

Spoiler

Spider-Man had a vision of him killing Captain America, but I gotta ask, when Miles Morales replaced Peter Parker as that character?
Where is he now? I remember reading something about him merging with Otto Octavius,
is that thing going on right now? I'm curious.

 

[mreddie]

I kinda spoiled the whole thing by reading it in wiki and looks like I should grab a Marvel subscription or something to get into comics (any way to resume 65+ of comic book stories so I can catch up? No? Okay.)

So...what I'm reading here is that

Spoiler

Spider-Man had a vision of him killing Captain America, but I gotta ask, when Miles Morales replaced Peter Parker as that character?
Where is he now? I remember reading something about him merging with Otto Octavius,
is that thing going on right now? I'm curious.

Peter is free from Doc Ock and two years ago, the Spider Man from the Ultimate Universe jumped to the main Universe. He was basically envisioned to see killing Hydra Cap but no one knew it at the time.

Don't do it, both events waste your time.

 

[erlim]

I feel like cape events range from "wow that was cringe worthy and boarderline offensive" to "hey that was pretty decent."