The Secret Wars Power Rankings – Final Standings

Well, it is finally over!  Ok, it was finally over back in the beginning of January, but I’ve finally finished my write ups.  With that done, after the break check out our (well, mostly my) final rankings for all the Secret Wars series.

It was a huge event and most will not be insane enough to read it all.  If you are interested in the main story, you can mostly get by with just reading the main series.  Very few of the other series tie into the main event, and those that do are recapped as needed in the lead book.

Outside of that, I’d recommend giving any of the top 15 a shot.  As for the rest, you can likely just pick and choose the series that interest you.  As said, most have no ties to the core book outside of Doom being God and the story taking place in a domain of Battleworld.  And some barely bother with that.

Let us know what’s ranked too high or too low.

The Secret Wars Power Rankings – November 12, 2015

 

It was a big week for Secret Wars.  Probably the last one, with the release of Secret Wars #7 and the conclusions of Thors, Squadron Sinister and Infinity Gauntlet.  The only books left now I believe are Secret Wars #8 and #9, Hail Hydra #4 and Ultimate End #5, which is long delayed, I’m guessing because it ties into the conclusion of the main series.

I’ve heard rumors that when Secret Wars was expanded to 9 issues, the actual page count remained the same for the series.  That they basically split an issue that was supposed to be oversized in two to give the creative team more time.  It sure felt that way this week as issue 7 felt like half an issue.  The endings of Thors and Squadron Sinister were ok but had their problems.

Infinity Gauntlet finished strong and has a big jump up the rankings.  Moving from #16 to #9.  While it still annoys me that this series doesn’t tie into the main story, as a self-contained work it is quite good and manages to deliver on the ending, which many of the Secret Wars tie-ins have failed to do.

After the break, this weeks rankings…

The Secret Wars Power Rankings – November 3, 2015

There’s not much Secret Wars left to talk about these days.  Most series are over and the new Marvel Universe has already launched.  Last week saw the conclusions of House of M and Where Monsters Dwell.  This week, for the first time since May, there are no Secret Wars books scheduled.

Since there aren’t many issues, there aren’t really any big movers and shakers.  Monsters dropped slightly as I wonder if this had anything to do at all with Secret Wars or Marvel just used it as an excuse to hype a tame Garth Ennis book?  I don’t think there is one reference to Battleworld in the story.  House of M moved up a bit with a mediocre finale, jumping over a couple of other mediocre books.

After the break, this weeks rankings…

The Secret Wars Power Rankings – October 26, 2015

I thought I would mix up the intro a bit this week.  If you’re like me you don’t read it and skip over it anyway since it hasn’t changed in months.  It also has been a while since we’ve done a “Secret Wars Power Rankings Reaction” style column where Ryan and Tom tell me I’m crazy.

So after the cut I will incorporate some of that into the beginning of this weeks rankings.  Not a lot changes these days as Secret Wars is supposed to be over now, but due to delays, it is still pushing out a few titles a week even though the new Marvel Universe launched on schedule a couple of weeks ago.  We even have a new title this week, Secret Wars Agents of Atlas.

The Secret Wars Power Rankings – October 19, 2015

The best part of Marvel’s Secret Wars is that virtually every facet of the massive event starts with an issue #1.  This presents 49 different jumping on points.  Some stories may be based on characters you know, some series may be from another event or world you’ve read about, but all of them are different enough that you can pick up the series and start reading.  With that in mind, we’ve harnessed the powers of Jimmy Impossible (who’s actually reading the entire event) to power rank every single Secret Wars series.  Each week the rankings will change as new issues come out, so come take a look at the latest power rankings after the break!

The Secret Wars Power Rankings – October 9, 2015

The best part of Marvel’s Secret Wars is that virtually every facet of the massive event starts with an issue #1.  This presents 49 different jumping on points.  Some stories may be based on characters you know, some series may be from another event or world you’ve read about, but all of them are different enough that you can pick up the series and start reading.  With that in mind, we’ve harnessed the powers of Jimmy Impossible (who’s actually reading the entire event) to power rank every single Secret Wars series.  Each week the rankings will change as new issues come out, so come take a look at the latest power rankings after the break!

The Secret Wars Power Rankings – October 2, 2015

The best part of Marvel’s Secret Wars is that virtually every facet of the massive event starts with an issue #1.  This presents 49 different jumping on points.  Some stories may be based on characters you know, some series may be from another event or world you’ve read about, but all of them are different enough that you can pick up the series and start reading.  With that in mind, we’ve harnessed the powers of Jimmy Impossible (who’s actually reading the entire event) to power rank every single Secret Wars series.  Each week the rankings will change as new issues come out, so come take a look at the latest power rankings after the break!

The Secret Wars Power Rankings – September 28, 2015

The best part of Marvel’s Secret Wars is that virtually every facet of the massive event starts with an issue #1.  This presents 49 different jumping on points.  Some stories may be based on characters you know, some series may be from another event or world you’ve read about, but all of them are different enough that you can pick up the series and start reading.  With that in mind, we’ve harnessed the powers of Jimmy Impossible (who’s actually reading the entire event) to power rank every single Secret Wars series.  Each week the rankings will change as new issues come out, so come take a look at the latest power rankings after the break!

The Secret Wars Power Rankings – September 21, 2015

The best part of Marvel’s Secret Wars is that virtually every facet of the massive event starts with an issue #1.  This presents 49 different jumping on points.  Some stories may be based on characters you know, some series may be from another event or world you’ve read about, but all of them are different enough that you can pick up the series and start reading.  With that in mind, we’ve harnessed the powers of Jimmy Impossible (who’s actually reading the entire event) to power rank every single Secret Wars series.  Each week the rankings will change as new issues come out, so come take a look at the latest power rankings after the break!

Secret Wars Rankings: Red Skull Edition

Like this rag tag Marvel version of DC’s Suicide Squad? Don’t, they survive about 5 minutes…

In an event that is rife with ideas and revisited storylines from the 70’s on up, there is still room for it to be unique.  One of those new ideas is that of The Shield.  A planet wide border wall that keeps the likes of Marvel Zombies, Ultron and the Annihilation Wave from overruning the more “civil” domains on the rest of Battleworld.

The Shield and the domains it protects the rest of the planet from, are also where anyone that defies God Doom and his rules are cast.   Sentenced to either serve for the rest of their days as a defender of The Shield or to fight to stay alive against the horrors on the other side.

This concept has been the backbone of some great series (Siege, Marvel Zombies, Infinity Gauntlet) but also of some that started with great set ups and promise and fell flat (Age of Ultron vs Marvel Zombies, Red Skull).

After the break I’ll look at this weeks biggest movers including Red Skull as well as get Tom and Ryan’s thoughts on the most over and underrated series.