Save Your $5 And Avoid The Guide To The Marvel Multiverse

With many of their company wide events, Marvel likes to publish a “Guide” book to help those that may be lost about what circumstances lead to the current crossover and who the main players are.

Even being the completist that I am, I almost never read these.  The problem for me is the format.  They are just page after page of very small text with the occasional recycled image added where appropriate.

But since I’m attempting to read all of Secret Wars, will I manage to read this as well?  Answer: no.  So the question becomes, should you?  Find out after the cut.  (Spoilers: no, no you shouldn’t.)

And The Award For The Longest and Most Unnecessary Secret Wars Post On Gabbing Geek Goes To…

To a 10 year old Jimmy Impossible, Secret Wars was right in his wheel house.  For one full year the best heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe would be together every month bashing skulls, having mountains dropped on them and bowing before Doom.  Though the tie-ins were subtle, this was really the first huge company wide event at either of the Big Two.  (sequart.org has a nice article comparing Secret Wars, Secret Wars II and Crisis on Infinite Earths and which is responsible for the rise of the endless Events that I keep getting suckered into, which seems like every few months.)

One of the biggest parts of Secret Wars, and in fact the reason for it’s existence, was a promotion for a toy line from Mattel.