Is a Picture Worth a 1,000 Words: Secret Wars #3

Is a picture really worth a thousand words? Through an interview with Jonathan Hickman, CBR debuted the cover for Secret Wars #3 this morning. So, with all of the plot reveals and implications stemming from this cover, is it worth the whole ‘one-thousand words’ cliche? You're about to find out.

This cover reinforced something I completely forgot; the Secret Wars series is inexplicably linked to everything that has been happening in Avengers and New Avengers. These important comics have chronicled the new stories of the Avengers with a heavy amount of plot. Keeping track of everything that happens in the Avengers and New Avengers titles are a full time job. However, truly understanding this cover requires knowledge of Marvel’s extensive line, which is what we will be covering with this piece in-depth.

Jonathan Hickman's writing had never been 'easy' to jump into. His comics are dense pieces of literature worthy of the book part of the term comic books. Yet, it’s commendable that Hickman would take such a massive risk with the Avengers franchise coming into Secret Wars, which sees all the Marvel Universe characters colliding with the Ultimate Universe characters on a planet called Battleworld.

That organically weaves into the next big plot point. This story proves that what happened in Infinity absolutely matters. Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Thane, and The Ebony Maw are all coming back in this storyline. Your own familiarity to these characters is going to be a barrier to entry for those who have not read those stories. Infinity was a massive tale, and yet it wasn’t the big culmination that we have been building to with all these comics. Thanos and Glaive are now instrumental pieces of a brand new cabal of villains that all seem to be assembled in this story and cover. Other villains are also assembled on this cover, which we’ll soon get into.

Jonathan Hickman came out at the end of Infinity using Black Swan in New Avengers to say ‘this isn’t all there is to this story.’ Yet, it is an important piece of what comes after.

How much of the incursions stem from what happened earlier. Is the Beyonder the thing behind what all of this has caused? The character first debuted in 1984, he didn’t have a human body initially in Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars #1, but in the sequel Secret Wars II, he took the form of a white male with curly hair. This figure is seen on the cover of the issue, but not in the latest installment of New Avengers which saw a new alien race identify themselves as The Beyonders. What these figures and beings are created as is questionable, as they could be a great many things with a strong relationship with The Beyonder. Also, The Beyonder seems to be present in the cover of New Avengers and this cover to Secret Wars #3. Is this a fake-out from Marvel, who is trying to obscure the facts on purpose?

While Jason Aaron's Thanos origin story is by no means essential reading for the upcoming event, it does tell readers that Thanos certainly could have a son in his reckless actions left across the Universe. This is a long way of saying that ancillary stories about Marvel's Thanos are all going to matter in this comic. It's going to be every little piece. For once Marvel is celebrating the fact that they are telling a story that is dense, which should alienate new readers by proxy.

The next big part of this cover is the reveal of Ultimate Reed Richards. Familiarity with that character is going to be another essential piece of the Secret Wars puzzle. Looking at how that is going to bleed into the rest of this Avengers saga is enough crossover to make my head explode. Without exploring this upcoming without a telescope, a lot is going to be lost on the reader. Ultimate Reed Richards was revealed as a villain in Brian Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Enemy trilogy of stories. The debut of the character as a villain was a great way to diversify the Marvel Universe once-and-for-all in terms of the Ultimate comics bad guys in particular. It was a big with of the publication franchise that finally got the chance to diversify their line.

Now that Richards and Cabal are introduced, there is but one more thing on the cover worth mentioning as a last topic of discussion. Reed Richards positioning on the cover seems to be positioned as the leaders of this story. Both Richards are positioned as the leads of each stories. The evil version of Richards seems to be the head of the Cabal? Could the character of somehow taken control of the team over Thanos? What parallels and relationships are going to be crafted with all these different villains given the spotlight with in the stories. Also included in the Cabal are but a few characters that we haven’t covered yet like Terry, someone who is prominently featured in the New Avengers comic early on in the series, that now seems to be a sort of staple within the cabal. Namor also seems to have come back as well, he’s likely going to want to seek vengeance on what Black Panther did to him in that middle of the last New Avengers storyline which was the character being placed into some truly horrible positions that he couldn't get out of.

Both Wakanda and Atlantis have bore massive casualties in the wake of what happened with both series. Which further adds to that epic scope and feel that the event will likely have. Another quick but possible thing to talk about is how Cyclops is on the heroes side of the section. I suppose Cyclops isn’t bad enough to hang out just with Thanos and the Cabal yet, but also might not be that far off from doing so.

To recap, that’s Thanos, Terrax, Corvus Glaive, Reed Richards, New Avengers, Avengers, and more all painted by Alex Ross in one image.

I think we just discovered that a picture is worth a thousand words.