Beyond!

Beyond! #1-6

by Scott Kolins (Illustrator), Dwayne McDuffie

An indescribably powerful cosmic being gathers nine of Marvel's most mismatched super-beings for purposes beyond their comprehension. Can Spider-Man, Gravity, Venom, Henry Pym, the Wasp, Medusa, Kraven, Firebird and the Hood keep from killing each other before they must face the dangers of their destination, the deadly artificial planet known as Battleworld? Collects Beyond! #1-6.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Spider Man

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Scott Kolins is an American illustrator, writer and creator for multiple different superhero and science fiction comic books. His main credits are as a penciler but he is an established inker as well as colorist and has some credits as a writer.

Reviews

[Randy Lander · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those forgotten gems of recent years, as Dwayne McDuffie takes a crew of B- and C-listers (including newcomers like Gravity and The Hood), drops them onto an alien planet in an updated spin on Secret Wars and serves up plenty of fun character interaction and a twisty, interesting plot.

I wasn't thrilled by what McDuffie did with one of the main characters, but he fixed it in his brief Fantastic Four run (which I'd also buy in hardcover, if Marvel did one), but I loved his use of the '90s Deathlok. I also liked his work on Al Kraven, which is to say I was able to read the book without constantly wishing that the character would be stabbed in the eyes. One up on his original creator, Ron Zimmerman, on that score.

In addition, this was one of my favorite projects by artist Scott Kolins, who had a great take on the science-gadgety Dr. Hank Pym, the Mike Norton-designed Gravity and Deathlok, among others.

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came upon this book in my growing obsession in reading older runs in Marvel & DC comics going back to the early 2000s. This little miniseries comes to us from the late and great Dwayne McDuffie. If you are not aware of who McDuffie is I suggest you go look him up. Every superhero and comic book fan should know McDuffie. He was one of the co-founders of Milestone comics, a comic line featuring people of color as the central characters. He also created and wrote the character known as Static which became a hit animated series and staple of the DC comics universe. For more on Static and his comic book adventures I highly suggest you read: Static Shock Vol. 1: Rebirth of the Cool & Static Shock, Vol. 1: Supercharged. McDuffie has written for both Marvel and DC comics along with producing much of the DC animated universe content. McDuffie in a lot of ways was ahead of his time and a genius. So with all that said I was very eager to read this book.
Beyond! Is sort of a continuation of a Marvel Secret War story that sees a few of Marvel heroes & villains beamed from earth to Battleworld where they are seemingly forced the Beyonder to fight to the death in order to rewarded with the possibility to go home. I felt the story was straight forward and had a lot of action. You do not have to know everything about all the characters but regular Marvel readers will probably care a little more about the impact this book has on certain characters.
McDuffie handle the dialogue and sets up the stakes pretty well. Many of the characters have a unique voice and humorous banter. Another good thing about this story is that it contain only a few A list characters while the rest are more like C list which instantly raised the stakes for me because they could die and to be honest they would not have a large effect on the current Marvel continuity. Now the book was not perfect and I did have a few gripes. First, the artwork was a bit bad in some pages and looked a little rushed. The colorist in my opinion saved this book because the colors made many no so good pages look good. When the art was working it made the action look dynamic. Second Spider-man had no purpose being in this book other than just a story element to raise the stakes. I feel Marvel editorial probably wanted Spidey on the cover just to move more units of this book . So I was a bit disappointed by the less involvement of Spidey. Also the Ant-man & Wasp scenes turned me off from this book a bit. True Marvel fans will know exactly why if they read this book. Some of the character designs were terrible. These would include Kraven, Hank Pym, and Gravity. This may not be the creators fault as this may have been what the characters were suppose to look like in this continuity. Finally I thought the main villain reveal in the end was lackluster. There just wasn't a proper build up towards the end. In short this was a great standalone adventure that is worth a read through but is weak as a crossover event when compared to Hickman's Secret Wars and DC comics' Dark Nights: Metal.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll read anything McDuffie wrote, and this effort ranks in the middle of his output. It's harmless fun, with a bunch of B-list characters thrown together to try and escape from something claiming to be the Beyonder. Although Spider-Man seems to be the headline star, all is not as it seems....
McDuffie has fun, but perhaps just a dash more than the reader does. He writes great dialogue, but the story is very slight and the characters ( the Hood and the new Kraven especially) can be irritating. The art is ok, though Dr Pym is drawn badly.
Fun, but slight.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collects Beyond! issues #1-6

This book is a spiritual successor to "Secret Wars," but it is not a sequel. Elements are similar, but this has a totally different tone. Here are characters that appear in this relatively modern story:

-Hank Pym
-The Wasp
-Gravity
-Medusa
-Firebird
-Alyosha Kravinoff
-Venom (Mac Gargan)
-The Hood
-Deathlok

SPOILERS:

It seems like McDuffie wanted Gravity to be the main character of this story, and the omnicient narrator even predicts that Gravity will one day become a much bigger character in the Marvel Universe, however this is the one-and-only story I've ever seen him in. A quick internet search tells me that the character has actually had multiple comic book appearances, and he was resurrected shortly after his death in this book.

FINAL RATING = 2.5 stars

[Cecil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I proceed there are spoilers ahead. This was an enjoyable story about Marvel heroes being manipulated by the Stranger on the planet of Battleworld. If you like pulpy sci-fi and gorgeous artwork this is the comic for you. Gravity and Deathlok are the stand outs to me. Gravity was the audience proxy of the story and Deathlok was the heart of the story. I'm not going lie Gravity's death took me by surprise. This was a fun read for me. It's definitely a must read and I can't recommend it enough.

[Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember when I first read this, what a quirky and weird pleasant surprise it was. It should be nothing, another nigh-useless Contest of Secret Champion Wars, but it isn't. It's an odd little story about broken people and nasty things and it's untidy and not what it looks like. It's also funny and sad and brutal and fun to look at.

On the cover there is Wasp, Spider-Man, Mac Gargan Venom, Kraven the Hunter, Jr., Firebird, Hank Pym, Medusa, Gravity & the Hood. There's more.

[Christian Zamora-Dahmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't that bad at first, but the ending was disappointing and way too convenient.

[Dominic Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the mid 2000’s secret war-esq story. If your a fan of this era of marvel this story will hit for you.

[Patrick Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine enough I suppose, but the very definition of diminishing returns as well.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Dwayne McDuffie even though I wasn't there for Milestone. But he created Damage Control and St. Elsewhere Theory. His Fantastic Four run was touching, and he sadly left us too soon.

Beyond! is like Secret Wars for C and D list characters. Its a lot of fun. It doesn't change a lot, but it's one of those ideas I really enjoy.

Scott Kolin's art is great (among his best, as I'm not so interested in the Flash) and I love his Beyonder.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

An eclectic bunch of somewhat forgotten superheroes are brought into outer space by a vague cosmic force. Then they get home. (Sorry for that spoiler.)
Dwayne McDuffie was a key writer on the excellent Justice League Unlimited cartoon, and he tries to have fun with the Marvel continuity here, but with more mixed results. It's fun seeing characters isolated to miniseries like Gravity (who controls gravity), the Hood (who gets his powers from a hooded cloak) and Get Kraven (a craven movie executive), team up. But in any not-hugely publicized miniseries, no huge, lasting events can happen, so when Spider-Man dies in the first issue, you know this book will be eventful but frivolous. There are other dramatic yet cheap plot twists, and an actual, unnecessary death at the end of the book. (Um, that was another (vague) spoiler.)
Scott Kolins can be a great artist (like on Flash and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes), but here his art is not very clean, and doesn't work well with the cosmic setting.

[Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting story, though I don't much have a concept of when it takes place. I can get a rough idea based on some of the characters, though this was my first introduction to some of these characters. The story had interesting twists and turns, and though I thought it wouldn't have any long-term effects, it turned out that it did (though it was with a character I didn't know). Though I don't understand how it fits in with anything, and have never seen any references to it, it was an enjoyable read.

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a great book, but I'm a sucker for stories that take disparate characters, throw them into an unusual situation and force them to get along, it helps that the group includes Hank Pym and the Wasp, two of my favorite Marvel mainstays. The story isn't bad, but it's somewhat slight and the outcome relies on a character that I don't think has ever been portrayed as powerful as the story seems to think he is. Anyway, certainly worth reading.

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The basic plot of this miniseries isn't too remarkable - a rehash of the 1980s Secret Wars storyline - but Dwayne McDuffie makes the most of the ensemble cast, and throws in some shocking twists to boot. Speaking personally, I was happy to see the return of one of the more interesting 1990s Marvel characters... on the other hand, there's a tragic twist towards the end that seemed needless. (B+)

[Devero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una storia carina, messa insieme dal compianto McDuffie e da un Kolins in buona forma dove nessuno è ciò che appare, anche col senno di poi (vedi Secret Invasion).
Nel complesso è gustabile, coi colpi di scena giusti anche se in qualche caso telefonati se uno è un Marvel fan di vecchia data.
Due stelle e mezza in realtà.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprints Beyond! #1-6. A group of heroes and villains are spirited off Earth by an other-worldly spirit and forced to battle. This story is a continuation of the Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars storyline and isn't bad, but it doesn't seem to have enough time to develop like it needs.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly interesting concept with amazing art; this seems like a lot of set-up for something that never materializes in the ongoing Marvel continuity -- although a few scraps of the plot (primarily the hint at the end of this volume) are picked up in McDuffie's first volume of FANTASTIC FOUR.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was at least more interesting than the 1980s Secret Wars, by a more talented team of writer (the late Dwayne McDuffie), artist Scott Kollins, and, in this case, colorist Paul Mounts.
Here comes the 2015 version of Secret Wars...
Mildly recommended.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not satisfied when spider man died and turned into space phantom...It is really disapointing...

[A J · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art and colouring are solid; the story doesn't quite work, which is a shame.