Secret Warps

Secret Warps #1-5

by Al Ewing, Mark Waid, Tim Seeley

Collects Secret Warps Solider Supreme Annual #1, Secret Warps: Weapon Hex Annual #1, Secret Warps: Ghost Panther Annual #1, Secret Warps: Arachknight Annual #1, Secret Warps: Iron Hammer Annual #1.

The mashed-up heroes of INFINITY WARPS return! When villains Madame Hel, Red Dormammu and Stane Odinson work together to cause a rift between Iron Hammer and Soldier Supreme, it leads to a crisis across space-time that brings together Weapon Hex, Ghost Panther, Arachknight and more to save their reality from cosmic calamity! The forces of Hell invade the streets of New York City! The cursed, stunt-riding king of Wakanda fights Martians in the year 2099! Arachknight’s world collides with the New Supreme Universe, home of the Supreme Seven! And as strange new amalgamations take shape, can even Ghost Hammer change things back to normal? Plus: More mighty, uncanny tales of the warped warriors!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes

165 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 25, 2019

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a hilarious spoof of all those big ‘event’ books! How funny you find it may depend on how extensive your knowledge of the Marvel Universe is (people who mainly know the movies need not apply) and, of course, on how Warped your sense of humour is (see what I did there? I’m here all week, folks! Try the prawn cocktail!) but I nearly peed myself laughing.

Also, anybody who has ever wondered what Ben Grimm looks like, er, under his trunks... the answer is within these pages! Let’s just say I feel even more sorry for the guy now... sheesh.

[Timothy Pitkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel this idea started as someone from Marvel wanted to bring back the Amalgam universe but executives said no. My only real problem with this story is that you have to have a real deep knowledge about the Marvel universe to understand what each character is made up of. But still there are some really interesting fusions in this story and I wonder if they will ever bring back this universe in the future.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really for those who enjoyed the Infinity Warps series about a year ago. This isn't art, and it is a crossover that has zero impact on mainline Marvel titles.

But, the final Installment, The Iron Hammer annual, arguably skews so far into humor and making fun of the Big Two's event crossovers then you might enjoy reading that one issue for some laughs.

[Alex Sarll]

At first this seems a sad reminder that in a fallen world, there are some ideas which even the best superhero writer currently operating can't quite pull off. The 'mergverse' was the result of some terrible Infinity Stones event I couldn't face reading, where instead of half the universe being killed, the population was halved by having everyone merged. Conveniently, superheroes all seemed to merge with other superheroes – so you get Ghost Panther, Weapon Hex, the Soldier Supreme and Arachknight, rather than the I would have thought far more interesting possibilities of combining heroes with villains, or even – gasp! – normal people. Now, gods know Ewing is as good as they get at the sort of puzzle-solving writing that's probably the best which can be accomplished with that start, mixing up the main characters' supporting casts and antagonists too, but whereas in something like Immortal Hulk or Ultimates he then pushed past that 'ah!' of intellectual satisfaction, turning what could have been mere fanwank into genuinely compelling stories, in this one the core concept just isn't strong enough to take the weight. So yes, I laughed at the union of already fairly stupid villain the Orb (he has a giant eyeball for a head) with Black Panther's sonic enemy Ulysses Klaw to make Ulysses Klorb – who, yes, has a giant ear for a head. And while I was impressed all those years back when Ewing snuck Lady Gaga lyrics into the climactic fight of one of his early novels, I think doing likewise here with the song from Mindhorn may be even cooler. But I still wasn't quite convinced by the comic as a whole. Then, though, Ewing's real plan becomes apparent. After all, what's the best thing to do with a really stupid concept? Make it even stupider, of course. So bring on Secret Infinity Warp Warps! "Little Weaselsaur smartest one there is - but not smart enough to navigate own backstory!"

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is kind of stupid but also really fun. The Warps were far and away the best part of the otherwise miserable Infinity Wars event, and now they're back! Each issue having an individual back-up story by another creative team taking on a more regular adventure for these characters. My favourite back-ups were the Weapon Hex story by Time Seeley and Robert Quinn, which had some fun bonding between the sisters as they tackle a case, and Iron Hammer back-up by Tini Howard and Ario Anindito, which tackled the famous "Demon In a Bottle" story alongside some great (Marvel version of) Norse myth.

The main story can be a bit confusing as it slides through all sorts of big crossover events and alternate universes, but it's fun. The further it goes on, the weirder it gets, the less the warps tend to make sense... and it turns out, that's part of the plot! How weird and strange all these things can be and how inherently unstable this "Warps" world is. Does it resolve itself in a cool and ground-breaking way? Not really, it sort of fizzles out as the stories become more about the idea of Warps instead of doing fun things with the Warps, but it's still a good ride.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

COLLECTING: SECRET WARPS: SOLDIER SUPREME ANNUAL ISSUE #1, SECRET WARPS: WEAPON HEX ANNUAL ISSUE #1, SECRET WARPS: GHOST PANTHER ANNUAL ISSUE #1, SECRET WARPS: ARACHKNIGHT ANNUAL ISSUE #1, SECRET WARPS: IRON HAMMER ANNUAL ISSUE #1

I loved the "Warped" aspect of the 2018 Marvel event, "Infinity Wars." This "Warped" new world of heroes was similar to the Amalgam Universe of the 1990s, but rather than combining Marvel and DC heroes to make a one new amalgamated hero (as with the Amalgam Comics), these Warps were amalgamated versions of two separate Marvel heroes, made into a new hero for this new universe. The "Warped" world (now called the Mergiverse) was allowed to live on after "Infinity Wars," and this collection features their first appearance after that event. If you like that concept, you should like this story, although "Secret Warps" isn't without its own problems.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Mergiverse (That's what they call the Infinity Warps universe now?) will never be the same again...

There's a flaw in the gem that holds the universe together. Things will only get worse before they get better! Hold onto your seats as you're rushed through a universe made up of combinations of characters you'd never expect.
==================
So popular and so profitable that Marvel went back and revisited the Infinity Warps idea shortly after its initial run. It's definitely a fun little series that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's a great series for Marvel fans to dig into and see some crazy combinations of characters.

Bonus: Speed Weasel gets cosmic powers and is...Star Weasel? Oh lord!
Bonus Bonus: Watch confusing blends of two characters become more bizarre mashups of four!

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A follow-up to Infinity Warps: Two-in-One, featuring the Warps heroes dealing with a cavalcade of combined crossovers, and building to a truly bonkers finale. Honestly, it seemed more fun than the original Infinity Warps stories - if pretty complicated by the end. (There are also some backup stories after the main story, which are OK.) This isn't likely to appeal much to casual comics fans, but true comic nerds should get a real kick out of it. (B+)

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't believe people didn't like this. It's loads of fun and actually managed to tell a story in an inconvenient "annual" format that forces each issue to start back from square one.

As someone else said, it's like the Amalgam stories where the combinations are really fun for fans. Except those stories were much more self-consciously silly. Here, it's played much more straight, which makes it funnier.

[Colin Parfitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun series merging a variety of Marvel characters.

Only really works when the two characters are familiar (Soldier Supreme (Captain America and Dr Strange) and Iron Hammer (Iron Man and Thor)).

The heroes of New Universe, 2099 and Squadron Supreme less so.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this as can't seem to get hold of infinity warps. Didn't really like it as plot just isn't that interesting although I understand it seems to be a spin off to infinity warps. Some cool characters but not enough depth.

[RND · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ewing has a lot of fun here, the mash-ups they come up with, and his wordplay... he even snuck in the lyrics to the old Capt. America cartoon in there. Great art, too.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

More fun than the main crossover that spawned it and the first Warps tales, but still just ok. Was amusing seeing some of the merged characters and storylines.

[nati · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*

[Jay DeMoir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting idea, but poorly executed

[Sølvhav · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aggressively mid.

Saved by its stunning art.

Pacing like a smackhead who’s on his first speedball, story so full of holes it might as well be a net.

Bore off.

[Gary Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Great Marvel Readthrough, pt 327