Secret Wars #5
A bit of an exposition-y recap-y chapter here, presumably bringing people up to speed for the events of the final three issues.
The story opens with the funeral of Stephen Strange. (Is he really dead? Doom certainly seems to believe that he's killed him, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a twist.) Doom has asked Val to track down the people who 'killed' Strange, saying it's unwise for him to pursue them personally; "I'm upset. And in such a state... I just might break the world." Val can't figure out how they all escaped and asks what happened; Doom says, "Undying love and eternal patience are not the same thing, child. Do not confuse them," and sends her off to find them without asking any further questions. (Which is asking for trouble with Valeria, really. I wonder if he's telling the truth about being too upset to risk losing control of his godly powers, because it seems risky to send Val after a group that includes Reed otherwise.)
Once she's gone, Doom turns to look up at the giant statue of Strange and says "Damn you, Stephen." Then he descends into a secret room under the similar statue of Molecule Man, where it turns out that Molecule Man is alive and imprisoned, though seemingly voluntarily. Doom tells him that Strange is dead, and they recap the backstory. (tl;dr: The Beyonders made all alt versions of Molecule Man into bombs to destroy the multiverse; MM teamed up with Doom and later Strange to destroy the Beyonders, steal their power and store it inside Molecule Man so they could use it to create the new world. Strange couldn't take the responsibility of deciding who and what to save, and asked Doom to do it for him.)
Before he leaves, Doom confesses to Molecule Man that he was the one who killed Strange. MM: "I know. You think I couldn't smell the guilt on you? You reek of shame, god." Doom says that Strange made his decisions and Doom had no choice. Molecule Man wonders if things are beginning to unravel, and states that if Doom dies, then the world will be destroyed too, since he's the only thing holding it together. Doom wonders what will happen if Molecule Man dies, but MM just says, "Well... won't that be exciting?" (He also adds, "Hmmm. Just how we like it." Hmm, indeed - a bit of a hint that like every other time Doom's had godly powers and ruled a world, he's grown unhappy with the lack of purpose/challenge and ended up letting himself be defeated?)
Val meets with the Future Foundation to discuss finding the 'rebels'. They talk a bit about how everything in Doom's world gives out a background radiation of 'god particles', which spikes when Doom or his agents use their powers - the only exception was Strange, whose powers were unique in being independent from Doom's. From this, they figure out that Strange was the one who scattered the rebels and stopped Doom capturing them, which raises a lot of questions. Val says they're going to follow the trail and above all, find out "why it scares God so badly." We see some glimpses of where the scattered heroes and villains ended up, but where Reed and his evil Ultimate-verse version went remains as yet unknown...
So, overall mostly exposition and setup, which doesn't leave much to say. Some interesting hints of Doom's guilt and regret over Strange, but other than that, it's mostly moving the pieces into position for the endgame. Gorgeous art from Ribic as usual - some great close-up panels of Doom's eyes in particular - plus lovely moody colouring from Svorcina on the night scenes, and a great cover from Alex Ross as well. Um, that's about all I have to say, so... roll on issue #6, basically!
The story opens with the funeral of Stephen Strange. (Is he really dead? Doom certainly seems to believe that he's killed him, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a twist.) Doom has asked Val to track down the people who 'killed' Strange, saying it's unwise for him to pursue them personally; "I'm upset. And in such a state... I just might break the world." Val can't figure out how they all escaped and asks what happened; Doom says, "Undying love and eternal patience are not the same thing, child. Do not confuse them," and sends her off to find them without asking any further questions. (Which is asking for trouble with Valeria, really. I wonder if he's telling the truth about being too upset to risk losing control of his godly powers, because it seems risky to send Val after a group that includes Reed otherwise.)
Once she's gone, Doom turns to look up at the giant statue of Strange and says "Damn you, Stephen." Then he descends into a secret room under the similar statue of Molecule Man, where it turns out that Molecule Man is alive and imprisoned, though seemingly voluntarily. Doom tells him that Strange is dead, and they recap the backstory. (tl;dr: The Beyonders made all alt versions of Molecule Man into bombs to destroy the multiverse; MM teamed up with Doom and later Strange to destroy the Beyonders, steal their power and store it inside Molecule Man so they could use it to create the new world. Strange couldn't take the responsibility of deciding who and what to save, and asked Doom to do it for him.)
Before he leaves, Doom confesses to Molecule Man that he was the one who killed Strange. MM: "I know. You think I couldn't smell the guilt on you? You reek of shame, god." Doom says that Strange made his decisions and Doom had no choice. Molecule Man wonders if things are beginning to unravel, and states that if Doom dies, then the world will be destroyed too, since he's the only thing holding it together. Doom wonders what will happen if Molecule Man dies, but MM just says, "Well... won't that be exciting?" (He also adds, "Hmmm. Just how we like it." Hmm, indeed - a bit of a hint that like every other time Doom's had godly powers and ruled a world, he's grown unhappy with the lack of purpose/challenge and ended up letting himself be defeated?)
Val meets with the Future Foundation to discuss finding the 'rebels'. They talk a bit about how everything in Doom's world gives out a background radiation of 'god particles', which spikes when Doom or his agents use their powers - the only exception was Strange, whose powers were unique in being independent from Doom's. From this, they figure out that Strange was the one who scattered the rebels and stopped Doom capturing them, which raises a lot of questions. Val says they're going to follow the trail and above all, find out "why it scares God so badly." We see some glimpses of where the scattered heroes and villains ended up, but where Reed and his evil Ultimate-verse version went remains as yet unknown...
So, overall mostly exposition and setup, which doesn't leave much to say. Some interesting hints of Doom's guilt and regret over Strange, but other than that, it's mostly moving the pieces into position for the endgame. Gorgeous art from Ribic as usual - some great close-up panels of Doom's eyes in particular - plus lovely moody colouring from Svorcina on the night scenes, and a great cover from Alex Ross as well. Um, that's about all I have to say, so... roll on issue #6, basically!