10 Reasons We Still Love Marvel's Secret Wars 30 Years Later

By Mark Ginocchio /

1. It Was the Industry€™s First €œBig€ Event

Many comic book fans would argue today that the industry is suffering from €œevent fatigue€ €“ the overabundance of company-wide miniseries and crossovers that are marketed under the guise as being game-changers but are ultimately just sales-driven gimmicks. But without the success of Secret Wars, we would likely would have never gotten such popular and significant €œevents€ like The Infinity Gauntlet, Civil War and Crisis on the Infinite Earths. Technically, Marvel released Contest of the Champions two years before Secret Wars, but that miniseries, which was only three issues and lacked the size and scope of Secret Wars. Because of that, 30 years later, Secret Wars is still considered the industry pioneer €“ the template from which all other event comics were created. Sure, it€™s exhausting when Marvel and DC pump out these huge, long-winded crossovers that promise major status quo upheavals only to undo these changes with a few months. But there€™s nothing better than a well-done comic book €œevent.€ Secret Wars made that all possible.