Previewing Bloomsbury Academic’s ‘Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars: The Epic 1980s Saga’ By Tom K. Mason

As part of its third wave of Marvel Age books, recounting and reviewing classic storylines and series from Marvel Comics, Tom K. Mason is the author of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars: The Epic 1980s Saga, a book that … well, you can work it out, right?

Back in 1984, “event comics” were non-existent. That is, until Marvel’s Secret Wars and then DC’s own Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985). The premise was simple: Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, brought Marvel’s greatest heroes and villains together for an epic on a new patchwork planet. This 12-part series, similar to DC’s Super Powers miniseries, was tied to a new toy line. But while the toy line is something of a distant memory, Secret Wars is fondly remembered, especially as it introduced Spider-Man’s symbiotic black suit. As Mason explains:

“It was supposed to be a simple mini-series with a toy tie-in and it became so much more. Secret Wars created a brand identity for a specific type of series, it created a new successful character, Venom, out of a costume change that was supposed to be temporary, and it set the stage for all the blockbuster event comics that would follow its example.”

Illustrated with full-colour art from the comics of the time, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars: The Epic 1980s Saga is out now from Bloomsbury Academic.