Review: Secret Wars (2015) #5

Previously in Secret Wars #4

This issue is titled, ‘Owen Reece Died For Our Sins,’ but it should be called, ‘Doom Done Fucked Up Now.’

At the end of the last issue, I wondered if Stephen Strange was truly dead. This issue wasted no time in establishing that he is. His service is definitely befitting of someone who was the right hand to a god. Afterwards, Doom charges his daughter, Valeria, with finding the people responsible. We know they’re the heroes/villains who remember exactly what their worlds were like before the incursion and that Doom is solely responsible for killing Strange. And we also know Valeria was born already out of fucks to give so she questions her father relentlessly about who they are, why they killed Strange, and how they escaped. Doom quickly reminds of her of her place.

Owen Reece

For those of you who read the comics books leading up to Secret Wars (if those even exist), this may be old news, but when Doom makes a mental connection to a man named Owen Reece, we get new information on what happened when Battleworld was made. Multiple versions of Owen Reece were made by The Beyonders and released into the multiverse. He was, essentially, a bomb set to destroy each one. But since he was made as a man, a man with free will, he made a choice to join with Doom and Strange instead to try and stop what they had planned. Unable to stop the final incursion, they salvaged what they could to build a new world made of fragments of the old ones. Strange was not up to the task of leading, so Doom did… and the rest is history.

When Reece learns of Strange’s death, he knows immediately that it was by Doom’s hand. He warns Doom that he may have started something he can’t finish - something that will be their downfall.

Meanwhile, Valeria meets with her team at the Department of Science and informs them of their mission, but there’s a catch. She knows her father is hiding something. Whatever they find will be kept secret until she learns why the hell her father, God, is so afraid.

Overall Thoughts:

• I like Valeria. I also lack a filter and fucks to give.
• I like Owen Reece. I also get cranky when people bother me without bringing me something to eat.
• If you’re having trouble keeping track of who’s who and who’s still alive, here’s a handy guide provided at the beginning of the issue.
• Just three issues left, and I don’t know if that’s enough for them to cover where everyone was sent within Battleworld. I wouldn’t have minded an issue dedicated to each person on the life raft and each member of The Cabal. I also wonder if Strange had any control over where they were sent and if so, did he send them places best suited to helping them or keeping them away from Doom?