Not-So-Secret Wars
Spider-Man is transported to a planet on the other side of
the galaxy, where The Beyonder and Madam Webb, powerful being from another
dimension, have transported 4 evil villains to essentially ruin the peace of
this world. Spider-Man, as their
champion for Good, must assemble a team to oppose the villains and prove that
justice will win out.
It’s a good old-fashioned Super-Man team-up, something the
90s Spiderman cartoon did very well, with Iron Man, Dr Strange, Captain America,
the X-Men & Daredevil popping up from time-to-time. This storyline was inspired by the Secret War
comic from the 1980s, which tested the water for a grand heroic crossover event
which Marvel as since rolled out so much it’s crushed the grass.
The first 5-6ish issues of Secret Wars are pretty exciting, heroes
fight, lose, regroup, battle, have infighting and fall in love like a soap
opera. It sets up some interesting
subplots, such as the Wasp being kidnapped by Magneto, the X-Men acting as a
neutral force and the Hulk losing his savagery and intelligence making him
kinda limbo-ishly useless. Alas, the
last few issues just involve the heroes stranding around watching Galactus, and
the Wasp essentially gets rescued, Hulk still does his job and the X-Men help
out and it’s all fine.
I rewatched the Spiderman saga, and it’s amazing how the
Secret War lasts a mere 3 episodes, essentially about an hour, when it felt so
massive back in the day. I guess with a
week between Saturday mornings, it was bound to feel more of a saga. The sheer scale of the heroes is exciting,
Cap and Iron Man remind you how this Spiderverse exists without the Avengers,
and Doom proves what a cool villain he is, even when guesting in another world.
Team-ups are always great.
Whether a Suicide Squad, Avengers assembling or rogues gallery playing
cards, in comic books and cartoons to see all the Insidious schemers in union
it’s always a bigger danger, a bigger reward for victory. Of course it’s also the soap opera element,
in the Secret War comic Titania and Absorbing Man bicker before falling for one
another, in the Spiderman cartoon Doc Ock and Scorpion, one an educated Doctor
and the other a streetwise private eye, trade insults.
Last night I hosted the 4th Words & Whippets
night, a collection of poets from across Yorkshire, Joanne Foxton and Dave
Jarman from York, Rachel Bower from Sheffield and Andy Craven-Griffiths from
Leeds. These have always been fun compilations
of poets, a mix of people who know each other, a mix of strangers and a mix of
styles all melting together in the warm blackness of the Studio.
The night before (Friday) I put on a gig with an assortment
of bands and musicians, Depresstival from Leeds, my band Pewter City Punks,
poet Imi Godwin, acoustic psychobilly 2-piece Dead Drummer, alt-cabaret FloraGreysteel and American folk-punkers Captain Chaos. It was a real mixture of not just genres and
styles, but genders and sexualities and, if I do say so myself, it did feel
like a real diverse mix all upstairs in the steam of Dusk.
These are a bit like super-hero team-ups. Nah, they are EXACTLY like super-hero
team-ups.
Nights like these make an interesting concoction. Joss Whedon said he wanted to add Scarlet
Witch and Quicksilver to Avengers: Age
of Ultron because he felt the Avengers for the first film were all a bit “punchy.” The airport scene in Captain America-Civil
War showed a greater diverse range of powers, strengths and styles. And it was glorious.
The great thing about X-Men films is that there’s always a
mixture of powers, and to an extent Justice League and Teen Titans offer this
range of abilities (TT is essentially the great format of alien/technology/mutant/martial
arts/magic which tend to make up all power-origins).
Yesterday a convoy taking supplies to support refugees in Calais
was refused boarding on the ferry, despite everyone having a valid passport and
ticket.
This week a fascist with ties to a right-wing organisation, presumably
inspired by the fear-mongering of a ‘broken Britain’ murdered an MP.
This week a man went into a nightclub and shot people
because they were LBGTQ+ and, possibly, non-white.
Next week we’ll, most likely, vote to leave the EU and see a
surge in a nationalism which isn’t limited to patriotically taping the Great British
Bake-Off, but one that sees both increased direct and indirect harm to minority
groups.
Because we need diversity to fight these wars. I’m not just talking about our gig line-ups,
of course. I mean how we co-operative,
connect and support one another when the going gets tough.
So here’s to diverse line-ups, team-ups, mash-ups and not-so-Secret
Wars.
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