Secret Wars #1 (2015) exclusive black & white bianchi variant

SECRET WARS IS HERE. The first installment in the simultaneous end and beginning of the Marvel Multiverse feels a little weak. Ribic's art is beautiful, as always, and Hickman's story is... well, Hickman: circles inside of circles. Earth-616 (the main Marvel Earth) and Earth-1610 (Ultimate Marvel Earth) are clashing, leading to an epic battle amongst heroes... although the battle is really one-sided, despite wanting us to believe otherwise: its 616 heroes vs. Ultimate Tony Stark's and Reed Richards' robots, which leaves much to be desired. That being said, I'm enjoying the book; it opens up a lot of stories to be explored while setting the stage for big things to come - and hopefully stay. The book itself is wrapped in a beautiful Alex Ross cover, which is a nod to DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths, and ends with a grim final note: Marvel Universe 1961 - 2015. Pretty grim. Issue 2 comes out next week and, despite my complaints about the first issue, I'm wishing the 2nd was in my hands already.