When everything dies, there is only... Excellent reading

Everything dies. You. Me. Our World. Eventually our universe. But right now the victim is a multiverse of mythos I've been keeping track of my entire life.  Secret Wars #1 is the culmination of years of work by story virtuoso Jonathan Hickman. From the first issue of The New Avengers, one had to have a sense that grand machinations were being set in place. From there, what followed was 60 issues of what you could call the grandest scale of death the comics world has ever seen.

For those not up to date, ill give a quick overview of the circumstances without spoiling too much, as the back catalog of these issues will certainly sell strong for years. Black Panther discovers a rift in the multiverse, called an incursion, that will lead to this marvel universe's Earth to collide with another earth, destroying both universes. Our familiar world is saved only because one of the people who came from the alternate Earth, Black Swan, destroys that world, seemingly to garner favor with the Marvel heroes. Here the Illuminati come into play, comprising of Doctor Strange, Reed Richards, Iron Man, Namor, Black Bolt, Black Panther and, for a short time, Captain America. Through interrogation of the Black Swan, and their first incursion as a group's experience, the group comes to several conclusions. The incursions are a nearly infinitely repeating end-times scenario. There is no magic or otherworldly solution. Their only option is to kill the invading Earths, or destroy their own to save the rest of the universe. Disagreements with methodology lead to the recurrance of Cap and Iron Man's bitter feud, still being felt since 2007's Civil War. The next 70 issues of Avengers and New Avengers feature many incursions, evil alternate Earth Avengers, multiversal menaces, time travel quests, and even a good old fashioned Infinity event. Marvel just had to get one more in before the reboot, i suppose. The action ramps up to a point where not only are the Illuminati fighting alternate Earth's, but also running from Steve Rogers, now the director of S.H.E.I.L.D. Hickman's run on the two series ultimately builds to a breathtaking finale that left me drooling waiting for Secret Wars #1. And the book did not disappoint.
The book opens on the final incursion. The only two remaining Earths are our classic 616 universe, and the 1610-Ultimate universe, a creation of Brian Michael Bendis that has grow to and unrivaled significance among alternate continuities. Cap and Tony are busy beating each other to death, while the 616 heroes face off against the ultimate universes handful of major heroes, and wave after wave of S.H.E.I.L.D helicarriors. Meanwhile The Illuminati rush to save enough of humanity to restart life wherever they end up after the final multiversal collapse. Meanwhile Namor and his group of world killers, joined with The Maker, the ultimate universe's Reed Richards, work on saving themselves. In the end, most of the aforementioned parties make it through the multiverse's final death, but before then we are treated to an adrenaline filled send off to the marvel universes we've followed for so long. Almost everyone shows up for this issue, and goes out doing what they do best, especially The Punisher, declaring that he can't take his bullets with him when he dies. Hickman includes a multitude of inside jokes for the marvel faithful. I especially loved Rocket Racoon's quip about the rising cost of comics. Esaad Ribic's artwork is truley what his book needed. It perfectly conveys the grand scale of everything going on in this book, and i can't wait to see more from him in the series. I love the Alex Ross standard cover, when isn't a Ross phenomenal, but the real fun lies in the various variants.
Unfortunately, i had to get to the end eventually. Despite all the heartbreak i had already experienced in this book, what really got me was the final page. There was no action, nothing but an all white page with four lines of text that reads.

The Marvel Universe

1961-2015

The Ultimate Universe

2000-2015

I would be lying if i said i didn't shed a tear. As somewhat of a completest, I've spent years trying to read every marvel story, and become so invested in all of these characters. However, correct continuity can't last forever, especially when considering the age issue in Marvel books. If it had to end now, Hickman has done it in spectacular fashion and has me excited for the companies fresh start. Now all that's left... is Battleworld.

ps. If you're wondering how Secret Wars stacks up to a similar event by a rvial publisher, don't. Convergence is garbage in comparison