Read Captain America #25 Before Secret Warriors #5 Before Secret Empire #8 Today – And How Imperial Is Amazing Spider-Man #31?

Published Wed, 09 Aug 2017 10:30:40 -0500

As ever, we take a look through this week's Secret Empire tie-ins to see which are essential to your Hydra experience and which are mere frippery that you can knock along well without. The more Imperial importance they contain, the more Hydra Heads we give them.

And yes, there is an order. Amazing Spider-Man #31 by Dan Slott, Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger and Marte Gracia sits outside the central narrative, but does tell an excellent tale of the sacrifices that can be made when standing up to a greater threat, such as the fascist takeover of the world, to a technological level, as well as the dangers of putting trust in technology, and the ability of people to do the right thing (if they haven't drunk the fluoride). It is also the epitome of that Uncle Ben motto that has haunted the life of Spider-Man and is now an international catchphrase.

So, no specific plot threads, but the themes of Secret Empire are driven through the comic, which also helps set it up for a refresh of Marvel Legacy. This is Dan Slott weaponising a crossover and turning it into a real narrative driving force for the comic book series. And Stuart Immonen makes the book look better than ever, his current run is an artistic highlight for Marvel right now. In terms of design, polish, or character and angle, he ties with Pepe Larraz for superhero top spot at the publisher.

Next up is… it's Captain America #25 by Nick Spencer, Jesus Saiz, Joe Bennett, Joe Pimentel and Rachelle Rosenberg. The first prefixless Captain America in a few years, the numbering follows on from Captain America: Sam Wilson but the book stars them both, in their respective missions. No Donny Cates here either, it's Nick Spencer knitting together his various threads.

A fall of Wakanda and New Tian for their cubes. And as we have the cosmic cube being used against…

….Ulysses predictions?

So the cube fragments can fight Ulysses predictions, made it now seems predicting the future from all available evidence. Thing is, wouldn't that evidence include the cosmic cube? Ulysses predicted the Secret Empire situation with Miles Morales and Captain America on the steps of Washington, a scenario that could have only occurred with the use of the cosmic cube to bring back the Hydra-winning reality and Hydra Cap.

And on this basis, are we still any nearer to whatever happened to that SHIELD employee with the empty briefcase who was meant to be a Hydra spy, even though Hydra Cap was later assured she wasn't?

Anyway, it's a vital part of the Secret Empire storyline and ties in directly with Secret Empire #1, without reading it, as well as explaining the return of a certain special someone, you will be at a loss when reading Secret Empire #8 without this. So that's a lot of heads. In fact, let's take it up to 11.

We can take a quick diversion here for Secret Warriors #5 by Mattew Rosenberg, Javier Garron and Israel Silva, which deals with the big break out scene from Captain America #25 and exactly how they did it – and how that ties into an earlier issue of Secret Empire. So while it may not be essential, it's a strong tie-in and the Garron/Silva team are continuing to bust a gut with their fine page skills. And we also get some major Inhumans continuity moments while we are at it. And plenty of other parent/child situations to explore as well…

Yeah, upcoming issues of Deadpool are going to be a laugh riot.

While Secret Empire #8 by Nick Spencer, Daniel Acuna, Rod Reis, Sean Izaakse and Javier Tartaglia brings all these threads home, giving Sam Wilson one last inspiration speech, the kind he swore never to do. And let us know the plot too.

Just as the establishment of the Hydra States Of America was about bringing everything together all at once and taking advantage of the situation, so the saving of America is th sum of all the parts too.

And we contrasts this epitome of derring-do and self sacrifice, with the means justifying whatever end may face our heroes, fuelled by willpower alone…

… contrasting with a sacrifice of a different kind – Maria Hill doing what must be done, in the shadows, the ends justifying the means instead.

Naughty naughty. You know, in the circumstances, a swift knockout blow might have done the job. Or placing him in a lead lined container. Or playing him tapes of "New York, New York, so good they named it twice" in a loop. But that Maria Hill, it does seem to be her solution to everything.

Lots of Hydra heads, Hey, Maria Hill, why not shoot them all?