Throughout 2024, Marvel Comics will release new facsimile editions of all 12 issues of the groundbreaking crossover limited series Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars.
Per Marvel, things kick off in early January with Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1 Facsimile Edition. Subsequent issues will release monthly. These new editions reprint Secret Wars #1-12 in their original form — ads and all. Written by Jim Shooter and illustrated by Mike Zeck and Bob Layton, the series is notable for showing the origin of Spider-Man‘s symbiote suit (specifically, in issue #8). So, starting in late January, Marvel will also be rolling out facsimile editions of the Amazing Spider-Man issues that released alongside Secret Wars — starting with issue #252 by Roger Stern, Tom DeFalco, and Ron Frenz.
What was the original Secret Wars about?
The original Secret Wars celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2024. In the classic series, the cosmic being known as the Beyonder transports the Marvel Universe’s greatest heroes and villains to the mysterious Battleworld and forces them to fight for his amusement.
“The Beyonder has assembled all of the players on Battleworld — now it’s time to fight! Spider-Man and the various members of the Avengers, Fantastic Four and the X-Men have barely gotten settled in their new surroundings when an army of villains attacks — and the Beyonder’s new planet learns the true meaning of battle!” an official synopsis for the facsimile edition of issue #1 reads.
“But while this battalion of bad guys looks to secure an early victory, two of the Marvel Universe’s heavyweight schemers make plans of their own,” it continues. “What does Doctor Doom want with Galactus? Why has Magneto gone solo in a fortress of his own? And as the dust settles on the first round of the Beyonder’s secret war, who will be left standing?”
Of course, reprinting the series in its entirety isn’t the only way Marvel is celebrating 40 years of Secret Wars. Back in July, the publisher announced Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars: Battleworld, a new four-issue limited series set during the events of Shooter, Zeck, and Layton’s original. The book teams the aforementioned DeFalco with artist Pat Olliffe. Its first issue hits comic shops in one month’s time on November 22, 2023.
Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1 Facsimile Edition goes on sale January 3, 2024 from Marvel Comics. Amazing Spider-Man #252 Facsimile Edition follows suit on January 31, 2024.
