The Good

So what is SECRET WARS #0? Well, it's a place for new readers to jump on to get into this gigantic Marvel event. It's a literal catch-up game for those out of the look. In addition, there's also a Avengers/Attack on Titan story in the back of this book that is presented in English for the first time.

We're going to split this up into two sections.

SECRET WARS

Do you want new people to jump on a book? Then give away something free like this. The majority of this story is Valeria Richards telling the rest of the Future Foundation about the Incursions and how the world is going to end. It's a lot more "showing" than "telling," but in this case, it really works because there's simply too much to show, building up to this story. This is probably the easiest way to catch up new readers with the limited amount of space for this FCBD book.

It's such a straight to the point issue and written incredibly well by Jonathan Hickman. There's a lot of unfamiliar elements to newer readers (since the Future Foundation doesn't have their own cartoon... and they should) but Hickman makes this issue highly accessible, which is wonderful since Hickman can be a bit too high-concept at times for some readers.

Paul Renaud does some great art in the issue. It's clear and crisp and there's a sense of fun to it, which is hopefully the tone SECRET WARS will carry with it. The final two-page spread is gorgeous and your eye will bounce around the page quite a bit.

ATTACK ON TITAN

This was a bit of a confusing story for me. I will say the art team of Gerardo Sandoval, colorist Dono Sanchez Almara, with breakdowns from C.B. Cebulski, was very impressive. There's a lot of cool takes on perspective here, with how these images are presented. On top of everything else, the color work is beautiful.

The Bad

Like above, here's the book split into its two parts.

SECRET WARS

As cool as the final page was, the idea that "we have to fight these other characters.... because" routine just doesn't work. At least with CONVERGENCE, there's a reason to battle and actual stakes. I hate to sit here and compare the two, but when both companies are offering us a few months of "What if?" stories, there's no way around it. Here, the members of the 616 and 1610 are going to fight because they think that's what they have to do and it just doesn't work. Luckily, it's only one page and it's just people rushing into battle.

ATTACK ON TITAN

I do not read manga and know nothing about ATTACK ON TITAN. I am lost. To me, this is just a bunch of pages of people punching each other.

The Verdict

If you're a Marvel fan, this book is a must have, for the SECRET WARS part. Sure, the ending doesn't feel like it works as smoothly as everything else, but this is a great catch-up to the upcoming event and it's great to see it all through the eyes of the Future Foundation. The Attack on Titan back-up looked cool and if you're a fan of the manga, you'll probably love it, but it was just ok overall.

@inferiorego I picked this up today with a few other comics

Good #0 issue to get people up to speed, and the final pages are great. The Attack on Avengers story was good to as I am an AOT reader. All New All Different Avengers was a great read too, along with its Inhuman story.

Convergence (2015 DC) 3A NM

Convergence (2015 DC) 4A NM

Convergence Harley Quinn (2015 DC) 2A NM

Convergence Superman (2015 DC) 2A NM

Deathstroke (2014 DC 2nd Series) 6A NM

Divergence (2015 DC) FCBD 1 NM

Hulk (2014 2nd Series) 16A NM

Secret Wars (2015 Marvel) FCBD 0 NM

This was a bit disappointing, but hey, it was free. The Secret Wars half was ok. The Attack on Titan half was a complete waste of paper and ink for me as I had zero interest in this. Seems like it would have been a better opportunity to promote some of the other Secret Wars books, etc.

I've watched the Attack on Titan Anime, and I still thought this was weird. I'll assume more explanation will be in the actual story when it releases, but this was really just a few pages of Avengers fighting Titans.

It's just a quick little take on how the Avengers would handle the Titans. Why is it so confusing to everyone? It was brain-dead simple. There's no more to the story. It was published in a Japanese fan mag, and we get it in English here.

It was my impression that the Ultimate Universe had that same idea of a life raft, and they were going to fight for possession of it, no?

I thought about picking this up just for the AoT story. Then I read it and didn't really feel it.

AoT isn't David lynch, it's purdy straight forward : P

This was bad. Like so bad a recycled it, thank goodness it was free.

You can say that again.

I don't know why I expect anything out of these free issues.

Yep. This felt like a lazy release. Same with Divergence. Give me a REAL comic issue for free, not some preview I could get online from CBR.

I love FCBD as an event and way to bring business to my local shop, but the publishers need to up their game a bit.

Huge letdown, I was expecting some Avengers dimensional travel putting them in the world of AoT, just throwing a bunch of Titans randomly into the Marvel universe was pointless. The lack of a real ending or any members from the survey corps was so disappointing.

Totally agree with the confused part on why exactly does 616 & 1610 have to fight?? I was like "okay they are building a life raft. Got that but why EXACTLY do they have to fight?"

The Ultimate attacks the 616 because they still believe in destroying other Earth to save their own while the 616 fights in an act of defense as after about 80 issues of moral crisis i believe they no longer believe in killing worlds any more. Geez, seriously, this is so simple to think of, c'mon people.

I really enjoyed this preview of what's to come in Secret Wars.

the issue was alright,but still a bit eh about it,didn't like the attack on titan chapter was ok,but felt like the titans didn't evens stand a chance and the tone felt off,but that's ok!

I like how this brought you up to speed, good for me cause I haven't been following Hickman's Avengers books too closely.

Why the hell was Hyperion and Starbrand there to defend the 616 (in the last group shot before that awful Titans crap) when they already showed them being killed with Thor (odinson blechh hate calling him that) and the others in a universe far far away against the Beyonders? So confused...

@darklighter1: Yeah I was going to ask the same thing

The Titan thing was a complete waste of pages. I have no idea what they are, but they were given no personality or uniqueness whatsoever. Almost anything would have been a better use of space.

Although almost worse was the Secret Wars previews, which were just the same thing that has been released online. Half of them weren't even lettered, it felt amazingly incomplete and half-@ssed.

I kinda hate the Attack on Titan crossover though. I feel like Garth Ennis when I read these crap.

It kinda killed average joes fighting against gargantuan horrors in vain with Superheroes. Attack on Titan was likable since humanity's only weapon against the Titans was their jetpack, grappling hook thing to reach the neck and most likely eaten in the process. But they never stopped trying and actually mowing many of them before their demise.

@t209: I liked the action, and the concept. But it read like a mediocre fanfiction. Besides, it's not an actual story, it's just a short thing on seeing the Avengers fight the Titans in NYC. Nothing more.

I felt Divergence gave the reader something more special with their stories. I get the catch up might be needed but doesn't give the readers who are up to date anything decent

The point of Free Comic Book Day is to bring in new readers and to help people pick up franchises and characters they are not normally reading. A catch up issue before Marvel's big summer event is exactly what FCBD is all about.

@xtremeguardian: I wouldn't agree that what it's all about. Certainly one half of it yeah. The other side is giving a sneak peak of the year to come and to reward the people who are regularly reading books with some exclusives. Hence why Marvel put out two books for FCBD.

@xtremeguardian: Well if that's true Divergence does a really good job of that. Also I doubt any new reader is going to be able to follow Secret Wars.