The Epic 1980s Saga
Tom K. Mason
“Marvel had always crossed over their characters because it’s a shared universe, but Secret Wars was their biggest crossover, and Jim Shooter made big promises. The summer of Secret Wars was to comics like the summer of Jaws or Star Wars was to the movie business.”
October 15, 2026
Paperback: 9798765141694
Price: $14.95
Pages: 192
Illustrations: 69 color illustrations
Explore the Stories Behind the Legends
In the modern landscape, “event comics” have become the norm, with several high-profile events that have defined the medium over the last 40 years.
But there was one series that started it all in 1984, when Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter brought Marvel’s greatest heroes and villains together for an epic battle that became the template for comic book crossovers and impacted Marvel’s storylines for decades, including major changes to the Spider-Man mythos and the introduction of a new villain.
Within the 12-part storyline, characters who had never met before would find themselves thrown together to achieve a common goal. They formed shaky alliances. There were tremendous power struggles. Teams within teams would form. Relationships would be tested, and both heroes and villains would never be the same. Neither would the Marvel Universe.
“It was supposed to be a simple mini-series with a toy tie-in and it became so much more,” says writer Tom K. Mason. “Secret Wars created a brand identity for a specific type of series, it created a new successful character, Venom, out of a costume change that was supposed to be temporary, and it set the stage for all the blockbuster event comics that would follow its example.”
Illustrated with full-color art from the comics of the time, Tom Mason’s entry in the MARVEL AGE OF COMICS takes a deep dive into how Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars became the modern comics industry’s first true blockbuster.
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