I picked up the first issue in which pretty much everything and everyone was destroyed. Only a handful of people made it out. It was brutal. The proper Marvel Universe and the Marvel Ultimate Universe collided and destroyed each other. We're left wondering where could be go from here. Thankfully, we did not have long to wait because Marvel released the second issue the following week.
Unfortunately, I was unable to pick up that issue because I was picking up my own comic book, A-DAY PLUS, from the printers just in time for the recent Tidewater Comicon. For those who aren't familiar with my current project, four apocalyptic events occur within a 24 hour period. Chaos and stupidity ensue. I got my books but had no time to get to Comic Kings to get
Fine, I went the following day to get my books. They had sold out of SECRET WARS #2, but marked me down to get a copy the next time some came in. They did have a fancy pants variant cover one, but I figured I could wait.
Tidewater Comicon came and went. I debuted issue 2 of A-DAY PLUS, and that went well. I go in the following week to get my comics, and still no second shipment of SECRET WARS #2. I finally got my hands on a copy yesterday. I read it, and was really into it... until... we get to the Shield.
The Shield is a massive wall which separates the relatively sane parts of Battleworld from the horrible parts. What's in these horrible parts?
Zombies. Robots. Horrible creatures. Replace the buggy Annihilation Wave for something more squidy, and add in some homicidal flying saucers and this gets really damned familiar!
Beyond the Shield is A-DAY PLUS.
Of course, its obvious what has happened here. Its not uncommon the two different writers come up with really similar ideas completely independently of each other. In fact it happened to me a few years ago on MERE MORTAL back when I was writing that to the point that someone thought another writer was attempting to rip me off, which it turned out not to be the case.
So the truth is obvious.
That Hickman fella got a hold of my first issue and was so blown away by it, he had to work it into SECRET WARS. Now, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery aside from showers of cash, and I'm truly honored that he would think so much of my comic that he would so blatantly copy it for his current project. However, he has not asked my permission to do so. Not even a friendly hit up on Twitter like, "Hey, mind if I rip off your comic for Secret Wars? k thx"
As such, I'm going to boycott SECRET WARS until I get an apology for Hickman and Marvel comics, or until the next issue of SECRET WARS comes out! Whichever comes first!