Writer: Al Ewing and Tim Seeley
Art: Carlos Villa, Bob Quinn, Juan Vlasco, Carlos Lopez, Rachelle Rosenberg, VC’s Joe Caramagna, VC’s Travis Lanham, Carlos E. Gomez, and Edgar Delgado
Price: $4.99
Release Date: July 10th, 2019

Weapon Hex and Speed Weasel join the fight for Warp World as the forces of Hell invade the streets of New York City in this week’s all-new SECRET WARPS WEAPON HEX ANNUAL #1. Let’s jump into this issue to see what these warped out characters are up too!

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

The issue was fun and action packed however it was a bit too confusing and busy for this reviewer. Last issue, the biggest concern was that the new merged character names messed with this readers brain and took me out of the story. This issue not only had more warped characters with merged names but the plot also became puzzling fast. Was the premise of the issue to show the merged Earth’s Mightiest Heroes battling their own War of the Realms? It seemed like all the big bads were trying to do a massive take over with sorcery.

Furthermore, how did our heroes actually defeat the villains? It seems like the big bads were simply teleported away separately… I think. Again, the issue was swamped with heavy action, dialogue, and perplexing plot threads in order to make readers feel like this story was over the top at points. The ride was fun but too much was happening too fast for this reviewer to entirely comprehend what was going on. On top of that, the story felt like three issues were crammed into one, which very well could have been the case.

Now, there were many positives to the issue, especially both art teams. That said, let this reviewer focus on the aspiring narrative elements. The first positive part of the issue was Al Ewing sharing the biggest plot thread of them all at the beginning of the story. Readers find out about a flaw in the Soul Stone. Therefore, this reviewer wonders if the Warped villains know how to escape the Soul Stone and enter “our” Earth. Additionally, this fan loved the spell casting names and the witty saying like “Hex marks the spot” and “Hexacution”. Ewing added a lighter feel to an otherwise serious action tale.

However, the best part of the entire issue was Speed Weasel, particularly in the second story by Tim Seeley. It was easy to follow, funny, and focused on the extremely cute and spunky Speed Weasel. Speed Weasel was basically Gabby with super speed, which would be a nightmare waiting to happen for villains and heroes everywhere. This has to be one of my favorite merged characters of the Warped Worlds yet. Heck, imagine Wolverine with the speed of Quicksilver? Give this reviewer that book to cover. I would read the heck out of that comic!!! Hopefully, Speed Weasel makes her way into the main Marvel Comic Universe… possibly through that ”flaw” in the stone. Nevertheless, I’ll keep my fingers crossed to see if that ever happens.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Again, if you enjoy the Warped stories as well as the INFINITY WARS event, then you’re probably curious enough to see the direction of these Annual Warped issues. On the other hand, this issue is not a good jumping on point and was very confusing even for someone who’s read INFINITY WARS and the last Warped Annual issue. Nothing about these issues is necessary to the overall landscape of “our” Marvel Comic Universe and therefore doesn’t make this book a requirement unless you loved these Warped stories. Nonetheless, I am still in on the weekly Warped Annuals but I’m leaving less excited than last week. Hopefully, next week’s will be better and less complicated for this reviewer’s slow-mindedness.

7.3/10