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Vinny Valenti
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Joined: 17 April 2004
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Posted: 10 January 2025 at 5:02am | IP Logged | 1 post reply
All I can say is that as a kid I liked SECRET WARS well enough - but even then I knew that SECRET WARS II was a self-indulgent stinker. 
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Brian Miller
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Posted: 10 January 2025 at 11:42am | IP Logged | 2 post reply
All I can say is that as a kid I liked SECRET WARS well enough - but even
then I knew that SECRET WARS II was a self-indulgent stinker.
*****
I can’t say I could recognize the self-indulgence, but this is me. I enjoyed all
the crossover issues (that I read) more than the actual SWII series itself.
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Steven Myers
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Posted: 10 January 2025 at 1:01pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply
I was reading today about how Sal Buscema declined the art job on Secret Wars II because of the heavy art directions Shooter gave for the project. Sal didn't think he could do a good job with such constraints. It really floors me that anyone would think Sal couldn't tell a story with his art on his own. I know he isn't often listed as "best ever" but if there's one thing Sal was always outstanding at, it was clarity of a story. Period. I'd trust him to tell any story with his pictures.
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Colin Ian Campbell
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Posted: 10 January 2025 at 2:58pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply
If anyone hasn't seen them, scans of Sal Buscema's unused version of Secret Wars II #1 can be viewed here.
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Brian Miller
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Posted: 10 January 2025 at 4:09pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply
Wow. Thats nice. It would’ve looked much better than Milgrom.
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Charles Valderrama
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Posted: 10 January 2025 at 4:49pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply
Found some of Shooter's comments on Secret Wars II on his blog:

"On SW II, [Editor] Bob Budiansky picked Al Milgrom and Steve Leialoha. I thought Al did a good job of telling the story and Steve did a good job with the inks. Some people apparently didn't like Al's slightly cartoony style and wished for a slicker look, more like Silvestri or Nowlan. I'm not as style-conscious, I guess."

"The artists, Al Milgrom and Steve Leialoha, probably wished they had more time, but artists always do. The main problem there was that Sal Buscema lost us a month."

Has Shooter ever taken responsibility for the unnecessary grief he gave to top talent during his years as EiC?

-C!
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Shaun Barry
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Posted: 10 January 2025 at 4:49pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

I recall being very excited at the prospect of Sal Buscema being assigned to SECRET WARS II... then being sorely disappointed that Al Milgrom was his sudden replacement.

But although Milgrom is nowhere near a favorite of mine, I ultimately found his pairing with inker Steve Leialoha to be a surprisingly solid combo.
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Steve Coates
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Posted: 10 January 2025 at 4:50pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply
Really, I don't know if anyone would have done better under the constraints. What little attention I paid to the series at the time, I still got a "hot mess" feeling from it. The art was rushed, the plot was disjointed and the characters were mis-handled to service the story.

Jim Shooter was 24 years old when he was on staff at Marvel as editor and writer. In 1987 Marvel terminated his employment. He was young, (24 through 36), enough for his success to fuel anyone's ego. Young enough and perhaps greedy enough to overreach his capabilities. A trait common in many, both young and old.

I truly wish he had wrote more and edited less. But given the loss of so many of Marvel's writer-editors in the 1970s, it might have meant step up or get pushed out.
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