SECRET WARS II

RUN: 9 issues 1985-86
KEY CREATORS: Jim Shooter (writer). I can't remember who the artist was but I do remember the art was pretty bad
OUTLINE: The Beyonder (the sentient universe from the first mini) arrives on Earth and starts learning about humanity
STANDOUT ISSUE: I seem to recall like the issue about killing Death more than the others
DUD ISSUE: None stand out
OVERALL: If I were to rank this series in terms of ambition and potential, I would have not only placed it above Secret Wars I, but even Crisis. And there are definitely points where Shooter does make some
interesting points
 Unfortunately Shooter as scripter can't really pull it off, not that the bad art in the series really helps. We get some interesting ideas but they don't flow as smoothly as they should have. Some bits, though interesting seem thrown in there (e.g. the Circuit Breaker sequence) and the series at points relies a little too much on crossover titles (the Kurse scenes -and there are quite a few of those- are meaningless if you don't read Thor, while the riot only works in the contexts of the events in Fantastic Four.  Some inconsistency with the previous series too: the Beyonder was able to be defeated in the first mini by Doom, yet here he
takes out the Celestials
 Tellingly, the final issue of this series came out the same day as the final issue of Crisis (the latter was delayed a couple of weeks). There was really no comparison. The latter had better art, better sense of drama, better sense of satisfaction in reading the ending.
 I appreciate the effort, plus the fact that it only cost 95c instead of the $1 of the previous mini, but the effort makes it all the more painful where the series fails.
RECOMMENDED OR NOT? No, despite good intentions
CONTINUITY NOTES: This series ties into various other books of the time. Some tie-ins are self contained (Rom, Daredevil, Defenders), others like the ones described in more detail above are not. It must be said that given how many continuity tie-ins there were, the continuity was surprisingly tight.