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How Imperial Are Today's Secret Empire Comics? Secret Empire #9 And Doctor Strange #24

Published Wed, 23 Aug 2017 08:30:57 -0500

A look through this week's Secret Empire tie-ins to see which are essential to your Hydra experience and which are mere frippery that you can knock along well without. The more Imperial importance they contain, the more Hydra Heads we give them.

But as we reach the final stretch, there are only two Secret Empire-related comics out today. One is Secret Empire. #9, natch, by Nick Spencer, Leinil Francis Yu, Joe Bennett, Gerry Alanguilan, Joe Pimental, Sunny Cho and Dono Sanchez-Almara. And the other is Doctor Strange #24 by Dennis Hopeless and Niko Henrichon.

But how Hydra-ish are they?

Well, frankly, Doctor Strange is not. Strange and his new team fighting Baron Mordon in the Darkforce Dimension that surrounds New York City, but at no point in any way acknowledging or reflecting, let alone contributing to the ongoing crossover storyline. So if you want a Secret Empire crossover, this may disappoint. But if you are fed up with the Secret Empire story and just wish, for goodness sake it would stop, then this should be fine.

In fact rather than a Secret Empire crossover…

…it feels much more Phonogrammy instead. So, no Hydra heads. But five of these instead.

So, Secret Empire #9! What's going on? Well, the bad guys are on the run and the good guys are finally having some fun.

Yeah, everyone's dead, Cap is still a fascist, but there's nothing like punching Nazis to raise the spirits, right? And the bad guys are in retreat. Or planning their future allegiances.

Which says to me that yes, maybe, this is the Black Ant who might want to leave the Earth entirely and join the intergalactic equivalent of a foreign legion.

Black Ant's joining the Guardians Of The Galaxy? He might get on well with Rocket… And yes, as we told you yesterday, it looks like the second Steve Rogers is nothing like what he thought he might be.

Turns out he's Memorex. You may recognise the time pool from earlier issues. Could this be the Vanishing Point then?

So, obviously as Secret Empire as all hell. And it all comes down to one man, Captain America. What was it he once said? Written by JMS in Amazing Spider-Man during Civil War?