What the HELL is Weirdworld? Whatever it is; it's coming to SECRET WARS!

The Secret Wars are underway and most of the known alternate universes have lined up for their share of Battleworld. But, of all the realms in this nerdgasm, none bewilders me more than Weirdworld!

As with everything Marvel has done so far in this multi-world event, this seems emensely well thought out and NOT what you expect. You say Weirdworld and Marvel in the same sentence and usually you go back to the 1977 Marvel Premiere issue that brought us a story of the same name. In this story, there were " two elves : Tyndall and Velanna, both from the floating ring-shaped island of Klarn, and an irascible dwarf dubbed Mud-Butt because he tended to land on his backside in a quarrel."

So far, I have seen nothing of said elves even appearing. Not that I'm disappointed, mind you. What we did get were a series of covers; one of which produced a map that gave us clues to what we're dealing with.

First of all, most all of the covers deal with an old Marvel character named Arkon and his world (notice 'Where is Polemachus' on the map cover?). As we know from the map of Battleworld and the first couple of issues of Secret Wars, this new world is a mishmash of everything Marvel. And, Weirdworld is no different. But up front, as I mentioned, is Arkon who is the conquering lord of Polemachus, a planet were people both glorify and respect warfare. He debuted in Avengers #75 in 1970 and has since made appearances in the X-Men as well as various versions of the Avengers.

So why make Arkon, the conquering barbarian, a resident of Weirdworld? Why not? What better terrain to place him in than something that looks like a MadMax poster! And that it does. Although Arkon figures prominent on most of the covers, there are a few things on the map that caught my attention!

First of all, toward the upper right hand of the map, there is an obvious reference to several ghost riders! This makes sense seeing that a GHOST RIDERS title has already been announced. Covers featuring a variety of Riders have already made appearances as seen in various pictures in this article! But the concept has rocketed past the idea of a pack of Riders kicking but in a wasteland. This BATTLEWORLD installment has them RACING each other! What better event to hold in a wasteland if not the ultimate demolition derby?!

And who is the face on the cover of issue 2? This kind of reminds me of Arcade! I would have to say that he would work perfectly for this type of story!

Besides Arkon and the Ghost Riders, the map also reveals this wasteland to be the home of the Devil Dinosaurs! This continues the trend of 70s style characters that made their debut that decade as Devil Dinosaur was first seen in #! in 1978. We have also seen a pic of Captain America riding one against a hoard of Hulks in PLANET HULK coming in the Seceret Wars also.

From here, it gets a little dicey. But I did pick up one more reference to a 70s character from the pages of Spiderman! John J Jameson, Jr. debuted all the way back in 1963 in Amazing Spider-Man #1. But his most memorable role was as the Man Wolf where a glowing red moon rock turned him into an albino werewolf. Once again, this happened in CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #30-37 in 174-75. The piece of the map shown is obviously titles MANWOLVES and would definitely be a good spot for this type of weirdness.

I noticed the Crystal Labyrinth which may be an odd nod to Marvel's two ventures with Henson and his artistic legacies: The DARK CRYSTAL and LABYRINTH! Although, I don't expect to see any of THOSE characters making an appaearance.

Besides this, the rest of the map is a garble of insanity; which fits. Mentions of Cold Town where you apparently never return, the Man Maggots, the Hawksquatch (my personal favorite), the Pink River of Death, a very angry Horseman, the Cannibal Convoy, Motherboard Mountain (which sounds oddly familiar), glow dogs and a myriad of unintellegable garble. BUT, all in all, looks like a fun time to be had by all and I personally look forward to exploring Weirdworld along with the rest of Battleworld as the SECRET WARS continues on!