Because the delays on Secret Wars aren't already causing enough headaches at Marvel Comics, the publisher has compounded the issue with an unexpected twist: the eight-part series is officially expanding into nine. That's right, Marvel is adding a ninth issue.
As we've pointed out before, the delays to Secret Wars #6, #7 and #8 are at serious risk of overlapping with Marvel's line-wide, "All-New, All-Different" reboot (that's not really a reboot). The All-New All-Different #1s pick up the story of the Marvel Universe eight months after the conclusion of Secret Wars and reflect the new status quos across Marvel's entire catalog. Some of those changes are big enough to only be explainable due to the events of Secret Wars, such as Miles Morales migrating to the 616 universe now that the Ultimate universe is kaput. Or Old Man Logan doing the same.
In other words, Marvel's relaunch, which begins in October, may end up spoiling the end of Secret Wars. Many of the biggest changes are already well-known, such as the Miles Morales thing, but that doesn't mean we know how they happened. The story is in the how, after all, and Marvel has been guarding against Secret Wars story spoilers and leaks pretty hard.
So now the issue is being compounded by the addition of an extra issue to Secret Wars. What's more: Secret Wars #9 will be published in December. That's two months after #8 (unless that one gets delayed again) and two months into the All-New, All-Different titles.
Marvel's press release says the extra issue was added in order to give writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Esad Ribic the chance to "wrap up their cataclysmic story as intended." (Alex Ross will contribute one more cover to the series as well.)
In other words, the climax was too big for one issue; this is likely at least a partial source of the recent delays, as Marvel and the creative team had to weigh the logistics of revealing certain plot points in a different order than was originally intended. Marvel's senior vice president of sales and marketing, David Gabriel, confirmed as much in his statement.
"This extra issue will not affect any of the new launches as part of All-New, All-Different Marvel," said Gabriel. "But there might be a surprise or two left over from Battleworld you weren't expecting... Some of those puzzle pieces will hit the Marvel Universe before the event concludes."
Secret Wars #9 will be in stores sometime in December.
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