WARNING: Spoilers for Secret X-Men #1 ahead!
In Marvel Comics’ recently released Secret X-Men #1, which follows a team of mutants made up of those who lost in the first ever “X-Men Election” on a secretive (and honestly, quite confusing) mission includes a fun 4th wall-breaking word puzzle in the middle of the issue, reminiscent of the massively popular Wordle that has taken over the internet. Led by the gregarious and impulsive Sunspot, the Secret X-Men must battle their way through evil aliens and the vacuum of space in an attempt to save the Shi’ar Queen Xandra, and the team can’t succeed without the readers help.
The Secret X-Men were (seemingly) formed by a lie told by Roberto Da Costa, the mutant Sunspot who has been living on the Shi’ar home world Chandilar since an early arc in the relaunched New Mutants title. Sunspot has been telling the women of Chandilar that he is the leader of the X-Men which … could not be further from the truth. When his on-again off-again lover, the terrifying former villain Deathbird, hears about this rumor she recruits him to form a secretive X-Men team to go on an intergalactic peacekeeping mission to save the endangered Queen Xandra (who happens to be Professor Xavier’s daughter!).
Secret X-Men #1—written by Tini Howard with art by Francesco Mobili—is a fun romp of a one-shot, giving some lesser seen mutants the spotlight and allowing them to show off their unique and creatively collaborative abilities. Gathering together an eclectic group of lovable “losers,” Sunspot and his best friend Cannonball lead the election rejects Tempo, Banshee, Marrow, Strong Guy, Forge, Boom Boom, and Armor as they battle against Sidri bounty hunters before landing on an icy Shi’ar Empire planet (that also, side note, happens to smell a lot like farts). After spotting something glinting under the ice, the team begins to chip away, until they find a hidden Shi’ar doorway that requires a password, similar to the Doors of Durin from The Lord of the Rings. After uncovering the door, the team quickly realizes that the only way to open the door is with a telepathic password and, of course, the Secret X-Men don’t have one of those in their group.
Here is where Secret X-Men really starts to draw outside of the lines, with a full page de-scramble word puzzle showing up, and the issue breaking the 4th wall. The puzzle asks the reader to solve the word puzzle, and once you get the answer this will somehow be psychically sent to the Secret X-Men team since they apparently have a, “powerful psychic ally, unknown even to them, who will put you in touch with the team.” The puzzle, while obviously not exactly like the popular Wordle, is certainly similar to Wordle’s goal of guessing the correct letters, descrambling your options, and putting them in the right place to get the correct answer, and the Secret X-Men puzzle is surprisingly hard. While Secret X-Men was certainly developed and created by Tini Howard way before Wordle blew up, it is a happy coincidence for any Wordle fan if they end up stumbling on this fun page.
The puzzle in Secret X-Men #1 is similar to the issue itself, fun, different, and a bit difficult to wrap your head around. Regardless of the many twists and turns in the story, Tini Howard has managed to create a truly enjoyable one-shot adventure featuring some amazing and under utilized X-Men characters, while managing to slip a whole word puzzle into the middle of it! To play the fun Wordle-esque puzzle for yourselves, and check out the Secret X-Men’s new costumes in action, make sure to pick up Marvel Comics exciting new comic Secret X-Men #1.
