Here we have the second Squadron story, "Death of a Universe," and the last that Mark Gruenwald would write before he passed away. We also get to see some later Squadron stories with the Avengers (in the post-Onslaught "absolutely nobody will stay dead in comics again" world where the Avengers have returned from the pocket universe they were hidden away in) and their eventual return to their own Earth in "New World Order." Plus, there is a Thor story from the days before the original Squadron Supreme series where Hyperion faces his evil double from Earth-616 (the main Marvel reality).

It feels like a chunk of the story is missing. After the end of "Death of a Universe," we get the Thor comic then jump right in to the Avengers storyline and everyone talking about the Squadron being stranded on Earth-616. But there is absolutely no explanation as to how that happened. There is mention of a run-in with Quasar, so including that story in this collection probably would have answered a lot of questions. It's almost like the Quasar story should be where the Thor story is, especially since that story takes place even before the Squadron 12-issue series.

The Avengers storyline is weak, and there are so many holes in the story I could drive a fleet of Mack trucks through. The writing in New World Order is much more grounded. It's almost as if the Squadron has a personality shift while they are stranded on Earth-616 and return to form as soon as they get back to their own universe. ( )