Volume 60: Siege

Siege

Author: Brian Michael Bendis | Illustrator: Olivier Coipel

"...[T]his is the kind of crap we should be avoiding."

The quote I used above echoes what I was thinking while reading through Siege. I could end this post right now, leave it at that, job done, but I've come this far, sixty volumes, so I'm going to finish.

Asgard is on Midgard. Okay, it's not technically 'on' Midgard, it's hovering twelve feet above Oklahoma, but still, WTF? Norman Osborn is still in charge of H.A.M.M.E.R. and the Avengers, such as they are. It was a stupid idea before and it's still a stupid idea now.

Looked at optimistically I could say that I feel the purpose of the story was to get the true Avengers back in place, or, if you prefer to put it another way, to undo all the convoluted, idiotic shit that they did previously. It's a semantic difference only. The result is the same.

Things were changing behind the scenes, too. The story was first published at a time when the live action superhero films were netting new fans for the publisher and Disney had just bought the company for a whopping $4,000,000,000. I don't know if the success of the early films had any influence on the planned direction, but it probably wouldn't have hurt matters. Siege put an end to the (then) current sate of affairs. It reset the nonsense, making things easier for the many new fans and beginning the new Heroic Age initiative.

I've drifted off topic a little. It's because I realised that I actually had said in the opening paragraph all that needed to be said about the book. It's garbage, the kind of crap we really should be avoiding.

The book collects together Siege: The Cabal and Siege #1-4.

Verdict:

Volume 58: Secret Invasion

Secret Invasion

Author: Brian Michael Bendis  |  Illustrator: Leinil Francis Yu

"[Y]ou all really need your asses kicked!"

I mentioned previously (in Volume 20: Ultimate Spider-Man: Power and Responsibility) that I believe Brian Michael Bendis can do good work when he sets his mind to it. I still believe that to be the case.

But it must also be said that his CV contains a fair amount of work that's the opposite of good - lazily plotted and clichéd stuff that still makes money because some fans will buy any crap with a Marvel logo; e.g. Secret Invasion, one of the worst books in the Collection.

It's a story about the shape-shifting Skrull, revealing how they've been masquerading as heroes for a long time, both A-listers and B-listers, destroying the costumed community from within in preparation for an all out Skrull attack (aka big yawnsome fight).

It kicks off with a huge battle in the Savage Land, followed by a huge battle in the city. During both conflicts we're repeatedly reminded that we don't know who to trust. It's a solid basis upon which to lay an evolving story of paranoia and misplaced loyalties—because the team need to know if the person next to them is going to protect their back or embed a traitorous knife in it—but the 'evolving' part of the equation is absent. Even five issues into the arc very little has changed, we're still wondering who is Skrull (or still not caring, in my case), still turning page after page of fight scene after fight scene.

The book's script rarely rises above tenth grade fan-fiction levels of accomplishment. It's an almost complete waste of precious time.

The final chapter drops a bombshell that'll once more throw the natural order into chaos. But frankly, the stupidity attached to the decision means the people involved deserve all they get.

The book collects together Secret Invasion #1-8.

Verdict:

Volume 56: Thunderbolts: Faith in Monsters

Thunderbolts: Faith in Monsters

Author: Warren Ellis  |  Illustrator: Mike Deodato Jr.

"Maybe killing as fast as he creates makes me God's only friend."

I expected Thunderbolts to be just as bland as most of the other team-based crossovers, perhaps even more so because of the gimmicky nature of it, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

They're a super-villain strike force employed by the government to apprehend the remaining post-Civil War unregistered superheroes.

Each of the members is forced into the contract, but each will also eventually profit from inclusion; they're getting what they want, just not straight away. Until then, taking down rogue superheroes and getting paid for it is something they enjoy. So right from the start we have a situation that's a double-edged sword for everyone involved, the desperate employers and the dastardly employees.

The highlight of the book is Bullseye, the long-time thorn in Daredevil's side. Killing is an art form for Bullseye, one that he takes great pride in – but only if the subject deserves his special attentions; he'll commit multiple civilian murders but they don't sate him the same way. It would've been easy to have him always upfront, to have him lead the strikes, but instead Ellis keeps him in the background, and in so doing keeps him deadly and secretive, serving the narrative much better than he probably would otherwise.

Like Bullseye, the remainder of the team have no real loyalty to the cause or to each other. They have personal agendas that they indulge when the situations allow, and most recognise that discrediting the public's heroes is as important as capturing them.

Because we're on the darker side of the fence, the content is more adult in tone. Mistrust, selfish actions, violence for its own sake, and even references to casual sex are all treated as everyday occurrences.

There are times when it has to forego interesting character work in order to satisfy fans of explosive action, but the biggest flaw in the book isn't in its compromises, it's that the page count ends before the story does - what we get is just half a story.

The book collects together Thunderbolts #110-115; and Civil War: Choosing Sides (one-shot).

Verdict:

Volume 50: Civil War

Civil War

Author: Mark Millar  |  Illustrator: Steve McNiven

"What are they trying to do? Turn us into civil servants?"

When a small team of rookie 'heroes' publicly screw up in a very major way, on camera, no less, the people they're supposed to be protecting start to feel nervous, and a large percentage of public opinion regarding all costumed heroes begins to shift.

The argument that police officers undergo years of training and psychological testing before they're allowed to hit the streets, whereas all a superhero has to do to qualify as a defender of public interests is to put on tights and they're good to go, understandably begins to upset a lot of people.

In some ways a mandatory registration of heroes makes a kind of sense, making them accountable for their actions may make them more sympathetic champions, but any kind of mass unmasking will thrust the families of each person into the limelight, making innocents a prime target for evildoers. Hard choices have to be made. Is the comfort of many worth the danger it poses to a select few?

The events in Civil War are some of the most logical reasons Marvel has ever had for a large number of costumed heroes being gathered together in the same place at the same time. And as with any such gathering, there'll be a difference of opinion about the underlying cause. The proposed reforms split the costumed community down the middle. On one side are people who want to go on the government payroll, who want the security and respect that legitimacy brings. On the other are people who value their personal life and feel that it's a grave error to mix their two states of being. They believe that their autonomy and freedom of choice is under threat.

It inevitably ends up in a giant punch-up, but heroes do actually die this time, and Millar manages to at least make the clash serve a dual purpose, one that leads to a devastating result for the community at large and worse for one individual in particular (Volume 51).

I was on board will it all until a single event made it feel forced. The event in question is something that I believe simply wouldn't happen. Maybe the person at the centre of it got swept up in the moment, but considering their painful past it's unlikely such a decision would be made without due consideration. Shortly thereafter people began switching sides and it started feeling silly.

The book collects together Civil War #1–7.

Verdict:

Volume 48: Marvel Zombies (2006)

Marvel Zombies

Author: Robert Kirkman | Illustrator: Sean Phillips

"Whoever makes the kill gets double rations."

A post-apocalyptic, alternate world spin-off from a story that appeared in Ultimate Fantastic Four (#21-23).

I don't believe that putting zombies into something automatically makes it better; more often than not it makes it worse.

The zombie metaphor has been done to death (no pun intended) and outside of the early George A. Romero films it's mostly been done badly. Marvel Zombies sets a new low, even for Marvel.

It's written by Robert Kirkman, the guy that writes The Walking Dead. I've not read TWD. But it’s been selling well, so I'm assuming it’s a lot better than MZ. And I sincerely hope it's better than TWD TV series.

The plot is as thin as something I'd write. The heroes/villains are hungry. There's some gore. They eat. They get hungry. There's gore. They eat. They get hungry, etc. Yawn.

The book collects together Marvel Zombies #1-5.

Verdict:

Volume 40: House of M

House of M

Author: Brian Michael Bendis  |  Illustrator: Olivier Coipel

"What would you have me do?"

If you read the books in numerical order (as printed on the spine, not the sticker on the front of each issue) then you'll be aware of what happened in Volume 34: Avengers: Disassembled and of what was left unresolved. House of M addresses that particular situation.

The opening four pages are top class stuff, setting the stage for what follows. The location is far from grand; the state of the buildings echo feelings felt not just by the heroes but also the antagonists of the piece, a post-traumatic landscape of loss and decay. The remainder of the story isn't perfect, but it has more highs than lows, and often with Marvel crossovers that's the best you can hope for.

The pre-battle gathering of heroes is the kind of thing that usually makes me cringe, but the weight that assails each one on a personal level gives it an edge that's often lacking. They aren't debating how best to take down a megalomaniacal supervillain in need of reeducation. They're seeking comfort, assurances, wondering if what they need to do can even be done, and if not by them, then by who?

That 'edge' is the product of a feeling that extends beyond the page. Without going into spoiler territory, the situation, as wildly fantastical as it is, has at its core a fragility that every person who reads it will be able to relate to. Everyone wants to be happy in their own way, but dig beneath the surface and you'll discover a wealth of clauses and provisos that must also be met lest the happiness be in name only.

The end might leave you with more questions than when you started, and Marvel retconned some stuff at a later date, but as a book in its own right House of M goes to some remarkably fragile places.

The book collects together House of M #1-8.

Verdict:

Volume 34: Avengers: Disassembled

Avengers: Disassembled

Author: Brian Michael Bendis | Illustrators: David Finch / Jim Cheung / Steve Epting / Gary Frank / Michael Gaydos / David Mack / Alex Maleev / Mike Mayhew / Steve McNiven / Mike Oeming / George Pérez / Eric Powell / Darick Robertson / Lee Weeks

"[W]e, as a group, have failed..."

It's become customary to do something special for a landmark issue, something memorable or celebratory. With Avengers issue #500, Brian Michael Bendis took over as regular author on the series and set about destroying everything – in a good way. In order to remake the team into something new he had to first tear down what was old.

In just four issues he puts them through hell in the hope that they'll emerge from the other side as better heroes, more aware of the consequences of their actions and more appreciative of what they have. Not everyone survives the Bendis assault.

The threat comes without warning, as something known but unknown, an unfamiliar thing in a familiar form, and death follows.

The team's feelings are thrown into turmoil as they try to make sense of something the human mind can't easily make sense of. The most common response is to lay blame, find a target for the anger and pain, but the target isn't in plain sight. The true enemy this time isn't one that can be easily punched into oblivion.

There's still plenty of action, if that's your main concern, but it's balanced out with plenty of text and a fair amount of standing around talking deductively; somehow it all works.

Many different artists worked on the miniseries, so the quality varies, but mostly it's very good. There's a superb page in #501 made up of just four horizontal panels, dialogue-free, that puts into perspective the emotions that the remaining team members have to deal with. Much later, near the book's end, there's an astonishingly good double splash page that evoked an audible "Wow!" from me while reading.

The final chapter (Avengers Finale) is a kind of coda in a form that many people will recognise, a post-tragedy event for which there are no hard and fast rules, but which everyone in attendance understands, nevertheless.

The book collects together Avengers #500-503 + Avengers Finale.

Verdict:

Volume 33: Secret War

Secret War

Author: Brian Michael Bendis  |  Illustrator: Gabriele Dell'Otto

"[L]et the last thing they see on this earth be the culmination of all your lies and betrayals!"

Not to be confused with the Marvel Secret Wars (plural) miniseries of the mid-1980s, Bendis' Secret War is very different. Firstly, and without a doubt the greatest thing about the book, there's fully painted art by Gabriele Dell'Otto. His use of colours reflects both the nighttime setting and the seriousness of the situation. It's a story that shook one of the pillars of the Marvel universe: S.H.I.E.L.D.

Colonel Nick Fury handpicks a small group of costumed heroes from different walks of life and throws them together on a covert mission of great importance. We're told that each one was chosen because of their unique attributes or abilites, but the reasons for each aren't explored in a satisfactory way. Perhaps Bendis assumed we'd be able to discern for ourselves based on our knowledge of their past adventures? I don't know, but I personally knew one of them by name only, having never read a single issue of his solo title.

The story itself would sound great when told to someone, abridged, but actually reading it isn't a very exciting process. It's confusing for a while, but it's supposed to be, so at the end of the day that isn't a problem. However, it's also contrived, with not enough distinction between characters' dialogue, and the nature of the work means that 90% of the exposition is clumped together in a single issue.

Between each issue are text entries that give background (or extraneous) information on people or events prior to the story's main event, in the form of transcribed interviews and S.H.I.E.L.D. operation database entries; the interviews are the most useful.

The book collects together Secret War #1-5.

Verdict:

Volume 32: Marvel 1602

Marvel 1602

Author: Neil Gaiman  | Illustrators: Andy Kubert / Richard Isanove

"Sir Nicholas is our intelligencer, Doctor. All the plots and counterplots, all the words whispered and knives in the dark are his to unravel and employ. He does his job well —"

Also known simply as 1602, the eight-issue miniseries places a number of Marvel's most popular (and overused) heroes in the year 1602; not in a dodgy time travel scenario, but in an alternative telling wherein they exist separately in various roles and across various lands, but mostly in Elizabethan England. It's how the beginnings of the extended Marvel Universe might've been had it happened in a more distant time period, a kind of comic book 'what if...?' story.

Not all reinterpretations of characters are instantly recognisable. Some of the names are even changed by various degrees of subtlety in a bid to keep readers guessing (e.g. Count Otto von Doom, although it's one of the easier ones). So as not to spoil the surprise for anyone who would rather not know which characters actually feature in the book, I've left off the relevant labels on this post, instead using 'Crossover' as a basic coverall term.

It's difficult to explain why the story bored me without venturing into spoiler territory, so I'll say only that the coming together of different parties and the uncovering of truths about each one weren't at all interesting to me, stretched as thin as they were... and I'm confused about why the flying reptiles were there. I know there are people who adore everything Gaiman writes, regardless of its quality, but more cautious and/or frugal fans of his work might want to attempt borrowing from a library before throwing actual money down.

This is the part where I once again wish that from day one of this blog I'd decided to give separate scores for story and art, because Andy Kubert's art and Richard Isanove's colouring are both wonderful, achieved in the same manner as it was in Volume 26: Wolverine: Origin (for the record, it'd get five big thumbs both times), but my scores need to reflect true feelings about the book's re-readability so that in the future it can be an accurate guide as to which volumes to keep and which to dispose of. With that in mind...

The book collects together the entire first Marvel 1602 story, i.e. #1-8.

Verdict:

Volume 13: Marvels

Marvels (1994)

Author: Kurt Busiek | Illustrator: Alex Ross

"I was learning a great deal about the world, and even more about the pain of a forced solitude.
I was aware of everything... understanding nothing."

The individual stories that Marvels was originally envisioned to tell would've been interesting reading, but the unified, multi-layered work that it became is something very, very special. Writer Kurt Busiek cites Tom DeFalco as the man that provided inspiration for turning many ideas into one idea, so kudos also to him.

It revisits iconic comic moments that span 35 years (1939 to 1974) by exploring those events from the perspective of the regular people that were directly affected by them. It's the Everyman story entwined with the story of a world unprepared for the threats that face it.

The eyes and voice of the work belong to Phil Sheldon, a freelance photo journalist. Phil can't climb walls or shoot fire from his fingertips, he can't even protect himself from being swept up by a changing public opinion, but when the superheroes begin to bleed into society he's there to capture it with his camera. Sheldon embodies the fear, awe, and confusion that grips a person as they watch two 'Marvels' fighting for dominance, tearing up a city like it was paper.

Flipping the perspective from the heroes and villains to the common man replaced the usual metaphor device with a more overtly relatable truth. It emphasised the choices and consequences forced upon the ordinary citizens thrust into a world they'd no control over.

I wasn't familiar with all of the storylines that played out upon the city like a canvas, but it didn't matter, the book is written in such a way that a lack of knowledge doesn't exclude you from Phil's story. Even if Marvels is the first comic book you've ever read, it still astounds. It's a love song to an age of comics that can never be repeated, and a genre breaking advancement in narrative that works on many levels.

It's also notable for being artist Alex Ross' comicbook début. His fully painted art style is unmistakable. Using people as character models helped capture a sense of dynamic realism. His heroes are truth exaggerated but never twisted into impossible forms.

The book collects together Marvels #0-4.

Verdict:

Volume 06+07: Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars

Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars

Author: Jim Shooter  |  Illustrators: Mike Zeck / Bob Layton

"You remind me of a lady bouncer I used to know."

The first arc in the series to feature a large crossover event and also the first to be split over two volumes. That's as exciting as it gets.

A powerful entity whisks a bus-load of heroes and villains away from their usual surroundings and deposits them on an alien world to do battle. Many of the good guys can be seen on the cover of the book (left), so I won't go over them all again. The bad guys are Dr Doom, Doctor Octopus, Ultron the Gobshite, and a few more B-Listers that would get paid buttons if it was a film and not a comic they were in.

By the end of Part 1 (Volume 06) I was of the opinion that maybe the Secret War should've stayed secret, like a shame, because it hadn't managed to do anything worthwhile in that time. It was originally a monthly comic, so after six issues (six months!) you'd expect at least something worth the time taken to collect and read them. Nope.

It mentions in the back on the book that it was originally conceived as a way to promote a joint Marvel and Mattel toy line. (Mattel were the folks who produced Masters of the Universe.) The actual story was a secondary concern. That explains a lot. It's a multi-part advert.

Rarely does anyone just speak in Marvel comics, they exclaim everything. When dialogue flows nicely it can detract from the overuse, but SW's is so awful that it heightened my awareness of it. I didn't hunt for the best example to prove a point, I simply chose one random page and this is what I got: two people in a room together, no one else around, six panels of equal size, twenty-five exclamation marks. There's a fine line between adding drama and being outright ridiculous. Jim Shooter left that line in tatters. It's fucking stupid.

When it was time to read Part 2 (Volume 07) I was close to despondency but determined to continue. And, thank the gods of turnaround, things improved. The fighting was still tedious but wasn't always just filler - there was actual consequences this time, some of which were continued into each hero's respective individual title. A few of the protagonists even had their emotional state altered or affected. Bloody hell! Secret Wars had justified its existence. (But that doesn't exonerate it, because it's still crap and could've easily achieved the same result in 6 or 7 issues.)

Volume 06 collects together Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars #1-6; Volume 07 collects #7-12.

Verdict: