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 31: Fantastic Four: Authoritative Action

Fantastic Four: Authoritative Action

Author: Mark Waid  |  Illustrators: Howard Porter / Norm Rapmund

"But let's not do th' right thing the wrong way–"

Note: Even though this post is dated just a few days after the previous one (Volume 30), in reality about three months have passed since I read both books. That's not usually a problem because my method is to write and schedule for later, except I forgot to write Part Two until now. Doh! Consequently, I've probably forgotten much of what I wanted to say, but I'll do the best that I can. :/

It becomes clear that the clean-up process after a tyrant is defeated doesn't stop when the villain is out of the picture; and that the change in control affects not just the new powers but also the citizens for whom the previous rule had become their way of life, for good or ill. Change can be difficult even when it seems to be favourable.

Doctor Doom's parting gift to Reed weighs heavily on the stretchy hero's soul; he's more short-tempered, less jovial. When the balance that exists between Reed the man and Reed the superhero is thrown out of sync, when the man is deeply troubled by feelings that are difficult to shake once they surface, then the whole package suffers.

It births dangerous questions: How far would you go to keep your family safe? Would you stop at preventing actual threats, or attempt to justify moving further afield to extinguish potential threats? What would you do to the world? What would you do to yourself? Those kinds of tough questions are what make the book most memorable.

Also of note is seeing how the remainder of the team deal with the difficult change in their leader. It's all well and good to say that as family we should support one another through thick and thin, but there's a line of acceptability that must be acknowledged, and it's one that may be placed differently for each individual.

I wasn't a fan of the real-world political references, the inconsistency in the art was distracting, and I'm not sure how I feel about the book's final chapter, but overall it's another strong Fantastic Four book that will remain in my collection.

The book collects together Fantastic Four #503-511.

Verdict:

Volume 30: Fantastic Four: Unthinkable

Fantastic Four: Unthinkable

Author: Mark Waid  |  Illustrators: Mike Wieringo / Casey Jones

"Have we discussed Newton's third law?"

Love is a hell of thing. It can hold even the vilest and most power-hungry individual in its steadfast grip, and it's the most common form of glue that binds a selfless family unit together. Both of those things are an integral part of a good FF story. The kinds of love that are manifested are as different as magic and science - except, if you frame it correctly, magic and science aren't really that different at all.

It begins with Victor Von Doom having a very human moment, something that on any other day he would more than likely see as a weakness to be exploited, something to help him gain the upper-hand. As Doom moves from place to place, revealing just a small portion of his story each time, only we as readers get the picture complete. It fills the first included issue and it's amazing! The Fantastic Four don't even feature in the conventional sense.

Of course, they do appear eventually, and even though the balance between the Four is well-considered it's Reed's emotional state that I was most aware of. He's a super-genius when it comes to science and technology, able to apply the scientific method even with his eyes closed, but when it comes to parenting he's at the mercy of hope and luck just as much as the next man, aware that good intentions don't always translate into good decisions. The memory of his past failure never goes away, influencing his every action. In some ways it makes him a better father, but in other ways it traps a little piece of him and prevents it from moving forward.

The scenarios that the team are exposed to and forced to bring to a conclusion are just as bonkers as the shit-storms that the X-Men get into, but the love that has been established as existing between the Four does a much better job at making all the weird stuff less overpowering than Xavier's squad can manage. That the FF's adventures are often part soap opera doesn't change the fact that it's a process better able to highlight what's important.

The book collects together Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #67-70 and Fantastic Four #500-502.

Verdict:

Volume 29: The Ultimates: Homeland Security

The Ultimates: Homeland Security

Author: Mark Millar  |  Illustrator: Bryan Hitch

"Why would she put up with that?"
"I don't know. Why would anyone?"

By the end of Volume 1 Millar had taken steps in setting up a real opportunity to tackle a subject that needed to come out from behind closed doors. He could've did it in a powerful and sensitive way, but for some reason he pushed it aside too soon and instead exploded the main story into a boring three and a half issue battle with some pretend Nazis. I was bored out of my mind by the end.

I'd be interested to know why he ignored such a prime opportunity. Was it his idea to neglect it? Or maybe his editor's? Was there a more satisfying draft that got rejected? Or did he just get bored and decide to blow shit up because it's the easy way out? So many questions.

Conversely, if lengthy combat scenes like the one at the end of The Avengers (2012) movie is something you enjoy, then maybe you’ll get even more jollies from Volume 2 than you did from Volume 1.

Prior to the mind-numbing events, Hawkeye gets an action scene and proves how problematic a character he is to write for; there's not much you can do with a guy whose superpower is the ability to magically not run out of arrows. He's teamed with Black Widow, a lady with a similarly limiting condition. It played out fine, regardless, but it felt like it was forced into the narrative just to give the pair something meaningful to do. Hawkeye has his own current title but I've not read it; I wonder how he fares in it.

The addition of two guests from another title seemed superfluous, unless Millar was setting up something that he'd develop further in Ultimates 2. But, because I don't have the subsequent books, I don't know if that was the case. I'd hate to think it was pointless fan-service or in place simply to undermine the main team dynamic.

At almost every turn Homeland Security left me wondering about things that were outside of the story; but it wasn't in a pleasing 'food for thought' kind of way, it was the less enjoyable 'I wonder would something else be better than this?' kind of way.

The book collects together The Ultimates #7-13.

Verdict:

Volume 28: The Ultimates: Super-Human

The Ultimates: Super-Human

Author: Mark Millar  |  Illustrator: Bryan Hitch

"Listen, I'm really sorry about breaking your nose back there, General Fury."
"Take it easy... This nose has been smashed more times than Robert Downey Jr."

The team with the modest name are like an Ultimate Universe version of the Avengers. (See Spider-Man post if you need Ultimate Universe info.) It's not a typical origin story; it's more of a recruitment story.

General Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. (who was comic book Sam Jackson years before real life Sam Jackson was movie Nick Fury) puts together a team of the best and brightest superheroes he can find because he fears an attack on the U.S. by some as yet unknown super villain(s); he's the ultimate paranoid Boy Scout. There's only one problem with that strategy: they've got no one to fight.

When that many egos are gathered together in one place some members of the team begin to get anxious.

Millar's heroes are part warrior, part pawn and part celebrity in a world not unlike our own. I was a little annoyed by the many references to the real world he kept throwing in. Some of it was blackly humorous (I think he was mocking the kind of sad individual that believes name-checking celebrities will grant them some kind of enviable social status) but mostly it was just irritating, and is the thing that will cause the book to feel most dated the further we're removed from the pop culture events mentioned.

It's a good thing Millar was able to balance it out with some excellent pacing elsewhere, and some fast but deep character developments.

His style is as cinematic as they come. In fact, both the first Captain America and Avengers films stole large chucks of his story for their scripts, and all they gave him was a thank you in the screen credits.

Bryan Hitch's artwork is great, and some clever use of thick shadows by colourist Paul Mounts means it isn't ruined by the digital colouring techniques.

The book collects together The Ultimates #1-6.

Verdict:

Volume 27: Captain America: The New Deal

Captain America: The New Deal

Author: John Ney Rieber  |  Illustrator: John Cassaday

"Blood on your hands, they say. As though it stops there. At the wrist. Like a glove."

The New Deal was John Ney Rieber's first Captain America story and the one that launched yet another reboot of the series. It wasn't a good start. It's a heavily politicised post 9/11 story.

I live in the UK. We're not patriotic. It's a generalisation but largely true. We aren't taught allegiance in schools or weaned into it by fraternities and sororities and expected to declare undying loyalty, etc. Being an outsider means I don't know if the view I have of US culture is even remotely close to the real America; it's a view based on media offerings, and we all know their truth to bullshit ratio.

The book embodies what the media tells me, so I can't know how much of it mirrors real sentiment and how much is exaggerated. Irrespective, it's not a very good story. If you strip away the self-reaffirming monologue, the calls for unity and the blatant mollycoddling then there's almost nothing left.

Most of the text is short, broken clauses; the type best reserved for action scenes. When that kind of writing takes up the bulk of a text it disrupts the narrative flow and stops being fun to read.

There's an attempt to show the 'enemy' perspective, but it's uneven. Respect to Rieber for trying, but when Capt resorts to beating down his demonised opponent with words, claiming that at least America doesn't kill children, I was ready to fling the book out the window. I'd like to say it was a clever device to show him naïvely blinded by patriotism, but I really don't think it was. I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

John Cassaday's art is fantastic. His depiction of the Captain sifting through rubble, gray dust filling the frame, with a pained sense of failure on his hero's shoulders is beautifully presented, and the action scenes are dynamic. It's a shame that such great work was accompanied by such a problematic text.

The book collects together Captain America Vol 4 #1-6.

Verdict:

Volume 26: Wolverine: Origin

Wolverine: Origin

Authors: Paul Jenkins / Bill Jemas / Joe Quesada  |  Illustrator: Andy Kubert

"There's cruelty in his eyes now, make no mistake. When I catch him looking up at my window, it frightens me."

We've already had the story in which Wolverine got his adamantium skeleton (Volume 12: Wolverine: Weapon X), but this one takes place before that. Like the title says, it's the character's origin story, not his transformation story. It lifts the veil from Logan's past by following him from early childhood, through adolescence and into maturity.

I was hesitant about reading it because the mystery of the character was a large part of his allure. Filling in the blanks was a bold move by Marvel, one that could've sent ripples of derision and disappointment through the fanbase. But, in my opinion, it really paid off. The series is by far one of the best that the House of (regurgitated) Ideas ever commissioned; at least, of the ones that I've experienced to date, which is a small percentage of the publisher's output, to be fair.

Part of the reason it stands head and shoulders above many of the others is because it dares to break free from the typical comic book format. It draws from other sources, primarily classic women's literature. It's Wolvie's story but it unfolds through the eyes of a young girl, who is herself moving from adolescence into maturity.

As the girl sits atop a symbolic hill, her diary entries record her thoughts; they strip Wolverine metaphorically naked, enabling the reader to forget the assumptions and biases formed by his chronologically subsequent exploits. Her observations show him instead as a troubled youth being shaped by a world of divided social class; a world that isn't a happy one for either of them.

The art was coloured straight from Andy Kubert's pencils by Richard Isanove, leaving out the inker completely. The rich candlelit oranges and earthy browns contrasted by dark bluish nights and the cold grey of winter give the book an organic, less rigid appearance that's incredibly complementary to the historical setting. Also, the volume of textless panels versus ones of exposition is balanced expertly, allowing the story's strengths to rise to the surface early on.

The book collects together Wolverine: Origin #1–6.

Verdict: