Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1 – Flashback Review

By: Jim Shooter (writer), Michael Zeck (pencils), John Beatty (inks), Christie Scheele (colors) & Joe Rosen (letters)

The Story: The Beyonder spirits a select group of Marvel heroes and villains away to do battle.

What’s Good: This was THE comic event of my early comic collecting life.  Back in this day, Marvel had Secret Wars and DC had Crisis and that was about it for awhile.  Not like today where the X-franchise has had three events in the last 18 months (Messiah War, Necrosha & Second Coming).  This is one instance where I do miss the good old days.  Secret Wars was also a bit odd for Marvel in that it got a little out of continuity.  I was reading Uncanny X-Men at the time and the entirety of Secret Wars takes place between two issues of Uncanny: In one issue they are whisked away and they are back the next issue.  Then, they spent the next 12 issues of Uncanny vaguely alluding to what happened and in a remarkable bit of editorial control, they didn’t spoil anything.  This approach was mostly noteworthy because at this time Marvel otherwise exercised pretty tight continuity among their titles.  If a worldwide snowstorm struck in Thor in April, by God it was snowing in all the Marvel titles that month [ * along with a helpful footnote that explained why it was snowing and what issues of Thor you could read if you wanted to know more].

Getting on to the issue, there was no earthy way that this could not be awesome.  On the good guy’s side you had the X-Men (sans Kitty Pryde who had to go sleep at the New Mutants house), the Avengers, the FF & Hulk… and Magneto.  Opposing them you had Ultron, Enchantress, The Absorbing Man, Wrecker (and his crew), Kang, Lizard, Doc Ock, Molecule Man, Dr. Doom, Galactus.  Just the initial character line-ups were very interesting.  Magneto on the side of good?  Back in this era, Marvel hadn’t really dug into Magneto much but Secret Wars was the beginning of his (first) redemption.  Even the X-Men were a bit of an odd choice because they were such outcasts at the time.

Marvel 1985 #2 – Review

By Mark Millar (story), Tommy Lee Edwards (art), John Workman (letters)

The Stilt-Man will never, ever, be an A-list villain. Every now and then, some writer tries to “reinvent” him, and it always fails. The Stilt-Man will never be scary. But in the latest issue of 1985, in a simple five-panel sequence, Tommy Lee Edwards shows us how strange and wondrous it might really be to have an 80-foot cyborg stride across a suburban working-class neighborhood, silhouetted against the setting sun. So hats off to Edwards for another beautiful job.

This issue continues the theme set forth in the first: a group of super-villains, and at least one hero, have somehow been transported from the Marvel Universe as it was in 1985 to the “real” world. It’s unclear whether these are the original 616 characters, or doppelgängers created by some mutant power in “this” universe. Judging from the clues Millar keeps dropping, I suspect it’s the latter… and that Toby’s dad, his boyhood friend Clyde, and their monumental comic book collection have something to do with it.

Millar’s writing is spot-on, proving that while he usually goes for bombastic action, he can also do subtle scenes of human interest. My big gripe with the book is the one I often have with stories where kids run into mythical creatures and then try to convince adults to believe them. The scene where Toby tells his dad about the Hulk is frustrating because if my son told me he’d seen the Hulk, and he really believed it, I’d rush him to the hospital and have them check for brain damage, because that’s what a loving parent would do—should do—in the real world. But of course for the purposes of the story, Toby’s dad’s disbelief (or apparent disbelief; he may know more than he’s saying) is only an impediment to the plot. For me, at least, it punctures my suspension of disbelief and reminds me that what I’m reading is only fiction.

Other than that, though, the book is very good. The pace is gaining steam, and the sense of danger slowly ratcheting upward. At the end of the book, Sandman and Electro show up to demonstrate just how terrifying these rather average villains would really be if they were to show up at somebody’s home.

The task of putting supermen in the mundane world is a tricky one; the writer is always balancing on the razor’s edge between the sublime and the ridiculous. Will Millar drop the ball? So far he’s making it work, so I’ll just have to keep buying to find out. (Grade: B+)

– Andrew C. Murphy

Marvel 1985 #1 – Review

By Mark Millar (story), Tommy Lee Edwards (art), John Workman (letters)

On sale 5/29/08

I think Mark Millar has a fetish for boys coming from broken homes. Anyone who’s read Wanted and/or Kick Ass will understand what I’m talking about. With Marvel 1985, we’re put yet again into the shoes of a young boy from a broken home. But unlike the lead characters from the aforementioned series, this kid, Toby, has no desire to get himself killed or become a high-powered super villain. In fact, he’s a very normal kid who happens to be caught between his parents’ divorce. Using what money he has, he buys comics from the local store – using them as a tool to escape.

This book has a lot nostalgic value to it, so you’re going to have to forgive me if I come off a bit biased. You see, 1985 was the year I actually started reading and collecting comics. I remember the sights, the smells, and the bike rides I would take during the summer to get to my local comic store (it was miles away off the Air Force Base I lived on). Millar sets up the story right from the first page, and while I won’t disclose much of the story, I’ll say that this very much feels like a sequel to Secret Wars (the first series). The tempo of the book is paced evenly throughout, and in true Millar fashion we’re treated to a bevy of cultural references (relevant to 1985). I was even creeped out by one scene involving The Red Skull (Tommy Lee Edwards again gets a lot of credit for this striking scene).

Tommy Lee Edwards does an amazing job capturing the look and feel of the era. I can’t begin to tell you how closely I studied each page, enjoying the high level of detail and easter eggs Edwards planted. For those who were reading comics during this time frame, they’ll be instantly transported back. One scene in particular that blew my mind was Toby’s trip to the comic store. The attention to detail is just amazing! Edwards also handles the coloring chores with near perfection. The scene where Toby and his father walk through the woods is completely mood driven and the colors are the key to making this sequence work.

The unsung hero, however, is letterist John Workman who lettered this book completely by hand – a perfect throw back to the time. And while the word balloons in 1985 never looked this sloppy, the imperfections do nothing but add to the book’s character. With most lettering done by computer these days, it’s nice to see a tribute to this lost art.

Marvel 1985 will be fun for just about any fan of Marvel Comics. It’s an revisitation to a familiar time, when things weren’t so gloomy. It’s also a refreshing concept that goes beyond super heroes and villains. It’s like Kurt Busiek’s Marvels in a way, but it’s based in the 80s and seen through more innocent eyes. This kid isn’t witnessing any key events of the past like Busiek’s protagonist – he’s caught right in the middle of it! (Grade: A-)

– J. Montes