Written and illustrated by various.
Miscellaneous (Superheroes) - "M" Page 1
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Manhunter
for a review, go here
Marvel: 1602
Rating: * * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
see my review here
Marvel Holiday Special 1996 (SC TPB) 148 pgs.
Written and illustrated by various.
Reprinting: the original stories from Marvel Holiday Special 2004 and Marvel Holiday Special 2005 and Marvel Team-Up #1 and Uncanny X-Men #143 - with covers.
Rating: * * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Additional notes: digest-sized.
Published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics has produced various Christmas specials over the years, in a variety of formats and content -- from Treasury Editions, to one-shot comics, to graphic novels, some featuring reprints of holiday themed stories, some boasting original tales, some a combo of the two. And, of course, as such...it can be a bit tricky to specify which version/edition/comic you're referring to.
In this case, I'm reviewing Marvel Holiday Special -- a more-or-less digest sized TPB released in 2006. It reprints the original tales first published in the two previous TPBs: Marvel Holiday Special 2004 and Marvel Holiday Special 2005 (and even utilizes the same cover as MHS 2005). Those earlier TPBs also featured some vintage reprints, only two of which are carried over into this digest: X-Men #143 and Marvel Team-Up #1.
And the result...decent, if unexceptional.
The trick with superhero holiday stories is always to strike the balance and settle on the right tone? Should it be sincerely schmaltzy and sentimental? Should it just be goofy and humorous? Or should it just be a traditional super hero adventure, but set at Christmas?
The original stories here go for a combo of the sentimental and the silly. No Christmas collection would be complete, it seems, without an homage to A Christmas Carol, so here we have "Jonah's Christmas Carol", (26 pgs.) by Tom DeFalco and Takeshi Miyazawa, with Spider-Man supporting character J. Jonah Jameson cast in the Scrooge role (appropriately enough) who falls asleep and has a dream where various super heroes take on roles of the Spirits of Christmas taking Jonah through his life, interspersed with brief cutaways to a super hero battle. Perhaps of all the stories, it tries to be both sentimental and humorous. The other long story, "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santron", (25 pgs) by Jeff Parker and Reilly Brown, has an Avengers Christmas party being disrupted by a rogue robot dressed as Santa Claus. Though there's action, and it's perhaps the most traditionally well drawn in a super hero way, the tone here is definitely tongue-in-cheek, making for a story that, though mildly diverting, isn't sufficiently an adventure story, or heart-tugging.
The shorter pieces include some more sentimental tales, such as one involving a couple of the X-Men deciding to forgo their holiday to spend time with a student at Xavier's School who has no family, and Franklin Richards polling the adult members of the Fantastic Four about what Christmas means to them. There's an amusing, but nonetheless sentimental, illustrated poem involving the FF. And perhaps the funniest of the pieces, an amusing tale of the FF investigating when the Mole Man's minions start kidnapping street corner Santa Clauses.
All in all, there are no real duds in the lot, even as there are none that really manage to be mini-classics, with the Avengers tale proving -- strangely -- the least memorable.
Ironically, the best pieces are the older reprints. Perhaps that's because, being just part of the regular monthly series, they eschew the feeling of being too self-conscious in their ambitions.
"Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas", by Roy Thomas and Ross Andru, has Spider-Man and the Human Torch, reluctantly teaming up -- and bickering all the way -- to track down the Sandman. It manages to be an adventure -- without being an inappropriately gritty one -- with just enough sentimentality to score as a heart warmer, and to be funny (with the feuding heroes) without going too far into camp. What makes the sniping of the two heroes work here, and sometimes hasn't in more recent comics, is because it's played straight (even as it's funny) -- they really are getting on each other's nerves.
The X-Men tale, "Demon", by the classic Claremont/Byrne/Austin team is an example of an "inappropriately" gritty tale for a Christmas-themed story, as it's basically an "Alien" rip-off as Kitty Pryde is left alone in the mansion and ends up battling a demon. There's little Christmas spirit, but on that level it's a genuinely effective nail-biter. And it evokes the Christmas milieu, even if not the sentimental spirit.
So, as I say, this collection remains largely agreeable, if not too much in the way of "must reads", with the vintage reprints proving a more satisfying than the more modern tales.
Cover price: $__ CDN. $7.99 USA
Written by Kurt Busiek. Illustrated and painted by Alex
Ross.
Letters: Richard Starkings. Editor: Marc McLaurin.
Reprinting: Marvels #0-4 (1994 deluxe edition mini-series)
Additional notes: intros by various comics pros such as Stan Lee, John Romita Sr, etc.
Rating: * * * (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Published by Marvel Comics
Marvels revisits Marvel Universe history through the eyes
of photojournalist Phil Sheldon. The first chapter is set during the '40s,
as these so-called Marvels start appearing, and young Phil struggles with
his own ambivalence about a world suddenly filled with Gods, particularly
the (to him) unfathomable battles between the Human Torch and the sometimes
hero/sometimes villain Sub-Mariner that devastate the city. Then we jump
to the '60s/early'70s where the next three chapters are set, as Phil chronicles
and reflects on a world peopled by super-beings and the public's fluctuating
attitude toward them.
Marvels is an interesting concept, revisiting classic
Marvel stories but from the point of view of a man on the sidelines --
not even that close often. The problem is, of course, that it can make
for unsatisfying storytelling. The point is to see glimpses of battles,
hear snippets of news reports, while to Phil the full story remains unknown.
That makes it problematic for casual readers -- even incoherent in spots.
In one scene a character makes a disparaging remark about mutants, while
the mutant superheroes, the X-Men, glare at her in the background...but
the X-Men are out of costume, and not identified as such. I have no idea
how many in-jokes and nuances I may have missed...such as a final
scene involving a paperboy, the true significance of which I could only
confirm after the fact (he would grow up to be a superhero).
The heroes and their adventures take place mainly off-camera
-- really. If you go into this half-thinkiing the heroes will be, at least,
supporting characters (as I did), you'll be disappointed. The star of the
show is Phil -- more on that in a moment.
This was Alex Ross' first major work, he of the fully-painted,
almost photo-realist style (utilizing models) that has taken the industry
by storm. At times, it's like coming across stills from an unknown, big-budget
motion picture -- suddenly comic book drawings become real 3-D people.
He's also known for his visual gags, such as non-Marvel characters appearing
in the backgrounds (like Billy Batson and Jimmy Olsen) to pop-cultural
figures like the Dick Van Dyke and the Monkees appearing in crowd scenes.
I had first seen his work on Kingdom
Come, his later (in some ways thematically similar) mini-series for
DC, but whereas his depiction of Superman and Wonder Woman made me long
for him to tackle them again and again, on Marvels I felt more ambivalence.
Marvels is stunning to look at, but sometimes I found myself flashing back
to the work of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and John Romita, Sr. with Ross actually
coming out the loser in the comparison. I love Ross' work, but there are
other, equally valid -- and sometimes more kinetic -- styles.
All this relates to the problem that Alex Ross can be
a bit of an obfuscation when considering the story. His style is so incredible,
it's easy to be swept along without asking whether the story it's illustrating
works on any deeper level.
You see, in all the praise I've seen of Marvels, people
cite Ross' art, they praise Kurt Busiek's writing, they comment on this
reinterpretation of Marvel history, but people rarely comment on...Phil
Sheldon. Y'know, the main character for some 180 pages?
Phil's not a bad character, but in many ways, he's the
only
character, and too often he seems like the story needs are pushing him,
not the other way around -- one moment he's a committed family man, the
next he's a workaholic neglecting his family. In one scene, caught up in
anti-mutant hysteria, he throws a brick at the Iceman...did anyone really
buy into his actions in that scene? By the end of the series we don't really
know Phil, outside of his ruminations on the Marvels.
Marvels is made up of four, semi-independent chapters.
By far the strongest is Chapter Two, "Monsters Among Us", where the public's
feel-good hysteria generated by the wedding of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible
Girl is contrasted with the anti-mutant bigotry directed at the X-Men.
The themes and contrasts work pretty well, and there's a real-world allegory
at work, not just in the mutants-as- persecuted-minority, but as a metaphor
for the late '50s/early '60s and the Pollyanna romanticism of "Leave it
to Beaver" and JFK's Camelot (with Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl
substituting for Jack and Jackie) contrasted with the gritty reality of
race riots and the Vietnam War. And Phil actually has his own story, removed
from the superheroes (while thematically connected) involving a little
mutant girl. At times, "Monsters Among Us" works surprisingly, and disturbingly,
well.
The other chapters often seem too much like collections
of ill-defined vignettes, not quite coming together as a story. Chapter
three is the opposite, though, as we get a retelling of the first appearance
of Galactus. Here Busiek and Ross lose their own raison d'etre, giving
us close-up splash pages of the F.F.'s battles with Galactus when Phil's
not even around. And the emotional arc, of Phil realizing he needs to spend
more time with his family, is just too simple and obviously handled for
a 45 page story.
The final chapter builds to the death of Spider-Man's
girl friend, Gwen Stacy, using it to highlight how the individual can be
devalued and forgotten among the colourful heroics -- but it doesn't quite
gell. For whatever reason, Gwen's death has remained a surprisingly potent
touchstone in comicdom all these decades later (heck, Marvel has just released
a "Death of Gwen Stacy" TPB collection). That's why Busiek and Ross knew
they could use it as an effective climax instead of something more flashy
and "cosmic" like the Galactus story...'cause Gwen's death, instead of
being devalued and forgotten, still resonates for a lot of people. Including
Stan Lee. In one of the editorials it's said that even today Lee has misgivings
about the death of Gwen. The idea that Lee, the business man, the mover-and-shaker,
still feels affinity for his long ago creations is oddly touching.
The ultimate problem when reading, and interpreting, something
like Marvels (or Kingdom Come, or the Watchmen)
is you're not sure, really, what it's about. Is it just a fun romp down
memory lane, or a serious look at super-heroes? How much are the super-heroes
a metaphor for other things? With its denouement, it can be seen as, ultimately,
a rejection of comic book superheroes, with Phil "growing up" in the end.
Conversely, an earlier scene with J. Jonah Jameson explaining people hate
superheroes because altruism in others makes us feel small, can be seen
as a rejection of precisely those people who feel we should "out grow"
a genre -- perhaps the only genre -- about basically decent people
trying to do the right thing for no other reason than because it's right.
In other words, is Marvels popular because it's sharp
and penetrating, or because it's vague and mushy, playing all sides at
once? And it was popular, there's no doubt about it. Not only in and of
itself, but in the subsequent imitations, like the follow up Tales of the
Marvels and Code of Honor.
Marvels is probably more effective nostalgically for older
readers who remember the stories, but no longer have them in their collection.
At times it's very good (it's hard to read the end of "Monsters Among Us"
and not feel something well-up in your eyes), but it's a long way from
being as clever, as gripping, or as innovative, as we're supposed to believe
it is. Marvels is also awfully pricey for something which, in the end,
falls short of being...a marvel.
Also included in this collection are various editorials,
behind-the-scenes info and, most significantly, a bibliography detailing
where the originally stories were published.
Softcover price: $29.95 CDN./$19.95 USA. (published by
Marvel Comics)
Marvel Visionaries: Stan Lee 2005 (HC TPB) 336 pgs.
Written by Stan Lee. Pencils by Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Gil Kane, Neal Adams, others. Inks by various.
Captain America Comics #3 (a 2 pg text story) and #16, Suspense #29 (a short tale), Amazing Adult Fantasy #11 (a short tale), Amazing Fantasy #15 (Spidey's origin and first appearance), Fantastic Four #11 (an 11 page story), Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (a short piece), Daredevil #7, 47, Fantastic Four Annual #3 (the lead story), Silver Surfer #5, The Amazing Spider-Man #96-98, Thor #179-181, Marvel Premiere #3, Spectacular Spider-Man Super-Special 1995 (a short tale) (1940-1995)
Rating: * * * * 1/2 (out of 5)
Number of readings: various
Review posted Nov. 2010
Published by Marvel Comics
While most collected editions focus on characters, The Marvel Visionaries emphasize the creative talent -- often the artist, but a few spotlight a writer: such as this. Stan Lee is an obvious choice for such a collection, partly from sheer longevity. Although his peak, and most prolific, period was in the 1960s and early 1970s, he was writing as far back as the 1940s, and continues to churn out the occasional script to this day, allowing for some stylistic variety. As well, Lee is, of course, "The Man" -- the guy who as editor and head writer oversaw the so-called Marvel Age renaissance of comics in the 1960s, as the traditional tales of super heroes began to strive for a little more scope and sophistication, arguably making the comics people read today even possible.
The stories here range from an early 1940s Captain America adventure, some short horror/fantasy tales from the 1950s (when super heroes were waning) and a 1995 Spider-Man short -- but the main body of stories are from the 1960s and early 1970s.
And it's a pretty impressive assemblage. Because Lee wrote for so many series, this acts as just a nice grab bag of Marvel Comics, particularly as a window on that 1960s-1970s era. As well, Lee is paired with a lot of top notch artists. One can quibble and suggest certain "classic" tales should've been included (though given the superfluidity of reprint collections, some stories may've been left out simply because they were reprinted elsewhere). In that sense, the origin of Spider-Man (from Amazing Fantasy #15) is perhaps an example of an overexposed tale, and one maybe not especially sophisticated...but highlights the beginning of the "Marvel Age", as it certainly goes for an ambition most of its contemporary comics didn't.
Another Spidey entry is an amusing three page gag piece originally from the first Amazing Spider-Man Annual showing "behind-the-scenes" of the Lee-Ditko creative partnership.
The two early Fantastic Four stories reflect both different tones...and arguably how (in different ways) the series could be ground-breaking. The 11 page "A Visit with the Fantastic Four" is basically just a talky/character interaction piece (though with some "action" as it recaps their origin) and yet works and is entertaining. At a time when most super heroes in comics barely had any personality, the FF showed they could carry 11 pages without a villain or a right hook to be found. It's also fun as essentially a primer on the group told in story format (and features the first appearance of mailman Willy Lumpkin). While "Bedlam at the Baxter Building!", an oft reprinted 23 pg tale from FF Annual #3 (the rest of that annual comprised of reprints), features the marriage of Reed Richards and Sue Storm -- then an unusual premise to feature as your story hook. Indeed, although wedding issues have become common, it may well've been the first! Not that it's maudlin, as the wedding is crashed by a legion of super villains, and the FF and other Marvel super heroes (including guest stars the X-Men, the Avengers, and Daredevil) must fight them off. It's a fun romp, never taking itself too seriously, while keeping the pace fast and furious. And by featuring almost all of a company's heroes in one tale, that too may've been a first. It's energetically illustrated by Jack Kirby -- even if Vince Colletta's inks are rather unsympathetic to the pencil work. The Kirby-Colletta controversy gets debated to this day, but sometimes the pairing worked well enough...I just don't think this is an example of such.
Of the two Daredevil stories, the first, drawn by Wally Wood, pits DD against the Sub-Mariner in a fondly remembered story. I'll confess, it has never struck me as that great -- albeit, I read it first as an adult. But it quickly becomes just a big fight story, though that's sort of the point, the portrayal of DD's indominitable character as he tackles a guy infinitely more powerful than he. Still, it's okay (and lets the Sub-Mariner make an appearance in this collection). The second DD tale, from a few years later, is "Brother, Take My Hand" and has aspects of street level melodrama in its tale of a blinded Vietnam veteran at odds with mobsters, and Daredevil coming to his aid. Again, it's not exceptional, given that it is often cited as such...but that doesn't mean it isn't a perfectly okay little tale, either -- and dynamically illustrated by the great Gene Colan inked by Dan Adkins. I think part of its status derives from the fact that the vet is black -- a fact completely irrelevant to anything in the story, which is maybe why it is viewed as so progressive for its time.
A more pointed use of a black protagonist is "And Who Shall Mourn for Him?", from The Silver Surfer. The Surfer is befriended by a black physicist, Al Harper -- the only acknowledgement of his colour being that when the outcast Surfer asks why Harper has befriended him, Harper just cryptically says he "knows how it feels to be pushed around". Because of its length, the story has a few different elements, but climaxes with the Surfer battling the alien Stranger while Harper tries to deactivate a world-shattering bomb. But the locals, on edge because of the Surfer-Stranger battle, become suspicious of Harper. Given its time period, and not so long ago news footage of racist mobs attacking civil rights activists, the imagery of the black Harper being chased by an unreasoning white mob can't have been mistaken, and is powerful and unsettling. It's a memorable sample of an atypical comic book series, dramatically visualized by John Buscema (inked by brother Sal) -- the senior Buscema's dynamic, but classical style really defining the Surfer as no one had before or since, as if cribbing poses from Michelangelo or someone.
"While the World Spins Mad!", from Marvel Premiere, marked Dr. Strange's return to his own series after a hiatus, with Lee scripting from a plot credited to artist Barry Smith (later Barry Windsor-Smith). Windsor-Smith was an evolving talent, this story maybe in his creative middle period -- there's still some technical roughness, a certain unsureness about bone structure and depth and perspective, but nonetheless boasting some striking composition, and storytelling (evoking the likes of Jim Steranko and Paul Gulacy). It's an entertaining, suitably dreamlike tale -- though does have the flaw that, though the immediate menace is defeated, it's really just a hint of a danger to come. Still, it's a solid taste of Strange-style weirdness, perhaps selected for inclusion over the more obvious Lee-Ditko collaborations simply because it maybe hasn't been reprinted as often.
The three part Thor arc boasts an interesting visual range, the opening issue drawn by Jack Kirby at the end of the Lee-Kirby partnership. But whatever behind-the-scenes friction, Kirby's storytelling is top notch, if still paired with the problematic Vince Colletta. Then Neal Adams draws the next two issues -- Adams around the peak of his fame, and marking perhaps the only collaboration between Lee and Adams, and Adams' only Thor work. It's a thoroughly entertaining saga, utilizing a theme Lee trotted out on a few different series at the time, with the hero and his arch foe (here, Loki) switching bodies, and also involving his allies Sif, Balder and the Warriors Three. It's a fun, bustling saga -- it reminds you just how thin and lazily plotted a lot of modern comics are, which would take twice as many issues to tell half as much story. Lee had a great feel for the Elizabethan English of the god-like characters, and the operatic passions (as even men declare their love for each other), while contrasting it with the genuine humour of Volstagg, and the super hero adventuring.
Another three-parter stands as a benchmark in the evolution of the medium -- the notorious "drug trilogy" from Amazing Spider-Man which led to a wholesale overhaul (and loosening) of Comics Code guidelines. Yet what makes it memorable -- is that it's a good story, even ignoring the "important" subject matter. It involves Spidey battling his recurring foe, the Green Goblin, while his best buddy Harry Osborn begins a pill addiction. Lee could've easily just gone a preachy route, but by making the drug addict a regular, familiar character (as opposed to someone written just for the story) it grounds it in a human realism -- and even then, the drug angle is almost more a sub-plot. So even though you can see it as a "very special Spidey" story...it is memorable more just because it's a good Spidey story, mixing high flying super hero action with soap opera-y angst and human drama, just as the Lee era Spidey always was. And it's dynamically illustrated by Gil Kane -- some of the battles over the city are excellently staged, in terms of figures and the cityscape below so you almost do get a sense of vertigo!
There were other tales included here that I haven't had a chance to read, but just based on the stories that I have, this stands as a great collection to have on your shelf, with all the stories at least decent reads, and some truly memorable page turners, boasting great art. And with the sheer variety of series represented, it acts not just as a nice sample of Stan Lee -- but of Marvel Comics, too. This is a review of the story as it was published in the comics.
Cover price: $__ CDN./ $29.99 USA
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1999 (TPB) 216 pgs.