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Timely 70th Anniversary Collection 2009 (HC) 250 pages
Written/illustrated by various.
Colours/letters: various.
Reprinting the new stories from All-Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special, USA Comics 70th Anniversary Special, Mystic Comics 70th Anniversary Special, Marvel Comics 70th Anniversary Special, Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special, All-Select Comics 70th Anniversary Special, Young Allies Comics 70th Anniversary Special, Captain America Comics 70th Anniversary Special, Human Torch Comics 70th Anniversary Special, Miss America Comics 70th Anniversary Special, Sub-Mariner Comics 70th Anniversary Special (2009)
Rating: * * * * 1/2 (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Reviewed Feb. 1, 2010
Published by Marvel Comics
One wonders if, after all these years, after Marvel Comics (arguably) revolutionalized super hero comics in the 1960s with the Marvel Age, and finally conquering the cinematic box office with Spider-Man and Iron Man (after years of watching DC produce hit movie franchises), one wonders if someone at Marvel Comics looked over at DC Comics...and got jealous. Because the one thing DC had that Marvel didn't so much...was a sense of history. Marvel has been around as long as DC, albeit undergoing various name changes over the years, from Timely, to Atlas, before settling on Marvel Comics. But while DC has frequently mined its Golden Age legacy for stories and characters (even buying rights to the heroes of other companies)...Marvel tended not to as much -- looking forward, perhaps, more than back. Sure, Captain America and, to a lesser extent, the Sub-Mariner have continued to be players in Marvel's modern adventures, and the original Human Torch, and possibly the Whizzer, have been dredged up from time to time. But in essence, Marvel's 1940s properties were allowed to slip into obscurity, enjoying only occasional revisitations in such series as The Invaders.
Now Marvel seems to have decided it wants to establish a sense of a venerable history. A few years back, Marvel had re-numbered a bunch of its series as a marketing gimmick to get them back into low figures presumably to attract newer readers. But recently they've re-established the old numbering, proudly proclaiming Spider-Man and others have reached their 600th issue! And with J. Michael Straczynski's The Twelve and Ed Brubaker's The Marvels Project the company has been all keen to suggest the Golden Age of Marvel Comics really was a Golden Age.
Of course the overall success of such revisionism is far from certain: The Twelve is -- at the point I'm writing this -- still unfinished and on indefinite hiatus, while The Marvels Projects comes across as though Brubaker read Darwyne Cooke's DC: The New Frontier, and thought, "Hey, I bet I could do that"...and proceeded to prove that, um, no, maybe he can't (granted I've only read the first three issues...but though they were pretty looking, they were also pretty empty and vapid).
As part of this wave of newfound nostalgia came eleven one shot 70th anniversary specials, drawing upon Marvel/Timely's Golden Age legacy, utilizing both familiar characters (Captain America & Bucky, the Sub-Mariner) and some more obscure ones, such as the Phantom Detective, or the original Vision. In addition to new lead stories, each of the one shots also included some vintage reprints.
The new stories have been collected between a single cover as The Timely 70th Anniversary Collection.
And the result is actually pretty good.
Employing a variety of writers and artists, the tales run a certain gamut of styles and themes. Some are adventure-thrillers...some are more thoughtful, character pieces; some are played straight...some have an element of tongue-in-cheek. As mentioned, there are plenty of stories using familiar characters, either solo, or teamed up...and others calling upon more obscure properties. Most are war time adventures, some are framed by modern sequences. At least one seems to be set in modern times. Some seem true to the war time characterizations...others seem to draw upon later embellishments...some I suspect take liberties with characters that, after all, were pretty vague to begin with (in the story involving the otherworldly Vision, he evinces a nifty power -- to confront people with their greatest fears -- that isn't actually indicated in the reprints that accompanied the one shot).
And all the tales are self-contained, though some draw upon continuity that came much later, as opposed to being totally true to the 1940s era (references are made, in one story, to the fact that the Captain America there isn't the true Captain America, while the Blonde Phantom story is set in modern times, and has her referring to being older than she looks...with no explanation for what or how). Yet it's not particularly confusing continuity that demands you need to know the background to follow the story.
And overall, it's enjoyable.
The issues were of a pretty high quality just on their own, and probably benefit even more from being collected, as the variety then becomes a plus, rather than a problem. That is, if you picked up a one shot, expecting an adventure, and got something a bit slower and more introspective (or vice versa), you might be disappointed. But pressed next to each other, that very variety is what makes the collection a fun, interesting read, with enough action and thrills to keep it entertaining, and enough introspection and characterization to give it depth.
The art style varies, admittedly much of it a bit more stylized, or cartoonier, than I necessarily prefer...but still, generally it's energetic and tells the scenes well. And there is more realist, conventional art on display, too. Among my favourites is Paolo Rivera on the Young Allies story, a nicely done Roger Stern scripted effort which mixes flashbacks and a modern framing sequence as Bucky reunites with survivors of the boy team he and Toro used to work with, for a mix of adventure and bittersweet melancholy.
Arguably, among the best issues, in sense of being well rounded, is the All-Winners issue, which manages to cram humour, drama, character interaction and an adventure plot all into one story, involving some of the team later popularized as the Invaders.
Perhaps among the more disappointing were the Sub-Mariner stories, despite some great art. Maybe it was because they choose to present too shorter tales of the Atlantean prince, giving neither enough room to really develop. Old pro (and one time Sub-Mariner writer) Roy Thomas delivers an introspective tale...that could've used more plot/adventure. And Mark Schultz writes an old fashioned adventure yarn...that could've used some more depth (and plot twists).
Still, there's not a "bad" tale in the bunch (save maybe Michael Kupperman's tale of the robot Marvex which is done as out and out parody. Even it isn't terrible...just kind of pointless.)
Because these stories are pretty well all self-contained, either featuring characters you aren't expected to know well, or explaining most of what you need to know of those that are more familiar, it makes a surprisingly satisfying anthology, where you can read the stories -- and the collected volume -- for itself, and not feel as though you have to buy six other TPBs just to get what's going on. And it does provide a neat kind of glimpse at an alternate Marvel Comics, pulling back the curtain on heroes and adventures otherwise largely lost to time.
Whether decades after the fact Marvel can establish a sense of a legacy like DC Comics has, is unclear. A lot of these characters -- though entertaining and interesting for these one shots -- don't necessarily suggest they have what it takes to be Marvel's answer to Dr. Mid-Nite, or even the Human Bomb. In powers, personalities -- even costume designs -- there's maybe a reason they fell into obscurity. Then again, maybe other Golden Age heroes seem more compelling simply because they've been kept in the public eye and embellished upon over the years. Maybe all it would take is a few more specials and mini-series, and Marvel's lost heroes will begin to glow with a similar nostalgic resonance.
Whether or not that happens though, is unimportant. Just read for itself and itself alone, this is a nice collection, mixing familiar and obscure heroes, in tales that run a variety of tones...and most of them above average.
This is a review of the story serialized originally in the comics.
Hard cover price: $24.99 USA
Tom Strong
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Showcase presents The Trial of the Flash
Is reviewed here section.
The Twelve, vol. 1 2008 (HC TPB) 144 pgs.
Written
by J. Michael Straczynski. Pencils by Chris Weston. Inks by Garry Leach,
Chris Weston.
Colours: Chris Chuckry. Letters: Jimmy Bentacourt. Editor: Tom Brevoort.
Reprinting: The Twelve #1-6 (2008)
Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5)
Number of readings: 1
Mildly suggested for mature readers
Published by Marvel Comics
This collects the first half of a proposed twelve issue mini-series that has aspirations to be another The Watchmen. And it also bears some conceptual similarities to Project Superpowers which came out around the same time -- both series mine the pages of old 1940s comics for some obscure characters, then revive the heroes in the modern world.
Here, a dozen golden age super heroes are captured by Nazis at the end of WW II and locked in suspended animation capsules...then re-discovered in 2008. Adopted as lost patriots by the US government, seeing in them a symbol of an innocent, nobler age -- one more tractable to the whims of authority -- they are provided with accomodations, in hope they'll agree to act as sanctioned agents once they've gotten over their future shock. And writer Straczynski does a nice job of juggling the desire for this to be a stand alone, Watchmen-like story...while still ensconcing it in the greater Marvel universe. So this is the world of Spider-Man and The Avengers, and references are made to the Superhuman Registration Act (that was the focus of the cross title "Civil War" saga) without actually shoe horning in guest appearances that would distract from its loftier, more sophisticated ambitions. The series stands on its own but avoids the problem of how to realistically portray the public reaction to people with super powers as this is a world where super beings are already familiar.
Like The Watchmen, it's a twelve-part epic, heavy on the deconstruction, with the heroes not quite the unimpeachable paragons the government presumes them to be -- most are good people, but some are narrow-minded racists, others delusional. Like with The Watchmen, the opening chapter throws in a cryptic murder, hinting at a darker, suspense story...even as this is more a character drama with the action scenes sporadic.
And it's kind of hard to review this first volume since the story is meant to play out over twelve chapters...and the comic is on an indefinite hiatus. Not, apparently, because of poor sales...but simply because creators Straczynski and Weston have been sidetracked by other, more lucrative projects!
If you commit to a twelve part series, if you advertise it as such, sub-titling it as a "thrilling novel of tomorrow"...aren't you kind of obligated to deliver? It's kind of hard to render an opinion on this collection, when I can't really say where -- of if -- it's headed anywhere.
What's here is fairly entertaining. As mentioned, this bears more than a passing similarity to Project Superpowers...but is more effective. Granted, it's more cerebral and low-key, a drama, whereas Project Superpowers was aiming to be a super hero adventure. But though both draw upon obscure 1940s heroes (possibly even some of the same ones, as both feature a "Dynamic Man"!) The Twelve does a better job of letting you know who these people are and what their stories are. Marvel even published a couple of accompanying issues reprinting some vintage stories of the characters (though none were included in the TPB collection, I believe). And there is something neat about ressurecting now obscure Golden Age characters, even if Straczynski plays around a bit with them, acknowledging their original comic book origin stories but sometimes suggesting those aren't the real story.
Although I can run hot and cold on Straczynski, writer of comics (Spider-Man, Supreme Power, etc.) and TV (Babylon 5) and movies, this is in the better camp of his out put. Sure, it's drenched in a Watchmen-esque hubris, as Straczynski attempts to "cleverly" deconstruct the heroes and society, but he pulls it off with more subtlety than he sometimes evinces. The dialogue is more natural, the humanity of the characters more pronounced (as opposed to them being ciphers for an idea). There are some nice, compelling scenes.
The art by Chris Weston is part of that realist deconstruction. Although he still draws the heroes with rippling musculature, the figures and environments are meticulously rendered, right down to wallpaper patterns. And instead of presenting a collection of square-jawed matinee idols as they were in their original comics, he presents them as a more motley collection of "real" people, some with big noses, or jutting jaws. Although, when it comes to the -- only -- woman in the group, the Black Widow, he presents her with movie starlet looks and an improbable bust line. Indeed, most of his women are drawn glamorously -- including a woman who is a daughter of one of the original heroes but, other than a streak of grey in her hair, hardly looks like a woman in her sixties! The art can be a bit stiff at times, particularly in the occasional super hero/action scenes, but I liked it, and it suits the material.
The comics flirt with "mature readers" material, but not as fully as the R-rated Supreme Power. There are mature ideas, or a scene where their Nazi captor is shown nonchalantly fondling the unconscious Black Widow's bosom (fully clothed, of course), or another scene where she is depicted sleeping nude in a way that might be -- slightly -- more revealing than the average comic. And a few gory scenes. But in essence, Straczynski generally pulls off the trick of imbuing the thing with a "mature" tone, comparable to The Watchmen...without seeming gratuitous.
But there are problems. The opening chapter ends with a murder -- then we jump back, to watch events build to that crime. But like with The Watchmen, in which the conspiracy was really just a plot device for its exploration of its world, likewise here, you don't really get much sense of an actual mystery. It's not till chapter six (which Straczynski presumably knew would mark the end of the first collection) that a prophetic character warns something is "terribly wrong"! It doesn't advance any plot, and seems simply there to encourage readers to pick up the next volume (if it ever comes -- at the writing of this it's been six months since the last published issue, #8).
Straczynski does a decent job suggesting different personalities and motives for some, but it seems a bit as though 12 heroes is a stretch, and many only have a line or two. And though he creates characters -- he doesn't maybe develop them, basically reiterating the same scenes (Captain Wonder is melancholy at learning has wife and kids are long dead). Nor does Straczynski create much sense of relationships, friendships.
The focal character -- insofar as he narrates -- is the reporter-turned-crime fighter, the Phantom Reporter. He's sweet on the Black Widow but it's not really clear what the attraction is. Sure, she's beautiful, and as the only woman among them, one can understand his infatuation. But that doesn't really make it a relationship of any emotion, or one where, gosh, we hope he wins her in the end.
Despite these flaws, and the fact that we don't fully believe there is some grand mystery plot that is unfolding in all its Byzantine complexity, I found myself enjoying The Twelve. But the lack of a clear narrative drive is a problem, the saga more a collection of vignettes and incidents. The Twelve lacks The Watchmen's sheer density, but in its favour it's also a more human take on this sort of material.
Since I've bought these issues (and cheap, yet!), I can look at the situation as half full, to say, well, I kind of liked what was there. But to you, someone who might be wondering whether this collection is worth picking up, I'm not sure what to tell you. It's six issues that have some good scenes, and boasts a reasonable maturity, and with pretty solid, effective art. But it rambles about, not necessarily offering great, stand alone stories, yet -- at the writing of this -- with no guarantee when the conclusion will be published, or whether it will justify what went before. At the same time, because of that, it's not like the sixth issue ends on a cliffhanger, either.
So, I kind of liked it...but neither Marvel, nor Straczynski, nor Weston, can really blame anyone but themselves if most readers decide to just leave it in the store, untried. At least until the concluding issues see print.
This is a review of the story serialized originally in the comics.
Hard cover price: $24.99 USA
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