Marvel 1985 (Marvel – Millar / Edwards / Workman)
Before SECRET INVASION…before WORLD WAR HULK…before CIVIL WAR… The most powerful super-villains in the Marvel Universe gather their might to wreak havoc on the one place they’ve never before set foot—YOUR WORLD! As mankind’s enemies cut a swath of destruction with unprecedented ferocity and ruthlessness, the fate of the planet rests in the hands of one person: Toby, a 13-year-old boy who holds the key to uniting his comic-book idols, the Marvel Heroes! Superstars Mark Millar (CIVIL WAR, FANTASTIC FOUR) and Tommy Lee Edwards (BULLET POINTS, The Question) deliver a Marvel Event the likes of which you’ve never seen!
Not unlike Final Crisis this week, this seemed much a prologue than a first chapter (but I did like 1985 better). Maybe with so many good comic stories out there, readers are just getting spoiled about the intorductions of story lines I guess. I started collecting int he 80’s and have been excited about this book for months, I followed every preview and lead that Marvel put out there, and you know what it got me? It got me nothing new… this issue was exactly what I though it would be and I had seen the big “reveal” at the end on Marvel’s site. I love the plot and absolutely get goofy over Edward’s heavy lined art. But there were no surprises…. None! Ah, the lament of the fanboy who knew too much.
Toby is a main character we immediately connect with thanks to a sort of “Stand By Me” narration. And he is dealing with the reality that every middle school comic fan wondered about… what if this stuff was real? Millar weaves a grand epic that connects back to the Beyonder and Secret Wars. At one point, Mole Man and Dr. Doom are having a discussion about how they got to the “real world”. Doom keep referring to someone who used his mutant powers to get them there. In the Illuminati series, Marvel claimed that the Beyonder was not a god-like being but rather an Inhuman with reality-altering mutant abilities… could our antagonist be the Beyonder? Who else might fit the ticket?
Needless to say, who ever the bad guy is, he will be playing into the next Fantastic Four story arc and a eight part Wolverine story (starting at issue #66), see below for the Marvel Press release.
Overall good, but nothing stunning…
Issue grade: B+
Marvel 5/28 – Three universes collide this year during writer Mark Millar’s run on exciting Marvel titles. Beginning with his newest epic tale, 1985, Millar lays down the foundation for things to come as Marvel: 1985, FANTASTIC FOUR and WOLVERINE all intertwine in a very big way. After his run on ULTIMATES, and his unforgettable blockbuster CIVIL WAR, Millar explores remote and familiar corners of the Marvel Universe in ways that only the man behind such past blockbuster series could. Watch as these stories come to life with the help of long time ULTIMATES collaborator Bryan Hitch, Civil War’s Steve McNiven, and renowned film and comic artist Tommy Lee Edwards.
Don’t miss Marvel 1985 #1, on-sale now!
To see the whole story, follow along in:
May:
MARVEL 1985 #1
June:
MARVEL 1985 #2
FANTASTIC FOUR #558
WOLVERINE #66
July:
MARVEL 1985 #3
FANTASTIC FOUR #559
WOLVERINE #67
August:
MARVEL 1985 #3
FANTASTIC FOUR #560
WOLVERINE #68
September:
MARVEL 1985 # 4
FANTASTIC FOUR #561
WOLVERINE #69
October:
MARVEL 1985 #5
FANTASTIC FOUR #562
WOLVERINE #70
November:
MARVEL 1985 #6
FANTASTIC FOUR #563
WOLVERINE #71
December:
FANTASTIC FOUR Holiday Special
WOLVERINE #72
