Post by rberman on Jul 15, 2020 18:13:48 GMT -5
Story: Jim Kreuger and Alex Ross
Script: Jim Kreuger
Character designs: Alex Ross
Pencils: John Paul Leon
Inks: Bill Reinhold
Imaginary stories were all the rage in the 1990s. The X-Men spent a whole year in an alternate "Age of Apocalypse" reality that reshuffled their roles and relationships. Amalgam Comics mashed up Marvel and DC. Kingdom Come and The Nail and Twilight showed older, jaded versions of marquee heroes, grappling with the legacy of their past adventures and challenging their successors. Following up the success of Kingdom Come, Alex Ross spearheaded this Marvel project paying tribute to Jack Kirby and the Silver Age. It's 50% a Kingdom Come-style "Where are they now?" with aged superheroes gone to seed, come back for one last hurrah...
... and 50% Grand Design, weaving Marvel's cosmic and superheroes together into a seamless tapestry that should be worth a couple of No-Prizes. Past mysteries and inconsistencies find answers. What are the Celestials all about, really? Why are there both a Norse pantheon and a Greek pantheon? Why does Galactus have a herald to warn planets he's going to eat? Why does he keep visiting Earth? Why does the Watcher sometimes intervene? John Paul Leon draws a mean Celestial.
The focus character is Kirby's Machine Man, recast as the robot who keeps The Watcher company. This allows for an overall story structure similar to Kingdom Come, with Uatu and X-51 surveying world history and current events from a vantage on high, just as The Spectre and Alex Ross' dad did. Each issue has a focus character whose life story gets reviewed and placed in the context of the Marvel Universe, like the 80s Marvel Saga but more thoughtful and less reprinty.
Ross misses no opportunity to combine Kirby concepts. The Hulk is now a giant green ape with young rider Bruce Banner, a la Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur.
Hydra is now Starro, with mind-control aliens latched to people's chests. Daredevil is mashed up with Deadpool and Mister Miracle.
Kirby-era villain Red Skull gets mashed with modern whippersnapper The Punisher to provide Earthbound menace in contrast with the cosmic story. Nice machinery scene there, Leon!
The X-Men don't come off so well in this story. Most of them are dead, and those that are alive have done the unforgiveable and get old, as with this Bunkers (or Bundys?) version of Logan and Jean Grey.
Other characters speak to more modern influences. Captain America looks a lot like the Old Soldier from Ross' work with Kurt Busiek on Astro City. New character Iron Maiden is almost identical to The Engineer character who started appearing a year prior in The Authority by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch.
This was the first third of a larger story that concluded in Paradise X and Universe X. I'll report back once I've read them as to whether they keep the interest up.
