I can't talk about this comic book without stressing the important fact that much of the joy and wonder and amazement that I got out of this book was due to the fact that I was already familiar with a lot of the stories in this comic book.
That's one of the strengths and weaknesses of this book, it relies on you as a fan of these stories and much of the themes of this book depend upon you knowing these characters beforehand. Now, I have never read more than a handful of comic books but I have seen a lot of the movies which helped a lot.
Marvels is about our main character Phil Sheldon, a photographer in New York as he lives through the 40s and 50s and 60s and 70s and witnesses the stories of many of the major characters from Marvel Comics. We see Captain America fighting the Nazis, the rise of Fantastic Four and the arrival of Galactus, we see Avengers forming and taking on new members and of course the X-Men and how they differ from other heroes.
I have no idea how it would feel to read these stories if you were unfamiliar with most of the stories because one of the reasons why this book works is that it reflects our own childhood wonder and amazement of these characters onto us. We see people marveling at them just as we used to, just as I did when I was a kid watching Spider-Man on an old CRT. Without that reflection, I think much of the appeal would be lost.
Of course, Alex Ross's drawing is amazing and it feels even more cinematic somehow than Kingdom Come. In that story the amount of busy action sequences left me disoriented at times but here even though there are some really cool battles against foes, much of the focus is on everyday people. I like how these scenes have a momentum to them, the sense of pace as Phil walks the streets or runs toward his house feels impactful even though there's nothing grand going on action-wise.
What I love about also is how people are hostile towards these heroes, especially the mutant X-Men who are treated like commies and hunted down at every turn. The scenes of human brutality hit a lot harder than any large scale action sequences could. The book also manges to be consistently grounded, this is not one of those stories where an average guy gets in a team-up with superheroes and forms a relationship with them. Instead,
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the only time he comes too close them, he ends up losing his right eye.
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It's not a criticism per say but I find it very strange and interesting how this book forms it's own version of superhero fatigue within the story. Phil Sheldon towards the end gets so sick and tired of people admiring these heroes whenever they get saved and accuse them of villainy when things are peaceful that he doesn't want to be a part of it and retires, leaving the story at an inconclusive end for him and the reader.
[off topic?]
'Wild Cards' edited by George RR Martin. Martin invited a bunch of his friends to contribute stories all set in a 'shared world.' Each writer was to create one character, and they'd all interact with each other.
The action begins in 1946 when an insane master criminal unleashes a virus on the New York City. The so-called Wild Card Virus kills most people who get it, transforms most survivors into hideous freaks called 'jokers' and leaves a very few with strange powers, the 'aces' and 'deuces.'
It's similar to this book in that a lot of it involves normal people trying to deal with super heroes, monsters, and powered villains
I hope this new Balatro book gets a live-action adaptation
Jokes aside, I have been hearing about Wild Cards ever since I visited GRRM's blog the first time to see if he posted about The Winds of Winter. Would love to give it a try now, atleast the first book
The first book is amazing.
There's more than one? Wow. I will infer from your comment that the rest aren't as enjoyable, though.
First book came out around 1987. Don't know how many there are now.
I would suggest this. Read the first book, and make note of the character The Sleeper. He's a 'joker/ace,' so-called because he had super powers, but they come at a great cost.
Then read the recent book, 'Sleeper Straddle.' The original author, roger Zelazny, did one Sleeper story, but he appears in a lot of the other stories. After Zelazny died they decided to do a tribute book. You get a lot of Wild Card characters interacting.
That would be my suggested way to start.