Marvel's History told in one Volume
This is one nice piece of work, I have to admit. Just the names Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross it has to be good and they don't disappoint. This comic may go down as the single most important Marvel Comic ever. Why? Because it is photo real like snap shots of many of the Key Marvel Moments of the 616 universe. How Art Spiegelman has taken us on a journey of WWII in his Maus, Kurt and Alex (I hope they don't mind me calling them that. Because this after Marvels they feel like my friends) take us on a personal trip on the Marvel Universe. The WARS that has taken place, the conflicts that were rooted years ago we now understand why and the why we should know this story.
It seems every Marvel archetype is in this book. Spiderman and Gwen Stacy, X-Men and how being a Mutant has humans hating them, the Silver Surfer and the Fantastic Four and many other stories we knew talking about in the playgrounds of school growing up.
The only concerns I have for this book is it is because it is an early Alex Ross book some of his sequential art is weak when it comes to facial expressions. Photo reference for lighting may or may have not been used.... maybe it was just growing pains. The concern I have is that these boys maybe playing off the archetypes too much, hoping the reader know a bit of the topic underdeveloped some of the characters and assuming the reader doesn't know anything would drag where they try to leap from one plot point to another. Overall I think only a 1/2 star can be penalized for the how these boys presented the story.
It is a highly recommend book for those who want to know more about Marvel Characters. It is self-contained and the art alone speaks volumes. With some of the random characters such as Ben Urich, a site like Comicvine can be helpful to give you the missing background information we may crave for.
Marvel Fan or Not this is a book you should check out.
4.5/5