Marvel Comics #1000 (spoilers)

Hex

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much.
I liked the idea of a page per year, but didn't really think there would be much aside from nods to the obvious "big" moments from the last 80 years. Even then, I found some of the selections for the highlights they picked on various years to be odd. The price was steep, but I got my hands on the Tedesco She-Hulk variant cover and couldn't pass it up... and it did take me a long time to read the whole thing cover-to-cover (over an hour).

I've got to admit, I really enjoyed it. I wasn't expecting anything of substance to be contained inside. I just thought it would be a Marvel vanity book, with more appeal to the casual Marvel fan. Sure, some of it was clunky, and a lot of the pages didn't really tie together very well, but they did a much better job than expected. I was pleasantly surprised, and can't wait to see what comes next after the events from this book. I thought Al Ewing did a great job of revisiting a long forgotten back-up tale from Marvel Comics #1, giving it some importance, and then weaving it together with other neglected characters and tales throughout Marvel's history. He cherry picked some gems and tied them together into something that I am excited to see how it all plays out. I found the majority of his story clever, very engaging, and filled with love for Marvel's history. I don't think I have seen a storyline plunder the past with such exuberance since maybe Kurt Busiek's Avenger's Forever? As far as "retcons" go, I thought this was great, and doesn't affect much that anyone would truly care about.

...all that and a good deal of Night Thrasher too!

Brack

Hex said:

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much.
I liked the idea of a page per year, but didn't really think there would be much aside from nods to the obvious "big" moments from the last 80 years. Even then, I found some of the selections for the highlights they picked on various years to be odd. The price was steep, but I got my hands on the Tedesco She-Hulk variant cover and couldn't pass it up... and it did take me a long time to read the whole thing cover-to-cover (over an hour).

I've got to admit, I really enjoyed it. I wasn't expecting anything of substance to be contained inside. I just thought it would be a Marvel vanity book, with more appeal to the casual Marvel fan. Sure, some of it was clunky, and a lot of the pages didn't really tie together very well, but they did a much better job than expected. I was pleasantly surprised, and can't wait to see what comes next after the events from this book. I thought Al Ewing did a great job of revisiting a long forgotten back-up tale from Marvel Comics #1, giving it some importance, and then weaving it together with other neglected characters and tales throughout Marvel's history. He cherry picked some gems and tied them together into something that I am excited to see how it all plays out. I found the majority of his story clever, very engaging, and filled with love for Marvel's history. I don't think I have seen a storyline plunder the past with such exuberance since maybe Kurt Busiek's Avenger's Forever? As far as "retcons" go, I thought this was great, and doesn't affect much that anyone would truly care about.

...all that and a good deal of Night Thrasher too!

Whatever the story is that Ewing has planned for 2020 that comes out of this I am hyped for. Mainly because it will apparently feature Night Thrasher (this is the genuine Night Thrasher, Night Thrasher fans, as Ewing went out of his way to bring him back in Contest of Champions).

SharkJumper

Yeah, I agree. Clunky in parts and some of the year events they chose were odd. And curious as to the ones they ignored (1980: Dark Phoenix; 2007: Death of Captain America; Civil War, etc.) And, as we moved closer to the present, selecting movie moments instead of comic moments. That was telling as increasingly the tail is wagging the dog in comics.

Still, what they didn't get to here, the HISTORY OF MARVEL COMICS seems to get to. The mask was intriguing but this still felt like envy over DETECTIVE & ACTION #1000.

Good to hear about Night Trasher. I didn't know that. I'm always hoping for a good New Warriors book to return.

Brack

SharkJumper said:

Yeah, I agree. Clunky in parts and some of the year events they chose were odd. And curious as to the ones they ignored (1980: Dark Phoenix; 2007: Death of Captain America; Civil War, etc.) And, as we moved closer to the present, selecting movie moments instead of comic moments. That was telling as increasingly the tail is wagging the dog in comics.

Still, what they didn't get to here, the HISTORY OF MARVEL COMICS seems to get to. The mask was intriguing but this still felt like envy over DETECTIVE & ACTION #1000.

Good to hear about Night Trasher. I didn't know that. I'm always hoping for a good New Warriors book to return.

The biggest problem they had is the comic starts off hitting page beats based on first appearances, but between 1991 (Deadpool) and 2011 (Miles Morales) Marvel really didn't have any notable first appearances. And even then the 2013 page is a Cable page and not Kamala Khan?!?!

Hex

Brack said:

The biggest problem they had is the comic starts off hitting page beats based on first appearances, but between 1991 (Deadpool) and 2011 (Miles Morales) Marvel really didn't have any notable first appearances. And even then the 2013 page is a Cable page and not Kamala Khan?!?!

Clearly they could have highlighted at least ONE of the many characters Marvel introduced in all their annuals from 1993?