MARVELS review

(Reviewed by Daniel Shakespeare)

Marvels is a four-issue (5 if you include #0) limited series comic book written by Kurt Busiek and painted by Alex Ross. It was published by Marvel Comics in 1994.

Positives

+ Art. Pretty much a given whenever Alex Ross is involved, but this might be his best work yet. The covers are super detailed, the spreads are always dynamic, and each panel just looks stunning, while still keeping the classic Alex Ross realism. It's a shame, in a way. High-quality prints of some famous paintings go for 30-35 quid, while 4 issues of art of the same quality is sold for less than half the price. Each panel deserves framing.

+ Maturity. It constantly deals with very mature themes, like racism and hero-worship, along with subliminal messages on pop culture. But it does all of this without breaking Puritanism once. It may not be an impressive feat to write a Puritan story, but when you somehow deal with the grittiness of some of the topics without a single curse, yet still make it feel mature, it's pretty sublime.

+ The hyperbole. This is an aspect which is a bit hit or miss for most superhero genre comics/films. A lot of creators falter at times when it comes to the contrast between the superhero and the real world. I could write an entire article just on this topic, so let me keep it simple. Watchmen was such a success because it brought comic characters to our world. Marvels, on the other hand, brings real world people (like the main character, a photographer named Phil Sheldon) into Earth-616. There's a constant sense of... marvel in the world, the sheer disbelief when aliens fly in, the euphoria of Spider-Man crawling sky-scrapers, etc..

+ The dialogue. Kurt's skilfully-written exchanges are not only fun to read, but add to the setting, something always hard to do in a period piece (the story is set in the 1939 to 1974 time period of the Marvel Universe).

Negatives

- Make it longer! That's my only complaint. It's semi-anthological, and ends perfectly, but there's so many stories left untouched, so many potential plot-points. Sure, the production cost was a bit high, but I would've liked to see a bit more. I probably won't read the sequel (Marvels: Eye of the Camera), since the original ended so well, but it's written by Busiek, so we'll see.

VERDICT
Marvels is pure awesomeness. From the Alex Ross art, to the brilliant themes, to  the great dialogue, to the characters brought to life through the lens of Sheldon. It could (and probably should) have been a bit longer, but for what it's worth, it's amazing.

FINAL SCORE=>9/10