Nothing Better Happening @ Marvel NOW!
September 4th, 2012 by DougVonDoom
Can’t blame a brother for trying
Marvel is about to launch it’s answer to DC‘s New 52 entitled, Marvel NOW!. Unfortunately, not much of what they are offering gets me even a little interested. (Uncanny Avengers? Are you serious?) On the other hand, Jonathan Hickman is a beast of awesomeness! and I AM really excited for his Avengers & New Avengers. (Mr. Hickman if you are listening I would really be stoked if you busted out Kang, the Conqueror. Much love, Thanks!) But with Hickman leaving the two Fantastic Four titles and Marvel NOW! not offering anything that exciting, I turn to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, to get my fix of Marvel comics action.
One of the things I love about Marvel is their ridiculous over the top villans. It’s no secret, my favorite comic character, period, is Dr Doom. My most prized possession is a beat-to-hell copy of FF vol 1 #5. The only reason I have an unlimited subscription to Marvel Digital Comics is because they were running a special, $42/year plus an exclusive mail-away Dr Doom figure w/ Infinity Gauntlet. (awesomeness!) Suckered in by the Doom figure, I’ve been trying to get my moneys worth of digital comics reading. What better way to exercise this then by going back and reading the first appearances of all my favorite Marvel villans. (I have to admit that Marvel has a pretty impressive library of digital comics, $9.99 a month or $60/year is too much in my opinion, especially if you can’t view them on a mobile reader. I’ll address that later)
Kang is a hipster badass
Now before any of you diehards have a heart attack, let me clarify. Avengers #8 is the first appearance of Kang, as, Kang the Conquerer. The characters actual first appearance is in Fantastic Four vol 1 #19 (1963) as Rama-Tut. Kang is Rama-Tut from the future and not two issues later, in Avengers #10, he has yet another first appearance as the time-line protecting being Immortus! (The same guy has three first appearances!) He has no super-powers but a multitude of futuristic weapons at his disposal that include, time-travel, anti-matter shields and invisible anti-gravity beanbag chairs. He can also manipulate switches in his gloves that open time-space portals back to his futuristic armory. Kang wiggles his fingers and shoves his arm into a small time-space portal and whips out a 30th century laser cannon. (How fucking cool is that?)
Kang is easily a top 3 Marvel villian in my book. Avengers #8 is a pretty good read. I tend to have a hard time enjoying traditional Stan Lee dialogue, but his Avengers work is actually enjoyable.
Tony is a surly bastard
Thanos is pretty badass. It doesn’t matter what you throw at him, he just keeps coming. I don’t know how much of the Thanos we know and love is in this first appearance. It ends with a Thanos-bot, stand-in, getting mutilated, as Thanos tries to stall Iron Man and Drax the destroyer (also his first appearance), while his earth base is set to self-destruct with the two of them still in it. Thanos-bots aside, the hidden gem in this issue is in the rich and vibrant origin stories we get on Thanos, Drax the Destroyer and Thanos’s home planet Titan. This is the frist glimpse of the Starlin cosmic tale. Jim Starlin will go on to birth some of the best ‘Cosmic Tales’ that Marvel Comics has to offer. Immediately after reading this, I went straight to his Captain Marvel Vol 1 #25 – #36 (all available through Marvel Digital online), and from there there is only one place to go… the zenith of Thanos stories… Infinity Gauntlet. Nuff said.
All great villans have two things… 1) they are fallible, one great weakness and 2) a human trait we can identify with. Infinity Gauntlet, shows us why Thanos is such a great villan. 1) his arrogance ends up costing him the guantlet and 2) we can identify with his need to be loved and ultimately his humility. Even Thanos can realize and learn from his own mistakes.
Fantastic Four Vol 1 #48 (Mar 1966)Power. Such an ephemeral commodity; hard to gain, easy to loose. And I once thought I understood it. What vanity. -Thanos of Titan; Infinity Guantlet
Merry Christmas! So speaks Galactus!
The first half of this book is actually the finale to a FF/Inhumans story where Black Bolt’s brother Maximus is trying to regain the crown, while simultaneously attempting to eliminate all of humanity. After the thwarting of Maximus, the dust settles and all sorts of strange anomalies begin to happen in the Earth’s atmosphere. The sky is on fire and then giant boulder-like objects block out the sun. The general public blame the FF and bicker with the Thing and Human Torch. Reed, no where to be found, is discovered locked away in this science laboratory, hashing out the end of the world alongside the Watcher, who we find out is the cause of the anomalies. What follows next is the quintessential apex that can only be birthed by a Stan/Jack collaboration. We get a story about a cosmic Silver Surfer (also First Appearance) who surfs the galaxies in search of sustenance for his cosmic lord. Just the mere sight of the Surfer means death and destruction is to follow. We learn that the atmospheric anomalies were the Watcher’s attempt to hide Earth from the prying eyes of the Silver Surfer. Alas, the Watcher’s attempts are fruitless, the Surfer touches down and calls the great Galactus!
Unlike Avengers #8, I have a hell of a time trying to enjoy Stan Lee‘s Fantastic Four stories. Too many over-narrating word boxes and an over abundance of word balloons. What really helps balance that out, is Kirby’s demand of the reader’s attention with his outstanding art.
UNTIL NEXT TIME… I’m not fooled by Marvel‘s decision to reboot the books. I also know that sometime down the road, Marvel will alter the numbering scheme so that they can celebrate Thor #700 or Avengers #600. (It wouldn’t be the first time) In all honesty, I would love for someone, anyone out there, to recommend me some good Marvel reads, or give me a reason to be excited about one of the Marvel NOW! lineups.
