Marvels (the sequel?)

[Artistsean]

Back in (I think) 1994 Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross put out Marvels, a 4 book story about the major events in Marvel's history starting with the creation of the android the Human Torch and ending with a modern story that I wont mention for those who haven't read it yet. But for those who don't mind spoilers: [BLACKOUT]It started with the creation of the Human Torch and Namor, Then the arrival of the war and Captain America and the Invaders, then the FF and the Avengers and how the public gave all their trust to these celebrities to save the day, then the arrival of the X-men and fear of mutants to contrast the love and celebrity of the FF, then the coming of Galactus and how everyone on Earth thought it was the End Times, and ending with the death of Gwen Stacy. It chronicled the public's awareness and feeling towards these "Marvels," from fear to admiration, to taking them for granted, and so on. [/BLACKOUT]It made a time line of all the major events as told by the non super powered public who witnessed all these events, mainly through a photographer named Phil. It not only showed us the major events through the public's perspective but also showed us the timeline all these events came in, how one event related to another (like how the Sentinels creation and attack followed the evening of the Wedding of Reed Richards to Sue Storm). We saw how closely these events happened to one another and how it effected people on the streets.
Now, I remember hearing about 4 or 5 years ago about a possible sequel to Marvels, only Busiek and Ross would have not been a part of this. But now they are both working on Genesis (about Kirby characters).
And I was thinking, wouldn't be awesome to do the sequel now? Ross could maybe do the covers, Busiek could write it or maybe outline it for another writer.
We could have it star Phil's daughter, who followed in her father's footsteps (or maybe a different photographer).
And it could show the major events that have happened since, like Civil War (and the public's point of view through the whole thing), the Death of Captain America, Spider-Man joining the Avengers and the FF, the death of Johnny Storm, the Skrull invasion, the Onslaught war that happened about 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 years ago, the return of the heroes afterwords, the Dark Reign of Norman Osborne, all those moments, even the small individual ones like the clone saga of Spider-Man, the Identity Crisis where Spider-man had to wear different costumes, the Trial of Peter Parker, Stark being outed as Iron Man and denying it only to reveal he is Iron Man during Civil War (as well as Iron Man running SHIELD and then being turned into a female Ultron), Peter revealing he is Spider-Man only to have the public magically forget (and maybe show how the public remembers him revealing it but not who he was), or Hulk being revealed as Bruce Banner, Captain America revealing he is really Steve Rogers, or the X-Men moving to San Fransisco and then moving to their own island isolating themselves from the society after not wanting mutants to go live in isolation on Asteroid M.

I think so many things have happened recently in the history of Marvel that a really powerful sequel could work. It would be fun to see these stories told from the perspective of the public who lived through them, its one thing to live through one disaster that nearly ended the world, but so many in such a short span of time. And it would be fun to see all these events relating to one another on a time line showing us how close these events in their various comics actually happened. What was happening to Iron Man when Peter was on trial for murder? It would be fun to see how one story, like in Marvels the celebrity wedding of Reed and Sue coincided with the fear of mutants and the X-Men. It would also be fun to see how times have changed since Marvels was first written and drawn back in 1994.
I could see it starting recently, it would have to involve the Onslaught, the clone saga, the Civil War, the death of Captain America, Tony Stark running SHIELD, the Secret Invasion, Osborn running HAMMER, the return of Captain America and the Age of Heroes, and much more, like maybe all the identities that got revealed over time, maybe all the enemies turned heroes like Juggernaut and the Thunderbolts. Probably WWHulk would have to be included too. All of this seen through the eyes of the public, just like how when Galactus came we only saw and heard what the public saw and heard, Silver Surfer was only referred to as the Silvery creature. Certain things were never known to the public. I would love to see a time line of all this stuff that happened since [BLACKOUT]the death of Gwen Stacey[/BLACKOUT] till right now.

Spoiler

Marvels was supposed to have a sequel at some time back then, but I never heard anything about it, I remember seeing some art. I think they did several covers.
But I don't know a thing about it. Did it happen? Was it good? What was it about?

What do you guys think? Who would you want to write it? Draw it? What stories would you want included? What stories would work well in together to put out a theme or to contrast?
What are your thoughts?

 

[Ponyboy]

I dig Alex Ross, and he could totally do Marvels II. He could focus on some other characters coming into the Marvel Universe... the X-Men's beginnings perhaps?

 

[runawayboulder]

There were 2 sequels. One was a limited series entitled Marvels by a different small group of writers and painters. It didn't have as much success as Marvels but it did cover mainly 1980's Marvel. I never read it because of the bad reviews it was getting. The 2nd "official" sequel was Marvels "Eye of the Camera" in 2008 which I didn't read either because it was more 60's stuff and focused heavier on Phil Sheldon. Busiek wrote it with Roger Stern and there was a different painter (that I never heard of).

But if there was another series called Marvels II by Busiek and Ross and it covered the events of the late 70's-early 90's, I would totally buy it. I prefer the aspect of seeing Marvel history through the eyes of a normal person. Black costume Spidey, Secret Wars 1 (when virtually all heroes disappeared for a month...), SW2, Fall of the Mutants, Inferno, ect.....oh yeah, I would love that. Especially SW1, the 616 must have been a scary place when The Avengers/FF/Spidey all disappeared for over a month with no explanation. The general public must have been sh***ing their pants....

 

[Artistsean]

What was the first sequel about? Like what events? And who worked on it?
I heard about a sequel in Wizard magazine and my instant thought was "NO!" without even looking more into it that's how I left it and I hadn't even read Marvels at the time.
Never heard about a 3rd Marvels, and you say it went more into Phil's life and more events from that time? Like what events? Maybe thats the one I have seen pictures of although I heard about it before 2005 so maybe not.

I would just LOVE to see how these major and minor events, from Onslaught to Spider-Man's identity crisis, from Captain America's death to Beast's mutation into a lion, fit on a time line. I could figure out myself. I have encyclopedia books on X-Men, Hulk, Spider-Man, where they list the major events in their lives on a time line, and I have the big Marvel encyclopedia book that probably does something similar,
but I don't actually want to do the leg work.

 

[JewishHobbit]

The first sequel was actually called "Code of Honor" and it was through the eyes of a New York cop. I don't recall much of it but I do remember that it covered Inferno. And the art was nowhere near as good as Ross.

The "official" sequel, Marvels 2: Eye of the Camera, was actually really good. It wasn't quite as good as Marvels but still just as good and it drew off of things from the first volume. I sat down and read both of those volumes in one sitting and it was a very awesome and emotional read. And the art was comparible enough to Ross to not be an eye sore.

If you enjoyed Marvels, I recommend Marvels 2. It's a little slow in places but still good.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Oh, a couple other things you may be interested in reading:

Ruins - This 2 issue mini is basically Marvels with Phil Sheldon and everything, but told in a What If story. Basically, what if everything that happened in the Marvel Universe went wrong. And we see it through Phil's eyes. It's written by Warren Ellis and is a very dark book. Interesting, though the art isn't the best. It even has the same acetate covers that Marvels had.


Conspiracy - A painted 2 issue mini series following a regular news reporter from the Bugle as he uncovers a conspiracy about the heroes. I don't think it did well at all sales-wise but I really enjoyed it. It took place during the 90's and opened with a quick scene from Spider-Man's the Clone Saga. And it has an ending that leaves you thinking. Not many comics these days do that.

 

[Scourge2099]

I'm gonna pick up Ruins when my cash flow problem is solved. I read about it on Wikipedia. It sounds pretty good. I regret not picking it up when I had the money.

 

[JewishHobbit]

They came out with a more recent (though I'm not sure HOW recent) reprinting of it all in one volume that's less expensive. I saw it at Half Priced Books a year ago or so.

 

[Artistsean]

A sequel might not be the best idea, because the point of Marvels was told in the first Marvels (didn't read the other 2 sequels) but if they ever did want to make a new one (what with all the modern stuff they could add in like Civil War, Onslaught, etc.) I have ideas how to do it. What about getting Busiek to at least write the summary or something, along with another writer, Alex Ross could do the covers, and Paolo Rivera could do the interiors.
http://www.comicvine.com/paolo-manuel-rivera/26-41655/

Not sure what the point would be, like the original point was showing how the public's reactions to the "Marvels" changed from fear, to admiration, to obsession, to somewhat resentment and assuming the heroes would save the day.
Maybe it could be to show how the public's reactions have changed since them still, in the 90s, and the 2000s. And showing how the public now faces an apocalyptic danger every year now.