The Marvels Project.

[Aesop Rocks]

What the hell is this about?

 

[Dread]

It is about Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting focusing on the first Marvel heroes of World War Two and telling their stories as a more cohesive narrative.

My review, with spoilers, of the first issue:

Spoiler

THE MARVELS PROJECT #1: Brubaker and Epting unite for some 1940's action. Only this time, it isn't Captain America; it's trying to put Marvel's Golden Age heroes into a more modern context and tie them together cohesively. Some people have feared retcons, but honestly I'm not. The 40's had a damn lot of superhumans, and it makes sense to tie some of them together. Some of them already were tied together; attempts to re-create the super-soldier serum created the Destroyer(s), after all. The 6 page preview was seen across Marvel's line, and the rest of the issue is pretty good. No massive bang's, but a bit of quality.

The focus character is Dr. Tom Halloway, who will eventually become the vigilante known as the Angel, who showed up around the same time in the 40's as the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, just in the back-up strips. It seems he grew up the son of a prison warden, learning about crime and whatnot, but is working at a nursing home now. He becomes the favorite doctor of Matt Hawk, an old man with fantastic stories about the age of "Marvels" that are coming. As it would turn out, Matt Hawk was the old gunslinger called the Two Gun Kid, who naturally met Hawkeye and the Avengers in time-travel adventures. It seems he eventually would go back to his own time and die in 1938 peacefully, but not until he inspired at least one more masked vigilante to look out for the underdog. Around this time, FDR is having secret intelligence meetings trying to beat the Nazi's in the race to create the first super-soldier; to that end, agents Nick Fury and Red Hargrove are set to get Dr. Eskine out of Germany to defect to America, where he naturally will create Captain America. The Nazi's are bombing Atlantis points and using Atlantians in their experiments for said serum, earning the wrath of Namor. And in New York, Dr. Horton creats the andriod Human Torch, which scares the populace, but also the Nazi's.

Things come a head when the Human Torch escapes his tomb to experience the world, which causes riots in the streets of New York. Halloway rushes to aid a family by pummeling some thugs, beginning his first foray into crime-fighting. There's an air of MARVELS from the 90's about this work, with the modern handling of the late 1930's era of Marvel. The art by Epting is superb and the subject matter is handled seriously, but still with that faint sense of wonder that existed back then. Times were dire, but something incredible is just around the corner. Namor is given an excellent reason for joining the Allies in World War Two, or at least his reason is properly magnified and made clear. Halloway is a character who hasn't done a whole lot even in some 70 years beyond fight crime in the 40's and form the Scourge outfit in the 80's and 90's, and Brubaker seems to be handling him very well as a POV character. Epting's art with Dave Stewart's colors looks brilliant, especially the segments with Human Torch, capturing the mystique and pulp horror of the character.

To be honest, this could actually end up being a higher quality story than REBORN. There isn't much to say, but it was quite a good debut issue. Brubaker's just the man for this kind of task, as he always handles Marvel's Golden Age characters with research and dignity, seeing the world from their POV rather than making them "pedestrians" and watering them down. Golden Age comics were usually very simple and hammy, even though the world itself wasn't. It was just as complex as things are now, just in another way. Brubaker's great at capturing that, and he's the perfect man for making Marvel's storied past look a bit more modern, while maintaining it's classic feel. A definite recommendation.

 

[CombatRock319]

i'm pretty sure this is also titled "Pee-Wee Herman Imagines the Marvel Universe"

 

[Kitsune]

i'm pretty sure this is also titled "Pee-Wee Herman Imagines the Marvel Universe"

You mean "Heroes Reborn?"

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

Can't wait to pick this up.

 

[NightBeetle]

Pencils of issue #4

 

[NightBeetle]

Preview Marvel's Project #4

Project Rebirth begins! As 98 pound weakling Steve Rogers finally enters the picture, Nazi spies move in the shadows onto US soil...and the Angel comes close to finding the man who's murdering masked heroes. Rated T

 

[Texas]

What the hell is this about?

Why the hell do you want to know

 

[NightBeetle]

THE MARVELS PROJECT #7 (of 8)
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Pencils and Cover by STEVE EPTING
Cover by STEVE MCNIVEN
Variant by GERALD PAREL
Cap meets Bucky! The origin of the Destroyer! The interrogation of the Sub-Mariner! And it's all leading up to the Nazis'
conspiracy to bring the US into World War Two!
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99

 

[NightBeetle]

THE MARVELS PROJECT #8 (of 8)
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Penciled by STEVE EPTING
Cover by STEVE MCNIVEN
Cover by STEVE EPTING
Wraparound Variant by ALAN DAVIS
Variant Cover by GERALD PAREL
The startling conclusion to the origin of the Marvel Universe. Pearl Harbor, secret Nazi experiments gone wrong, and the seeds of destruction that would lead to the modern Marvel world of today will stand revealed! By the award-winning team of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting.
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$3.99

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The series has been pretty solid so far in spite of its well-worn subject matter. I'm looking forward to the conclusion.

 

[NightBeetle]

The Marvels Project #6 Preview

THE STORY:
Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's acclaimed tale of the origin of Marvel continues, as the mysteries of Nazi spies on American shores begin to unravel, and The Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner battle once again in the skies of New York, with devastating results. 32 PGS./Rated T

IN STORES: February 24, 2010

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

What? No Flaming Skull? Also, is it just me, but does Hulk in the first picture of this thread look like the Mayor from Final Fight?

 

[Union Jack]

wheres union jack?!?!

 

[Aesop Rocks]

I love this! Marvels Project is SO good.

 

[Texas]

I love this! Marvels Project is SO good.

Amen, brother, amen ! Can't wait until this is collected !!

 

[NightBeetle]

The Marvels Project #8 Preview

The startling conclusion to the origin of the Marvel Universe. Pearl Harbor, secret Nazi experiments gone wrong, and the seeds of destruction that would lead to the modern Marvel world of today will stand revealed! By the award-winning team of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

So... The Marvels Project ends with the formation of the Invaders. I'm calling it.

 

[hippie_hunter]

So... The Marvels Project ends with the formation of the Invaders. I'm calling it.

If it does. I would love to see a Brubaker Invaders mini.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'd probably pass on it. I'm kind of tired of that period in Marvel's history. We've seen a bunch of stuff on it lately between this, Agents of Atlas, Torch, and The Twelve.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I thought that the Human Torch mini was set in the modern era.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It is, but it's about the original Torch returning, so of course they have to have copious flashbacks to his early days with Horton and Toro and such.