Marvel Comics #1000 Review
Writers: too many to list
Artists: see above
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics #1000, based on its inception alone, is a tough sell for many people. It’s clearly just trying to match the hype of DC having series hit the big #1000 milestone, but that certainly doesn’t mean it can’t be good. Its massive roster of awesome creative talent is reassuring, but 80 one-page stories? Do they connect? Are they independent? How does all this work?
Going in, I thought that Marvel Comics #1000 would be tricky to talk about simply because of the sheer size of the creative team. In some ways, it is, but I was surprised at just how consistent this entire book is. In terms of tone and precision, this book knows exactly what each page should be going for, which I would say is pretty impressive considering how many writers are juggling this. However, I don’t think most people will be very excited reading through this. There is a through line for a single story in the entire issue, but there are often great gaps between progress on that front. It makes sense, but makes it feel very disjointed. Some pages don’t feature stories, but statements about characters instead. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that and many of them show an accurate understanding of those characters. It just breaks up the pacing of the book, but that’s kind of the nature of a title that dedicates each page to a specific year. It does what it’s trying to do well, but I think this is something that only die-hard Marvel historians will really appreciate. They’ll surely get a kick out of all the nods, tribute, and jokes about all the highs and lows of Marvel’s timeline.
The art actually is a little more difficult to discuss, since unlike the writers, the artists don’t return on any pages. It’s someone new with each turn. Thankfully, I can give the art the same kind of blanket statement that everyone matches the tone of their story very well and manages to fit quite a lot on a single page. Rarely does it feel crammed. It’s truly impressive just how much story telling some of them can accomplish in a few panels or even a splash page.
This is probably the most difficult comic I’ve ever had to write about. Its structure makes it hard to analyze in a traditional way compared to what a normal issue would be like. Marvel Comics #1000 does what it sets out to do on each page very well, but some are definitely more interesting than others. I’m giving this a positive score because of the generally upheld quality throughout, but at $9.99, this is still something I can only recommend to die-hard Marvel historians.
Artists: see above
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics #1000, based on its inception alone, is a tough sell for many people. It’s clearly just trying to match the hype of DC having series hit the big #1000 milestone, but that certainly doesn’t mean it can’t be good. Its massive roster of awesome creative talent is reassuring, but 80 one-page stories? Do they connect? Are they independent? How does all this work?
Going in, I thought that Marvel Comics #1000 would be tricky to talk about simply because of the sheer size of the creative team. In some ways, it is, but I was surprised at just how consistent this entire book is. In terms of tone and precision, this book knows exactly what each page should be going for, which I would say is pretty impressive considering how many writers are juggling this. However, I don’t think most people will be very excited reading through this. There is a through line for a single story in the entire issue, but there are often great gaps between progress on that front. It makes sense, but makes it feel very disjointed. Some pages don’t feature stories, but statements about characters instead. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that and many of them show an accurate understanding of those characters. It just breaks up the pacing of the book, but that’s kind of the nature of a title that dedicates each page to a specific year. It does what it’s trying to do well, but I think this is something that only die-hard Marvel historians will really appreciate. They’ll surely get a kick out of all the nods, tribute, and jokes about all the highs and lows of Marvel’s timeline.
The art actually is a little more difficult to discuss, since unlike the writers, the artists don’t return on any pages. It’s someone new with each turn. Thankfully, I can give the art the same kind of blanket statement that everyone matches the tone of their story very well and manages to fit quite a lot on a single page. Rarely does it feel crammed. It’s truly impressive just how much story telling some of them can accomplish in a few panels or even a splash page.
This is probably the most difficult comic I’ve ever had to write about. Its structure makes it hard to analyze in a traditional way compared to what a normal issue would be like. Marvel Comics #1000 does what it sets out to do on each page very well, but some are definitely more interesting than others. I’m giving this a positive score because of the generally upheld quality throughout, but at $9.99, this is still something I can only recommend to die-hard Marvel historians.
A Look Inside
