Source (purchased/given/borrowed/the wife's): the wife'sDate Acquired: N/A
Original Review: N/A
Thoughts/Memories/ Remembrances: It was the mini-series Marvels that launched both writer Kurt Busiek and painter Alex Ross into comic book superstardom. Though Busiek has gone on to write and create some of the best superhero comics of the past 20 year, it's Ross' star that has shone infinitely brighter, inescapably so (if you're a comics fan at least). It's undeniable the man has talent, but his overwhelming prevalence in the comic book community has earned him quite an unhealthy backlash. Over the years he's worked with a few different writers -- Mark Waid, Paul Dini, Geoff Johns -- to also grip onto the story creation side, being more of a collaborator than just an artist. His most enduring pairing, though, has been with writer Jim Krueger who seems tasked with taking Ross' ideas and turning them into something readable. Currently the duo are playing with Golden Age public domain characters in Project Superpower, and before that the 12-part Justice series. Preceding even that, however, was the grandiose re-envisioning of the Marvel universe in Earth X (which continued on in Universe X and Paradise X).
Earth X followed up Ross' triumph on DC's Kingdom Come (with Mark Waid) and he was riding high, and smack in the thick of the Wizard-era of comics this 14-part mini-series became the hot ticket item, even more so with limited edition collectors sets when it was printed in hardcover collections. I had always meant to get to it, to acquire the trades and see what all the buzz was about, but never did, and to be honest it kind of left my consciousness a few years ago. It wasn't until reading Wikipedia's entry on the series and it's sequels that I realized the series no longer held the esteem it once did and that its continued expansion and spin-offs only diluted the initial work in many fan's eyes. The fact of the matter is, of Ross' early portfolio, Marvels retains a quiet dignity and Kingdom Come is the bombastic, egotistical celebrity that refuses to go away, Earth X has slunk away into the shadows, maybe not in shame, but perhaps a little embarrassed. While inventorying the family comic collection, I discovered the wife had a complete set of the series. When I (eventually) pulled them from the shelf to give them the read over, she informed me that she couldn't remember any details about it, or ever actually finishing reading the series, even though she quite obviously bought them all. I was curious as to why she wouldn't have completed it (and has no interest, years later, in doing so).
Re-Review - How do I put this gently? Earth X is not a very well constructed story. The ideas are interesting, Krueger does his best to support the concepts in their execution, and John Paul Leon's art is pretty spectacular, but it's all really for naught as this series is not much more than 14 issues of non-stop exposition.
The series is set in a dystopian 20 years in the future of the Marvel Universe, and uses the Machine Man (X-86) and the Watcher Uatu to guide the reader, methodically, through all the changes. Uatu, it turns out, has been blind for those 20 years and requires X-86 to fill him in on what's happening now. Of course, X-86, not entirely familiar with all of the background on what's happening, requires Uatu to explain to him the history of the Marvel universe and the story's many players. The dialogue between X-86 and Uatu leads in every issue and closes every chapter with 6-pages of text continuing on their discussion. The "zero" issue was entirely exposition, redefining concretely how the Marvel Universe came to be, how it's denizens acquired their super-powers, and what role nearly every Marvel character created by Lee and or Kirby or Starlin has to play in the whole sequence. The Eternals, the Celestials, the Asgardians, the Inhumans, the Atlanteans, the Kree, the Skrull, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, the X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man and so many more all play a part in taking humanity to their current destination, and it's a long-winded, mind-numbing, and yet logical progression.
For all Ross and Krueger's cleverness in integrating all these disparate elements of the Marvel universe, the series is also quite detrimentally demystifying, and leaves very little room for the little guy. Essentially it's explained that almost all of Marvel history has been dictated on a cosmic level and that the human characters, by and large, are of complete insignificance. Free will is a theme in the series (although it doesn't really explore it with any great religious resonance); X-86 experiences his as a servant of Uatu, his humanity challenged just because he's a machine. Similarly, John Jameson, now living on the moon to keep his Man-wolf persona from civilization, faces a similar struggle of man vs. psychological beast. The Red Scull and Hydra, two of the villains in the piece, one a character who can influence vast numbers into his servitude, the other an organization robbing people entirely of their individuality, absorbing them into a collective. But all the conflict of the characters that face them, from Ben Grimm and Venom to Captain America and the Iron Avengers, is really all for naught once it's determined what the real galactic threat to the planet is.
The problem with working on such a large scale as this is the human drama that might occur is completely lost by the overwhelming obstacle before them. Only the Marvel buff, which I'm not, will pour over the the nuanced changes in Tony Stark or Reed Richards, which isn't left to just their much different appearance and extreme personalities as they are seen in the comics, but the overwhelming amount of exposition about their changes in the back matter. Each issue takes a different character to focus on (highlighted by their cover appearance) but even then they prove incidental to the overarching dialogue between X-86 and Uatu. After a while, the back and forth between the two just gets silly, bickering like Ralph and Alice Kramden and leading to some truly ridiculous, repetitive and unnecessary statements about either themselves or the subjects they observe.
Like I briefly mentioned before, the ideas in here are plentiful and, in many cases, quite clever. Ross and Krueger have come up with solutions to problems that nobody has posed, re-envisioning the Marvel Universe's past and posing a possible future. But the idea is ripe for long-form storytelling, and doesn't work so well as a short, confined story. There was a book I read a few years ago, Ishmael (by Daniel Quinn) about a talking gorilla who has the answer to the world's problems, and it too was filled with ingenuity and brilliance, but it's execution was much the same, a two-person dialogue that just bordered on absurd. Earth X has more action than that book, but you never escape the sense that you're being told everything, rather that experiencing it, or coming to the answers on your own.
By stripping away the mystique of the Marvel Universe, the series also stripped away that sense of discovery. The first chapter leads directly to the end chapter and all that's in between is filler. Uatu could have very easily spilled the entire plot in the first chapter, and the rest of the series could have been the Earth's heroes discovering it (even though the audience already knows, it's seeing the characters you identify with come to understand their situation that makes good entertainment) instead of certain characters acting on the writer's behalf to introduce the plot late in the game to everyone else. Like I said, it's not the ideas but the execution that didn't work here.
I wonder had Ross done the artwork for the series if it would still be an acclaimed series or in the same or different condition it's in now. This is not to put down, in any way, John Paul Leon's art, in fact it's quite the opposite. I think it's Leon's art that truly keeps this series afloat. The Ross covers, which join together to form one big (albeit incongruous) image, are rote for him, standard fare. Seeing more of the same from him on the interiors would likely fatigue his status amongst fans even more. Leon's decidedly un-Ross-like pencils and inks are dynamic, distinctive and powerful. Although the world he presents is visually a dark one, cast in plentiful shadows, it's stunning to look at. His ability to use a thick line and still have highly individualized and expressive characters as well as a detailed world is defiantly unique. If I were to revisit the series it would be only for the art, because it is amazing. (see more of JPL's b&w Earth X work here).
By the end of the series, I was quite exhausted with it. I can only imagine the diminishing returns its sequels had if they too continued in such and expository manner (reading the Wikipedia entry was more than enough to burn me out). Big Marvel fans no doubt enjoy this encapsulating vision at the universe's past and future, but it's far from layman friendly and could even prove off-putting to the casual reader.
Rating (sell/keep/undecided): at the wife's behest, it's on the sell pile
For all Ross and Krueger's cleverness in integrating all these disparate elements of the Marvel universe, the series is also quite detrimentally demystifying, and leaves very little room for the little guy. Essentially it's explained that almost all of Marvel history has been dictated on a cosmic level and that the human characters, by and large, are of complete insignificance. Free will is a theme in the series (although it doesn't really explore it with any great religious resonance); X-86 experiences his as a servant of Uatu, his humanity challenged just because he's a machine. Similarly, John Jameson, now living on the moon to keep his Man-wolf persona from civilization, faces a similar struggle of man vs. psychological beast. The Red Scull and Hydra, two of the villains in the piece, one a character who can influence vast numbers into his servitude, the other an organization robbing people entirely of their individuality, absorbing them into a collective. But all the conflict of the characters that face them, from Ben Grimm and Venom to Captain America and the Iron Avengers, is really all for naught once it's determined what the real galactic threat to the planet is.
The problem with working on such a large scale as this is the human drama that might occur is completely lost by the overwhelming obstacle before them. Only the Marvel buff, which I'm not, will pour over the the nuanced changes in Tony Stark or Reed Richards, which isn't left to just their much different appearance and extreme personalities as they are seen in the comics, but the overwhelming amount of exposition about their changes in the back matter. Each issue takes a different character to focus on (highlighted by their cover appearance) but even then they prove incidental to the overarching dialogue between X-86 and Uatu. After a while, the back and forth between the two just gets silly, bickering like Ralph and Alice Kramden and leading to some truly ridiculous, repetitive and unnecessary statements about either themselves or the subjects they observe.
Like I briefly mentioned before, the ideas in here are plentiful and, in many cases, quite clever. Ross and Krueger have come up with solutions to problems that nobody has posed, re-envisioning the Marvel Universe's past and posing a possible future. But the idea is ripe for long-form storytelling, and doesn't work so well as a short, confined story. There was a book I read a few years ago, Ishmael (by Daniel Quinn) about a talking gorilla who has the answer to the world's problems, and it too was filled with ingenuity and brilliance, but it's execution was much the same, a two-person dialogue that just bordered on absurd. Earth X has more action than that book, but you never escape the sense that you're being told everything, rather that experiencing it, or coming to the answers on your own.
By stripping away the mystique of the Marvel Universe, the series also stripped away that sense of discovery. The first chapter leads directly to the end chapter and all that's in between is filler. Uatu could have very easily spilled the entire plot in the first chapter, and the rest of the series could have been the Earth's heroes discovering it (even though the audience already knows, it's seeing the characters you identify with come to understand their situation that makes good entertainment) instead of certain characters acting on the writer's behalf to introduce the plot late in the game to everyone else. Like I said, it's not the ideas but the execution that didn't work here.
I wonder had Ross done the artwork for the series if it would still be an acclaimed series or in the same or different condition it's in now. This is not to put down, in any way, John Paul Leon's art, in fact it's quite the opposite. I think it's Leon's art that truly keeps this series afloat. The Ross covers, which join together to form one big (albeit incongruous) image, are rote for him, standard fare. Seeing more of the same from him on the interiors would likely fatigue his status amongst fans even more. Leon's decidedly un-Ross-like pencils and inks are dynamic, distinctive and powerful. Although the world he presents is visually a dark one, cast in plentiful shadows, it's stunning to look at. His ability to use a thick line and still have highly individualized and expressive characters as well as a detailed world is defiantly unique. If I were to revisit the series it would be only for the art, because it is amazing. (see more of JPL's b&w Earth X work here).
By the end of the series, I was quite exhausted with it. I can only imagine the diminishing returns its sequels had if they too continued in such and expository manner (reading the Wikipedia entry was more than enough to burn me out). Big Marvel fans no doubt enjoy this encapsulating vision at the universe's past and future, but it's far from layman friendly and could even prove off-putting to the casual reader.
Rating (sell/keep/undecided): at the wife's behest, it's on the sell pile