Before I read "
The Marvels Project", I thought that it was unfairly overshadowed by the more high-profile "
Siege" event. After I finished reading the entire 8-issue series by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting about 5 minutes ago, I must conclude that the whole thing, while undeniably an important addition to the Marvel Canon, really isn't as good as expected.
Perhaps the problem was because my hopes for this series were unreasonably high. Firstly, it's set in the Golden Age (more accurately 1938-1942) and I'm a huge fan of Golden Age mystery-men tales. Secondly, it's really the first attempt to tie in the various Golden Age issues together to present a seamless and official "origin" of the Invaders. I'm a huge fan of the Invaders having recently picked up the "
70th Anniversary Timely Comics" hardcover along with the "
Avengers/Invaders" hardcover. Thirdly, I'm also a huge fan of Brubaker and Epting's work on the regular "
Captain America" series. That being said, I found myself largely bored and uninterested in this series. The reason for this is that "
The Marvels Project" is really not a story at all! It's very much a by-the-numbers retelling of how the various Golden Age Marvel (then known as Timely) characters got together and formed the first super-group to fight the Nazis. If that was all there was, I remember that Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross did a far better job years ago in the first issue of "
Marvels".
Speaking of "
Marvels", there are obvious similarities with that work. Dr Thomas Halloway aka The Angel serves as narrator here much as Phil Sheldon did in "
Marvels". The work is also reminiscent of the other Alex Ross classic, "
Kingdom Come". Here, the dying Two-Gun Kid (who has seen the future of the 616-Marvel Universe) prophesied the coming of that glorious heroic age much like the Golden Age Sandman, Wesley Dodds, prophesied the coming of the dark age in "
Kingdom Come". There are also obvious parallels to Alan Moore's "
Watchmen" and James Robinson's "
The Golden Age". As the progeny of such luminaries, you would expect "
The Marvels Project" to be something truly special, right? Truth is, I really wished that it was. In fact, I even put on classic 1940s jazz while reading it just for that added flavour.
The problem with this work is that while Epting managed to capture the mood and atmosphere of the Second World War in his artwork (his pencils also resemble Alex Ross' pencil work in many ways - and that is a definite bonus), the pacing throughout is abysmally slow. You feel that Brubaker has so many things to show the reader - from the familiar unveiling of the Human Torch by Prof. Phineas Horton to the Super-Soldier Serum that created Captain America to the grand superhuman battle above the skies of NYC between the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner and finally to the gathering of the Invaders in the White House. Problem was, while Brubaker and Epting had so much to SHOW, they really had very little to SAY. There wasn't any grand theme that tied the piece together - like the theme of ordinary humans' distrust or discomfort with superheroes in "
Marvels" or the fascistic authoritarianism of "
Kingdom Come". In fact, I'm a tad frustrated after reading the work as a whole in one sitting because I know that Brubaker is capable of delivering far greater work. I mean, the flashback scenes to the Golden Age in his "
Winter Soldier" arc are far more moving and poignant compared to the entirety of "
The Marvels Project"! Furthermore, if you are looking for the Invaders kicking the Nazis or the Red Skull, there's nearly nothing here to that tune. The closest we got was Cap, Bucky, Namor and the Angel fighting some rebel faction from Atlantis while the Human Torch and Toro fought a losing battle against the Japs to prevent the Pearl Harbour bombings. That was supposed to be the grand battle but there wasn't any real emotional payoff. In fact, it's ironic that about the only character that displayed any real emotions was Jim Hammond, the android Human Torch. The other iconic heroes simply strutted around being iconic!
As an "origins" story, it more than did its job but there is little more to the tale. Therefore, the tale can only aspire to the level of say, Paul Jenkins' "
Mythos" series or Joe Casey's "
Avengers: Earth Mightiest Heroes". In other words, a retro take on a familiar myth or a retelling of a story of how our heroes began their careers. Does it then warrant the hardcover treatment? Well, I wouldn't argue with that since I'm a sucker for beautiful hardcover collections anyway. After all, the story is an important one and Brubaker will most likely build on some of the elements here in future Cap stories. In other words, I'll give the work an 8 out of 10 for its importance to the overall Marvel Canon but as a standalone story, it's at best only a 6.5 out of 10 (though I'd say that Epting's beautiful artwork earns a 9 out of 10).
