Marvels Epilogue #1
By Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
There have been many, many attempts to capture the lightning of the original Marvels series that Busiek and Ross gave us in the 90s, but this effort from 2019 is the only one to come close to the quality of the original.
A lot of the follow-ups to Marvels featured the original creators in some way, but rarely working together. Ross even went fully in the other direction with the Earth X stuff, which became voluminous. (I recently found the original Earth X ashcan thing that they gave away with Wizard, and they remain interesting redesigns for the Marvel universe, but I'm also happy with just that one little ashcan and none of the following comics.)
But it's only when Ross and Busiek are working together that the concept begins to sing again. Busiek's earnest style works perfectly with Ross' devotion to making the heroes look like they're flying around the real world, and it remains the principal appeal of the original mini-series.
This 2019 one-shot slots easily into the story of Phil Sheldon and his life photographing the Marvels, finding a brief moment in a 70s X-Men comic to show that it's still as terrifying and exhilarating to run into these marvelous creatures while out with your family.
Ross' painting has obviously evolved over the 25-year gap between the original Marvels and the epilogue, the 90s series has a hazy quality that might be a by-product of the artist's inexperience at the time, but definitely helped wit the dreamlike atmosphere that the story sometimes sought (the bit with Gwen Stacey and the Atlantean invasion in particular, all that wonderful water vapour.). In comparison the art on the epilogue is noticeably sharper, with a clearer line. More exact, which gives a 70s grittiness to this nostalgic trip.
But it's just as open and tender and wistful as anything in the original. Turns out all you have to do to match the success of the original comic was to get those creators together again. Nuff said.
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