Marvel Comics Presents (2019)

[Mike_Murdock]

Marvel launched a new volume of Marvel Comics Presents today with issue #1. The main hook is an ongoing Wolverine through the eras story with two other stories. The first is a Namor story set in the same era (World War II). The last is with a character also from that era, but a modern story with Captain America. I wish the MCP story presented all the creative teams on the cover or at least had a Table of Contents page. I realize a Soule/Siqueira Wolverine story has a bigger draw, but I feel each should get their due.

The Soule story was good. I like what it's setting up. Hopefully it'll have Wolverine in a mentor role, which is always fun. The art was also quite pretty.

The Namor issue was really powerful, though. It's marketed as a lost tale that they couldn't have told given the political sensitivies of the time and the latter is certainly true. It's a pretty powerful ten pages. Invaders also came out this week, but I'd argue this story might have been even better.

The third story was Captain America. Honestly, I was a little trepidatious about seeing Greg Land's name on it, though. I certainly don't love the faces in the art, that's for sure. However, I bought this book because of Ann Nocenti. This was a very Nocenti story. It reminded me a lot of her Daredevil days. She told a very human tale with elements of hero worship as well as parents and children. The dialogue was possibly a bit more naturalistic than Nocenti used to go for, but it was certainly in ample quantities. That being said, it didn't feel like it had a ton of point to it. It sort of abruptly ended. If it had a message, I missed it, but it hit on some nice elements for a cool feel to the story.

So, what did you think of this issue? Is anyone planning on continuing to check it out?

[MajorHoy]

I bought issue #1 for the Namor story, but haven't read the issue yet.

Got the variant cover by Ron Lim.



Based on who's going to be featured in issue #2 (Mr. Fantastic and Gorilla Man), don't know if I'll bother with the next issue.
(Have to see how much Soule's Wolverine story grabs me.)

[Snoop Dogg]

It's a little disappointing that best argument for a modern MCP is to spotlight less important characters, but the first three issues are loaded with flagships instead of just letting Wolverine carry. I mean, Gorilla Man's a good start, and the by the decades approach is nice. But issue #3 has Spider-Man of all people and Steve again, but for the Civil Rights movement. And it's like, gee Marvel, if only your first African American superhero was created in the 60's to tell a Civil Rights story.

BUT I'm glad this book exists, just because I wanna see how the market responds to the format. Oh, and nice stories are cool, too.

[Digifiend]

There's a theme to the stories. Story 1 is Wolverine, story 2 is untold tales under a Marvel Age banner - this is the only one that's decade specific - and story 3 is meant to be the World Outside Your Window.

[jackolover]

I liked the wolverine story about magic and the monster to return in later episodes

The Namor story was powerful and I do wonder if it is going to connect with the Defenders story about Namor attacking the surface world again?

The Cap story is quaint, because Steve Rogers refuses to take the fast way home, and instead experience the America of people struggling with life. I thought Steve should have sided with the girls mother and told the girl not to practice risky motorbike jumps. (I even considered the girls absent father was the Ghost Rider). But, there was the tale of allowing a young person to grow, and at least Cap analysed the girl took steps to negate bad outcomes. The message Cap had for the mother was that freedom was important, as long as it had a sound grounding. It ended with Cap giving the girl a warning - always a useful tool to include for anyone with hero-worship, (so that she doesn’t let her hero down).

The reason I will go back to MCP is because it looks like in the second issue, the Reed Richards story is about the Sputnik launch of 1957, which would have been the catalyst for the origin of the FF. I like references like that.

[jackolover]

It's a little disappointing that best argument for a modern MCP is to spotlight less important characters, but the first three issues are loaded with flagships instead of just letting Wolverine carry. I mean, Gorilla Man's a good start, and the by the decades approach is nice. But issue #3 has Spider-Man of all people and Steve again, but for the Civil Rights movement. And it's like, gee Marvel, if only your first African American superhero was created in the 60's to tell a Civil Rights story.

BUT I'm glad this book exists, just because I wanna see how the market responds to the format. Oh, and nice stories are cool, too.

The story of African American super hero, the Blue Marvel, gave a very stern message to Civil Rights issues, by John Kennedy removing him from service, and Adam Brashear complied. It was a very infuriating outcome for a super hero, but the times were so volatile, that society couldn’t accomodate an African American super hero confronting injustice to his people. Even today it’s hard to imagine how you could write that story differently without Brashear self-destructing, if he went up against authority.

How would you have done it Snoop dogg?

[theoneandonly]

I liked the best defense and invaders storylines better.

[Digifiend]

The reason I will go back to MCP is because it looks like in the second issue, the Reed Richards story is about the Sputnik launch of 1957, which would have been the catalyst for the origin of the FF. I like references like that.

Wait, that can't be Earth-616 then. Sliding timescale means that the F4 origin now happened in roughly 2005.

[Mike_Murdock]

Sliding timescale doesn't inherently mean that. It means "don't worry about it." Quite a few flashbacks are set in the period of the original comic or something along those lines.

[JudicatorPrime]

Wolverine.
Namor.
Captain America.

You know, if I couldn't find their stories anywhere else either currently or over the past year, I might consider it. But since I can, this is a pass for me.

[Snoop Dogg]

The story of African American super hero, the Blue Marvel, gave a very stern message to Civil Rights issues, by John Kennedy removing him from service, and Adam Brashear complied. It was a very infuriating outcome for a super hero, but the times were so volatile, that society couldn’t accomodate an African American super hero confronting injustice to his people. Even today it’s hard to imagine how you could write that story differently without Brashear self-destructing, if he went up against authority.

How would you have done it Snoop dogg?

I meant Falcon, but Blue Marvel is nowhere either. So another story about him would've been cool, too.

[JudicatorPrime]

The story of African American super hero, the Blue Marvel, gave a very stern message to Civil Rights issues, by John Kennedy removing him from service, and Adam Brashear complied. It was a very infuriating outcome for a super hero, but the times were so volatile, that society couldn’t accomodate an African American super hero confronting injustice to his people. Even today it’s hard to imagine how you could write that story differently without Brashear self-destructing, if he went up against authority.

Just to fine tune the backdrop a bit, it's not that Brashear was the first African American hero. There were AA predecessors, including the Human Top of the Invaders/ Kid Commandos fame and others. It's just that there weren't any nearly as powerful as Brashear. When you have a Black man walking around that casually brushes off a megaton thermonuclear detonation as if it was nothing more than lint on his sleeve, that tends to scare the bejeezus out of the establishment, let alone the social hierarchy. You have to view it through that prism in order to appreciate the choices that were made. Otherwise, you'll end up in premise rejection and nullification...which is where many Blue Marvel fans are now. Had Adam Brashear been no more powerful than the Falcon, or even Luke Cage, the NSA and FBI would have monitored his activities, but I doubt that it reaches the desk of the President or result in an Executive Order restricting his freedoms.

Edit: Worth noting, there is a gaping plot hole in Grevioux's Blue Marvel origin story involving Anti-Man. The battle that reveals Blue Marvel's ethnicity comes to a close with Adam knocking Conner Sims out. He doesn't kill him. Conner doesn't disintegrate into energy to return to the Neutral Zone. Not that time. Presumably he's taken by the authorities, although there's no way that they can hold him. As powerful as Blue Marvel is, Anti-Man is perhaps more powerful in some respects and more than willing to annihilate the oppressive regime. With Blue Marvel retired by EO, why didn't we see Anti-Man absolutely wreck s*** up? And more importantly, why was the US government at that time not more concerned about the greater existential threat that Anti-Man posed? A left wing extremist with godlike powers would be high on their list, you'd think.

[jackolover]

I meant Falcon, but Blue Marvel is nowhere either. So another story about him would've been cool, too.

Even if it was Falcon, (and he was a hard nut), how would you have written it? If not even John F Kennedy would touch racial issues in those days, if Falcon poked up his head, he would have have got shot or taken into an alley and beaten senseless. That’s the way the cops behaved in Australia during those days.

[jackolover]

Just to fine tune the backdrop a bit, it's not that Brashear was the first African American hero. There were AA predecessors, including the Human Top of the Invaders/ Kid Commandos fame and others. It's just that there weren't any nearly as powerful as Brashear. When you have a Black man walking around that casually brushes off a megaton thermonuclear detonation as if it was nothing more than lint on his sleeve, that tends to scare the bejeezus out of the establishment, let alone the social hierarchy. You have to view it through that prism in order to appreciate the choices that were made. Otherwise, you'll end up in premise rejection and nullification...which is where many Blue Marvel fans are now. Had Adam Brashear been no more powerful than the Falcon, or even Luke Cage, the NSA and FBI would have monitored his activities, but I doubt that it reaches the desk of the President or result in an Executive Order restricting his freedoms.

Edit: Worth noting, there is a gaping plot hole in Grevioux's Blue Marvel origin story involving Anti-Man. The battle that reveals Blue Marvel's ethnicity comes to a close with Adam knocking Conner Sims out. He doesn't kill him. Conner doesn't disintegrate into energy to return to the Neutral Zone. Not that time. Presumably he's taken by the authorities, although there's no way that they can hold him. As powerful as Blue Marvel is, Anti-Man is perhaps more powerful in some respects and more than willing to annihilate the oppressive regime. With Blue Marvel retired by EO, why didn't we see Anti-Man absolutely wreck s*** up? And more importantly, why was the US government at that time not more concerned about the greater existential threat that Anti-Man posed? A left wing extremist with godlike powers would be high on their list, you'd think.

Another backdrop I’d like to mention in that period.

That argument doesn’t hold, because Thor survived thermonuclear blasts as tests for the army during that period, but he was white, blond, and European. Brashear was African American and he got put in a box so nobody could see him. Big difference in how establishment treated Thor and Black Marvel, and they were the same threat. No, I think the 1960’s were a period when African Americans were serious second class citizens, and it didn’t matter how well known or successful you were, if you were African American they could treat you like dirt. We did the same to our Aboriginal people during that time too. It was a sickness in society.

And this during the brilliant Marvel Comic period that was supposed to project the ultimate in moralistic behaviour in heroes. The backdrop was, not everybody was treated equally, but we didn’t see it in Marvel comics, because how could you write heroic African Americans, if in reality they weren’t taken seriously? The assumption in Marvel at the time could have been, “we better not portray African Americans, because that could alienate Marvels audience and we would lose business”? I just wonder what prevented Marvel including African Americans in those early books, or, discussing civil rights issues at the time? Surely the writers had African American friends? These writers weren’t completely isolated?

[Hypestyle]

so, I wonder where will these stories end up being collected as far as TPBs go? Do they have their own "marvel comics presents" TPBs now or will they be pushed onto, say a future Captain America, Wolverine TPB (for those characters' stories)