The moral of this story? You take a nerd's comics from him, you better watch the fuck out. I know that if someone took all my precious, precious 4-color pretties, you can be damn sure I'll be ready to throw down.
OK, I guess that's not really the moral of this story. The moral is something about comic book characters representing something bigger than us all, about memories and dreams of childhood, and I guess Mark Millar's dad. Unfortunately, it's done with every bit of subtlety we've come to expect from Mark Millar. Which is to say, none whatsoever.
That's not entirely fair. The first issue does a very effective job at subtly, creepily inserting elements of the Marvel universe into the "real" world. You can feel how unsettling this is to the character, a 10 year old boy who acts like he's about 21 (because Millar doesn't know how to write outside of his one voice that he always uses, another criticism of this comic). You can sense the unease, the unnaturalness of the setup seeping in around the edges, thanks in large part to Edwards atmospheric and subtle artwork.
From that point on, the whole thing falls apart in a jumble of typical Millar overexuberance and a total lack of subtlety and subtext. This should be a story about juxtaposition of childhood fantasy with a harsh world, a story about the triumph of stories over mundane reality. At least that's what Millar's interviews seemed to indicate.
Fin Fang Frickin' Foom trashing a small American town, while every single character stares at the reading explaining in fine detail how wacky that is, isn't subtely. Maybe, maybe, it's very subtle absurdist comedy, but I don't think that's what Millar is aiming for. No, he really thinks that this is powerful sotrytelling, which just makes me sort of ... sad, I guess. This guy used to be really good, and the first Ultimates series had some degree of subtelty to it, didn't it?
I suppose it's my own fault for expecting any kind of subtlety from a Millar book, but this story should have been more special than that. It seemed like something he really cared about. Apparnetly, the "villain" of this book is going to be making appearances in his FF & Wolverine stories, as well. That says it all, doesn't it? Millar has something that could be a beautiful, unique, self-contained timeless story, but he just can't resist tearing the heart out of it in the name of commercialism.
OK, I guess that's not really the moral of this story. The moral is something about comic book characters representing something bigger than us all, about memories and dreams of childhood, and I guess Mark Millar's dad. Unfortunately, it's done with every bit of subtlety we've come to expect from Mark Millar. Which is to say, none whatsoever.
That's not entirely fair. The first issue does a very effective job at subtly, creepily inserting elements of the Marvel universe into the "real" world. You can feel how unsettling this is to the character, a 10 year old boy who acts like he's about 21 (because Millar doesn't know how to write outside of his one voice that he always uses, another criticism of this comic). You can sense the unease, the unnaturalness of the setup seeping in around the edges, thanks in large part to Edwards atmospheric and subtle artwork.
From that point on, the whole thing falls apart in a jumble of typical Millar overexuberance and a total lack of subtlety and subtext. This should be a story about juxtaposition of childhood fantasy with a harsh world, a story about the triumph of stories over mundane reality. At least that's what Millar's interviews seemed to indicate.
Fin Fang Frickin' Foom trashing a small American town, while every single character stares at the reading explaining in fine detail how wacky that is, isn't subtely. Maybe, maybe, it's very subtle absurdist comedy, but I don't think that's what Millar is aiming for. No, he really thinks that this is powerful sotrytelling, which just makes me sort of ... sad, I guess. This guy used to be really good, and the first Ultimates series had some degree of subtelty to it, didn't it?
I suppose it's my own fault for expecting any kind of subtlety from a Millar book, but this story should have been more special than that. It seemed like something he really cared about. Apparnetly, the "villain" of this book is going to be making appearances in his FF & Wolverine stories, as well. That says it all, doesn't it? Millar has something that could be a beautiful, unique, self-contained timeless story, but he just can't resist tearing the heart out of it in the name of commercialism.
And I know I'm nit-picking, but why is this a happy ending? There's hundreds of people pointlessly dead and slaughtered. This is a sad, horrible, tragedy. This is not a victory. It's damn sure not an uplifting story.
But, on the upshot, it does hold this very, very important warning for the world: do not touch a fanboy's collection, or he will sic the Wendigo on your ass.
2 comments:
I don't disagree with any of your descriptions of this comic, and yet I completely disagree with your conclusion that these things somehow make it a bad comic. It is FAR from subtle (just like any Spielberg film is far from subtle) and it is completely absurd and ridiculous.
It shouldn't be about "the power of stories" or any of that nonsense. It should be about the power of the Marvel iconography to look awesomely deranged, and the silly little "resolution" at the end is irrelevant next to the power of Edwards's images throughout the comic. This is a comic about spectacle and unsettling moments of youthful wish fulfillment, and it is very good.
(Better than Northlanders, even.)
I, likewise, don't disagree with you that it's like a Speilberg movie. Unfortunately, I'm a Kubrick fan, and I dislike Spielberg movies, so that might explain why I disliked it. I think you're right that my own expectations of it were a bit twisted going in.
Edwards' art is really, really awesome, though.
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