Marvel Comics #1000: What did you think of it? (SPOILERS)

[The Baron]

{SPOILER SPACE)

So, what did  folks think of this?

By me, it was a game of two  halves, the halves being:

1. Pages paying tribute to various Marvel characters, situations or concepts over the years.
2. A sort of "secret history" setting up  a new character with ties to Marvel's history, the Masked Raider, to be unveiled next year.

What did I think of these two halves?

Well, let's get the bad part out of the way, first:  I found the Masked Raider story-line extremely uninteresting. I don't care who the Masked Raider really is, and his design is uninspiring visually, as well. Now, perhaps I'm wrong, and the Masked Raider will be the next Wolverine, but right now, I'm predicting "'Event' character that will be forgotten in five years".  Maybe there could have been a story that tied the entire history  of the Marvel Universe together that worked, but this wasn't it.

Now, for the not-so-bad part: The tribute pages.  I liked a lot of these. In particular:

1. The Miss America page
2. The Patsy Walker page
3. The Tessie the Typist page
4. The Alex Ross Hulk page
5. The Ben Grimm explains himself page
6. The Peter calls  Otto page
7. The Black Bolt as Little Nemo page
8. The Farmer Galactus page
9. The King Conan page
10. The MJ and Gwen Stacy page
11. The Frank Castle explains himself page
12. The Darth Vader page
13. The She-Hulk page
14. The Baby Ben page
15. The  Thor Page
16. The Howard the Duck/Fruit Pies page
17. The Daredevil page
18. The Asamiya X-Men page
19. The X-23 page
20. The Young Avengers page
21. The Everything-Is-About-Doctor-Doom-Owing-You-Money page
22. The Hulk Family page
23. The MJ Through The Years page

The other "tribute" pages were  OK, I guess.  I did feel as though some character/concepts were over-represented (Two pages about how Doctor Doom is really powerful but has no friends?) and others were under-represented (No mention of the Defenders at all?).

What  I would have done:  Eliminate the "story-line", and use those pages to pay tribute to a wider-range of characters and concepts'

Overall:  An interesting concept,  mostly badly-executed.

Score:  Four out of ten

[Richard Mantle]

Hmmm.

I think I'll wait for a Comixcology flash sale one day.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Here's what I posted back on August 31:

"MARVEL COMICS #1000: I enjoyed this one much more than I thought I would. Here's what they did: they took a significant event from each of Marvel's 80 years and dedicated a page which tied to it in some way. the events could be in-story, the introduction of a new character, the publication of a new title, the start of a celebrated creator's run. the vignettes are strictly chronological, although their presentation is. for example, a page featuring the Hulk represents 1959 (the debut if his long-time home, Tales to Astonish), not 1962 (the debut of the character), but is set more-or-less in the 'present day' (or close to it). I literally laughed out loud at two of the pages (at one quite loudly). Most of the pages are standalone, but the pages written by Al Ewing tie together and introduce a plot thread which dates back to the Age of Camelot, through the first issue of Marvel Comics, and into a series set to debut next year. Some characters and creators are conspicuous in their absence."

Two weeks later I don't remember specifically what I liked (not a good sign) or even what made me laugh out loud. I am a bit more enthusiastic about Al Ewing's "Masked Raider" sub-plot than you are because his Immortal Hulk is one of the best titles Marvel publishes today. I'll flip through #1000 tonight to refresh my memory. (Oh, I remember the one I laughed at hardest. Tell you tomorrow.)

[Jeff of Earth-J]

My five favorites share a common theme: breaking the fourth wall. I thought 1974 (Wolverine entering from backstage) was funny, but I did not LOL. I did LOL at 2017 (“What Do You Regret?”), but not too loud. The line “Can somebody move that plant?” from 2010 had me ROFLMAO (not literally, but I did literally LOL the hardest at that one). I appreciated 1999 (PAD writing Rick Jones) and I also enjoyed 2014 (Miracleman).

[Dave Palmer]

I’m halfway through this.  It’s been fun, even the Black Rider pages.  It’s fun watching the pieces fall into place.  I don’t buy many new comics anymore, so I doubt I’ll be on hand for the event (“stunt”) that flows out of this, but it’s holding my interest.  I’m looking forward to when I eventually get to the second half and the LOL pages.  I feel I’m getting my money’s worth.

I am impressed with the coordination that went into pulling this off.  It had to be an editorial and logistics nightmare.

A quick nitpick. The “In Memoriam” page is very nice but it needs some context.  What was the criteria for inclusion?  Is it meant to be a list of every past creator who worked for Timely/Atlas/Marvel?  Putting together that list would be a monumental task.  In just a few moments I came up with creators who are not listed:  Vince Fago, Alex Toth, Sid Check, Jack Sparling, Billy Graham.  I’m sure there are many more.  In the few moments I spent brainstorming my partial list I did discover, happily, that Jack Katz is still alive at 91. And since the page uses Jim Starlin’s artwork, shouldn’t he be included on the back cover as a contributor?  As I said: nitpicky.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"I’m looking forward to when I eventually get to the second half and the LOL pages."

Those pages made me LOL; I cannot guarantee they'll have the same effect on you.

[Dave Palmer]

Finally got around to the rest.  Some highlights for me.

”Can somebody move that plant” is the single funniest line.  Also enjoyed Miracleman.  1983 (Storm) told a complete story in one page.  1984 (Spider-Man/ Ben) was cute, kinda like “The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man” but in a wholly different way, if that makes any sense.  1993 (Punisher & Wolverine) was worth a chuckle. 1994 (Spider-Man) had some (well, actually a lot of) heart to it.  Has this aspect of his spider-sense been addressed elsewhere or is this something new?  1998 (Daredevil): interesting.  2011 (Miles Morales) was fun.  2016 (Deadpool):  I’ve never read a Deadpool comic or seen any of the movies, but that was funny.  2017 (regrets):  funny, but also bittersweet.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

”'Can somebody move that plant' is the single funniest line."

Yes!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"I found the Masked Raider story-line extremely uninteresting."

For anyone interested, the new Previews has a four page, uh... preview, of Incoming #1 (which will be the "Masked Raider" series).

[Jeff of Earth-J]

MARVEL COMICS #1001: Quite obviously, this issue is made up of pages rejected from #1000, most of them justifiably so. Like #1000, because each page tells an entire “story” (no “decompressed” storytelling here), it takes a while to read. It costs five bucks.

BOTTOM LINE: Don’t waste your time or your money.

[The Baron]

Can't argue much with this.  A couple of amusing pages - the one with Uatu and the Inhumans made me chuckle - but a noticeable drop-off in quality.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

MARVEL COMICS #1001: Quite obviously, this issue is made up of pages rejected from #1000, most of them justifiably so. Like #1000, because each page tells an entire “story” (no “decompressed” storytelling here), it takes a while to read. It costs five bucks.

BOTTOM LINE: Don’t waste your time or your money.

[Captain Comics]

I'm coming in late on this thread because I literally forgot about this comic book. I bought it, and put it in the to-read pile, and then a bunch of other stuff came in and got put on top, and ... well, I just read my way to it a couple of days ago, and thought, "Gah!" 

Or a similar word. 

Anyway, I'm on board with what's been said so far, but I have some questions for the group. Regardless of the quality of the Black Rider/Masked Raider subplot, much of it set my continuity sense a-tingle. That is to say, I'd vaguely recognize this, almost remember that, and so forth. I haven't taken the time to look anything up, so I'm hoping some of you have. (If you haven't, I guess I'll have to pull out my Marvel Masterworks and get to work.) 

1) The book seemed to establish that the heroic Three Xs of the Golden Age became the evil Conclave of Fantastic Four #66 (creators of "Him"). I don't remember the Three Xs, so is there enough wiggle room in their GA appearances to make this possible? Was their morality questionable back then? IOW, how well does this idea line up with the published stories?

2) I remember the handsome member of the Conclave trying to rescue Alicia, and like the book showed, it looked like he died but now we know he didn't and became ... Blind Justice. Has there ever been such a character?

3) Something about the Conclave made me remember that there was some problem with them sometimes being a group of 3, and sometimes a group of 4, and some later writer tried to fix that up, But I may be thinking of the Skrulls of Fantastic Four #2. (Which, by the way, no mater what you may have read, was addressed in-story. That Lee-Kirby forgot one of the Skulls is an urban legend.)

4) Since many of the vignettes occurred out of chronological order, I lost track of who had the mask when. Has anyone tried to figure out a timeline for the mask, and who had it when?

5) I remember a Thunderer from the Golden Age, but I didn't remember him being a Marvel/Timely character. He was a radio guy with a loudspeaker that made him really loud. (Yes, a lot of Golden Age characters were really dopey.) Was he a Timely character, and either way, do his appearances/costume line up with what we saw in Marvel Comics #1000?

6) I'm guessing Black Rider and Masked Raider were both Western characters, because Timely had a lot of Western characters. But were they the same character back then? (Some characters changed names/costumes/modus operandi when new creators took over.) Were both from the Golden Age? Was one the modern reprint of the other? Is there any relationship between them at all, beyond what was established in Marvel Comics #1000?

7) I'm still kinda fuzzy on what the mask is made of, who made it and who used it (and why being equal to your opponent is any kind of a good idea). 

Well, that's a lot of questions. Y'all probably haven't worried about any of it. But if you have, chime in!

[Luke Blanchard]

Early on there were a fair number of very short-lived Marvel heroes. The Thunderer is one of those. He appeared in Daring Mystery Comics #7-#8 and was centrally featured on the covers of both issues. I think he's the guy you remember.