Marvels is a
comic book written and illustrated by
Kurt Busiek and
Alex Ross. It was published by
Marvel first as a four issue series, and then a single
graphic novel retailing at $19.95 US.
Marvels follows
normal New York photographer
Phil Sheldon, starting in 1939, as the first
superpowered beings appear in the
Marvel Universe. It follows the life of this normal person, who photographs these "Marvels"(his name for the superpowered beings), as he deals with these new additions to his world.
This story is amazing, tying togethor so many
storylines in the Marvel Universe that I never thought fitted so well togethor. Busiek and Ross make it look like everything, every
issue, was so well planned fitting togethor like a
gigantic continous jigsaw puzzle. It's amazing, and if you're going to read one
Marvel graphic novel, this should be it. Trust the
comic shop guy.
Summary done issue by issue:
Chapter One - A Time of Marvels
Phineas Thomas Horton introduces his creation, an
android, in every perfect detail. He shows his
creation off at a convention, which reveals its fatal flaw to the
public: an inability to process
oxygen correctly. Instead the android bursts into
flame, not harming the
android itself!
The Human Torch.
Sheldon was amazed, minutes ago he had been talking with his friend
J. Jonah Jameson about going to
Europe to take photos of the
war. Then the
creation moved, and the audiences previous
disbelief was changed to
terror. Horton was forced to bury his
creation.
Weeks passed, and Sheldon continued his work and his interests in his beloved
Doris Jacquet. When one night strolling, he heard a scream and grabbed his
camera and ran towards it.
The Human Torch had escaped from his captivity, and was on the streets.. and flew away from the crowd. The
crowd dismissed it as "a trick of the light."
But the
public wasn't able to dismiss it for long as the
Sub-Mariner made his appearance on the ports, and the Torch freely flew in the skies. They both also helped save many people's lives.
When Sheldon was finally given the option to go to
Europe, he turned it down. To stay within the city to
observe the Marvels. He begun to
doubt his ability to be a
husband and
father in a world where he couldn't
protect his family.
In 1940, the
Sub-Mariner and the
Human Torch clashed across the city. After a complicated battle,
Officer Betty Dean was able to get them to make a
truce.
Sheldon told his thoughts to his
beloved, of not being able to get married yet. She walked off, telling him he knew where to reach her. That's when he reached a deep
thought:
"When this is over I'd said. When would that be?
It would blow over. The world wouldn't stay like this. It couldn't.
Could it?"
And in 1941,
Captain America appeared. The first
real American superhero. The wild headlines that appeared in the
newspapers. (We also get a little appearance from good ol'
Nick Fury in his pre-war days.)
Sheldon went to a little
film with a friend, and at the end of the happy
musical, a
newsreel came on. The
Sub-Mariner and
the Human Torch fighting side-by-side against the
enemies. And at the end, the theater
crowd went
wild. The public's view of them changed view to a
positive one.
And Sheldon decided that since the Marvels weren't leaving, he might as well as be with his
love. They reunited, and his thoughts were
clear. Nothing
bad could happen to them.
Until the report came in that
Namor, the Sub-Mariner, had changed sides again. A
tidal wave was headed towards the city. Sheldon ran to the roof, as the tidal wave arrived, and witnessed the fight between the Torch and Namor. As their fight loosened bricks, one of them hit him out. When he recovered in a
hospital, he learned that it had made him lose his left eye's sight.
He got married, and went to Europe to
witness the Marvels' action in the war. But that was just the
beginning..
"How do I feel?
You mean, aside from wondering whether monocular vision will improve my photgraphy?
Am I mad at the Marvels for taking my eye? Am I going to swear vengeance on them--
--Devote my life to destroying them all or driving them out of our world so everything can be the way it was again?
Is that what you're asking?
Um--Something like that.
Nah.
I'm going to have more important things to do. There's a war on, for one.
And we've got a wedding to plan-- that is, if you're willing to marry Popeye the camera man."
This is one of my favorite quotes from the novel. It revels in the
idea that many of the
normal people who became the
supervillians had the idea that Sheldon proposed. They were
injured and they want
revenge for their
accident. It is also very hypocritical as shown in the chapter where the
mutants are discovered.
Sources of Chapter One:
Captain America #1,2
Human Torch #5
Marvel Comics #1
Marvel Mystery Comics #2,4-10, 17-20
Sub-Mariner #2
Takes deep breath as he moves onto chapter two..