Marvel 1985 #6 cover

Well, Mark Millar has done it again. He’s taken a complete amazing series and stuck with it and made it god-damn incredible. I picked up Marvel 1985 #6 today thinking, “How in the hell is he going to end this series?” Well let me tell you, Mr. Millar pulled a fast one on us.

There’s all this chit-chat, jimmer-jammer on the web these days about how this series was going to end, and I’ve even spat an ending or two out from my own mouth trying to solve this giant mystery and I honestly didn’t see the series going this way.

But before I go into all the details, lets take a jump and get down to it.

**kaerb eht terfa sreliops**

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The world of comic book super heroes is something we all can come together and say we love and we know that this world couldn’t exist without some kind of villain to be there and wrong was was already right. Just as a cop needs to catch a robber, a super hero needs to catch a super villain. To continue my series on favorites, I have to think to myself and wonder: Who is my favorite super villain?

Just as I did for my favorite super hero, I need to think of what I would judge my favorite super villain on. Is it his super power (because that is really what makes him “super”)? His ability to fight with this enemies? Why he is a villain and was it an accident? There are hundreds of factors that come into deciding who your favorite super villain is, and I know exactly what mine are and who my favorite is: Dr. Doom.

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Fantastic Four #560 Cover

That crazy Scot is at it again! You know I am talking about Mark Millar. And what he is at is Fantastic Four #560. Somehow, despite having a ton of books out right now, he manages to pump out issue after issue of pure, comic book gold. This month’s Fantastic Four is no exception.

Last month (or however long it was. Delays are not fun), our fearless foursome had all kinds of craziness going on. Johnny Storm had just gotten captured by the New Defenders and he and Dr. Doom were all set up to power a out of commission Galactus. On top of this, the Richards have a new nanny that is not all of what she seems.

After the jump, I’ll explain why I have a man-crush on Mark Millar and how it seems like he has a much broader plan in mind for his books.

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Astounding Wolf-Man Volume 1

If there’s one thing I love about Robert Kirkman it’s that he loves to play to the old-school way of the super hero world. His characters (namely Invincible, Brit and Wolf-Man) all live in a world where super villains and super heroes are commonplace. It reminds me of old Marvel comics where people just dealt with super heroes and it was semi-realistic because who else was going to fight Dr. Doom or the Green Goblin or Magneto? Not to say that where Marvel is now is bad, because I really do like the realistic style the universe hits where people challenge the necessity of heroes because villains only seem to come around because of the heroes (ie. pre/post-Civil War comics).

But back to what were here for: The Astounding Wolf-Man Volume 1. Kirkman, with the art of Jason Howard, manages to squeeze this comic into the “universe” of Image comics (see also: Invincible, Brit, Dynamo 5) and it definitely works. He has a fairly original origin for Wolf-Man and it really had me hooked. Here and there it hits kind of an early-Invincible-cheeziness but nevertheless, it’s pretty damn good.

**some spoilers and tons of fun after the break**

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Marvel 1985 #4 cover

I picked up this issue, dying because of last week‘s cliff-hanger, my undying love for Mark Millar (in a total “I’m a comic book nerd and I love your writing” way not any other) and because I knew I was jumping into straight madness. Millar left things at such a high suspense point I was really flying through this issue.

In this months issue, we see a skew of baddies and utter chaos ensue as things really do start to pick up even more than last month’s issue. We’re left with Toby and his dad in a van driving away with none other than The Lizard on top of their van trying to kill them. It’s simply amazing.

But the story continues and boy does it get good.

**spoilers and oh-so-much-more after the break**

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Earth X TPB cover

Well if you didn’t know this you do now. I love Alex Ross. I buy comics that he did the cover of just because his painting is amazing. The comic Marvels is my favorite book ever. But Marvels has enough praise, this review is of something else he was involved in. Earth X is Ross’s theory of the end of the marvel universe. This was inspired by DC’s Kingdom Come at Ross painted for. Ross was asked in 1997, in Wizard, what his vision for the end of Marvel would look like when everyone had super powers. What will the characters be like when everyone has superpowers?

Based of Ross’s notes and sketches Jim Krueger wrote Earth X (first issue came out in 2000), a 14 issue series (12 issues, a 0 issue and one issue numbered X). Earth X is a compelling story that whips around from the beginning of earth, to WWII, to the beginning of the Fantastic Four, and to the present–years into the future from the present Marvel universe. The story explains everything from why people have powers, to how Galactus chooses which planets to devour. My favorite part of the story is how it ties everything together from the beginning of time, to the end. It makes this world, where all these characters are invincible and all powerful, quite believable.

After the break I’m going to divulge some of the plot so beware. (more…)