This is a discussion thread for this insanely epic series, since I don't remember one being made before.
My thoughts:
- I enjoyed it overall, but it was far from perfect
Postives:
- Epic as all hell. Every character ever from Marvel, and many you probably never heard of.
- Incredibly complex storyline and detailed characterizations
- Occasionally interesting philisophical musings about humanity
- Loki is a good guy in the end.
- Cap's "death" (death is very relative in this series) was one of the more inspiring moments I've read in comics in a long time.
- Artwork is astounding (mostly by Ross, but a few others contribute as well)
Negatives:
- Way too complex. If anyone thought the original DC Crisis was confusing, you haven't seen anything yet. Trying to juggle dozens of storylines, and having more twists and turns than Plastic Man in a blender isn't always a good thing.
- They try to be too epic. It led to a conclusion that was inevitably anti-climactic. Not that I didn't enjoy it, but trying to conclude something that attempts to cover an absurd amount of material is impossible even for the best writers.
- Very long = expensive...I wish I could own it, but it's not really in the cards any time soon. I really can't find the entire series for less than, say, $90 (USD)....and even that might be generous.
...
I'd recommend it to anyone, but know that you're getting into a messily broad story arc. It isn't canon, but might as well be because every character covered is given respectful treatment in a logical manner based on their character traits.
I'd describe it as Marvel's equivalent of "Kingdom Come", except it's more epic but less focused. KC was very well done, but didn't attempt quite as much as the "X" series. Thus, "X" isn't quite as polished as KC, but they felt similar to me.
Gender: Male Location: somewhere within time & space
I read all three, thought it was a journey through the Marvel Universe and beyond. The manner the stories were written was original, and for the most part kept it in what seemed like continuity to me.
In fact, nearly every main character in Marvel was covered in-depth pretty much, and new characters and others that we know of but never paid to much mind too, were celebrated intimately aswell.
For me, my dissapointment was Mephisto being thrown in as the ultimate bad guy, on some ol' great evil beast (DC) type thing, or the actual Devil from Christianity, they didn't say that exactly but it was implied, I won't spoil it more than I have.
In any case, aside from the Mephisto nonsense, hrmm .. (they should of kept it Cosmic), it was a fantastic read and enriching source of colorful info about the Marvel Universe, they did try to outdo themselves a bit in Paradise, and I'll leave it at that.
the only thing i couldnt get my head around was why couldnt black bolt have the smarts like his son to wear a vibranium mouth piece? anyhoo, i thought it was awesome...no need for me to get all flowery like you guys. the main reason is when i jumped into it , it was after the whole thing was completed and i didnt know which one came first, so i just started on the first one my hand touched and it still all made sense to me yeah i know i could have checked the issue #'s in the inset of page 3, but hey, when i saw all that majestic art, i was eager to takes its panties off
Earth X was definetly the high point of the event, it was definetly better than the other two IMO because it wasnt AS confusing. I liked it overall, I preffered it over KC because well I prefer Marvel and it had alot of explanations for things (philosophically), whereas KC was kinda Biblical Both are pretty good.. And Yeah Loki being the one to realise.. well dont really wanna give it away but Well Loki being Loki was good.
Yeah, it made sense that Loki would figure it out. I loved that particular storyline.
And yes, Earth X was probably the best, then it went slowly downhill. Still, with that massive an undertaking pretty much no one would do it perfectly.
I just found things got more and more ridiculous. Such as Mephisto's whole role in it, the whole story behind Thanos, and the solution to living in a world without Death. Also, the Belasco and Sinister stuff was pretty out there. Also, after what I thought was a gutsy move in making Wolverine a fat, worthless has-been, they brought in the Wolverine from Days of a Future past? That was, in my opinion, stupid. Really, I just felt that the things that happened in Universe and Paradise X tarnished what happened in Earth X.
The Wolverine thing didn't bother me a ton, but it was a bit strange.
My only big gripe with the characters is that they made Spider-Man a mopey has-been for the early half, then he was pretty much a non-factor in the latter half of the series. Hell, they made May Parker (his daughter) seem much more mature than him....kinda ticked me off. You'd think that for a series of that scope, they'd give a little more cred to the person pulling in more cash for Marvel than any other single character or franchise.
Most of the other characters were superb though. And Loki's storyline was like a wet dream for me....he's completely right, while everyone in all of Asgard is wrong.
I haven't read it, but I got the hints from Wizard a couple years ago, that Odin wasn't who he said he was or something like that. Ya I should read these things.
you'll have to put aside a good four day weekend......for me it was longer cuz i was to cheap to uy it so i would go to barnes and noble like every day from 5 til closing at 11 for like a week
yep 89% of all the comics i read, i do in barnes and noble...fortunately for there are two B&N in my area, and another books-a-million in reasonable driving distance 9% i buy, and thumb thru at the comic shop, and the remaining 2% i get here on KMC...so there is always new trades,,, and they get new single issues every other wednesday....sometimes i pull a b'itch move, and killer trades i know is slated to come out i order over the phone under an assumed name, and the policy is if 10 days pass and you dont come pick it up, they have to put it on the shelf, so i wait and just hurry ther after or b4 work yeah im a cheap bastard, and thats all there is to it