Review - Marvel: Your Universe Saga
You may have noticed a free comic when you went to your local shop on Wednesday. If, like mine, your store puts them on the counter, they can be easy to overlook as there tends to be a bunch of stuff on the counter. They tend to be little more than advertisements with a sketch or two of some upcoming book, but this week's free issue held something more.
Entitled Marvel: Your Universe (Saga), the book is an uber-recap of everything Marvel has done the past few years that tie into the big picture. It begins by explaining the Secret War limited series and the impact Nick Fury and his absence has had.
Major events such as Avengers Disassembled (and its tie-in Ragnarok), Annihilation and, of course, Civil War are all discussed as they relate to one another. What is more interesting thought are the smaller events also discussed. Fall And Rise Of The Shi'Ar Empire, the story of the Sentry, Planet Hulk and even the fall of Quicksilver are detailed within the pages.
The first half of the book is fleshed out by discussing the fallout of Civil War (such as the death of Captain America), Secret Invasion thus far and then a round-robin catch up of the books currently being published. Even second and third tier characters like Ghost Rider and Moon Knight get a chance for the spotlight.
The second half of the book is all about the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. The introduction discusses its origins, its two resurgences and where it's going in the future (hardcover, baby!). What follows that are some sample >b>Handbook entries. I can't fathom how they chose the entries (Big Hero 6? Griffin? Digitek?!), but it does give an overview of just how detailed the series can be, even with fourth and fifth string characters who haven't appeared in print in fifteen years.
So if you're headed back to your local comic shop soon, grab one of these free books. It'll bring you up to date on the interlocking storylines at Marvel and help explain some of the stories that began several years ago.
Check out the full wraparound cover below, then you can wonder why Iron man of all people wasn't plastered on the cover (though his appearance on the back is kind of neat.
Goblin
Posted to Comics on 2 September 2008
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: Marvel, Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Review
It was definitely a nice surprise last week. It was nice getting recapped on all of the stories, since I only follow a couple comics.