Beyond The Panels #12- Marvel Legacy #1... That's It. That's The Title. I'm Not Giving Anything Away With The Title. Just Read The Post.
So.... Marvel: Legacy #1.
It certainly was a comic I paid six dollars for.
So, let's get started. I'm going to try and not just shit all over it, but come on. You read it. You know.
Suffice it to say.... SPOILERS (for a book that is a week old and if you haven't read it yet... don't, just don't; save your money).
First off, let's get it out of the way- this isn't a good comic. It's bloated and muddled and things are weird and... it's just kind of there. The art is pretty great and there are some cool moments, but it's just not very good. That said, it's not a bad book. Like, I mean, you can read it and get to the end and not feel like you've read the worst thing ever. There are some cool things happening. However, there are also some things where you're like, "Okay.... but why?"
So, if you read my last post, you know I'm a fan of the Wolverine return. It was one of the more easily telegraphed returns of the whole thing- Jason Aaron love Wolverine and it makes sense to bring Wolverine back, especially in the current Marvel Universe (which I talked about in my last post, which you should check out if you haven't yet). However, the "But why?" part comes when you give Wolverine an Infinity Gem. Why are they doing this? Why does he need it? Is this just so they can put him in All-New Guardians of the Galaxy, boost its sales, and piss me off to no end? It's definitely one of those things where we'll have to wait and see, but it's a weird choice. There will be more.
I think what really kills the book for me is the Ghost Rider and Starbrand stuff. First off, I know Robbie Reyes is a character who some people like, but he's the Ghost Rider that most people don't care about. And Starbrand? NO ONE FUCKING CARES ABOUT STARBRAND. Every time the book focused on those two characters, I kind of wondered why they were using them there. Like, if you're using the Avengers BC characters' legacies (wink wink, nudge nudge) to discover the fallen deranged Celestial, wouldn't T'Challa, being in Africa, be a better choice for one of them? Or really any of the other ones? You know, the ones we actually fucking care about? Why did we have to have a meaningless fight? Is it just because of the action quotient? Because we had action in the issue. This wasn't needed and it killed every bit of momentum the book would build up.
Next, let's talk about the Avengers BC. Beyond this sentence, I'm not going to bring up how there is no scientific possibility of homo sapiens a million years ago. It's a pretty cool concept- a bunch of legacy (wink wink, nudge nudge) characters forebears fighting a deranged Celestial, but... why are they showing us the end of the fight? Like, are we going to see the rest of the battle sometime? Also, isn't it weird this is where the book starts? I feel like this should have been something that was layered through the issue, perhaps using the dream of the legacy characters to show us this stuff in spurts. Structure was a big problem this book had in general anyways- it was all weirdly put together and the plot was muddled. I mean, what I just described right there is a smarter way to reveal the Avengers BC. You can still do the stupid fucking dead end bullshit that is the Starbrand and Ghost Rider stuff, but this way it makes more of a mystery of why it's happening and what's being fought over. They've made such a big deal out of the team in ads and solicits leading up to this issue, but this feels like a hook with not enough bait on it- I want to bite, because I'm hungry, but I can see the hook. The way they revealed the team and its purpose hurt the whole thing big time.
There are a bunch of little one and two pages vignettes throughout Marvel: Legacy #1 and I don't have any problems with them. I get why they're there. I had already planned on getting Captain America and I might get Marvel Two-In-One because I like Ben and Johnny and the Franklin and Valeria reveal at the end makes me hopeful for a Fantastic Four return. I don't really have a problem with them- they don't kill the issue like the Starbrand and Ghost Rider bullshit does. They show what's happening elsewhere in the universe.
The part about the issue that I unequivocally enjoy is the Thor and Cap stuff- Jane and Sam are great characters and play their roles perfectly. They work well together and beat the shit out of some Frost Giants. They call in Ironheart and she's... fine. I'm not a fan of Bendis's Mary Sues, so I don't really care about her, at all. This whole segment was just fun- action packed, funny, building to something great (WOLVERINE!!!!). This is that old Marvel feel. This is what I was hoping to get more of throughout this whole book and the problem with it lies here- by giving me some cool, old school Marvel action, it takes the rest of the modern Marvel bullshit elsewhere in the book (the Avengers BC tease,the goddamn Starbrand and Ghost Rider bullshit, and all the blatant future event set-up) and shows it for what it is- bullshit.
That's the big problem with this book. It's full of bullshit.
Let's be real- this was Marvel's answer to DC Rebirth #1. There are people on the Internet right now who are trying to say that it's unfair to this book to compare it to DC Rebirth #1 because they are two different things and blah blah blah. And yeah, it's really unfair to Marvel: Legacy #1 to compare it to DC Rebirth #1- DC Rebirth #1 is vastly superior to Marvel: Legacy #1. I was a lapsed DC reader when Rebirth came out. I had stopped around New 52. I picked up some stuff, but for the most part, I wasn't reading any DC. DC Rebirth #1 reminded me of everything I loved about DC and intrigued me with all the coming shit. Sure, it was set-up, but there was a story there. There was emotional resonance. There was a lot to care about in it. You could tell that it was a labor of love- Geoff Johns and company love the DCU and it was in every panel, every word, every line. The whole book oozed with love for DC and if you love DC and read that comic, you remembered why you loved the DCU.
See how many time I used the word "love" there?
That was what I wanted from Marvel: Legacy #1- I wanted something that reminded me of the Marvel I loved. Marvel, much like New 52 era DC, has fucked up lately. No bones about it- they still put out good things, but there's a lot of shit and there's an overall feel to the company that they know better what their fans want than the fans themselves do. There's this weird dichotomy where it feels like the company doesn't care about the comics and their fans, but that it also has an insane amount of control over the creative side of the company to such an extent that very little gets to breath- marketing and editorial has such a leash on creative and it shows. Now, I didn't trust them to make a full 360- this is modern Marvel. Their creative bench is light and they haven't been firing on all cylinders lately. Putting Jason Aaron on the book was a step in the right direction, but.... fucking sigh.
I know Jason Aaron cares a lot about Marvel. You can tell in a lot of the things he's written. He is a great writer and this book doesn't feel like it was written by a great writer. It feels like a work for hire thing. It feels like Jason Aaron had a story he wanted to tell and editorial came in, gave him a list of beats to hit, and how to hit them and he followed the guidelines grudgingly. It honestly felt like someone read DC Rebirth #1, thought they'd found the code to do something like it, and got it totally wrong. As cool as the Valeria and Franklin reveal was, Valeria's narration was horrible. It was empty bullshit, like a latter day Bray Wyatt promo. There was none of the emotional resonance that Wally's narration had in DC Rebirth #1- it was just narration that was trying to be that, but there was no connection to anything remotely emotional or anything that made sense to the overall story.
There were just so many missteps in this book and on paper, there really shouldn't have been. There was a murderer's row of talent on it. After Secret Empire, we have a blank slate for Marvel. There was a chance that we could get something fun and new that also paid homage to the old school Marvel that we all loved, but we didn't get that. We got what we've been getting from Marvel for the last few years- set-up for the next event. That's it, really. Shit, there's even a lot of continuity ignoring in this book, which is modern Marvel as fuck. This wasn't Marvel turning a corner- it was Marvel just staying the course they've been on. Am I happy that's Wolverine is back? Of course I am. Was Franklin and Valeria being back cool? Yeah, it is. But in a book that's this muddled and badly structured, those things don't matter.
If this was supposed to be Marvel's way to get new readers into the boat, well, it's a failure. This is not a new reader friendly book. If this was supposed to be Marvel's way of getting people like me back into their books on a wider basis, it failed.
This book was a failure and it makes me sad and pisses me off.
See, I wanted this to be my window back into Marvel. I wanted something new and different that still felt like old school Marvel, like DC has been doing lately. I want to love Marvel and spend money on Marvel. I guess I wanted an apology, too. DC Rebirth #1 was a lot of things, but it was also an apology to those of us who left when the New 52 started. It was them admitting that they fucked up. Marvel: Legacy #1 was not that. It wasn't Marvel realizing that they've lost their way and trying to course correct. This was Marvel making us think that was going to happen and then just doing what they've been doing. It felt like Marvel laughing at us and telling us to fuck ourselves, that we're wrong and they'll show us dumb fans we like and tell us what we want. That's sad- it means that Marvel doesn't listen to its fans and thinks they are doing just fine.
Those two reasons are also what makes me angry. Marvel doesn't listen to its fans and they do think that what they've been doing is good. That's fucked, dude. This whole thing is fucked. Somehow, a Jason Aaron book drawn by some of Marvel's best artists is just kind of blah and that's a fucking tragedy. I'm one of those guys who thinks that Original Sin was great and Aaron deserves to be up there as Marvel's top guy. Well, from what I've read, there's already a backlash against this book and it's just going to hurt Jason Aaron's stock in the company again.
I know I'm in the minority with my opinions a lot, but this time, I feel like I'm not. I feel like most of us have decided that this was a pretty blah book with some cool stuff in it. I feel like I can say that it was a failure and very few people are going to argue with that. Honestly, as partial to DC as I am and have been for a long time (except during those New 52 years, although even then, I would have pointed out that DC's back catalogue was vastly superior to Marvel's), I wanted this book to light Marvel on fire and make it as amazing as it was in 2012, which was not even that fucking long ago, because it's better for all of us readers when both companies are amazing. It's better because then they'll be trying to one up each other and we'll be getting amazing stories from both. As it is, I'm quite sure both companies will be putting out amazing work.... I'm also sure that most of that will be from DC and that's who will get more of my money.
I wanted to love this book. I read it twice. Neither time made any difference. In the end, it was just a comic I spent six bucks on.
Next Issue- So, this blog is called Beyond The Panels, but we haven't really went beyond the panels yet, have we? So, next issue, we will- we're going to talk about fucking Star Wars. What am I going to say? How many times can I curse talking about a Disney property (I'll answer that one right now- a fuckton)? What will I complain about? You know how to find out- join us next time on.....
Beyond The Panels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It certainly was a comic I paid six dollars for.
So, let's get started. I'm going to try and not just shit all over it, but come on. You read it. You know.
Suffice it to say.... SPOILERS (for a book that is a week old and if you haven't read it yet... don't, just don't; save your money).
First off, let's get it out of the way- this isn't a good comic. It's bloated and muddled and things are weird and... it's just kind of there. The art is pretty great and there are some cool moments, but it's just not very good. That said, it's not a bad book. Like, I mean, you can read it and get to the end and not feel like you've read the worst thing ever. There are some cool things happening. However, there are also some things where you're like, "Okay.... but why?"
So, if you read my last post, you know I'm a fan of the Wolverine return. It was one of the more easily telegraphed returns of the whole thing- Jason Aaron love Wolverine and it makes sense to bring Wolverine back, especially in the current Marvel Universe (which I talked about in my last post, which you should check out if you haven't yet). However, the "But why?" part comes when you give Wolverine an Infinity Gem. Why are they doing this? Why does he need it? Is this just so they can put him in All-New Guardians of the Galaxy, boost its sales, and piss me off to no end? It's definitely one of those things where we'll have to wait and see, but it's a weird choice. There will be more.
I think what really kills the book for me is the Ghost Rider and Starbrand stuff. First off, I know Robbie Reyes is a character who some people like, but he's the Ghost Rider that most people don't care about. And Starbrand? NO ONE FUCKING CARES ABOUT STARBRAND. Every time the book focused on those two characters, I kind of wondered why they were using them there. Like, if you're using the Avengers BC characters' legacies (wink wink, nudge nudge) to discover the fallen deranged Celestial, wouldn't T'Challa, being in Africa, be a better choice for one of them? Or really any of the other ones? You know, the ones we actually fucking care about? Why did we have to have a meaningless fight? Is it just because of the action quotient? Because we had action in the issue. This wasn't needed and it killed every bit of momentum the book would build up.
Next, let's talk about the Avengers BC. Beyond this sentence, I'm not going to bring up how there is no scientific possibility of homo sapiens a million years ago. It's a pretty cool concept- a bunch of legacy (wink wink, nudge nudge) characters forebears fighting a deranged Celestial, but... why are they showing us the end of the fight? Like, are we going to see the rest of the battle sometime? Also, isn't it weird this is where the book starts? I feel like this should have been something that was layered through the issue, perhaps using the dream of the legacy characters to show us this stuff in spurts. Structure was a big problem this book had in general anyways- it was all weirdly put together and the plot was muddled. I mean, what I just described right there is a smarter way to reveal the Avengers BC. You can still do the stupid fucking dead end bullshit that is the Starbrand and Ghost Rider stuff, but this way it makes more of a mystery of why it's happening and what's being fought over. They've made such a big deal out of the team in ads and solicits leading up to this issue, but this feels like a hook with not enough bait on it- I want to bite, because I'm hungry, but I can see the hook. The way they revealed the team and its purpose hurt the whole thing big time.
There are a bunch of little one and two pages vignettes throughout Marvel: Legacy #1 and I don't have any problems with them. I get why they're there. I had already planned on getting Captain America and I might get Marvel Two-In-One because I like Ben and Johnny and the Franklin and Valeria reveal at the end makes me hopeful for a Fantastic Four return. I don't really have a problem with them- they don't kill the issue like the Starbrand and Ghost Rider bullshit does. They show what's happening elsewhere in the universe.
The part about the issue that I unequivocally enjoy is the Thor and Cap stuff- Jane and Sam are great characters and play their roles perfectly. They work well together and beat the shit out of some Frost Giants. They call in Ironheart and she's... fine. I'm not a fan of Bendis's Mary Sues, so I don't really care about her, at all. This whole segment was just fun- action packed, funny, building to something great (WOLVERINE!!!!). This is that old Marvel feel. This is what I was hoping to get more of throughout this whole book and the problem with it lies here- by giving me some cool, old school Marvel action, it takes the rest of the modern Marvel bullshit elsewhere in the book (the Avengers BC tease,the goddamn Starbrand and Ghost Rider bullshit, and all the blatant future event set-up) and shows it for what it is- bullshit.
That's the big problem with this book. It's full of bullshit.
Let's be real- this was Marvel's answer to DC Rebirth #1. There are people on the Internet right now who are trying to say that it's unfair to this book to compare it to DC Rebirth #1 because they are two different things and blah blah blah. And yeah, it's really unfair to Marvel: Legacy #1 to compare it to DC Rebirth #1- DC Rebirth #1 is vastly superior to Marvel: Legacy #1. I was a lapsed DC reader when Rebirth came out. I had stopped around New 52. I picked up some stuff, but for the most part, I wasn't reading any DC. DC Rebirth #1 reminded me of everything I loved about DC and intrigued me with all the coming shit. Sure, it was set-up, but there was a story there. There was emotional resonance. There was a lot to care about in it. You could tell that it was a labor of love- Geoff Johns and company love the DCU and it was in every panel, every word, every line. The whole book oozed with love for DC and if you love DC and read that comic, you remembered why you loved the DCU.
See how many time I used the word "love" there?
That was what I wanted from Marvel: Legacy #1- I wanted something that reminded me of the Marvel I loved. Marvel, much like New 52 era DC, has fucked up lately. No bones about it- they still put out good things, but there's a lot of shit and there's an overall feel to the company that they know better what their fans want than the fans themselves do. There's this weird dichotomy where it feels like the company doesn't care about the comics and their fans, but that it also has an insane amount of control over the creative side of the company to such an extent that very little gets to breath- marketing and editorial has such a leash on creative and it shows. Now, I didn't trust them to make a full 360- this is modern Marvel. Their creative bench is light and they haven't been firing on all cylinders lately. Putting Jason Aaron on the book was a step in the right direction, but.... fucking sigh.
I know Jason Aaron cares a lot about Marvel. You can tell in a lot of the things he's written. He is a great writer and this book doesn't feel like it was written by a great writer. It feels like a work for hire thing. It feels like Jason Aaron had a story he wanted to tell and editorial came in, gave him a list of beats to hit, and how to hit them and he followed the guidelines grudgingly. It honestly felt like someone read DC Rebirth #1, thought they'd found the code to do something like it, and got it totally wrong. As cool as the Valeria and Franklin reveal was, Valeria's narration was horrible. It was empty bullshit, like a latter day Bray Wyatt promo. There was none of the emotional resonance that Wally's narration had in DC Rebirth #1- it was just narration that was trying to be that, but there was no connection to anything remotely emotional or anything that made sense to the overall story.
There were just so many missteps in this book and on paper, there really shouldn't have been. There was a murderer's row of talent on it. After Secret Empire, we have a blank slate for Marvel. There was a chance that we could get something fun and new that also paid homage to the old school Marvel that we all loved, but we didn't get that. We got what we've been getting from Marvel for the last few years- set-up for the next event. That's it, really. Shit, there's even a lot of continuity ignoring in this book, which is modern Marvel as fuck. This wasn't Marvel turning a corner- it was Marvel just staying the course they've been on. Am I happy that's Wolverine is back? Of course I am. Was Franklin and Valeria being back cool? Yeah, it is. But in a book that's this muddled and badly structured, those things don't matter.
If this was supposed to be Marvel's way to get new readers into the boat, well, it's a failure. This is not a new reader friendly book. If this was supposed to be Marvel's way of getting people like me back into their books on a wider basis, it failed.
This book was a failure and it makes me sad and pisses me off.
See, I wanted this to be my window back into Marvel. I wanted something new and different that still felt like old school Marvel, like DC has been doing lately. I want to love Marvel and spend money on Marvel. I guess I wanted an apology, too. DC Rebirth #1 was a lot of things, but it was also an apology to those of us who left when the New 52 started. It was them admitting that they fucked up. Marvel: Legacy #1 was not that. It wasn't Marvel realizing that they've lost their way and trying to course correct. This was Marvel making us think that was going to happen and then just doing what they've been doing. It felt like Marvel laughing at us and telling us to fuck ourselves, that we're wrong and they'll show us dumb fans we like and tell us what we want. That's sad- it means that Marvel doesn't listen to its fans and thinks they are doing just fine.
Those two reasons are also what makes me angry. Marvel doesn't listen to its fans and they do think that what they've been doing is good. That's fucked, dude. This whole thing is fucked. Somehow, a Jason Aaron book drawn by some of Marvel's best artists is just kind of blah and that's a fucking tragedy. I'm one of those guys who thinks that Original Sin was great and Aaron deserves to be up there as Marvel's top guy. Well, from what I've read, there's already a backlash against this book and it's just going to hurt Jason Aaron's stock in the company again.
I know I'm in the minority with my opinions a lot, but this time, I feel like I'm not. I feel like most of us have decided that this was a pretty blah book with some cool stuff in it. I feel like I can say that it was a failure and very few people are going to argue with that. Honestly, as partial to DC as I am and have been for a long time (except during those New 52 years, although even then, I would have pointed out that DC's back catalogue was vastly superior to Marvel's), I wanted this book to light Marvel on fire and make it as amazing as it was in 2012, which was not even that fucking long ago, because it's better for all of us readers when both companies are amazing. It's better because then they'll be trying to one up each other and we'll be getting amazing stories from both. As it is, I'm quite sure both companies will be putting out amazing work.... I'm also sure that most of that will be from DC and that's who will get more of my money.
I wanted to love this book. I read it twice. Neither time made any difference. In the end, it was just a comic I spent six bucks on.
Next Issue- So, this blog is called Beyond The Panels, but we haven't really went beyond the panels yet, have we? So, next issue, we will- we're going to talk about fucking Star Wars. What am I going to say? How many times can I curse talking about a Disney property (I'll answer that one right now- a fuckton)? What will I complain about? You know how to find out- join us next time on.....
Beyond The Panels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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