Comic Book Herald

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marvel then

Marvel THEN! Thor: God of Thunder Review

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In October 2012, Marvel rebranded their entire line of comics under the “Marvel Now” banner, an era that would effectively last for three years until 2015’s Secret Wars. It’s a fan favorite era of comics, under the editorial reign of Axel Alonso, with titles like Hawkeye, Superior Spider-Man, Thor: God of Thunder, and Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers among many others.

2022 marks the 10 year anniversary of Marvel Now, so at Comic Book Herald, we’ll be looking back at the best, most interesting, or just downright most confounding Marvel Now titles. This is “Marvel Then.”

Jason Aaron is a man obsessed with legacy. It’s hard to fault him for it because legacy is a quintessential part of being human. When we part from this world, what do we leave behind? Philosophers have spent centuries trying to determine the pathos behind it, but the act of wanting something (or even someone) to outlive you and propagate through time is intrinsic to the human experience.

But the legacy that Jason Aaron leaves behind today is a far cry from the legacy he was building up ten years ago, during the Marvel NOW! Era. Nowadays, it feels like a race between writers to leave their mark on the biggest intellectual property in the world, and at the forefront of that race is Jason Aaron, who currently claims nine hundred and four creations within the Marvel Universe alone. Going back to read the very beginning of his seven-year-long run on Thor after years of enduring his latest works feels refreshing, especially with the hindsight of an entire decade helping to colour my reread. [Read more…] about Marvel THEN! Thor: God of Thunder Review

Marvel Then: Silver Surfer by Dan Slott & The Allreds

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In October 2012, Marvel rebranded their entire line of comics under the “Marvel Now” banner, an era that would effectively last for three years until 2015’s Secret Wars. It’s a fan favorite era of comics, under the editorial reign of Axel Alonso, with titles like Hawkeye, Superior Spider-Man, Thor: God of Thunder, and Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers among many others.

2022 marks the 10 year anniversary of Marvel Now, so at Comic Book Herald, we’ll be looking back at the best, most interesting, or just downright most confounding Marvel Now titles. This is “Marvel Then.”

The Silver Surfer. Cool design, awesome concept, but the character? Norrin Radd himself? Maybe a little lacking in personality, right? Not due to bad writing, but rather the very point of the character when he was first introduced. He was the Herald of Galactus and the man who chose planets for the Devourer of Worlds to eat. Such a character had to be written as lacking in emotion; willing to let Earth be consumed, until finally persuaded otherwise by the sheer force of human good.

And so the characterization continued, even after the Surfer handed in his notice to the big planet-eating guy. When his emotions do come out, they normally take the form of melancholy, guilt, or all-encompassing cosmic rage. As a result, his stories also tended towards the reflective (no pun intended) and serious. A classic example would be Silver Surfer: Requiem by J. Michael Straczynski and Esad Ribic. Generally considered one of the finest works on the character, this miniseries dealt with the cheery concept of Radd confronting his imminent death.

[Read more…] about Marvel Then: Silver Surfer by Dan Slott & The Allreds

Marvel THEN! FF by Matt Fraction, Mike Allred, & Laura Allred!

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What Is The FF?

Ten years ago was a very different time in comics. The shock of The New 52 was just cooling, as comic fandom anxiously anticipated what at first appeared a similar turn of events in Marvel NOW!’s relaunch of the Marvel Universe. One of the more interesting reshuffles was with the Fantastic Four. One of Jonathan Hickman’s major changes to the franchise was giving the team a legacy, students in the Future Foundation (or FF). After Reed Richards observes that the world’s scientists and leaders were inadequate to the changing world, he began gathering children from all walks of life in order to form the FF, a think tank designed to solve problems. They end up becoming important in events like partially curing the Thing’s inability to return to human form, saving the world from other-universal Reeds and the Celestials, and end up becoming a core part of the family.

Matt Fraction’s relaunch of Fantastic Four with Mark Bagley and FF with Mike Allred and Laura Allred left this dynamic largely unchanged. The new premise of the books was the Fantastic Four with their children Franklin and Valeria departing the universe for a road trip that would last only four minutes in real time, though for those four minutes they each pick a member for a temporary Fantastic Four to guard the universe in case things go wrong. This of course being comics, things go wrong. But more importantly, it’s a story about rebuilding when you’ve lost everything and how lasting relationships can be forged even in tragedy. [Read more…] about Marvel THEN! FF by Matt Fraction, Mike Allred, & Laura Allred!

Marvel THEN! Nova, The Boy Wonder of Marvel Cosmic

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Although he was never an A-Lister, Richard Rider’s Nova has always been a fan favorite. Created in the 70’s by comic legends Marv Wolfman and John Romita Sr., Nova burst into the Marvel Universe with his own short-lived series. Rider was only a high school student when he got his powers and was meant to act more like a Spider-Man type on the Cosmic side of Marvel. He would become someone readers could see themselves in as they plunge into the early Marvel Cosmic stuff. Eventually, he joined the C-list superhero team New Warriors for most of the 90’s, taking on new adventures with them. The following decade would see him garner a strong fandom, with Abnett and Lanning’s now-iconic run on the character kicking things off. Between 2006’s Annihilation and his death in 2010’s Thanos Imperative, Nova was partly responsible for revitalizing Marvel Cosmic, transforming it into a vast, interesting, and eccentric part of the universe that had been mostly forgotten in the past. [Read more…] about Marvel THEN! Nova, The Boy Wonder of Marvel Cosmic

Marvel Then: Days of Future Now

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When Marvel Now looked to the past to drive the future of the X-Men

When Marvel Comics’ two biggest franchises, the X-Men and the Avengers, joined together for the sprawling “Avengers vs. X-Men” event storyline, the two teams came to blows over the fate of young Hope Summers as the cosmic Phoenix Force bore down on the planet. In the real world, the storyline represents something of a pivot point in Marvel’s history. Prior to the crossover event, the Avengers and the X-Men were in two very different places. Throughout the 1990s (and really, much of the 80s), the X-Men had been one of Marvel’s top franchises, consistently posting strong numbers across the line and helping keep the company afloat during its corporate malfeasance-triggered bankruptcy. But in 2000, acclaimed independent writer Brian Michael Bendis came to Marvel and launched Ultimate Spider-Man, reimagining Spider-Man for a modern audience. The critical and commercial success of that project expanded Bendis’ profile at Marvel, and by 2004, he was handed the keys to the Avengers. [Read more…] about Marvel Then: Days of Future Now