MDCU Oct-28 Ugh, The State of the 616 Blows

10 years ago pablolobo

Another loaded week of comics and I am happy to report that matchup between the email and the listings is… ACCURATE (said in a He-Man “I’ve got the power” voice). This is a first and important. Cuts down on confusing me, and as we all know, I’m 40 and easily confused these days.

As with last week’s late entry I’ll take one comic and talk about it and then fill in the rest with one liners. Only this time I won’t. This week I need to rant a little about the state of the Marvel Universe. As you know Benty and I recently did a It’s Bendis’s Fault/It’s not Bendis’s Fault back and forth, and continuing in that vein, it’s Marvel’s fault. The 616 is a complete and utter fucking mess. I really don’t know how to say it any nicer.

As I read through this week’s solicitations and I reminisce in the past few months of digital comics, I can’t help but be… lost. I can’t think of a better word, but the state of the Marvel Universe is a complete and total mess, the number of alternate realities and universes and and and and! It’s enough to make one bonkers. And in this I blame Marvel editorial and business deciders as a whole. They’ve managed to make a mess of the 616, to the point where my kids don’t even know how to jump into the current comics. They don’t want to. The whole damn thing needs a crisis, it needs a reboot. Bring out Genis-vell and have him do his magic, not just in the 616 but on the editorial staff.

I love the cosmic aspect of Marvel, it was a huge part of my childhood along with the mutants and it was always fun to read the exploits of Silver Surfer or the Fantastic Four in space, or the Avengers as they got involved in the Kree Skrull war. Thinking back even my early exposure to the X-men was them gallivanting through the Shi’ar empire. From Kirby to Buscema, to Perez, to Bryne, Starlin, Kane, and more the cosmic aspect of the Marvel Universe is critical to the core of Marvel.

But it’s gotten too messy. If the 616 were paired down to the 616 and only the 616 I could live with it. But just about every comic listed has some sort of alternate reality invading the 616 or being invaded by the 616. And it’s just confusing. X-Termination is one title that irks me as it plays with one group of heroes from different earth’s and 2 other teams from 2 disctinct timelines. That’s a lot of timelines and realities mixing it up. New Avengers is trying to save the 616 as the multiverse is destroying itself, Uncanny X-men just killed off a Celestial, and on its own would be cool, but you just know this is going to involve multiverse hijinks, the FF are just all over the multiverse, same with Wolverine & the X-Men right now.

And there are characters all over the place from all over the place. To be honest the biggest threat in the 616 isn’t the Skrulls or the Badoon, or any other alien race–it’s the Editorial staff. These guys are the biggest danger to themselves. And Marvel let it happen. They let this sandbox for guys like Bendis run amok, instead of keeping Bendis tied to Daredevil (I hear he does well on this title) they let him run rampant through the 616. I’d recommend revolution, starting with the editorial staff and then working the way down the chain, but revolutions are dangerous and more often than not the revoltees rarely have a plan or vision for what should happen afterwards. I’d like to see an Editor in Chief in with a clear plan, some direction and some alignment. The current mess is unsalvageable.

I need to see a planning board, a plan, some direction. I need to know where we are going with this utter mess of a universe, and I don’t think the Powers That Be really have a plan, I think they spew plan and big ideas, but I think they are lost, they’ve had too much fun in the sandbox and lost the top level view of what they were doing or where they were going. And when they do latch on to something big, they choke at the end, afraid to really hit home and change the status quo. Because they don’t have a plan, they don’t have it drawn out.

Enough of my whining, on to the comics!

Guardians of the Galaxy #2

Still enjoying this title. And this is another comic where I’ll have to write about the costumes, there was some recent controversy on the fwoosh about Gamora’s outfit.

X-Termination #2

Just hate it. It’s a big multiverse mess that ends with a thud, see we trapped the bad guys in this pocket dimension… cause we don’t have the balls to kill it off, we might want to revisit. Oh and Cowboy Wolverine is gonna go resurrect Hercules? Uh, dude, this ain’t your timeline’s Herc? yeah… messy.

Morbius: The Living Vampire #4

I’m enjoying this title all of a sudden. Pocket isolated story with some fun character development.

Young Avengers #4

I liked this issue. I still think the art is a bit stiff, but somehow these kids are growing on me.

New Avengers #5

See above rant. I guess this title recognizes the mess and is gonna do something about? Or puss out and end in a thud.

Uncanny X-Men #5

I like the Limbo bit and anytime you introduce Dormammu into a comic you know shit’s gonna get real. Hopefully he can fix Magik.

FF #6

Another title that has me somewhat lost. But I guess that is the point?

Uncanny Avengers #7

We found Thor’s axe and killed a Celestial. This ain’t gonna end well.

Fantastic Four #7

Lost. I am so lost. I feel like I’ve missed a bunch of issues. I even went to check to see if I did. I didn’t, I counted, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…

Deadpool #8

Giggle. Deadpool written well is just stupid immature fun. Like this comic! Love it!

Gambit #11

I liked the art…

Marvel Universe Ultimate Spider-Man (2012) #13

DNR

Scarlet Spider #16

Like Morbius, I like this title as an isolated event that’s devoid of any 616 crap. It’s a great way to take a B-Lister and give him some space to grow.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #22

DNR

Wolverine & the X-Men #28

Ugh. The Wolverine universe is about to get messy. Read above rant. That said there was some good characterization in this comic and that is important.

Journey Into Mystery #651

Another of my favorite comics. I like that the Thor-verse is living in a pocket and seems unaffected by the rest of the poop. There is a well of good story telling here and I enjoy it. This is a good place for the cosmic mess, this is the playground for it.