The Hightlight Reel: MARVELS Behind the Scenes

In 1994, Marvel Comics published MARVELS, a four-part overview of the various eras of their comic book universe as seen from the vantage point of everyman Phil Sheldon. This was the hook that made the series so intriguing...instead of recounting familiar events through the eyes of superheroes, we literally see them at street level from the perspective of a bewildered, frightened, and occasionally awe-struck humanity.

However, beyond the gimmick of simply shifting the narrative "camera angle", writer Kurt Busiek and painter Alex Ross traced how the wonder and optimism of the early heroic age gradually gave way to darkness and fear...mirroring the same gloomy trend many of us have observed in superhero comics over the decades.

My favorite issue of the series is MARVELS #2, which focused on Marvel's early Silver Age era and its virtual explosion of super-powered beings.  The story opens with Phil Sheldon (a photographer for the Daily Bugle) witnessing the Avengers battling a collection of supervillains in (and over) the streets of New York...which includes a jaw-dropping "worm's eye view" of Giant-Man, one of the most breathtaking panels I've ever seen:

(click on each page for a larger view):

As amazing as this sequence is (I still get shivers reading it), there's something else about these two pages that I find special in another way.  You see, although no deep knowledge of the Marvel universe is required to read and enjoy this series, there are some wonderful "Easter Eggs" Busiek and Ross included that give the story an added level of enjoyment for old Marvel True Believers like me.

What do I mean? Well, for those of you who see just another generic superhero/supervillain clash on the first page, I see panels echoing the Avengers battling the Masters of Evil from Avengers #6 (1964).

Let's take it from the top-left:

Here we see Radioactive Man fogging the crowd with Adhesive-X and its corresponding panel from Avengers #6.  Note the same positioning of the fleeing crowd!

Of course, he was soon bundled up and shipped off to the authorities.

The Black Knight and his flying steed do the same thing with the Adhesive-X mist, though this time the MARVELS panel shows the same scene from an entirely different angle (perfectly illustrating the unique perspective-switch of MARVELS):

Thor puts a end to the Black Knight's treachery....

...while Iron-Man drags the Melter off to police custody!

Finally, we see the astounding shift in perspectives between the MARVELS street-level shot and its likely Avengers #6 counterpart (click for a slightly larger view):

It's this kind of clever detail that I think makes an already amazing work like MARVELS into a true "love letter" to the old stories that inspired it.  'Nuff Said!

P.S.- If you've never read MARVELS, click here to add it to your Christmas Wish List...on the double!

Comments

[Rich]

Mark, this is great. Marvels is lovely, but I'd never seen those panels from Avengers #6. I ordered the Masterworks TPB with Avengers #1-10 last week, so hopefully it'll be in the mail tomorrow.

[Mark Engblom]

Fantastic. In fact, I scanned those Avengers #6 panels from my own copy of the Avengers Masterworks book.

I've also spotted various "alternate perspective" panels from Fantastic Four appearing in MARVELS #3 (the F.F.'s first battle with Galactus), as well as many of the real-life celebrities Alex Ross modeled various characters on (the subject of a future post for sure).

[suedenim]

Those Fantastic Four panels really leapt out at me when I first read MARVELS.

I had an early-80s Fantastic Four reprint trade paperback that included the Galactus trilogy, and details from those early comic book possessions have been permanently burned into my brain. I especially loved the panel of Galactus' "Punisher" attacking with amazing super-speed, a great call-back to Kirby's original (which itself was wonderful at selling the notion that, yes, the FF for all their powers are *seriously* outclassed here.)

[Siskoid]

Another vote for seeing more side-by-side comparisons from Marvels!

[Mark Engblom]

Yeah, I think I may have to do the F.F. panels one of these days. Glad you guys enjoyed the Avengers comparison.

[Shar]

Re your comment on a future post on the real-life celebrities Alex Ross modeled various characters on: that would be a great read! Reed is clearly (and famously) modeled on the Professor from Gilligan's Island (Russell Johnson), but I can't quite put my finger on whom the Black Widow is based on. She appears in just a couple of panels, once with her short black hair and again with the long red hair, and the face used really captures Natasha's steeliness.

[Mark Engblom]

Yeah, the Russel Johnson look on Reed Richards was absolutely perfect. As for the Widow, I'm not sure who she may be. Ross uses many of his friends and family as reference models, so maybe she's not "famous" in the Hollywood sense. I'll go into it more with the next MARVELS post.