Merry X-Men!
For the big holidays DC and Marvel release one-shots that show their various super heroes in the holiday spirit.
The newest installment from the Marvel Bullpen was released just in time for Christmas and featured a team-up story with Spider-man and Wolverine, a look at The Loners during the holidays, and a world tour of the Marvel Universe with a reporter in search of the meaning of Christmas.
The story where Spider-man and Wolverine battle a former department store Santa who has hijacked a Sentinel was entertaining and Mike Carey’s (Crossing Midnight) was fun because readers got to see what Namor, The Inhumans, The Watcher, etc. feel about Christmas. The ending also was a joke about the upcoming Secret Invasion crossover that will be the big event in 2008 for Marvel.
The Loners story seemed out of place and pointless as that series is over.
What irked me was that this issue is clearly not canon - meaning this issue didn’t happen in the scheme of Marvel continuity. From the start we see this with a Easter Egg picture of Spider-man battling The Hulk’s Mega Morph. The Watcher speaks (which he wouldn’t do) and we see Asgard (which was destroyed) and Aunt May is up and walking (she recently was shot).
They were fun stories, sure, but ultimately what was the point?
If this issue doesn’t somehow tie into the rest of the comics I’m buying, there isn’t reason for me to spend money on an issue that doesn’t matter. When DC does issues like this, or other series that are not canon, it is okay because that publisher has always been about mythology - their characters as timeless metaphors. Marvel, on the other hand, is a publisher about continuity, where everything since the first issue of the Fantastic Four in the 60s has “happened.”
If this Holiday Special doesn’t matter, then why should you bother?
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Images courtesy Marvel Comics
Matt Knicl: My name is Matt Knicl. I'm a U of I alumn and one of those unemployed English majors Garrison Keillor likes to make fun of. I've been reading comics since high school and one day I would like to write them. My goal is to expose readers to what is out there in the world of comics and using my English powers, show what is worth reading or not. I can be reached at buzz.comics@gmail.com.
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Matt Knicl
My name is Matt Knicl. I'm a U of I alumn and one of those unemployed English majors Garrison Keillor likes to make fun of. I've been reading comics since high school and one day I would like to write them. My goal is to expose readers to what is out there in the world of comics and using my English powers, show what is worth reading or not. I can be reached at buzz.comics@gmail.com.
Capes & Cowls » Blog Archive » Send in the Skrulls!!! (Capes & Cowls » Blog Archive » Send in the Skrulls!!!) says:
(Posted December 29th, 2007 at 2:57 pm)
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