So many comics in this era take place long in the past. TBH, I prefer that to the mid-90s wave of comics taking place in alternate futures, but still…
Anyway, two of the best creators of the ’80s craft a 12 issue mini that has descending numbering (from 12 to 1) and takes place in the ’70s and ’80, which, in the year 2000, was the last time Marvel was consistently great.
And whatever else you may think of nonessential books, the splash page is great…
Oh. And remember what I said about preferring “past” to “future” stories? Well, this actually does take place in the future. An historian is taking a walk through the history of the world, narrated by Uatu. Of course, she ends up time-traveling to try to stop a disaster that kills all the heroes (yadda yadda).
No, it’s not a novel or particularly great story, but the craft at work is terrific and it’s more than fun enough to take your mind off your troubles on a rainy Sunday. Byrne pays tribute to all the things he loves most about Marvel (most notably, Jack Kirby).
It’s also laced with lots of continuity references both big and esoteric, which makes it nerdworthy.
I have only tagged existing heroes who appear in the series during the “travel back in time” sequences. Many new characters are created, but they exist only for this timeline. I also collectively tagged the “First Line,” a 1950s hero group created for this series but which does appear again once or twice (notably in John Byrne’s Hidden Years series).
In the end, it appears to set itself up for a sequel that never comes.
