Writer: Alex Ross and Many More

Art: Alex Ross

Price: $4.99

Release Date: March 4th, 2020

As we begin issue one of Alex Ross’s ambitious project of an anthology series showcasing many first time, and also well known creators, let’s see if Marvel #1 hits the mark! Or not…..

We open issue one with an appearance by Nightmare. Don’t worry True Believers, this is Nightmare the character, not the Nightmare arc from Batman…..whew!!! I have a feeling he’ll be the all-encompassing villain throughout this series. We’re then launched into the middle of the Spidey song and our first story – Spider-Man: Make My Day. It’s not clear who the artist is at all, so I’ll go out on a limb and say it’s by the writer, Frank Espinosa. Being a visual medium and all, if the art isn’t to my liking then it makes it really hard for me to enjoy the story. And the art just doesn’t work for me. At all. It’s watercolor perhaps?? The characters models lack depth and detail. Sometimes there’s no detail at all in Spidey’s costume.

When the gist of the story is MJ trying to get Peter to cut down on the use of web fluid to save money, it also doesn’t hit the mark for me story wise either. Also throwing in all the cliche Spidey stuff it makes it even harder to enjoy….. making Uncle Ben proud, the Spider-Man cartoon song, the use of “friendly neighborhood” etc…. we’ve seen it all a million times before.

I appreciate new stuff and different art styles, I really do, but the story AND art just don’t do it for me on this one.

Our second story, The Boy and the Brute, has a much more familiar feel to it. Very silver age. It’s drawn in a sliver age style too by Steve Rude. It works very well.

Written by Marvel legend, Kurt Busiek, it throws us way back to the beginning of the Avengers team, and actually fills some gaps in continuity from all the way back in the early ’60s. While I’m not a huge Hulk fan at all, this story had me actually feeling a bit sorry for him by the end. This story resonated with me much more than the Spidey story.

As we conclude with more Nightmare, we also an appearance of one Nightmare’s great foes, also from the early ’60s.

I appreciate the nod to 1994 cover of Marvels #1 by Alex Ross, but I doubt many readers will even realize the connection. However, having a cover that has absolutely nothing to do with the book doesn’t ever make sense to me.

Final Thoughts:

Although I prefer one of the stories and art styles far more than the other, I overall had an enjoyable experience. I appreciate the scope and expanse of how Nightmare may be interwoven throughout this whole series. Any Alex Ross art is always a plus too, even if the cover doesn’t have anything to do with this current series.

6.8