Reviews

Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman

asdf7821bg's review against another edition

3.0

3.5⭐. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and its setting (and the amazing cover art!). Many of Marvel's characters lend themselves particularly well to a politically volatile Elizabethan England (X-Men, von Doom, etc.). Gaiman's dialogue is excellent, and is further accentuated by character-dependent typography.

My main issue with this run was its failure to stick the landing. I didn't need this alternate history to integrate itself within the 616 canon via time travel; I would have preferred a standalone, one-off story. While I don't think it was poorly written, the canon integration took me out of what I was enjoying about the premise.

Regardless, I definitely recommend it if you haven't read it yet!

tiberius_aurelius's review

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

parenthesis_liker's review against another edition

3.0

the integration of the story into the setting here is wonderful. I love each and every one of these colonial-era versions of the Marvel characters (Except Rohjaz. fucking awful). Him and the whole use of Roanoke in general is kind of tacky and bad. Really I just wish we got to spend more time with these characters and this world, and that it didn't have the whole

Spoiler

time travel plot line.

Shame the whole thing kinda fell flat in the end considering the potential it had

borborygm's review against another edition

3.0

A pleasant story beautifully illustrated, even if Fury's scars change inexplicable between panels.

kenyuen1's review against another edition

4.0

That was a fun what-if story about Marvel in the 1600s with Neil Gaiman at the helm

jenikki's review against another edition

3.0

My complete review of the book is here:
http://nikkistafford.blogspot.ca/2013/07/books-in-2013-12-marvel-1602-by-neil.html

alex_hev's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

This was great. Very cool to see a bunch of classic Marvel characters in a completely new environment working through problems. Some in the same manner as what we'd expect, others slightly differently. 

wanderlustlover's review against another edition

3.0

Graphic Novel Book Club:

Sadly, while I was really excited to read the 1602 series/universe all as one, I was not very impressed by the actual use of the characters, plotlines, and especially side series. A lot of it felt like really big shoutouts being tenuously connected so that old fans would understand but the new reader wouldn't understand what was going on at all.

The main book was okay, and each side series from there down was slightly worse and worse.

toc's review against another edition

4.0

A clever and inventive retelling of the origins of the original Marvel characters in a world you would never imagine. I really dug the characterizations. The story was pretty good as well.

And Mr. Gaiman gave my Hank McCoy back! That alone is worth four stars.

breamfish1138's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Maybe one of the more original concepts Marvel has ever done, and it integrates familiar characters and concepts to the setting really well without being too Leo DeCaprio pointing meme about it. The artwork (them covers especially, hot dog!) is also wonderfully old-timey. It really sucks that Neil Gaiman might be an awful person irl, because he can sure write.