History of the Marvel Universe

Comic Info

History of the Marvel Universe #1 Variant

Reprints History of the Marvel Universe #1-6 (September 2019-February 2020).  The universe is ending and only Franklin Richards and Galactus remain.  In a desperate attempt to recall the world he came from, Franklin asks Galactus to relay the history of the universe he has lived to see the birth and death of.  Galactus tells of the Big Bang, the rise of heroes, and the galactic challenges that faced the Earth, the universe, and its protectors.  Time is running out, and the history of the world is long…

Written by Mark Waid, History of the Marvel Universe is a Marvel Comics limited series.  The series features art by Javier Rodriguez and was released in a treasury edition.

Comic book “worlds” are really tricky.  Like a soap opera, time sometimes stands still and sometimes time passes in a flash.  Alternate worlds form and cataclysmic events are erased a couple years after they occur.  Trying to get a handle on events like this and streamline them is impossible…but Waid attempts it to moderate success.

Marvel has done similar “events” in the past but generally they aren’t done in story form.  Comics like Marvel Saga and smaller takes like Wolverine Saga tries to chronicle events and put them in order.  Here, Waid is trying to do it while telling a story of the end of the universe…but there is so much to cover.  Events that were massive get half a page or are skimmed over entirely.  Characters that aren’t as significant receive more time than more significant characters.  It also seems a little back-heavy since a lot of the early stuff was already streamlined with more emphasis on continuity between series…it is by no means perfect, but it is also an impossible task (do like how they skirt the issue of what happened in the present day to the future).

History of the Marvel Universe #4

What is great is Javier Rodriguez’s art.  Like other artists who almost simplify the characters, it adds a wholesome nature to the comics…something that History of Marvel Universe is kind of expounding upon.  Comic books started out as a kids’ medium and as they got darker and darker, there were less young readers.  Rodriguez’s art levels the playing field by creating a unified vision of the Marvel Universe that even the “kid” issues match the more modern issues.

History of the Marvel Universe is one of those is-what-it-is comics.  Though it is loosely wrapped in a story, it largely feels like a listing of even with good art as part of the telling.  It would have been impossible to do it in another means, but it doesn’t always make for great reading (especially if you’ve heard some of the stories told time and time again).  I actually kind of liked the last few issues of History of the Marvel Universe because I was more unfamiliar with it due to the ever expanding and contracting number of comics put out today.  In general, it is a decent primer for readers who might not have a handle on all-things-Marvel beyond the movies (and helpful appendixes help track down some of the storylines).  Now DC needs to do a modern take…Make Mine Marvel!