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MARVEL MANGAVERSE #1
"Hungry Planet"
Neutral (4/10)
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Marvel Comics
Plot/Script: Kevin Gunstone
Story/Artist: Ben Dunn
Colors: Guru eFX
Editors: C.B. Cebulski, Brian Smith, Ralph Macchio
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
I was not
amongst those who enjoyed the Marvel Mangaverse event. Save for a couple of
stand-out issues, I found it overly cutesy and occasionally stupid, and the
finale was an utter mess. So it's fair to say that I wasn't looking forward to
an ongoing series, and this first issue didn't really change my mind. There are
some cute ideas, but Ben Dunn seems to be wearing his influences a little too
openly on his sleeve, and I don't feel like we're getting anything really new
here. More to the point, the manga versions of Marvel's characters aren't all
that different from the regular versions, and Dunn seems to have dumped some of
the more original ideas that came from the Mangaverse one-shots in favor of
silly and predictable in-jokes and a story arc that has been redone so many
times it has ceased to hold any interest for me.
That story arc, of course, is
the coming of Galactus, and in accordance with tradition, it's being played out
as a Fantastic Four tale. Of course, Dunn has thrown a few wrinkles into the
mix, including the presence of a teenage Captain Marvel and the notion that
Galactus is a world-destroying virus which, on purpose or by accident, looks
amazingly phallic in design. These wrinkles aren't enough to save the book from
being a retread of just about every Galactus story I've ever read, at least so
far.
Most of the potential in the
book, as with most of the Mangaverse one-shots, is in the re-invention of a
Marvel character in a different style. The only thing really "manga" about it is
the artwork, which is American manga style at best. The notion of Captain Marvel
as a teenager with a mom is more Stan Lee and Jack Kirby than Katsuhiro Otomo,
and while it's kind of a neat concept, I've seen the teen hero archtype done
before, and better, as well. Then there are all the elements which are too much
the same, like the Fantastic Four, which has mutated, inexplicably, from being
giant battlesuit-wielding warriors to a group of people with powers granted from
mundane costume battlesuits, or the new origins of Mephisto, the Watcher and
Galactus, which seem like The Fourth World with the serial numbers filed off.
Artwise, the book is pretty,
if not spectacular. Dunn's characters all have a visual similarity that makes
them a little dull, although I can't deny being somewhat amused by some of his
designs, such as the giant baby-head look of The Watcher, the high-tech Jedi
look of Captain Marv-Ell or the impressive-looking satellite relay station
spotted in the opening page. In addition, though the range of emotions seems to
run to either surly, happy or surprised/angry, I can't deny that Dunn is echoing
manga stereotypes with the use of that limited range of emotions.
I'm a latecomer to manga
fandom, and I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable about the form as I would like to
be. However, it appears to my eyes that Dunn has captured all the stereotypical
surface trappings of manga, the worst aspects of the style, without capturing
the diverse subject matter and unconventional storytelling style that make it so
interesting.
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