I think this issue of Marvels might qualify as cheap. I mean, while the first one thrilled and exhilarated, in this one Busiek puts a young girl in harm’s way as a dramatic plot. I’m not saying the issue does hit you in the stomach and hard, I’m just saying… it’s easy.

I mean, bigot learns not to be a bigot, but finds himself in a world where his not being a bigot anymore doesn’t mean everyone else isn’t a bigot. It’s almost a modern American narrative standard. I think “Quantum Leap” did about six episodes about it.

It’s a solid comic book and it does make the reader feel. It just does it in a dirty, cheap way.

Ross’s work here is fantastic. The grinning faces, the riots, it’s all just great.

I think the issue bothers me because it did choke me up, it just didn’t earn it.

Marvels, as I argued fifteen years ago and apparently am going to continue to argue today, feels more like a DC title than a Marvel one. It’s a combination of things–there’s something about Busiek’s narrator; he’s too common to be a Marvel protagonist, he’s too ugly, too sensitive. It’s also Ross’s art. Marvel comics have the superheroes on the street, doing their thing like it’s no big deal. They don’t look out of place. Marvels instead presents them as fantastic.

It’s not a perfect comic–I have a lot of questions about Busiek’s version of historical events and he’s way too blasé about repercussions of major events–but it’s damned effective. Ross’s art here isn’t his subsequent (and current?) style of the barrel-chested superhero, the Superman and Batman who eat lots of Ho Hos. They’re athletic, idealized… marvelous.

Is Busiek really the first one to call them Marvels?