Marvel Comics: Timeless Tales

/ Alex Good

Marvel Comics: Timeless Tales

Marvel Comics got its start (at least as Marvel Comics) in 1939. This slim volume collects a bunch of all-new genre homages to celebrate their 80th anniversary (in 2019), and is a real treat for fans of the Marvel brand.

We kick off with a spooky psycho-thriller from Crypt of Shadows. Then War is Hell, Journey into Unknown Worlds, Love Romances, Gunhawks, and Ziggy Pig – Silly Seal. I think the titles speak for themselves as to what you can expect, but if you’re wondering, the genres covered are horror, war, SF, romance, Western, and humour.

I thought the first story, written by Al Ewing was the best. I had to go back and read it again to understand what was going on. It’s a complicated narrative involving hypnotic states, but I think in the end it all made sense, which is something I appreciated. Also good were the two stories in Journey into Unknown Worlds. There was nothing fancy about them, but they delivered.

The other genres sampled are ones that haven’t maintained the popularity they once had. War comics and Westerns aren’t so big today, and I think romance titles have mostly disappeared. And I wonder why. Romance novels are still popular, aren’t they? Could romance comics not survive the attention of Roy Lichtenstein?

That’s a point worth dwelling on. Some genres, like SF and horror, can hold up under an ironic gaze. But for war, Westerns, and romance I think it’s harder. Which is why those stories here get cross-genre, ironic treatments. There are twist endings and supernatural elements that I doubt were that common in the originals. One of the romance stories takes place in a steampunk future, and another has a robot falling in love with an alien. The war stories are both strange tales and the Western takes a weird turn at the end as well. Then there’s Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal . . .

I have to admit I don’t know anything about these characters. As I understand it they were the basic comic odd couple, with Ziggy being the smarter one and Silly being the unbeatable goofball. I doubt they were as grown-up as they are here, however, as Silly has become a celebrity while Ziggy is stuck renting prostitutes and throwing up all over his flophouse apartment. Finding out that Silly has put him in his will, Ziggy travels with him to Latveria, home of Doctor Doom, in the hope that the Doctor will kill Silly for being a friend of the Fantastic Four. But that’s not how things work out.

Deadpool has a cameo here and that feels right because the humour is pretty adult and meta. Very Howard the Duck, if you remember that. Again it seems as though this material can’t be done straight today so there have to be layers of irony. At one point the co-writer, Frank Tieri, even puts in an appearance at a back-alley comic-con.

All of this goes down easy, but it’s still worth noting what sort of an homage this is. The genres really aren’t timeless, and these tales are very much of our time.

Graphicalex

15 thoughts on “Marvel Comics: Timeless Tales”

    • No, it’s in contemporary style. Or just the style of the artists they had contributing. I didn’t get the sense they were trying to imitate earlier art, even in the romance stories where you’d most expect it.

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  2. That’s a very good question about romance.
    I can understand why war and western have declined. The world doesn’t believe in heroes, real heroes, any more so they can’t accept that individuals in a war can be heroes. Westerns have just disappeared in general.
    But romance, in books the genre is expanding, FAST! It has crept into SF, now has it’s own fantasy sub-genre (Romantasy, and it is objectively terrible stuff), and all but controls the Urban Fantasy genre.
    I wonder if it’s because women aren’t as visually oriented as men and want all the extra descriptions that a book gives that a comic can’t? I don’t know.

    Overall, sounds like this was a very odd duck of a comic.

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    • It is an odd duck, but some of the stories are pretty good and the whole thing goes down pretty quick and easy.

      I’ve heard of romantasy and have stayed away. I’m sure it’s not my thing. I get the feeling people just couldn’t take romance comics seriously anymore. But then every genre is fantasy.

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  3. Pay attention to the people you see at grocery stores, specifically those young people with braces on one body part or another. These days (from my anecdotal observations), the overwhelming majority of them are now females. What girl has time for comics, particularly comics with traditional gender roles, when she’s busy playing soccer or volleyball or softball? And this trend began long ago and for obvious reasons really picked up momentum in the 70s. Traditional romance comics didn’t stand a chance.

    So why, if Bookstooge is correct (and I’ll take his word for it), is it proliferating in books? I figure it’s cause girls still WANT romance, they simply now have to horn it into male-dominated spaces to give it an “empowering” respectability.

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    • I thought the kids today were all obese or suffering from eating disorders because they spent so much time on their phones? I applaud these girls with broken or damaged limbs!

      It’s likely romance comics have been replaced by something. Social media? I agree that the demand for romance is still there, it’s just the form in this case is obsolete.

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      • Well, the boys are obese because the girls are told they’re all toxic. : -)

        Funnily enough, obesity wasn’t a problem in the 50s.

        But at least we’ve got someone on the case now who actually seems to care about such things. We may actually get decent food again. That’s the dream.

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      • Definitely too much junk in our diets. But if nobody knows how to or wants to cook that’s sort of what you get. Growing up on a farm was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Lots of real food every day. The stuff I eat now is pretty much all crap, but I at least laid a good foundation.

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      • Damn. Missed it by that much. I can, however, sing the entire opening theme for The Beverly Hillbillies. AND not only name the performers, but produce 2 of their records (on vinyl, of course).

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