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invertible_hulk's review
3.0
A quasi-Nietzschean approach to the Marvel Comics canon that was supposed to tie up all of the loose ends, but only caused more headaches -- causing the Marvel editors to place it in a parallel timeline instead.
It started out decent, but seemed to be too ambitious for just twelve issues: for this part of the series, at least (follow-ups Universe X and Paradise X were twelve issue arcs as well). It quickly devolved into rather incoherent psychobabble and psuedo-Existential rhetoric.
And the overly wordy, strict dialogue of the appendices bogged down the plot more than it expanded upon it.
I'm not quite sure exactly who this series was intended for -- there's too much reliance on Marvel character history for the casual comics reader to follow, and it plays with the established canon a bit too much for any hardcore Marvel fan to enjoy.
It started out decent, but seemed to be too ambitious for just twelve issues: for this part of the series, at least (follow-ups Universe X and Paradise X were twelve issue arcs as well). It quickly devolved into rather incoherent psychobabble and psuedo-Existential rhetoric.
And the overly wordy, strict dialogue of the appendices bogged down the plot more than it expanded upon it.
I'm not quite sure exactly who this series was intended for -- there's too much reliance on Marvel character history for the casual comics reader to follow, and it plays with the established canon a bit too much for any hardcore Marvel fan to enjoy.
ruzgofdi's review
2.0
I've enjoyed the "What If" series when I've picked individual issues up over the years. So a big storyline that explores the idea of "what if everyone on Marvel earth developed super powers" sounded rather interesting. But that isn't quite what was delivered. It spends a good deal of its time catching up with various well known characters of the Marvel universe, and explaining what happened to them to change them from the regular versions we all know. It doesn't show them interacting much with this changed world, because most of them aren't all that involved with the world anymore. The rest of it deals with explaining the goings on of the cosmic end of the Marvel universe, and how they've influenced events over millions of years. Over all, it's a bigger story than what I was hoping to find. Not bad, but not what I wanted from it.
rtimmorris's review against another edition
5.0
My favorite Marvel GN of all time! Ideally, readers should feel comfortable with a LOT of Marvel history before venturing into this alternate reality tale and what they'll find is a bold new take on much of what we thought we knew. Reed Richards hiding in the guise of Doctor Doom? The Watcher on the brink of death because Black Bolt didn't want him to see what was coming? Planets as eggs for space-faring Celestials? There's so much fresh material here, all gorgeously drawn by John Paul Leon, it's the Marvel Universe told like never before. A pleasure to read over and over again.
invertible_hulk's review against another edition
3.0
A quasi-Nietzschean approach to the Marvel Comics canon that was supposed to tie up all of the loose ends, but only caused more headaches -- causing the Marvel editors to place it in a parallel timeline instead.
It started out decent, but seemed to be too ambitious for just twelve issues: for this part of the series, at least (follow-ups Universe X and Paradise X were twelve issue arcs as well). It quickly devolved into rather incoherent psychobabble and psuedo-Existential rhetoric.
And the overly wordy, strict dialogue of the appendices bogged down the plot more than it expanded upon it.
I'm not quite sure exactly who this series was intended for -- there's too much reliance on Marvel character history for the casual comics reader to follow, and it plays with the established canon a bit too much for any hardcore Marvel fan to enjoy.
It started out decent, but seemed to be too ambitious for just twelve issues: for this part of the series, at least (follow-ups Universe X and Paradise X were twelve issue arcs as well). It quickly devolved into rather incoherent psychobabble and psuedo-Existential rhetoric.
And the overly wordy, strict dialogue of the appendices bogged down the plot more than it expanded upon it.
I'm not quite sure exactly who this series was intended for -- there's too much reliance on Marvel character history for the casual comics reader to follow, and it plays with the established canon a bit too much for any hardcore Marvel fan to enjoy.
davramlocke's review against another edition
2.0
I made it roughly halfway through this before realizing that I simply didn't care about anything happening in this alternate Marvel vision. It is so boring and the art so off putting that I am a little shocked it made it past quality control. I only give it two stars because I respect attempts to write outside the box (it's how we got Frank Miller's Batman and others of that ilk). This one does not work.
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