Or – “Recalling Random Rumors Of A Reboot?”
What’s New in the Marvel U?
Here’s where we’re gonna find out!
POINT ONE #1
Writer(s): Jeph Loeb/Chris Yost/Matt Fraction/Ed Brubaker/David Lapham/Fred Van Lente
Penciler(s):Ed McGuinness/Ryan Stegman/Terry Dodson/Javier Pulido/Roberto De La Torre/Salvador Larroca/Bryan Hitch
Inker(s): Dexter Vines/Michael Babinski/Rachel Dodson/Paul Neary
Colorist(s): Morry Hollowell/Marte Gracia/Sonia Oback/Javier Rodriguez/Lee Loughridge/Guru EFX/Paul Mounts
Letterer: Comicraft’s A. Dechesne/VC’s Joe Caramagna/VC’s Clayton Cowles/Chris Eliopoulos/VC’s Cory Petit/VC’s Joe Sabina
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $5.99
Previously, in Point One: Y’know, the Marvel Universe? Yeah, that happened.
HINTS, ALLEGATIONS & THINGS UNSAID…
Our story opens with two unnamed figures skulking about in the Blue Area of the Moon, their goal to invade the home of Uatu, The Watcher. Our characters helpfully exposition that Watchers go into a fugue state every three years, a time during which they seemingly go comatose, as if transmitting their findings back to whatever it is they work for. There’s a really fascinating moment wherein a simple line of dialogue completely changes the tone of EVERY SINGLE story ever written featuring the Watcher (save for that excreble Hulk-punch-out a couple years ago) before our two astronauts begin downloading the bulk of what Uatu has been observing recently. It’s a clever framing sequence that makes me hope that we’re going to see something more than just a series of trailers for upcoming series.
And then, they begin the series of trailers for upcoming series…
THE PAST OF FUTURE DAYS?
We see Nova (an oddly proportioned Nova, seemingly much younger than the last time we saw Richard Ryder, who is significantly NEVER identified as Richard) battling Terrax to warn him of an upcoming threat, a threat which turns out to be The Phoenix. (That’s the first link to classic Claremont X-Men tales, but don’t put down your pen yet, the list will get longer.) In the alternate universe of the Age of Apocalypse, we find that perhaps the human race isn’t quite as extinct as one might have thought, in a tale that is both embarrassingly melodramatic and poorly drawn (and also contains an on-panel decapitation.) We are given a few pages explaining the status quo and revealing the identity of the new Scarlet Spider (Here’s a hint: He’s as much a clone of Pete Parker as the last Scarlet was, and he shares his name with a professional wrestler, though he spells it differently.) There’s some interesting work with two new characters (Dragonfire and Coldmoon, making me think it’s the 90’s all over again), Doctor Strange is set on a path that will lead to the assemblage of the new Defenders team and we close up with a dystopian nightmare future in which the Avengers face their own Days of Future Past.
THE VERDICT: APPROVED FOR GENERAL AUDIENCES.
In short, it’s a bunch of trailers. There is some wonderful art in the book (The Dodsons do wonderful stuff with Doctor Strange, and Sal Larroca makes the Dragonfire/Coldmoon chapter look cool as hell) but all in all, the effect is exactly the same as the single page that Geoff Johns took to putting in the back of his #1 issues a couple of years ago: maddening glimpses of the future without real context. Add to that the issues ridiculous price tag (SIX dollars for 54 pages of random stories) and I’m left baffled at what this book is supposed to achieve. I’m looking forward to the return of Nova and the Defenders, but there’s so much thrown at the wall here that little of this issue sticks. I was really intrigued by the Watcher setup (and the supposition that all of the Watchers we’ve ever seen are just slivered bits of the same single omnipresent being) but the rest of the issue doesn’t hang together. Point One #1 is overpriced and underfocused, and the parts that don’t work drag the whole down, leading to a very disappointed 1 out of 5 stars overall.
[rating: 1/5]Faithful Spoilerite Question Of The Day: How do YOU feel about the revelation that Kaine is the new Scarlet Spider?
13 Comments
How does Jeph Loeb keep getting work? “Epic fail” indeed.
That dialogue was dreadful.
Hasn’t Nova been in space the past four years or so, what with Annihilation? Must have good wifi if he’s keeping up with his memes in the far cosmos.
The Clone Saga sucked, but I think Dan Slott did a lot to rehab it with Spider-Island. I enjoyed that arc, so I’m pretty comfortable with Kaine as the Scarlet Spider. He was writ a little too angsty in this piece, but I liked the end bit – “I’m not Peter Parker but I think I have his luck” or whatever. I’m actually SUPER EXCITED that the book is going to be set somewhere besides New York.
What was with Donald Pierce in the Age of Apocalypse piece? Didn’t Wolverine/Weapon X kill him in the original AoA?
As soon as I figured out it was a trailer book, it went back on the shelf. These things are supposed to be 99 cents.
I wonder what it means for Patrick. The last survivor of the Initiative’s Scarlet Spiders. They have acknowledged him previously in the Grim Hunt as part of the spider crew. And elsewhere as Scarlet Spider.
I’d find it interesting if he was included, what with them both being clones. Although, I guess Kaine is a bit more of an anti-hero what with the killing. Unless they bring up the KIA clone.
But they’re probably setting this all up to give Kaine the Carange symbionte and make him a big bad. Just a feeling.
I only started reading comic books literally a month ago, so I don’t have the history or knowledge of most people on the site, but I was not impressed with this. I began with DC’s New 52, one because I have always liked Batman, and two because it is a good place for a new reader to get into the stories. After hearing about this being a good place to get into Marvel, I decided to take a look, but honestly, I was just mostly confused, and it felt that you needed to know everything going on already to get anything at all out of it. Sure, some of the stories were kinda neat, like dude who isn’t spider-man saving people, but it still left me thinking “Who was that?” and “Where would I even look to find out more about him?”, and although I did notice there were names at the back, it just wasn’t very ‘noob friendly’.
It’s funny that you gripe over the price. Since Marvel shipped retailers twice as many copies as ordered, most retailers around me are either giving it away with purchase or discounting it 50%.
I think anyone going into this issue expecting anything other than “trailers” really didn’t pay attention to the solicit for this issue (no offense meant) or the accompanying teasers.
It’s funny that you expect casual readers to read the solicits, and it’s also funny that you didn’t notice Matthew saying that he had “hopes” that it wouldn’t be “just a series of trailers.”
No offense meant.
It’s funny that you gripe over the price. Since Marvel shipped retailers twice as many copies as ordered, most retailers around me are either giving it away with purchase or discounting it 50%.
That isn’t, unfortunately, a universal thing.
Usually these kinds of books are given to me for free when I purchase a comic with an actual story in it. There also not called comic books but advertisements. Thank you Jeph Loeb, you continue to prove to me why I no longer read your work.
I didn’t buy the issue, but I took a look at it. I noted how small and thin the Nova was. The possibility it might be Robbie Ryder crossed my mind. He joined the Nova Corps during the last nova series.
Now that I think about it…shame on me.
I really shouldn’t have bought this I really only bought it for Nova, a character I’ve know about but have recently become more interested in, thanks to UMvsC3. The Nova story wasn’t even that long. The X-Terminated series sounds interesting, ( a nice twist) and Coldmoon and Dragonfire wasn’t too bad, but could have been better.
Still, 6 bucks is overkill. As others have stated, why wasn’t this free like their “Season One” preview comic a few weeks ago?
So the Asian twins weren’t the Marvel version of the Wonder Twins? Cause they sure seemed dorky enough to be.