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Marvel 1602
Marvel 1602
Marvel 1602
Ebook206 pages1 hour

Marvel 1602

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Erlebt noch einmal die alternative Geschichte des Marvel-Universums anno 1602, dargebracht vom gefeierten SANDMAN-Schöpfer, Bestseller-Autor und Fantastik-Virtuosen Neil Gaiman und Zeichner Andy Kubert. Elisabethanischer Siedler-Mythos trifft alternative Comic-Geschichte das komplette Epos in einem Band!
LanguageDeutsch
Release dateOct 21, 2016
ISBN9783736726611
Marvel 1602

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Rating: 3.875722631984586 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I enjoyed the mixture of Marvel characters, but I found the plot a bit hard to follow. Nick and Strange also looked a lot a like and I kept mixing them up.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I've always loved Neil Gaiman's writing but this mini-series is the best I've ever read and I like it as much as Sandman my favorite comic. But it's not just a great story, the art work is superb and very appropriate for the story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In this book modern Marvel characters are living in the year 1602. I haven't read any Marvel comics in a little bit so this may have been more entertaining for someone who knows the universe better but I really enjoyed it all the same. Based on the other Neil Gaiman I have read, this comic definitely felt like it was written by Gaiman. This book was colored with pretty muted colors which made sense for the time period and the story but I personally really don't like muted color palette so I didn't enjoy that aspect of the book, though the art was generally very pretty and I really liked the parts that looked like watercolor. Overall an interesting tale that blended real and fictional people though I still don't quite understand why there were dinosaurs in America.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It's the last days of Queen Elizabeth's reign and while she leans heavily on the advice of both her intelligencer, Sir Nicholas Fury, and her new physician, Dr. Stephen Strange, threats are looming. The weather portends evil in the eyes of many. Count Otto Von Doom appears to be restless. And the Grand Inquisitor seems to have a strong fascination with the school of Carlos Javier in England where the Inquisitor believes an enclave of witchbreed are in hiding.As soon as I heard about this Neil Gaiman authored arc where Marvel characters are living in Elizabethan England, I had to read it. The collection did not disappoint. This is not a time travel tale, and while many of the names and characteristics of these characters are familiar they are not quite the same either. A delight to read both for Marvel and Gaiman fans. Recommended.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I'll admit that I have a very low tolerance for alternate history comics, both from Marvel and DC, and Neil Gaiman's Marvel 1602 is a prime example of all the things I hate the most.Primarily, it amounts to the fact that for all the creativity of transforming the characters into iterations that fit the new setting, it seems even more straight-jacketed and limited than the non-alternate stories.There's someone whose name sounds like Peter Parker? I wonder if he'll get spider-related powers.They keep going on and on about how the Victor von Doom-alike is the most attractive man in Europe? I wonder if his face will be horribly disfigured before it's all over.And so on and so forth.It becomes less of seeing what new twists and turns will be thrown your way, but rather looking for regular universe references and seeing when the important features of the character get applied.In the end, I come away from these with nothing but a feeling of disappointment.(On the plus side, Andy Kubert's art is as reliably competent as ever.)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When I used to read comic books, I loved the "What If...?" series. For those of you who don't know what that is: it was a speculative series published by Marvel that would answer some hypothetical question, like "What if The Punisher became Captain America?"This, in the spirit of What If...? answers the question of What if the Marvel Superheroes emerged in the early 17th century, instead of in modern day?In an era between one ruler and the next, England's newest king James decides to make steps necessary to eliminate the Witchbreed, that is, individuals who exhibit super strength. In this collection, penned by The Sandman's Neil Gaiman, we are given a glimpse at the 17th century's Fantastic(k) Four, Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, Daredevil, and the X-Men. Additionally, we meet villains such as Dr. Doom and the Brotherhood of Mutants, led by the chief inquisitor, this era's Magneto. Other heroes exist in this era as well, but are left as treats for the reader.I loved this series so much that I went out of my way to get the other two books in the series (sadly, not written by Gaiman, but worthwhile in their own rights). This story gives you both a history lesson and an entertaining graphic novel all at once. Definitely required reading for any fans of Marvel's speculative issues, and recommended highly for fans of Neil Gaiman.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Gaiman re-envisions the history of the Marvel superheroes in the Elizabethan age of the beginning of the 17th century. Many fan-favourites make an appearance, with the major groups at the fore.Gaiman's story is not quite up to his usual par, but the art by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove is amazing. Also the cover art by Scott McKowen is very unique and beautiful, and fitting to the setting.The twist of the story is quite surprising and interesting, and fits the connected character's idea well, I think. On the other hand, it's something of a deus-ex-machina type, and sort of a cheap shot. The best times with this book are had when you note how differently, but at the same time similarly, certain characters are used.Oh, and it helps A LOT if you know the Marvel canon by heart (which I don't).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I wasn't sure if I would like this book, simply because this era of history really doesn't interest me that much. I was drawn into the story almost immediately, though, and I enjoyed these comics immensely.The art is beautiful and really sets the tone for the story. The covers are especially noteworthy, and you can tell that the artist put a lot of work and thought into them. The plot itself was very good and "meaty." This isn't a book that you're going to be able to breeze through in half an hour, like many comics collections. This was a solid few hours of reading and had some depth to it, which I appreciated.It does help if you know the Marvel Universe; it's not completely necessary, but you're going to miss some things if you aren't already familiar with these characters.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'm not sure if I liked this or not. It seems like a cool idea at first, but it also feels really corny. I think it would have been outstanding had Gaiman written it without trying so hard to include the "famous" characters from the Marvel universe. Just do a what if superheroes were around in the 17th century. Not necessarily the superheroes you all know and love.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am trying to catch up on all the Gaiman stories I have missed. This looked like a pretty interesting one; I mean how cool is it to re-imagine all of the Marvel characters in 1602? Overall it was entertaining. The story was excellent and the drawings fantastic. I am a new-comer to the Marvel universe and as such I think I missed some things that a more comic knowledgeable person would have grasped. At times I also thought the story line jumped around a bit too much.Overall though I really enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend this is you are a Gaiman fan or a Marvel universe fan. Some of the ways Gaiman adapted the Marvel heroes to the 1602 time-frame were very interesting and creative.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is an interesting concept. Great writing by Gaiman as he places Marvel heroes in the year 1602 - Nick Fury as the queen's intelligence officer, Dr. Strange as her physician. The X-men, FF, and Magneto and others as agents of the Spanish, English, and the Church. The plot is imaginative and pure Gaiman, Kubert's pencils as always are good, and it is an excellent read as the plot unfolds around some actual historic events as well as some fictional events introduced to further the plot development. They do a good job integrating the marvel characters in ways both subtle and yet still utilizing their unique powers and abilities. A really fun read with great art.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is a graphic novel that takes Marvel superheroes and places them in England in 1602, just before Elizabeth I's death. The story continues after her death, as James I of England inherits the throne. He doesn't have the tolerance for magic that Elizabeth did, so the “witchbreed” need to be careful how they proceed. don't read a lot of comics, but I had hoped to recognize more of the superheroes. Unfortunately, I only recognized a few. I'm sure it would have been much more interesting to me if I'd known who more of them were. I did like all the info included at the end of the book, the Afterword, some of the script (the dialogue with suggestions on how the images should be done), some preliminary sketches, etc. The story itself, just wasn't for me, though there were some parts that were more interesting than others.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Where to start. This was a nice primer after so much time away from graphic novels. I really enjoyed the artistry and the pacing. It was easy to follow and showed excellent restraint in what was spoken vs shown.

    I highly recommend this to anyone looking for an Introduction to this medium of storytelling. Kinda bummed by the lack of wolverine and rogue, though.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Sudden strange disturbances in weather have provoked panic all over Europe. With Queen Elizabeth on her deathbed, political maneuvering has begun in an effort to slide the “witchbreed” (mutants) hating James VI of Scotland into a ruling position. Before her passing, the Queen instructs Sir Nicolas Fury to arrange for the safe passage of an unknown item making its way to England under the protection of the Knights Templar. Why weren’t the Knights Templar protection enough? Well, there are many powerful men and women who seek the item and will stop at nothing to claim ownership.

    Neil Gaiman asks the question – what if the Marvel universe began 400 years earlier? He tries his best to give you an answer.

    Unfortunately, I didn’t quite care for this.

    The whole story felt overly gimmicky rather than creative and original. Switching up the names certainly made sense based on the era in which Gaiman was setting the story but I found them hokey and distracting. Charles Xavier as Carlos Javier? Peter Parker as Peter Parquagh? Meh. Daredevil was another lost cause. While he had a pretty strong presence in the story, he came across as annoying.

    I’ll give Gaiman some points for taking a unique approach to the Marvel universe but I just couldn’t get behind this. I can usually breeze through trades in a night, two nights tops but this here collection took me much, much longer. I felt myself constantly drifting, struggling to pay attention. The writing would often grab me if I stumbled across a memorable scene or exchange between two characters but it was few and far between.

    I don’t think this was really for me. Clearly people love it. It’s won numerous awards including a Quill for Best Graphic Novel in 2005. I just had so much trouble getting into it. I suppose I was just bored.

    Cross Posted @ Every Read Thing
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book is so great! I think that die-hard comic book fans would really like this, but someone like me (who saw the first X-Men movie, and the Spiderman movie, and that is all I know about Marvel superheroes) would like it too! I'd say ages 14 and up, although younger kids who are really into Marvel comics would like it too.Fusing the superhero mythology with the Elizabethan time period is so clever!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I could say a lot here, but I won't. Why I loved it: Neil Gaiman, really inventive premise, beautiful artwork, and a lot of fun matching up the Elizabethan superheroes to their modern day counterparts. This is what a good comic book should be--draws you in and won't leave you alone until you've finished it, all the while reading with a ridiculously big, childlike smile on your face. Loved it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Excellent premise, mediocre execution.

    I love the idea of Marvel's superheroes if they lived during the time of Queen Elizabeth. But unfortunately, this book simply takes way, way too long to really get moving, spending about 80% of the time on a slow burn up to a pretty great conclusion. The last couple issues in the series are great, but everything that precedes it is a bit of a chore. And, spoiler alert, having Peter Parker's 1602 equivalent be drawn having close calls with spiders in every issue only to finally be bitten on the last page of the last issue is fucking annoying.

    I also disliked the completely unnecessary desire to explain 1602 within normal continuity. Rather than simply having the story be a fun "What if...", an inordinate amount of time it spent explaining WHY these heroes have shown up early in the time line, having Dr. Strange talk to Watchers and a bunch of crap about disrupting the space-time blah blah blah. Jeeze, who gives a shit?

    Overall the idea alone makes this worth reading, but keep your expectations low, it's nowhere near as satisfying as you'd hope, and wasted potential drips from every page.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really liked this book- it was a complete divergence from my normal reading- sort of fluff with a historical aspect. I found it a bit confusing- too many characters. It was a great idea that 20th century mythological characters can be moved around in time as the archetypes they are.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An interesting twist on history and super heroes. I'm not a major marvel fan, but I really enjoyed this interpretation of things
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In "Marvel 1602," Neil Gaiman places characters from the Marvel universe in England and Spain in 1602. Nick Fury is a spy for Elizabeth I, assigned to gather information about a mysterious weapon being transported from Jerusalem by the last Templar. Meanwhile, Carlos Javier is running a shelter for mutants (called “witchbreed”) who are being persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition. Although this book can stand apart from the Marvel comics in general and be enjoyed by those who are unfamiliar with them, Marvel fans will probably get the most out of it: my younger brother, a huge Marvel fan, practically grabbed it from my hand when he saw me reading it. This should go without saying, but I’ll still mention that it isn’t a good book for history buffs since historical facts are heavily altered even aside from the presence of the Marvel characters (i.e. Elizabeth I is assassinated, Roanoke is still a colony in 1602). I wish I could let this go, but I have to say it: Virginia Dare’s bodyguard, a blonde and blue-eyed American Indian who speaks broken English, is a little bit offensive. I know they explain his character later (don't want to spoil it!), but I still couldn't get over how the fact that they would portray an American Indian in such a stereotypical way.Now that I'm off my soapbox, I can say that this book was a fun read. I'd recommend it for anyone 14 and older.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Gaiman drops some of Marvel's most famous superheros into Elizabethan England and proceeds to create a story that still works almost flawlessly. Who knew X-men could have existed in any place and time?
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a wonderful collection that tells a captivating story. You find yourself feeling right at home in the sixteen-hundreds as familiar characters appear in a suspenseful tale that keeps you reading to the last page. The Marvel characters do not seem out of place in this strange environment, and the themes presented by the story's conflict are universal and timeless. A great read for any Marvel, comic, or Gaiman fan.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Summary: What if the Marvel superheroes had originated four hundred years earlier? That's the premise of Marvel 1602; the superheroes originating in Renaissance England, rather than in the Silver Age of comic books. Sir Nicholas Fury is the spymaster for an aging and ailing Queen Elizabeth. Carlos Javier runs a school for the "witchbreed" that are being persecuted by the Inquisition. The Fantastic Four were members of a ship called the Fantastick that ran afoul of a strange electrical disturbance. (Peter Parquagh (pre-spider bite), Dr. Strange, Daredevil, and a variety of other Marvel characters also make their due appearances.) And Virginia Dare, the first child borne in the American colonies, has returned to England to beg for help for her father and her people, and her appearance seems to be linked to some increasingly strange disturbances that threaten not only England, but also the world.Review: I wasn't expecting to like this nearly as much as I did. I'm only conversant with the Marvel superheroes from having seen the various movies; I'm certainly not familiar with the subtleties of the Marvel Universe from any actual comics. But apparently my level of knowledge was sufficient to understand what was going on and how most of the characters fit into their new seventeenth century roles, although I'm sure there were details I missed. The superhero tropes actually fit to the Renaissance remarkably well, and the overall story arc is interesting, intricate, and generally well put together. Plus, it's Neil Gaiman's storytelling and writing, so you know that's going to be good. The artwork is also fantastic - it's not a style with which I was particularly familiar, but it managed to be bright and atmospherically moody at the same time, easy to follow, and with plenty of interesting panel layouts and gorgeous full-page paintings. The only point at which I felt that the story went off the rails a little bit was when one of the characters started waxing rhapsodic about the power of stories. It's a familiar theme for Gaiman, but he usually handles it with more subtlety; it's presented pretty bluntly here, and it felt inorganic to the rest of the book. Other than that, though, I loved just about everything else about this book, and I'm so glad I spotted it on the library shelves. 4.5 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: I wouldn't recommend this to someone who has absolutely no knowledge of the Marvel superheroes, but I feel like if you've seen X-Men, Spiderman and/or The Fantastic Four, that should provide enough background, and I think most historical fiction fans will get as much of a kick as I did out of seeing the clever ways in which Gaiman meshes superheroes and history.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I think the illustrations, more so than the story, carry this piece along. It is a good story, but the illustrations are better.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Neil Gaiman ventures into Alan Moore territory for Marvel. Oddly, it's not a very exciting expedition.

    Gaiman may be the victim of expectations. I was a huge fan of Sandman and The Books of Magic. Frankly, nothing he's done since has impressed me half as much.

    In 1602, he takes a clever idea - what if all the Marvel superheroes were alive in the time of Queen Elizabeth? - and does less with it than I would have expected.

    But I'll admit that in part, that's because Alan Moore has done so much remarkable work with historical comics and heroes that Gaiman suffers by comparison. I'm used to incredibly dense, clever, brilliant stories - books that make you think, references to other works and historical events that are so complex and interwoven that it takes another book (probably by Jess Nevins) to annotate them all.

    Gaiman has approached that level of cleverness in the past, with Shakespeare in Sandman. That's universally agreed to be a classic of the genre. But 1602...was just a comic book.

    Oh, it's not a bad comic book. It was just surprisingly unimaginative. And oddly enough Gaiman's strongest suit, his sense of mystery and atmosphere, wasn't particularly notable here.

    At one point I had to wonder if some editor at Marvel had interfered with the book! Because to my surprise the mystery of the book was killed dead with a somewhat laborious explanation.

    Let me see if I can explain.

    The book features many classic Marvel characters as they would be if they had been born and grew up in the late 1500s. I'll admit it: this is a neat idea. But it didn't need to be explained. Making the whole point of the story an explanation of why modern characters were somehow re-born in the past (the explanation provided via a certain deus ex machina character) really killed much of the fun out of the story! It took away the atmosphere and mystery.

    It was fun the way it was. Why ruin it with a rationalization? Why kill the sense of magic?

    There were a few clever and amusing points which I won't spoil, but they certainly didn't make up for the essentially leaden and unmagical tone of the book.

    On the plus side, it was well-illustrated. And at nearly 250 pages, it was longer than most graphic novels; a decent way to kill a couple of hours. In a fractional system, I'd have given it a 2.5.

    I just expected more from Neil Gaiman, that's all.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I knew just enough to understand who they are. The plot was engaging, but the climax and ending left me wanting.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Graphic novel where, as the name suggests, the Marvel characters appear in 1602, and have to work out why (to prevent the destruction of the Entire Universe). Clever and well constructed, I think I'd have enjoyed it more if I was more familiar with the Marvel-verse, (it took me embarrassingly long to work out that the four people on the ship the Fantastic were the Fantastic Four), but it was page turning, the artwork was yummy, and the story was more satisfying than many time travel ones. If you like AU fanfic where everyone is suddenly in Elizabethan clothing you should love this.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was pleased in several ways, for I love colorful historical periods, comic book characters, and exciting serial storytelling where each episode or, in the case, issue ends with an unforeseen surprise that upends your expectations for the story.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It starts of in such a way that you think its going to be incredible when the mystery is finally revealed. The problem is the ending. The book just falls flat on its face. I knew Gaiman had trouble with endings but this was just bad. I don't know if its was the editing or the writer. Either way this ending is what cripples this book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman is unique and groundbreaking for a Marvel comic series. In the DC universe it would be another Elseworlds collection. But you have to hand it to Marvel on this one. It is inventive, daring and just plain great storytelling by a master in the craft; Neil Gaiman. The graphic novel collects Marvel 1602 issues 1-8 from 2003. It is the year 1602, a sick and dying Queen Elizabeth fears the strange happenings in England and around the world as weather and bizarre phenomenon lead the populace to fear the end of the world is upon them. The Church believes it to be the acts of heretics and those known as the Witchbreed under the care of Carlos Javier. The Court Magician Stephen Strange and the Queen's master spy, Sir Nicholas Fury fear an assassination attempt is coming from winged creatures in the employ of the tyrant, known as Doom. Amidst the action is the arrival of a young girl from the New World colony of Roanoke with her Native American protector. They are Virginia Dare, a shapeshifter and a Indian of fair skin and blond hair. Are they a risk to the queen? Can Fury and Strange find the truth among the strange happenings before it is too late? Gaiman does an incredible job of infusing his Elizabethan fantasy tale with the Marvel characters, Nick Fury, Dr. Strange, Victor Von Doom, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Black Widow, Daredevil, Peter Parker and so many more. It is done seamlessly, masterfully and without at any time seeming forced or trite. Marvel 1602 is a tremendous graphic novel that will leave you wondering why Marvel doesn't do this more often.A terrific book!

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Marvel 1602 - N. Gaiman

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