Marvel 1985 #6 Review

MARVEL 1985 #6
Written by Mark Millar
Art by Tommy Lee Edwards

Marvel 1985 had a lot of promise as an event and I was almost ready to start comparing it to works such as Marvels for its down to Earth style and man on the street perspective, as well as the overall quality of the series.

However, Marvels, and other works like it, told complete or self contained narratives and delivered a memorable conclusion when everything was all said and done.

Marvel 1985's conclusion, like many of Millar's lesser works, fails to deliver on any of the initial promises and is what I consider to be the worst thing a comic can be - forgettable. I literally picked this up, read it through, put it down and I didn't even care enough to get upset or angry at such a shallow and rushed conclusion. I will probably stick this in a longbox in the closet and never pull it out again.

Just what happened to this series I've been fairly favourable towards since the first issue to make me feel this way? Nothing and that's the problem. After last issue, Toby ended up in the Marvel Universe and got Spider-Man to help him recruit the other heroes. As expected, the heroes show up in the 'real world', thrash the villains and everyone goes home happy. The end.

Gone was the sinister real world depictions of the villains, who were slaughtering people with reckless abandon, all at the mysterious Mr Wyncham's command. All we saw were snap shots of the heroes beating down the villains and the threat, which began gradually with insidious killings and built to a fever pitch of panic and widespread chaso, was washed away in a generic and predictable ending that soured me on the entire series.

As for the whole Wyncham mystery, Clyde Wyncham was the first and only mutant in the real world. In one of the flashbacks, his mother accused Toby's father of having powers and calling all the townsfolk to the Wyncham home. Here, we find out that Wyncham did, indeed, have the powers and his mother smashed him upside the head, putting an end to his powers and that's how he ended up in the nursing home.

Toby's father confronts Wyncham, gives him some comics back and he's happy and stops controlling everyone. Captain America takes him back to the Marvel Universe with them where he'll get help and I assume that's how he ends up in the current Fantastic Four and Wolverine storylines.

Verdict - Avoid It. As I said, it's contrived and rushed and wholly forgettable and I'm fairly disappointed with the whole storyline after reading this so-called conclusion.

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