Marvel 1602

[Dapper Dan]

Just wondering if anybody has read this book yet? This is the first time I'v heard of it actually and its by one of my favorite authors! It's definately going onto my wish list and into my "to read" pile:nod:

Marvel 1602
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Neil Gaiman's vision of the Marvel Universe in the year 1602!
The year is 1602, and strange things are stirring in England. In the service of Queen Elizabeth, court magician Dr. Stephen Strange senses that the bizarre weather plaguing the skies above is not of natural origin. Her majesty's premier spy, Sir Nicholas Fury, fends off an assassination attempt on the Queen by winged warriors rumored to be in service to a mad despot named Doom. News is spreading of "witchbreed" sightings - young men bearing fantastic superhuman powers and abilities. And in the center of the rising chaos is Virginia Dare, a young girl newly arrived from the New World, guarded by a towering Indian warrior. Can Fury and his allies find a connection to these unusual happenings before the whole world ends? In Marvel 1602, award-winning writer Neil Gaiman presents a unique vision of the Marvel Universe set four hundred years in the past. Classic Marvel icons such as the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and Daredevil appear in this intriguing world of 17th- century science and sorcery, instantly familiar to readers, yet subtly different in this new time. Marvel 1602 combines classic Marvel action and adventure with the historically accurate setting of Queen Elizabeth's reign to create a unique series unlike any other published by Marvel Comics

 

[Hawksmoor]

It is PHENOMENAL! Gaimain's treatment of the entire MU, condensing and compressing the characters down to their bare minimum, and rebuilding them from the bottom up to fit within Elizabethan England, is truly perfect. The plot is flawless, the dialogue and characterisation perfect, and the art wonderful and fitting.

A worthy follow-up is happening currently as a limited series - 1602: The New World. While not the same author, it is more than worthy as a sequel, since it needs none of the innovation that Gaiman brought, but merely to carry on where he left off...

 

[Mat]

Sounds rather interesting. Can you tell me what characters have appeared in it thus far and how they've been handled?

 

[Hawksmoor]

I'll do me best, without spoiling the plot;
Sir Nicholas Fury is Queen Elizabeth's head of intelligence, the nation's shield.
Peter Parquagh is his loyal assistant.
David Banner is seconded to James of Scotland.
Sir Richard Reed, along with Benjamin Grimm, Susan and Jonathon Storm, vanished years before, sailing their boat, the Fantastick.
Matt Murdock is a blind Irish balladeer.
Carlos Javier and his mutantur (changing ones), otherwise known as Witchbreed, live quietly, avoiding the Inquisition.
Count Otto von Doom (Otto the Handsome) rules over Latveria with an iron fist.
Dr Stephen Strange is the court physician, using his magics to extend the Queen's life as he can even as Fury watches her back.
Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow, is a freelance agent for Fury.

While all sound a little different to how we all know and love them, their treatments are truly wonderful, with Gaiman effortlessly merging the characters of old and their new surroundings. It was perfect for what it was.

 

[Clara Oswald]

Wow that sounds AWESOME!

 

[Hawksmoor]

It really is. I cannot recommend it enough. Besides, it also has exactly the same art team from Wolverine's Origin miniseries, so the whole thing looks amazingly beautiful...