Before Secret Invasion... Before World War Hold... Before Civil War...

Before I was born.

Marvel 1985 has really been an excellent journey these past four months, and looks like it will continue to be for the next two. But we're here to talk about the latest issue, so let's get to it (a tad late...). Issue #4 really hit the ball out the park for me, and for several reasons.

In the face of danger, we are shown the humanity of Toby's father... just before Millar lets us in on a little secret: Toby's father is a mutant. The first mutant in the real world.

The Blob, Molten Man, Hate-Monger, the Wendigo, the Mandarin, and the Abomination all show up join in the destruction of our world... and somebody threw a truck across town during the evacuation.

And I think we all cringed as Bullseye stabbed a man in the head and some poor soldier got the top of his head blown off. Graphic stuff.

And finally, the moment we were all waiting for, Toby sneaks into the Wyncham house to look for what we all knew had to be there: the portal to the Marvel Universe. He nearly gets gunned down, but he makes it through and lands right in the middle of Marvel's New York (and a slightly different art style).

Great story, really.

I have to mention Tommy Lee Edwards' art as well. With each issue he seems to get better and better. He's been just as important in the story-telling as Millar (as should always be the case in comics), and I can't wait to see more from him in the future.

So, overall this is a solid story with plenty of eye-candy to enjoy. It's a shame that it could only be six issues long.

JL
8-31-08