Here’s how you get away with publishing a one-shot that basically takes a ‘shit’ on your entire business plan:

You hire outside writers for the job.

Now not all of the writers here are outside of comics, but the majority are. So that’s why they get away with going a little deep in their jokes in the company. Hell the opening recap page has the line: “I’m not gonna recap this mess”. How on Earth could someone like, Daniel Way or Kieron Gillen, get away with that!? They wouldn’t, and that’s what makes this one-shot so brilliant for me. So with this anthology right before my eyes it all comes down to the obvious:

TNC PELLET REVIEWS!
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Psycho-Man’s New Emoccordion: (Story by: Tom Peyer, Art by: Karl Kesel) The bookend for the comic; we get a little humorous short on Psycho-Man’s troubles with his new weapon. I particularly like the final line that no one felt anything when it came to reading this one-shot. Story 5/5, Art 5/5

The Last Attack: (Story by: Victor Varnado, Art by: Clayton Henry) While it’s not the most original idea, I do like it how all of these villains come together because their schedule’s out of wack. That and Galactus should be pissed because no one cares he can eat the planet. The art by Henry is also pretty good too; especially the attention to detail with scale. He definitely brought a Stuart Immonen vibe to this short. Story: 5/5, Art: 5/5

Marvel ‘Wy-If’ Presents: (Story by: Wyatt Cynac and Elliot Kalan, Art by: Colleen Coover) There are a bunch of these one-pagers of Cynac and Kalan musing on ‘what ifs’ in the Marvel Universe. If you’ve watched The Daily Show then you’ll like their sense of humor in these pages. They all aren’t the greatest though, like other ‘Night Doctors’ for Marvel. But I do like the one about mistaking Batman for Iron Man. The art by Coover is pretty damn good though. Story: 4/5, Art: 5/5

Unholy Reunion: (Story by: Elliot Kalan, Art by: Dean Haspiel) A story by Kalan all his own, it’s a cute story for the most part. Reed Richards still being shunned by his peers while Ben get’s all the praise. But the joke gets kinda old and quick, even with Doom stepping up. The art by Haspiel was good, especially the one use of panels of Reed grabbing a drink. Story: 4/5, Art: 5/5

N.O. M.O.R.E. N.E.R.D.S.: (Story by: Elliot Kalan, Art by: Jacob Chabot) Now here is possibly the best story of this anthology and probably my favorite short of the year. Well more of a double page spread then a short story. But still, the balls Kalan had to pretty much destroy the notion of how Marvel does events made me smile. He totally gets the ‘copy and paste’ approach to Marvel’s events lately and his hilarious take on them made me laugh. From random fighting between heroes, to bizarre death choices, to the ‘four issues spent fighting’ it was just a hilarious thing to read from beginning to end. Chabot’s art totally brings all of these ideas to a hilarious take as well. Seeing the different colored Hulks really made me laugh towards the end. Story: 5/5, Art: 5/5

Marvelous: (Story by: Kurt Braunohler, Art by: John Tyler Christopher, Horatio Domingues, Jordie Bellaire, Dalibor Talajic, Jordie Bellaire) This was a cool idea of having a magazine-like format from the cover to the audience questions to justify the art. My favorite in these three questions/answer segments would have to be the one’s with Talajic and Bellaire. Man-Thing in a robe, or Ghost in a copy machine, or the various love interests was great to look at. I would definitely like to see Talajic and Bellaire take a stab at Thunderbolts now. Story: 5/5, Art: 5/5

Triple Z: (Story/Art by: Michael Kupperman) Probably the weakest story for me, and no not because it’s all prose. I was just bored by it to be honest. Wasn’t as funny as it could have been. (Overall: 2/5)

I Hate Peter Parker: (Story by: Sara Benincasa, Art by: Stephanie Buscema) I really love this old-school style of art that Buscema does in this. It just feels ‘right’ to me and I would love to see more of it in future comics. The story is okay though, only because we’ve seen this so many times before in a Spider-Man tale. (Story: 3/5, Art: 5/5)

So apart from the Kupperman story I enjoyed every single story in this one-shot. You don’t see much balls in comics today, especially taking a huge swipe at your company. But then again NONE of these writers work for Marvel so I guess Marvel decided to not fire anyone by going this route. Even still, if you want to laugh at Marvel and be entertained by a solid comic as well, look no further then this great one-shot.