Evil undersea monarchs Ghaur and Llyra are determined to bring the elder god Set to Earth, and no one on the surface world will stop them! Seven mortal women-including the Invisible Women, She-Hulk and Marvel Girl-have been selected to act as the brides of Set's snake heads, and the ensuing conflict will spread to nearly every hero on Earth, from the Avengers to Quasar to the Punisher to the X-Men to the Fantastic Four! Can the heroes stop this terrible plot in time? Plus: the complex history of the Serpent Crown, recounted in full! Collecting: Silver Surfer Annual #2, Iron Man Annual #10, Marvel Comics Presents #26, Uncanny X-Men Annual #13, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #23, Punisher Annual #2, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #9, Daredevil Annual #4, Avengers Annual #18, New Mutants #76, Annual #5, X-Factor Annual #4, Web of Spider-Man Annual #5, Avengers West Coast #56, Annual #4, Thor Annual #14, Fantastic Four Annual #22
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Retro cool but a bit hokey nowadays,
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This review is from: Atlantis Attacks Omnibus (Hardcover)
I bought the Marvel Atlantis Attacks Omnibus primarily for nostalgic reasons. I am a long time Marvel Comics fan and I'm a bit of a sucker for these remastered oversized deluxe hardcover editions of stories from my youth. I can remember when these "crossover summer annual mega-events" arrived on the comic spinner racks at the grocery stores, gas stations, and bookstores each summer during the late 1980's. Back then, there were virtually no comic shops and your only worry was whether or not you'd be able to track down all parts of the crossover! These summer events were the precursor to today's semi-regular event stories from Marvel & DC (think: Marvel Civil War, Siege, Secret Invasion, DC's Blackest Night, etc).
The Atlantis Attacks Omnibus does an excellent job of collecting the original material with new remastered color and the larger page size really makes the artwork pop off the page. However, there isn't much in the way of extras. There are no interviews with the creators or behind-the-scenes 'making of' type extras. Also the individual annuals collected herein are not 100% complete. For example, the annuals as originally published had a lead story focusing on the main Atlantis Attacks storyline, a back up "origin of the serpent god, Set" story (which is collected in the Omnibus), then usually a shorter 8-10 page back up story featuring the title character for that particular annual. The back up stories featuring the title character are not collected. To be honest, this is a minor nag since these back ups would not really add any to the overall Atlantis Attacks storyline. However, it would have been nice to have them included for the sake of completion. Now, on to the story itself. I'll be the first to say that comic books have really evolved from the 1980's! The artwork in the Atlantis Attacks Omnibus will appear simplistic and less detailed than the artwork on display in today's comics. That's not necessarily to say it isn't as good in it's own way, it's just a different style. The Omnibus contains artwork from some of comics' biggest names, some of them very early on in their careers. Artists include Rob Liefeld (in the Amazing Spider-Man annual & New Mutants chapters), Mark Bagley (the origin of Set back up stories, plus the Daredevil annual), John Byrne (X-Factor & Avengers West Coast chapters), Walt Simonson, Rich Buckler, and others. The overall plot of the book is rather hackneyed and overly complicated, likely due to stretching the storyline out of the summer annuals of 14 different Marvel Comics characters plus a couple of tie in issues, but the basic plot is a villain name Ghaur tries to bring the serpent god Set to our plane of existence where Set hopes to take over our reality and Ghaur will rule the earth for Set (or something). This gets very over complicated at times and involves side stories where the undersea race of Atlantans are to be used as a sacrifice for Set, Ghaur attempts to collect seven super-hero 'brides' for Set's emergence into our reality, Ghaur strikes an alliance with Attuma the evil ruler of Atlantis, the alleged death of the Sub-Mariner, an Atlantian invasion of the surface world, and several other plot elements. Overall, if you are looking for some retro-silliness and a good-old-fashioned throwback comic book super-hero slugfest then this book is for you. While not perfect, the collection would be a nice addition to any Marvel Comics fan's bookshelf. Also, amazon has it at a great price.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not Marvel's strongest mega-crossover, but a gorgeous collection,
By Cultural Production (Los Angeles, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Atlantis Attacks Omnibus (Hardcover)
Atlantis Attacks Omnibus collects all of Marvel's annuals from 1989, New Mutants #76, a short piece featuring the Hulk from Marvel Comics Presents #26, and a very brief excerpt from Avengers West Coast #56 (published in 1990). Like other Marvel Omnibuses, Atlantis Attacks features low-gloss archival paper, finished black boards with silver foil-stamping, and a sewn binding. Bonus content includes a house ad, an apology (in comic form) for a continuity error by John Byrne, a Rob Liefeld pin-up, a Marvel Encyclopedia entry for Set, and process art for Mike Mayhew's Omnibus cover. Though it would have been nice to have some creator commentary, this is a beautiful and thoughtfully assembled collection that will please any collector.
As for the content, the Omnibus contains two related stories: Atlantis Attacks and The Saga of the Serpent Crown. The first, which occupies the majority of the Omnibus, is a somewhat poorly plotted mega-crossover, in which Ghaur, a deviant of Lemuria, takes over Atlantis in an effort to revive the Elder God, Set. The ensuing battle features all of Marvel's major superheros, though certain figures (such as Punisher, Daredevil, and the Silver Surfer) only appear briefly. Compared to the intricately constructed crossovers Marvel has published this century, Atlantis Attacks is highly simplistic, with very slow development and plenty of recaps. Still, for what it is, it's rather fun. The art is provided by a wide assortment of pencilers and inkers, but most of it is quite good. Rob Liefeld's work for New Mutants and Amazing Spider-Man is particularly striking--a good reminder of why such a fuss was made about him in the early '90s. The second story, The Saga of the Serpent Crown, is actually not a story at all, but a history of the Serpent Crown narrated by The Watcher. Mark Bagley's pencils for it are good, as is Peter Sanderson's script, but it's a boring read that most readers will probably skim. Given its high production quality, The Atlantis Attacks Omnibus would make a great addition to the library of any Marvel Comics fan or collector of superhero graphic novels. More casual readers looking for a big crossover will probably enjoy this as well, though a better set of individual crossover stories are to be had in X-Men: Inferno Crossovers, another 1989 mega-crossover.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good collection of a good story, though neither without flaws *mild spoilers*,
By
This review is from: Atlantis Attacks Omnibus (Hardcover)
Atlantis Attacks was Marvel's last big crossover of the 80's, running through their summer 1989 annuals as a celebration of the Sub-Mariner's 50th anniversary, though to be honest his role is rather minor.
The storyline--involving Atlanteans, Lemurians, and Deviants uniting in a plot to return Set, the Elder God of serpents, to Earth--is serviceable and often compelling. Much like DC's Infinite Crisis sixteen years later, the villains have multiple plots that run concurrently, all coming together at the end, so the different heroes involved can thwart different aspects of the grand scheme without all of them associating together, or in some cases, even being aware of each other's involvement. Unfortunately, the different writers involved seem to lose track of one of these plans; namely, the Lemurians and Deviants backstabbing the Atlanteans via genocide as part of the ritual to allow Set's return. At one point in the story, the waters of Atlantis are poisoned by a sea monster, and Lord Ghaur (the overall mastermind) declares that even though most Atlanteans evacuated instead of died, this was good enough and the genocide is complete. But later on in the story, when Atlantis's armies attack New York City, Ghaur and his co-conspirator Llyra arrange for Atlantis--which is inhabited again, with no explanation--to be struck by nuclear missiles as part of the genocide. And later still, Ghaur expresses frustration that during the NYC battle, not many Atlantean troops were killed and the ritual genocide never happened, so he has to improvise! There's just enough wiggle room that it's possible to come up with an explanation for these seeming contradictions, but it takes some mental acrobatics. The authors should have cross-checked with each other better, and the editors most certainly should have caught this. Other than this, the writing flows well and the characterization is overall excellent. There's not much deep philosophizing, as in contemporary classics of this story such as Squadron Supreme or Watchmen, but it's a fun superhero romp with lots of action. The artwork ranges from superb to tolerable. Rob Liefeld, the Internet's favorite comic book punching bag, contributes art to several chapters; his Spider-Man chapter is just bad (note to Mr. Liefeld: Ghaur is a DEVIANT, the LEMURIANS should not resemble him at all, much less look like his clones!), but his New Mutants chapter is a step or two better, especially his realization of the techno-organic lifeform Warlock, which has intentionally goofy charm. Perhaps the best art in the story is by Bill Reinhold, who draws the Punisher chapter with a gritty, faux-noir style. Now for the collection itself. It's in a durable hardcover binding, and has absolutely gorgeous, fully painted cover art by Mike Mayhew. There's a table of contents (which more comic book collections should have) and some brief editorial notes. After the story proper, we are treated to The Saga Of The Serpent Crown, a story that ran at the end of each annual when originally published, giving us background of Set's machinations throughout history. Unless you've read all the original, often obscure stories referenced here, this is almost a must-read to fully understand the main Atlantis Attacks story, and I recommend flipping back and forth between the two as you finish chapters. Unfortunately, one chapter of The Saga heavily involves Conan The Barbarian, whom Marvel no longer has the rights to publish; thus, this chapter is heavily edited, with several pages removed and replaced with a long, small-print text summary. There's a few other miscellaneous extras, such as an in-house ad for the original storyline, and a humorous comic-strip by John Byrne, apologizing for an error he made in the story. Sadly, the one extra I had been hoping for is absent; the issue of Marvel's alternate history title "What If?" that explores what happened in a universe where the heroes failed. As a similar What If? story was reproduced in the collections of Marvel's "Operation Galactic Storm" storyline, I'm both puzzled and disappointed by this absence. Although I was never expecting them to be included, you should still be warned: when Atlantis Attacks was originally published, the annuals contained several other stories sandwiched between the main story and The Saga Of The Serpent Crown, involving that title's heroes or supporting cast. Those stories are not included here. Again, I don't count this against the collection, but you should be aware of this before you purchase. Neither this story nor collection are perfect, but I'd still recommend it for a breezily enjoyable example of Marvel's 80's action.
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