Grandson of Origins of Marvel Comics (Marvel's Classic Origins) [Paperback]

Stan Lee (Author), Joe Simon (Author), Jack Kirby (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Entertainment Group (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078510593X
• ISBN-13: 978-0785105930
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,062,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The law of diminishing returns concocts an eclectic roster. A dynamic roster? No, an eclectic roster, September 9, 2010

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H. Bala "Me Too Can Read" (Just moved to posh Marina Del Rey, CA - where if you drop a quarter, why, you just keep on walking) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Grandson of Origins of Marvel Comics (Marvel's Classic Origins) (Paperback)

ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS and SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS pretty much covered the roots of the company's top-tiered stars. By the time GRANDSON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS came along, what we're left with are... well, I don't want to call them leftovers because these are still fairly relevant characters, especially Captain America. It's wiser to hold off on dismissive phrases like "scraping the bottom of the barrel" until they start featuring the secret origins of, say, Rocket Racer and the Fabulous Frog Man. Anyway, what we get here is a mixed bag. Here, let me be your wiki.

Maybe it's anti-mutant hysteria, but it's true that whenever the world's first mutant garners his own series, that sucker never lasts. Still, Prince Namor, the haughty and noble Sub-Mariner, figures intrinsically in Marvel mythology, having been around just about from the get-go, back to when Marvel was calling itself Timely Comics. We don't get Bill Everett's Namor story from 1939's MARVEL COMICS #1. What we do get is Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's FANTASTIC FOUR #4 from 1962 which features the Sub-Mariner's re-emergence, having spent the intervening years as a homeless amnesiac. Namor's regaining of his memories instantly renders him once again incredibly hostile to humanity.

In the early 1990s John Byrne took on the Sub-Mariner in his own series. Byrne made Namor more sympathetic by explaining away his historically extreme aggression via a blood imbalance, from which Namor is cured. And then there's that inspired plot twist of Byrne's which concerns the remaking of the fierce ruler of Atlantis into a sophisticated boardroom CEO. Issue #1 of Byrne's excellent relaunch is included here, and I'm still anxiously awaiting a trade collecting this series.

Professor Charles Francis Xavier, the follicle-challenged leader of the X-Men and the world's most powerful mutant telepath, gets his day in the sun. X-MEN #117 recounts his origin, of which most memorable thing I remember is Chuck's grueling psychic combat with the Shadow King in Cairo. Many years later, X-MEN #309 peels away even more secrets from his past, but this issue felt flat to me and very talky. It doesn't help that Prof. X just isn't one of my favorite characters.

In CAPTAIN AMERICA #255, Roger Stern and John Byrne dig even deeper into the origin of Cap, and we learn stuff such as that exact moment when Steve Rogers realizes he has to redesign his first mask. Then, CAPTAIN AMERICA #350 tells a dangerous tale of two Captain Americas, Steve Rogers and John Walker. At this point in time, Steve Rogers had been stripped away of his star-spangled persona by the government, and he'd been adventuring as the black-clad Captain. It's John Walker who's been walking around as Captain America, and never mind that John Walker is a straight up nutter. It's probably apropos that the Red Skull is revealed as the mastermind behind all this mess. By the end of this issue, Steve Rogers regains his rightful role as the Sentinel of Liberty. But my favorite part in this story has everything to do with Steve not only saving a kid from a runaway truck but catching the kid's mom's pie, as well. How boy scout is Cap?

Nick Fury - grizzled, cigar-chomping, and Odinesque in one feature - was warring it up with the Howling Commandos back in World War II. Down the decades, he'd latched on with the cloak & dagger organization S.H.I.E.L.D. and he's been working the 616 from behind the scenes ever since. MARVEL SPOTLIGHT ON NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. #31 reveals the secret behind Fury's longevity, with Jim Starlin scribing and Howard Chaykin drawing. But, before that, NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. #5 has our eyepatched spymaster getting reacquainted with his old foe, Scorpio, who ambushes him and then assumes his identity. More importantly, we get to eyeball Jim Steranko's funkadelic 1970s pop artsy style.

Whaaaat?! You say Ka-Zar is a ripoff of Tarzan the Ape Man? It doesn't change the fact that Kevin Plunder - created by some guy named Bob Byrd - had been around since 1939, having also debuted in that indispensable MARVEL COMICS #1. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby brought a version of this character back in X-MEN #10 (which is not in this trade), and he proved he could hang in Marvel's Silver Age of Comics. 1981's KAZAR THE SAVAGE #1 finds a pensive Ka-Zar, pondering existential matters, and not even a roll in the mud with Shanna, Queen of the Jungle, could lighten his mood. Intent on tracking his vanished sabretooth friend, Zabu, Ka-Zar embarks on a grand adventure. This issue also informs us of Kevin Plunder's origin, how he came to the hidden Savage Land at nine years of age and how he met Zabu. Artist Brent Anderson's throwback style wonderfully evokes those classic comic strips.

1997's KA-ZAR #1 is a lesser story, although it does present a Ka-Zar who is now married to Shanna and father to a baby boy. I assume its inclusion has more to do with its being a debut issue, because it doesn't really divulge any new tidbits regarding Ka-Zar's origin. There is, however, Andy Kubert's sensational two-paged spread of the Lord of the Savage Land precariously hanging on to a runaway Tyrannosaurus Rex. A stunt like that'll drive all existential thoughts out of your brain.