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@ Popdose: The Marvels Project review

Over at Popdose, I wrote a bit on Marvel's recent The Marvels Project:


In Captain America, Steve Epting’s art never felt quite whole. It showed off his strong storytelling but the over-reliance that book had on Frank D’Armata’s coloring softened up Epting’s artwork and didn’t do much to show off his skill with pen and ink. In The Marvels Project, Epting’s artwork stands out more than any fancy coloring could ever allow it to. You can see how Epting is heavily influenced by the classic photo-realist comic strip artists of the past like Alex Raymond and Al WIlliamson. He can do a very realistic style without falling into the trap of losing all of the energy in the art. While he can draw the super-hero stuff nicely, it is when he gets to draw the more human adventures of Nick Fury, John Steele and even the detective called the Ferret that his photo-realistic style looks best. Epting is a great modern artist who can perfectly capture the look and energy of great old comic strip and comic book artists.



You can read the full review here.  

Going a bit beyond the review, I wish that this book were a lot more than just the origin of the Invaders, which is ultimately what it is.  While this is some of Epting's best produced artwork, the story feels like it could have spun off in a hundred more interesting directions, from the very Kingdom Come-like openings to even just being a story about the forgotten heroes of Marvel (but I guess that's The Twelve,) there never really was any kind of center for Brubaker's story to hang on.