Superhero Media: The Marvels Project

Not quite a follow-up to the seminal Marvels, The Marvels Project covers the first few years of the fledgling Marvel Universe, as told by Thomas Halloway, aka, The Angel. Even more so than Marvels, The Marvels Project bridges the continuity gaps between the pre-Marvel Timely comics and the "universe" that Stan, Jack and Steve built in the 1960s, not pulling a full "Avengers Forever" thing, but just massaging over the rough patches that you tend to get with Golden Age Comics. For example, rather than Phantom Bullet and The Ferret just dropping off enough in popularity to no longer be published, both characters are skilled by Nazi agents who later target Erskine and Steve Rogers. Clever, huh? Well, I like it. The narrative, whilst framed with Halloway's experience, is clearly focused on Captain America, which makes sense, as the series was written by Ed Brubaker, possibly the best Cap writer ever. That said, there is still plenty of Angel, Namor and Human Torch to keep the comics classicist happy. 

The clever thing about The Marvels Project is that it couches the story around the build-up to the United States entering the Second World War, which works nicely as a meta-narrative about the comics industry, as well as tying to the opening chapter of Marvels. I'm honestly shocked there isn't a Phil Sheldon cameo in there, but appearances from Black Widow (Claire Voyant), The Phantom Reporter and Electro help slide us into the next adventure on our Marvel Golden Age jaunt, The Twelve. Also of note, the story is bookended with appearances of the Two-Gun Kid, occasional Avengers member and good friend of Clint Barton. Probably the only element I'm not fond of in The Marvels Project is the Human Torch and Toro getting to fight during the Battle off Pearl Harbour, which just "feels" a little cheap to me, even if it does suit the story and mirror action happening elsewhere. The pacing is also a little off, but I tend to put this down to trying to match old comics. 

In terms of gaming inspiration, The Marvels Project is excellent, with games at both the high and low ends of the superhero power scale. The Human Torch and Toro versus Japanese aircraft would be amazing to see on the table, and a possible collaboration between supers and historical gamers that I may have to do, if I can get flaming figures in the right scale. And, as discussed in previous posts, I'm keen on some Pulp games, though a League of Adventurers is less interesting to me than a collection of caped heroes, and now I'll have to track down a suitable Angel to round out some kind of Golden Age Defenders for my games. I have also started up some new, plastic, pulpy Nazis to menace my heroes, which I'll hopefully have painted before too long.