Is there a reason why the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe – Horror 2005 doesn’t have Man-Thing in it? Did the Man-Thing movie just totally kill any desire by Marvel to remind anyone that it’s their character? (EDIT: Commenter Nik noted something I missed, that the comic itself states that Man-Thing is in the Marvel Knights 2005 handbook. Which is too bad…that might have convinced me to buy the horror book, which I was sort of undecided on. Oh, well.)
I finally got around to reading Apocalypse Nerd #2, which came out last week, and oddly enough, pal Dorian mentioned his theory about the story to me, which was the exact same thing I thought as I was reading it: that the “apocalypse” (i.e. a nuclear strike on Seattle) that triggers the events of the story is not actually what happened.
I’d actually planned to mention something about it yesterday, but I wanted to look at the first issue and see what evidence existed there…and Dor and I did so on Thursday.
The events in the first issue are as follows:
1. Vehicles loaded with essential supplies are speeding out of the area.
2. A radio message (only part of which is heard due to poor reception) indicated that there is an emergency and that people should not panic. The nature of the emergency is not indicated.
3. An out-of-the-way mini-mart is managed by a crazed woman, guarding her store with a rifle, who does state that Seattle has been struck by a nuclear missile.
So, the only statement to the effect that the emergency was indeed a missile strike is from a less-than-reliable source. Clearly an emergency of some kind happened, causing people to grab supplies and flee the area, but World War III doesn’t appear to be what it is. So Dorian and I both arrived independently at the same conclusion, that the “heroes” of Apocalypse Nerd jumped the gun and fled from the fall of civilization…a fall that never occurred.
Of course, the next issue could take place in the midst of the radioactive ruins of the city, proving us wrong, but as of the second issue, “it didn’t actualy happen” appears to be the conclusion towards which this series seems to be heading.
Both of the previous points had been covered elsewhere, haven’t they?
So in response to my post yesterday, about what’s gonna happen to my funnybooks after I join the choir invisible, I think Commenter David had the best response. Not about what to do with my comics, but about the most depressing thing: that if comics are still being published, that means they’ll continue coming out after I’m dead, which means I’m going to miss out. The very potential that I could quite possibly miss out on an issue of Swamp Thing is enough to keep me alive and kicking.
