Marvel 1985 s/c (UK Ed'n) back

Affectionate and heartfelt tribute to Marvel's '80s output and maybe even Millar's dad, I don't know. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and it all came together beautifully and unexpectedly at the end.

It's 1985, and young Toby is starting to see things out of the corner of his eye. He swears blind they're the supervillains from his favourite comic books, but no one believes them because this is the real world. The real world in which his perfectly lovely but daydreaming Dad, down on his luck financially, has been shunted aside by Toby's mother for another man who's perfectly all right but not Toby's Dad whom Toby loves with all his heart.

"He says I need to get my head out of the clouds and start making an effort in school."
"Well, you know what? Hart's probably right. There ain't a job in the world where you need to know Giant-Man's secret identity, and you don't want to end up dumb and broke like your stupid old man. He's good to you and he's good to your Mom, Toby. You don't need to hate him to please me."

Nice.

Toby's right, though: somehow the villains have made their way into our world where there are no superheroes to stop their rampage, so they're going to have a field day. Can Toby's knowledge of the comics help save the world? Yes it can - very clever.

The art's fantastic too with well defined, individualistic faces and some boyish features pouting to perfection, like Duncan Fegredo with a big, thick brush. Works very well for when the worlds collide and Galactus finally turns up.

Also features a comic shop scene which had me in stitches as I found myself split into two, the owner talking to Toby about the wonder of Marvel which is what young Toby loves, and the other guy wearing a CEREBUS t-shirt butting in thus:

"And so the Marvel zombies enlist another brainless wonder. Why don't you spend your money on something that's actually gonna advance the medium a little? You never heard of Love And Rockets? You never heard of Cerebus?"
"Pardon me, Mister Gary-Groth-In-Training, but I believe you have shelves to stack, and this store is not the letters page of the much-acclaimed Comics Journal."