REVIEW: Marvel Dimensions
Marvel Dimensions
By Alex Ross
112 pages/Abrams ComicArts/$29.99 (hc)
In addition to being a terrific painter, Alex Ross has a knack for distilling character origins and motivations into concise two-pagers. He (and Paul Dini) did this at DC, and here he brings the same precision to the first third of this hardcover graphic novel. These are the classic Marvel Age of Heroes and look like they stepped out of the 1960s.
However, unlike the DC entries, he uses them here as a prologue for Machine Man (looking nothing like his Kirby form, an oddity), who narrates from the Watcher’s base of operations on the moon. It all sets up his look into another, new-to-us parallel reality. So, in essence, this is a giant, pricey, hardcover issue of What If…? In this case, with room to explore, Ross gives us the Marvel equivalent of Earth-3, where all the heroes are corrupt, evil mirror images of themselves.
After we meet many of them, we pause and read a 32-page comic Ross also wrote and drew (with color assistance from Josh Johnson) that shows them in action. Then we resume the main story as factions in this funhouse mirror world try to obtain the ultimate nullifier, which, for some reason, is no longer in Galactus’ possession. There is a lot to enjoy here as we have to work at identifying who these new people are, which classic hero, mutant, or villain they are based on. While the Wasp becoming the Locust is easy, others are a real challenge for die-hard Marvel Zombies fans. It’s a fun guessing game, which more than makes up for the lack of a strong reason to care about these people or this story.
Unlike massive crossovers, where there’s a limited number of players and action scenes, the entire second half is all action, and Ross crams in as many figures as possible, forcing you to slow down and study the fine choreography in a way that’s reminiscent of George Pérez ‘s work on Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Why this world? Why this story? What is so interesting to Machine Man? We don’t quite get told, which is a shame.
It’s imaginative and lovely to look at, but the story is underwhelming.
