This was just really really awful. ( )

Graphic Novel Book Club:

Sadly, while I was really excited to read the 1602 series/universe all as one, I was not very impressed by the actual use of the characters, plotlines, and especially side series. A lot of it felt like really big shoutouts being tenuously connected so that old fans would understand but the new reader wouldn't understand what was going on at all. ( )

While not as great as the previous two, it certainly works. The strength of the whole series is capturing the sense of the 17th century and placing the characters in that context in a way we can still recognize them. In this volume, J.Jonah Jameson is definitely recognizable, so to speak. Some things never change, and seeing him was most amusing. The end of the tale seem a bit of a compromise, but the very last scene does leave things open. Overall, it was a pretty quick read, and maybe that is why I did not rate it as high as the others. It did not quite feel as immersive as the others. I did find myself missing Rojhaz (Steve Rogers). ( )

In a follow-up to Gaiman’s wonderful take on an early 17th-century Marvel Universe, Greg Pak bears the torch all the way the Roanoke colony. Here, Peter Parquagh, who works for the broadsheet The Daily Trumpet, gets bitten by a strange spider, and all of a sudden, he has these super powers.

Meanwhile, King John sends his advisor, a wicked man by the name of David Banner, to the Americas, where he will keep tabs on the colony. Banner, though, carries a horrible secret: when brought to anger, he transforms into a giant beast, strong and frightening, but truly less of a monster than Banner. This hulking creature to which he transforms is a hero, while Banner is a miserable, vile, tortuous man.

It is these two witchbreed, and the shape shifting Virginia Dare, who must prevent Norman Osborne from swindling the native American people, all the while looking out for a Spaniard dressed in an iron suit of armor, with a bone to pick with Banner.

While not living up to its predecessor in storytelling or art, 1602: New World does provide further story to whet the appetite of those who enjoyed the first volume, furthering the adventures of that universe’s Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk. Definitely worth a read if you’re a fan of the first volume. Maybe worth skipping if Marvel 1602 didn’t catch your fancy. ( )

An unconvincing sequel to Marvel 1602... ( )