Comic Review - Marvel Boy

PUBLISHER: MARVEL, 2000 - 2001

WRITER: GRANT MORRISON

ARTIST: J.G. JONES

Grant Morrison started his comic career at Marvel's UK branch on licenced titles like Doctor Who Monthly and Action Force before getting his teeth into things like Zenith, Animal Man and The Invisibles. It was something of a coup for new Marvel EIC Joe Quesada to get such a hip writer working for the company at the turn of the century and in return Morrison was given relative creative freedom to craft Marvel Boy. 

Issued under the more mature Marvel Knights banner (flying high at the time due to well-received darker series for the likes of Daredevil and The Punisher), the series shares only a name with the Atlas character. The premise in a simple glib line is instead "what if Captain Marvel really was pissed off when he got to Earth?". Instead of coming as a spy and finding he likes humanity, central character Noh-Varr is part of the crew of a science vessel shot down over Earth by an insanely wealthy maniac and opportunist who calls himself Midas. Only Noh-Varr and the ship's biological computer Plex survive the crash.

Noh-Varr promptly declares war on Earth in general and Midas in particular and it's no empty boast; bio-engineered with support from Plex and a buried Kree science vessel packed with exotic weaponry he's one angry and dangerous lad. What follows is a riotous cascade of innovative powers, technology and concepts. The imagination is almost incontinent.

Throughout the six issues the storyline is largely concerned with Midas, a fellow dressed in what looks to be the original Iron Man armour who wants the cosmic ray engine of Noh-Varr's ship to complete his quest to gain the elemental powers of the Fantastic Four. His main weapon is his messed-up daughter slash personal assassin Oubliette (Wikipedia it!), who quickly becomes fascinated with Noh-Varr. 

The only interaction with other Marvel Universe characters comes when Noh-Varr torches an obscenity onto the face of the planet, drawing the attention of Dum-Dum Duggan (I think Nick Fury was dead at the time) and SHIELD, but after the cloned supersoldiers they send in are defeated he's largely left in his own corner. The story manages to set itself firmly in the Marvel Universe without Captain America or someone turning up in a way that foreshadows Morrison's use of the X-Men mythos soon afterwards - he's more interested in the concepts and possibilities than actual events outside of the title, making the story fresh and independent. 

Only the issue revolving around the living corporation Hexus (a great idea that can't be done justice in 22 pages). Aside from that, this is a crucial, energetic and thought-provoking little series. It's also a great introduction to Morrison's style for anyone into typical superhero fare after a nice gateway into weirder comics.

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