From spy fiction to ancient creatures to superheroics and more, “Amazing Fantasy” #1 more than lives up to its title!
Written, Illustrated, and Colored by Kaare AndrewsCover by Kaare Andrews
Lettered by Joe SabinoEXPERIENCE THESE HEROES LIKE NEVER BEFORE!
Red Room Black Widow, teenage Spider-Man, World War II Captain America – the most iconic versions of your favorite Marvel characters from across time and space all wake up on an island of intrigue, darkness and…Amazing Fantasy. Are they dead? Are they dreaming? Or have they truly been transported to another fantastical realm? And is there any way for them to return home?
This isn’t just a love letter to your favorite Marvel eras, it’s a reinvestment in the seminal characters you’ve always loved, plucked from their quintessential timelines.
Brought to you by KAARE ANDREWS, this is the one you’ve been waiting for, True Believers… It’s one Amazing Fantasy for the ages!
“Amazing Fantasy” has a storied history, most famous for the first volume’s “Amazing Fantasy” #15 in the 1962 with the introduction of Spider-Man. However, as the web-slinger has mostly kept to his own titles, his part in this third volume, “Amazing Fantasy” #1, is part of an apparent ensemble of icons, a collection of which multitalented creator Kaare Andrews makes extensive use. Switching between multiple different spatial and temporal settings to seemingly bring together a collection of famous Marvel characters, how does Andrews do with this debut for a new audience, especially one who may have preconceived notions of the various characters?
Put as succinctly as possible, Kaare Andrews succeeds to, pardon the pun, marvelous extremes, leaning on both the amazing and the fantastical through several different plots that could have been their own smaller works before coalescing into what appears to be a consistent whole. Each of the three protagonists thus far has their classic origins played out in some form, but each and every one has a twist, be it implied as in the case of Captain America, directly shown as with Black Widow, or being used as a twist in and of itself as with Spider-Man. The three all feel very real, but also as though they each had a marked difference from the norm, making identifying what will happen next a slight bit less certain for fans of the characters themselves.
Each of Andrews’s different interwoven stories have their own distinct feeling. They range from a strange-yet-familiar tale of heroism with Steve Rogers in an unknown location, to a much more serious spy fiction approach with Natasha Romanoff in the Soviet Union, to classic (even some might say “standard”) superhero mishaps with Peter Parker in New York City. Each feels like just part of a far wider story, and one that under different circumstances could have made entire comic arcs by themselves. However, even as they may have different situations and perhaps even some changes in personality, all three of the members of this relatively unlikely trio feel true to their modern selves as much as to their older personalities, with the smaller changes and differences in experiences being what readers can look forward to shaping them into new, possibly distinct persons going forward.
Even aside from the interesting story, where “Amazing Fantasy” #1 truly seems to excel is with Andrews on the illustrations. The Joe Shuster Award-winning artist shows not only his attention to detail, but the sheer breadth of what kinds of styles he can utilize with great skill. Each of the different scenarios have their own overarching style, from Captain America to Black Widow to Spider-Man, and while they are all distinct, none of them feel intrusive or distracting. Instead. The different styles help to integrate the different plots as much as it keeps them separate from one another, all being so individualized that it is shocking to believe they all come from the same artist.
The different styles help to showcase Andrews’s attention to these different people being from different worlds, be that figurative or literal in its meaning. Captain America, as well as the overarching story, feels to have some greater attention to detail and danger, but not to the point of being too photorealistic. The Red Room in the Soviet Union uses a bit of blurring and softer pencils, working with the colors to seem almost as if something that is from another era altogether, or perhaps even a dream of sorts. As if in deliberate contrast, apparently modern-day New York City has thick lines and some more in the form of stylized movements, giving a much more fun-loving superhero approach that disappears as he enters a different kind of story in the second half and struggles to keep his internally-calming wisecracks flowing.
Similar to the illustrations, Kaare Andrews does an excellent job with color choices, using them to help set the tone of each of the varied settings. The bright colors of Steve Rogers and the first part of Peter Parker’s stories help show them as true heroes in their element, even if in the case of the former it may not appear to initially be the case. The blockier coloration on Parker’s adventure gives a sense of it being a classic comic book story from far off times, while the more intricate coloring on Rogers hints at something new. Meanwhile, the blurry hues and tones of Natasha Romanoff’s story seem almost as if a watercolor, providing s sense of twisted, terrifying beauty in spite of the monstrous conditions of the Red Room and her sad, at times brutal life. Much like how the illustrations become darker and more brutal with changes in setting, the darkening colors give an overall impression of things becoming more somber or scary as the wonder fades to fear.
Final Verdict: 8.0– Three different stories with distinct art styles and tones merge together into a cohesive whole that may entice returning fans of Marvel as well as those just joining in on the franchise.
