[Comic Review] - Marville

               Former Vice President Bill Jemas released a seven issue mini-series in 2002 called Marville, one of the three entries for the U-Decide contest along with Peter David and Ron Zimmerman. The idea was that the three new series would be voted on by fans to see which one continued on as a regular title. Needless to say, Marville did not win that contest. Even though the book touts Peter David’s loss, he was the actual winner. Jemas’ creation is not a traditional comic, but otherwise a satirical bashing of the things that were wrong at that time with the comic book industry.

               Readers may be curious about the plot of Marville, but there really isn’t one. A base framework is set up around the main character of Kal-AOL, the sun of Ted Turner from the year 5002, his name and origin a play off of DC Comics Superman character and a company that Turner owned in the past.  With the planet facing destruction Turner sends his eighteen year old son back in time through a time machine made from parts of old video game systems. Kal-AOL meets Mickey, and Lucy, representations of different view points for the main character as he struggles to find himself and make his father proud in the past.

               The narrative begins by having him deal with the differences of the past. Believing he has powers, Kal-AOL attempts to fight crime only to be unsatisfied with the conclusions. Jemas uses his main character to make several political statements about the differences in upper and middle class finances and has him run into predominant figures like Spike Lee and Rush Limbaugh as well as a menagerie of comic book characters from both major companies, though the DC characters are changed slightly to avoid copyright issues.

               The story at this point takes a drastic turn when the trio decides to take the time machine back to the beginning of time to make sense of the world. There, the characters meet an individual that they believe to be God in the form of a black man in a business suit who only refers to himself as Jack. The Jack character shows them ‘miracles’ in the form of how life on Earth began down to the microscopic level while they all go skinny dipping. Using the time machine the characters watch the world progress up to the first humans, where Wolverine is the representation of the first man. In addition Mickey takes up the cause of science, Lucy argues for God, and Kal-AOL is in the middle while they all look to Jack for answers. The book gives the audience a science lesson and two different views of how the theories behind evolution.

               There are still plenty of jokes and comic references beyond the second issue but the overall tone of the book changes. The third issue in particular transitions to a different—more art focused—style in a nod to more independent comics and DC’s Vertigo. The rest of the issues contain a textbook like quality mixed with Jemas’ own editorial views about science, evolution, religion, and politics that all wrap around to still be about the two major companies that control the comic industry.

               The end finds Kal-AOL trying to pitch his life story and experiences to a comic book editor for publication. The conversation in these panels discuss the different reasons why Kal’s story wouldn’t sell and is finally a look at what is wrong with the readers, everything they’ve come to expect from comics and how many are unwilling to change.

               In the back of the last issue is a letter from Bill Jemas about why he wrote Marville. It’s intriguing to read the VP of one of the big two discuss how hard it is to get a comic published without going through Marvel or DC, especially if your book doesn’t cater to what is currently popular with the readers. Jemas goes on to discuss how much he wanted to write Marville, even knowing that it wouldn’t sell well on the market, admitting that if he wasn’t Marvel’s VP it most likely would have never seen the light of day. Jemas used Marville issue seven to discuss submission guidelines for Marvel’s Epic Comics, the company’s project green light-style section that had seen life off-and-on since 1982.

               Marville is far from a typical comic with an equal purpose to educate and show as well as entertain. Those with an interest in the series should understand the purpose lies in what in the author’s message regarding comics at the time and not about the story of the comic itself. A great deal of the content discussed in the series remains relevant in the industry today. Many readers have most likely not read anything like Marville and I would highly recommend it because there is a strong chance that you will not see anything else like it from the big two for quite some time.