History of the Marvel Universe #5

This issue was really good. Just like the last issues, it did a really good job of explaining the complicated mess that is Marvel Comics in a way that makes sense. Unfortunately, it's starting to become a little much. The issue is just sooooo dense with information. It would've been easier to read if Waid had gotten a few more issues of the series, and more room for the series to breathe as a result. But that's a minor complaint, I'm still really enjoying the series, and the art is still ridiculously good. It does a great job of simultaneously looking like modern comic art and classic 60s comic art. Only one more issue to go! And it might be the longest, considering how much happened in the comics released from 2013 to now! Read Full Review

It's possible to imagine this project tweaked ever so slightly to be a visual tapestry of big moments and events, perhaps sorted in chronological order, but lacking narration. Unfortunately, many pages are sub-divided between unrelated events, preventing them from succeeding as anything more than a fraction of themselves, and they are all accompanied by a never ending series of "and then" statements Read Full Review

Ryan

Dec 22, 2019

This is easily the highlight of Javier Rodriguez’s career. Love Waid’s annotations too

Psycamorean

Nov 16, 2019

This is really nostalgic for me, and some of the splash pages are insanely good.

Kalaoui

Nov 21, 2019

Pure sweet nostalgia with some outstanding and impressive art compositions from Javier Rodriguez. Waid is just a curator for a huge research team so this isn't a story at all and more an impressive look at how continuity at Marvel was somehow maintained but with some issues here and there...and I'm fine with that. This is also had so much stuff crammed in there showcasing how many fracking events happened in recent MARVEL history and it's only getting worse.

CrazyforRAMU

Jun 03, 2020

The Marvel universe's story in the 2000s flows out smoothly -- reasonable, since this is the era of line-wide editorial control. Rational progression combined with more stellar splash/collage pages restores this title to pleasant, above-average readability as it nears the finish line. The Hulk falls afoul of consecutive "freak accidents" just three pages apart. It makes me wonder if Mark Waid is over-fond of the phrase.

DDJamesB

Nov 14, 2019

The usual.