1602

[sqbr]

Just read "1602", a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman which recasts the marvel universe into 1602. I really enjoyed it. I read the first few issues at nico_wolfwood's back when it came out but it was much better having the whole thing. I do think he was a little lazy by making it focus even more on white men than the original source, that we he didn't have to write around all the restrictions put on women etc. Personally I think half the fun of period pieces is playing around with the juxtaposition between the characters worldview and our own, he did this a bit (and it was fun) but I would have liked it if he'd done it even more (how would Storm the african princess have faired, for example? Or Wonder Woman, avatar of non christian gods?)

An idea which gave me definite pause was that he explicitly states that America started with the first colonists, and that if they die americas future dies, with the native americans, to me, coming across as the people who used to live there, the caretakers until the Real Americans arrived. It's gotten me thinking about what "America" (or for that matter "Australia") really is. Hmm.

Comments

[pedanther]

how would Storm the african princess have faired, for example?

FWIW, the main reason Storm didn't appear in 1602 is that Gaiman deliberately limited himself to the original Marvel characters of the 1960s, and Storm first appeared in the mid-1970s.

(Comic book geek, yes, I know...)

I shall assume you already know why Wonder Woman didn't appear. ;)

[alias_sqbr]

Ah...I did not know that. *forgives Neil Gaiman, though I still would have liked more non-evil kickass women*

*bows to your far superior comic book geek fu*

I shall assume you already know why Wonder Woman didn't appear. ;)

...

*cough* Um..same reason as batman and superman? *is doofus*

[pedanther]

same reason as batman and superman?

Yes.