Marvel’s Heroes Get an Epic Old-School Makeover in Amazing Fantasy
Controversial comics creator Kaare Andrews (Spider-Man: Reign) is back at Marvel, and he’s taking some of Marvel’s biggest heroes, (along with a few readers likely) on a wild ride in this newest, pure fantasy-influenced rendition of Amazing Fantasy. This newest miniseries, harkening back to the psychedelic fantasies of yesteryear, will feature time-displaced versions of Black Widow, Captain America and Spider-Man from early in their careers as they fight for survival on a patently bizarre island infested with cannibalistic frog-men, fearsome ogres and buxom women with tails ripped straight from early 20th Century fantasy. No explanation for the reason behind these absurd circumstances has been given, but hilarity no doubt shall ensue.
Andrews, a surrealist storyteller in the superhero genre similar to some of Frank Miller’s more outlandish exhibitions, previously came to fame in his dark and controversial take on a future Spider-Man in 2006’s Spider-Man: Reign, which featured an elderly Peter Parker coming to terms with his unwitting role in the death of his wife Mary Jane. Now returning to Marvel for the first time since his 2014 series Iron Fist: The Living Weapon, Andrews will be taking a different tack in exploring the far-flung world of Marvel in a dreamlike fantasy series feature a World War II-era Cap fighting alongside a young Black Widow, still in her Red Room spy school days and a teenage Peter Parker in some kind of convolution of the time-stream that brings them together on a mysterious island.
Announced in a press release by Marvel Comics, Andrews’ new miniseries, named after the original comic that famously presented Spider-Man’s first appearance in 1962, will be heavily inspired by the old fantasy art work of Frank Frazetta, whose pioneering work often eschewed more logical plot points for a more abstract, hyperreal atmosphere and kinetic action. Billed as a “reinvestment in the seminal characters you’ve always loved, plucked from their quintessential timelines,” Amazing Fantasy will be a throwback to the more boy’s adventure-style narratives of the distant past, featuring untested versions of Marvel’s heroes going up against malevolent monsters and magic. Check out the preview art below:
Andrews himself said of the project:
My very first memories of reading anything, even before I could read words, were of holding a Marvel comic in my hands at the age of four. I had no idea what the characters were saying, but I was enchanted with the story told through pictures. It is a thrill to return to a new Marvel limited series, writing and drawing not just my favorite characters—but my favorite versions of those characters. I just had to come up with a plan to put WWII Captain America, teenaged Spidey and spy school Black Widow into the same adventure.
Two-fisted tales of exotic adventures fighting straight-up fantasy monsters is not exactly the typical fare for these heroes nowadays. However, what Andrews is likely trying to demonstrate in this somewhat outlandish throwback of a tale would be a distillation of the archetypical impetus behind these heroes and their long-running superhero careers, a more Jungian base to these modern heroes that often gets put on the backburner in the midst of their spy thrillers and urban crime stories. Fledgling heroes finding themselves time-tossed and at the mercy of their isolated, yet magic-tinged environment feels like something more out of Robert Louis Stevenson or Edgar Rice Burroughs than anything contemporary, but there’s a certain relish Andrews notes in this subversion of expectations. “There is a beating heart to these archetypes. And they need to live again!” he said.
Will the young Captain America, Black Widow and Spider-Man escape the cannibalistic frogmen? Amazing Fantasy #1 goes on sale July 28 wherever comic books are sold.
Source: Marvel.com
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