Review of the comic “Legends. Marvel: Legends. A beautiful, but unnecessary comic. “Legends” – review
Opinion about the comic "Legends" from Paul Jenkins and Paolo Rivera.
We all know and love superheroes and, in that including superheroes Marvel. On stories about Ch Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four and other characters, more than one or two generations of comic book fans have grown up. Over a huge period of time, each of these heroes has gone from an inexperienced beginner to a seasoned fighter against evil, who has several battles with Thanos, Galactus, and Annihilus.
But what lay at the beginning of the path of the great heroes of Marvel comics?
Comic "Legends" consists of six chapters. Each chapter tells the origin story of a Marvel superhero. The list is:
- Captain America
- X-Men
- Ghost rider
- Fantastic Four
- Spider-Man
We will see again that Steve Rogers they will inject the same serum that Bruce Banner will be hit by a gamma bomb, and the hand Peter Parker will receive a fateful spider bite. One of the goals of this book is to show that it was so long ago that the very story of their origin has become a legend. A legend that is told from generation to generation. That superheroes themselves have already become modern myths. Modern folklore. It is unlikely that an experienced comic book reader will be able to learn anything new here. He will most likely be immersed in pleasant memories. Will relive again the most important points and scenes that he knows from childhood, only with a small share of the author’s view. The nice thing is that each story has its own style, be it the memories of Steve Rogers, the interrogation Fantastic Four or thoughts Ghost Rider about fate. Each chapter aims to evoke a different feeling in the reader to better connect with the characters. And it works great, especially in the case of Captain America and X-Men.
The drawing fits perfectly into this concept Paolo Rivera, which really creates an old-time atmosphere, as if you are opening a vintage comic book or immersing yourself in a flashback. The sense of time is created beautifully. If modern comic book graphics are bright, sharp, defiantly beautiful, then “Legends” should be drawn almost in oil and chalk. This is how the gap between modernity and the golden age is reflected. Drawing is one of the most strengths books, especially for advanced readers. It’s unlikely that anyone could have drawn such a book better, except, perhaps, Alex Ross. To put it simply: Looking at the drawing in this comic is an excellent charge of aesthetic pleasure.
"Legends" became understandable for the Russian-speaking reader thanks to the publishing house Parallel Comics. A few words about the publication itself: an enlarged hardcover book with a partially varnished dust jacket. When you remove the dust jacket, you will see the same art, but without the inscriptions. When you open the book, the first thing you see is... no, not a comic book, but poster. Yes, the comic book comes with a poster format as a gift A3, based on the cover art. As additional materials Features storyboards, cover gallery and diagram Baxter Buildings, so you know where to drop the bomb to deprive Human Torch home cinema The edition itself is very beautiful, pleasant to hold in your hands and easy to look at, and the enlarged format allows you to fully enjoy the beautiful graphics of Paolo Rivera.
"Legends" is a must-have comic if you're a fan of Marvel superheroes. This collection perfectly reflects the versatility of comics Marvel. The drama of the last soldier, the tragedy of an unbalanced scientist, the curse of a racer with a good heart, a family fantasy, a clash of two points of view and a story of great power and great responsibility. Everything at once under one cover. Six familiar stories in a new interpretation with the most beautiful drawing. If you have a friend who is just starting their journey into the world of comics, Legends is the perfect book for them. You definitely won’t find anything better on the Russian comics market.
We would like to thank the publisher for providing a copy of the comic for review.
I would like to start this review by paraphrasing a bearded joke from the heyday of the Comedy Club: “The origins of the legendary Marvel characters! Captain America, Hulk, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider-Man and Ghost Rider in "What the Fuck is Ghost Rider Doing Here?"
But let's move from humor to facts. “Legends” (in the original – Mythos) is the third book from the young, but already established publishing house Parallel Comics. Hardcover, enlarged format, excellent print quality - but you already know that without me. The collection, under the dust jacket, comfortably contains six stories related, if not to the origin of famous Marvel heroes (after all, the word “origin” is difficult to apply to the local plot about the X-Men), then to the time of their formation. To be honest, “Legends” is a unique book about which it is difficult to say anything bad, even with a great desire. Judge for yourself: if you have been reading comics recently, the book is ideal for you; if the stories in the pictures show the dog being eaten, the action taking place on the pages may seem boring, but Paolo Rivera’s magnificent drawing will compensate for everything; if you are looking for a gift for a person who knows toothed the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe and got here using the keywords WHICH COMIC TO GIVE (hello, search robots) - “Legends” will again be a logical choice. So the “parallels” remain winners in all respects: the volume will slowly but surely sell with obvious surges in the run-up to the holidays.
But if everything is so perfect with the comic itself, then what is there to disassemble? “Russification of the publication!” – the bloodthirsty screams of our commentators can be heard. Ok, agreed. Everything is very good with the retouching and lettering in the book, the only complaint about the Russification of sounds is that there is practically no Russification - the car here beeps “HONK” and a reasonable question arises, what did such a native “BIP” not please? The proofreader can only be blamed for an annoying typo in the initial “credits” of the book - a syllable in the word “assistants” is missing, which means that only the translation remains for a detailed analysis.
If you believe the output, three people were involved in it at once - I did not guess who got which piece, but simply decided, as a relevant sample, to closely compare two stories with the original: about Captain America and about Spider-Man. It must be said right away that without regard to the original, the text is simply great to read: throughout the entire book, the eye almost never caught on a suspicious turn of phrase or awkward phrase. However, during the biased analysis, a number of non-fatal claims arose.
Captain America
The first shortcoming can probably be justified by the youth of the guys working at Parallel, who did not recognize a washboard in the hands of little Steve’s mother. It turned out that Widow Rogers was washing dishes in a basin. Serious mistake? Of course not, most likely inattention, which does not affect the plot in any way.
Let's move forward one page, and here a new panel awaits us, in which Stevie sincerely does not want German to one day become the official language of his beloved country. And he can be understood: with all my love for German, which I have been studying for three years now, this language is not easy. (smile) It’s just more difficult to understand why, during the translation, it was decided to sharply reduce the intensity of the pathetic moment.
The missing pathos, however, “surfaced” in another frame. “The Thousand Year History of Warfare,” which Steve learned and applied, became “The Theory and History of Martial Arts from the Dawn of Man to the Present Day.” A trifle, of course, but still.
On the same page, a classic trap awaited the guys working on the book - an implicit, but still false friend of the translator. Oh, how I would like to translate the word icon as “icon”, considering that it undoubtedly has such a meaning, and recent years ten are actively tracing it (cf. “style icon”), but still, in this context, the words “idol” or “idol”, it seems, would look much more appropriate. Although I believe that there will be those who disagree.
Unfortunately, the next page contains a factual error. Captain America, lamentingly, admits that deep down he always wanted to be an ordinary soldier, not to stand out in any way, absorbing the spirit of barracks camaraderie. Even in the drawing you can see with what sad eyes Steve looks at his combat comrades, who easily communicate with each other, while he, a hero and symbol in the flesh, is perceived as aloof. Unfortunately, the translator missed this nuance.
This phrase that Cap says to Bucky also seems not entirely adequate (in translation theory, “adequacy” is one of the criteria for the correctness of the resulting text, so don’t impute its crude modern colloquial meaning to this word). It seems that in an attempt to distance himself from the original language, the translator got too carried away and along the way lost both the “son” and the general harmony of the phrase, along the way he came up with the idea that things would certainly be “great.”
The next moment, when the grotesque modified human turned into a “parody of man,” also seems controversial. In the original phrase, it seems that Cap has a little more respect for his opponent than the translation shows. And the Red Skull is still a rather serious enemy. But the moment for translation is really difficult.
Well, the last two shortcomings in this issue seem to be a banal and not terrible carelessness: in the first case, New York was lost, in the second, the “struggle for freedom” turned into a “struggle for the country.”
Spider-Man
Let's move on to Spider. In Peter’s conversation with Uncle Ben, it seemed to me personally that the translator gave himself an instruction to simplify everything. The colorful comparison disappeared from the first panel, for which (if you didn’t want to translate literally) you could come up with a lot of equivalents. For example, “I was the kid who always had jam on his lips.” In general, in such cases it is better to translate as close to the text as possible, even if it seems that the phrase does not sound very good in Russian. Why is it important? Because the author’s style lies in these speech structures - the information that Uncle Ben gives in the Russian version does not convey anything to the reader - no coloring. And for readers of the original, such comparisons work to enhance the image of a good-natured and cheerful old man.
But a completely shameless simplification of this kind awaited me on the next page. No comments.
Unfortunately, a factual error crept into this release. And again the translator was not helped by the drawings, although they should have been. To strike out simply means to “screw up.” This is where the baseball term (to quit the game after three strikes) made its way into the vernacular. Well, even if you don’t know this, look into the dictionary and see several translation options, I think it’s not very difficult to guess the true meaning of the last phrase.
New versions of biographies of classic Marvel superheroes. The collection consists of six stories: about Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Hulk, Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider.
Marvel Mythos
Genre: superhero
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Artist: Paolo Rivera
Original release: 2006–2008
Publisher: Parallel Comics, 2016
In order for a modern reader to show interest in stories invented half a century ago, sometimes they have to be, if not completely reworked, then at least presented freshly. Marvel, which lived through the difficult 90s, knows this firsthand. At the beginning of the century, they created an alternate Ultimate universe with young versions of most of the popular characters. The project turned out to be successful, but the creators did not forget the previous universe.
In 2006, the Mythos series was launched to remind readers where it all began and update the stories of the main Marvel heroes, but not in such a radical way as in the Ultimate comics. Screenwriter Paul Jenkins (creator of the superhero Sentry and screenwriter of the Inhumans and Spider-Man series) and artist Paolo Rivera were invited to work on it.
Rivera's style is clearly recognizable: it seems that the frames are not drawn, but written on canvas. There is no special dynamics in them, but the comic only benefits from this. The drawings fit well with the pace of the story; one might say, they do not rush the narrator.
The task Jenkins faced was not trivial: to preserve the “vintage” spirit of the first adventures of Captain America, the Hulk, the X-Men, introduce new elements that distinguish the retelling from the original, and fill the space between the comics and the disparate films that had come out by that time. The changes were partly successful. Bruce Banner was made into a neurotic genius whose instability gave birth to the Hulk, Magneto destroys a facility where experiments on mutants were carried out and kills its employees by pumping out hemoglobin from their blood, Spider-Man makes faces on the Conan O'Brien show. This, of course, could not have happened in the original stories. However, these are not the elements that are capable of striking.
The choice of characters also raises questions: what is Ghost Rider doing in the company of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four? Why not Iron Man or Daredevil, invented, like most of the heroes in the collection, by Stan Lee?
The Russian edition, which can be called belated, was not immune to these questions. Will it be interesting to read again how nerdy Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider for someone who has already seen at least one movie or series? Given Iron Man's recent popularity, a potential reader would be more likely to want to read a story about him—and not find one.
The collection will look good on a shelf with other Marvel comics. High-quality printing, dust jacket, concept art, poster – collectors, including beginners, will love this. But how often will it be taken off the shelf to read? Most likely no.
