Kang and his companion deal with the ramifications of a “pirate timeline” as we get a glimpse of Marvel’s near future in Timeless #1. Written by Jed MacKay, art by Kev Walker, Greg Land, Jay Leisten, Mark Bagley, and Andrew Hennessy. Color art by Marte Gracia with letters by Ariana Maher.
We’re in a week of liminality. What day is it? How long has it been since I’ve worn non-pajama pants? Wait, it’s already time for Marvel’s mandated “trailer” comic that seems to come out at the end of every year? That’s right friends, we’ve seen it in years passed and 2021 is no exception, hellscape that it is.
Whether we get Marvel Now Point One #0 or Incoming!, it seems like the House of Ideas loves providing what I might graciously call an amuse-bouche of the next year of superhero faire and what I might cynically call an “attempt at grabbing 5 bucks for a sneak peak of stories that will be out in three months.” I’m not going to disguise my feelings on what I largely think are mediocre books with occasionally glints of interesting story. They largely feel thrown together by editorial mandate rather than organically crafted from interesting ideas, especially considering the interesting ideas are often what these preview. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this book, as the creative team focuses less on “Coming 2022” and more on an actual story.
The gist of Timeless is a tale about Kang the Conqueror and his temporary travel companion, Anatoly Petrov, the latter of which is a researcher of supervillainy currently writing a thesis that Dr. Doom is the best supervillain. Kang, feeling rather jealous it seems, takes Petrov across the timescape to show that he is in fact, the premier supervillain of the 616. So, while we get a short scene of “what may come in the next year” that we don’t really need to get into, this is a rather focused character piece of Kang the Conqueror.
Jed MacKay provides an incredibly interesting voice for Kang, a character that seems largely devoid of what I would consider a consistent personality across his appearances. But Chris, he’s like 4 guys. I mean, sure, but even the Kang persona often seems to be kind of a moustache twirler rather than an individual with a goal, and if 2022 is going to be the year of the Kang following his appearance in the MCU, then it’s nice to get his ethos across. And the team does an excellent job of that, showing that while villains should have understandable motivations, they also at times should be truly villainous. A man striving for perfectionism and not embracing godhood can also be a man who doesn’t tolerate weakness and despite occasional “good acts” still demands dominion. I like a complex villain who I can still see as an actual villain sometimes. And speaking of seeing…
The real star of this issue is colorist Marte Gracia, whose familiar lovely palette smoothes over the transitions. And that’s not to discount the art team as a whole, who I think do fine work under these somewhat nonideal circumstances. There’s a little strangeness in character designs (including Anatoly’s changing hairstyle between artists) but the gestalt is better than expected, and as a jam piece reads nicely, with narrative and thematic coherence that you don’t always see in these types of pieces.
And while I consider this issue to be pretty competent if not earth-shattering, I think we’re probably going to have to address the stinger—the Miracleman logo on the final page. Now, we’ve known Marvel has had the Miracleman/Marvelman rights for several years now, but they’ve largely used to it to reprint some hard to find material and occasionally have some variant covers or in one case, a brief appearance in Marvel Comics #1000. Of course the IP-driven market that is Big Two comics is going to use any sort of property they’ve taken on but, in this case I’m a bit puzzled. My reaction upon seeing the last page of this comic was kind of a shock followed by a bit of pondering. Miracleman, at least the version most popularly known, is a rather standalone creation. His world is one devoid of other superheroes, in which the notion of superbeings is deconstructed and prodded at. It’s difficult to imagine Miracleman in the Marvel Universe, a comic universe that is packed with years and years of continuities between comic books and the now vastly more popular cinematic properties.
A good story is still going to be a good story, and who knows what 2022 is going to bring with respect to Miracleman but, it’s hard not to see this cynically as an IP-driven mood to drum up some excitement in the more established comics fan who don’t necessarily see the revival of Miracleman as unpleasantly as I feel like I do. What will a morally grey Superman (or rather Shazam!) analogue bring to Marvel? It’s already a universe that seems to have trouble with Superman archetypes that seem slightly opposed to the World Outside the Window Vibe. And Miracleman’s most famous tales are written by Alan Moore, a man who is emblematic of the issues between creators and Big Two comics. It’s going to be a sticky situation regardless, and while this comic only previews the possibilities, it’s hard not to find myself pondering an uncertain future as I close this book.
Chris Eddleman is a biologist and co-host of Chrises On Infinite Earths.
