Welcome To My Nightmare

Features

Welcome to My 5th Week Event! Back when miniseries had something to say and weren’t tales just as easily told in regular series, the 5th Week Events would give creators a new playground to stretch their imaginations or a venue to launch a major story arc encompassing the entire company. When they’re done right, they’re great fun and feel well worth the money. What sort of special story is worth YOUR money? What would you pay to see done over 5 to 8 books? Well, I’m cheating, I’m adding a 9th one, but I think you’ll see why when it’s done.

I’ll lead off with my Marvel Event: The Marvel Multiverse Endgame! But I want to see more from you readers as well! The sooner you get them in the more likely I’ll be able to post them!

Endless Earths: The End #1
Tony Bedard (w) and Mike McKone (a) bring the Exiles to the forefront. They’ve been around the world and back, but which Earth have they come back to? The problem is there are too many Earths due to manipulations of the time-stream. These new Exiles have to fix it, but doing so could mean that they will each cease to exist! Can the team of Nate Grey (X-Man), Justice (New Universal’s John Tensen), Spider-man 2099 (Miguel O’Hara), Trip Monroe (from Razorline’s Hokum & Hex), Mantra (Eden Blake – Ultraverse), Jolt (formerly of the Thunderbolts, now on counter Earth or Planet Doom if you prefer) and Blink (Age of Apocalypse) make the ultimate sacrifice?

Ultraverse The End #1
James Robinson (w) and Greg Land (a) The Exiles go back to where it all technically began, the Ultraverse! They encounter a variety of Ultraverse heroes, particularly Prime, Night Man, Solitaire, Prototype, Firearm and Hardcase as they prepare for the final battle against Rune! But Rune has help, and it’s Brimstone Love and Halloween Jack?!? What are those two villains from Spider-man 2099’s era doing here?

2099: The End #1
Scott Lobdell (w) and Scott McDaniel (a) bring the Exiles 92 years into the future, but not without a price. Mantra is gravely injured and left behind in the Ultraverse. As the rest of the Exiles pursue Brimstone Love and Halloween Jack, it’s clear that there’s something bigger at play here. This world’s Spider-man won’t be continuing with the Exiles as he joins the X-Men against a corrupted Ghost Rider 2099 and Brimstone Love’s Theatre of Pain. Again, Halloween Jack escapes, this time with the help of the bizarre Terror! Where they go, will the Exiles follow?

Shadowline: The End #1
D. G. Chichester (w) and Lee Bermejo (a) begin the split of the Exiles as only Trip Monroe and John Tensen follow Halloween Jack and Terror into the world of the Shadowline. Jack and Terror push the already unstable Doctor Zero over the edge, but Tensen and Monroe enlist the aid of Father Devlin, the modern day St. George. The battle is fierce and destructive, and in the end, does anybody truly win?

Epic: The End #1
Carl Potts, Alan Zelenetz, and Chuck Dixon (w) and Frank Cirocco and Larry Stroman (a) present X-Man, Jolt and Blink, separated from the rest of the team and flung into the middle of a war. The Harkilons have massed for a major push, and only Force Nomad of the Alien Legion and the time-spanning trio stand between them. In a desperate move, Blink creates the largest portal she’s ever attempted, but it is soon beyond her control. The energies released wash over the war, teleporting everyone. But where did they go?


There are so many great characters languishing in the vault….Opening up the vault and pouring all of the Marvel-owned characters together gives the creators the freedom to explore the characters, while giving fans a more cohesive and less confusing universe.



Bravura: The End #1 The Star Slammers
Walt Simonson (w and a) draws a gigantic final battle as only he can, as the Alien Legion’s fight against the Harkilons spreads over to world of the Star Slammers! X-Man strikes a deal with the Slammers and they help turn the tide. Once the Alien Legion is restored to their proper world, the battered and bone weary Blink opens another portal to jump but is surprised to see Tensen, Monroe, O’ Hara and Deathlok (Luther Manning) is here on behalf of the Ultimate Time Variance Authority, and the Exiles have just been drafted into another war!

Ultimates: The End #1
Warren Ellis (w) and Trevor Hairsine (a) finish off the end of an era when the Exiles shutdown the Ultimate Universe. The Exiles attempt to enlist the aid of the Squadron Supreme, but the Ultimates counter with the Supreme Power doppelgangers. So the Exiles go to the extreme and bring everyone. Ultraversers, 2099ers, Razors, New Universers, and the host of heroes from Mainstream Marvel Earth 616 arrive to battle the Ultimates, Supreme Power, and Halloween Jack, who is revealed to be Loki. The truth about the Ultimate Thor is revealed, and the original Thunder God makes his TRUE return. I say thee Hell Yeah!

Endless Earths: The End #2 Double-sized!
Kurt Busiek, Ed Brubaker, Paul Jenkins, Chris Claremont, Fabian Nicieza and J. Michael Straczynski (w) and Mike Perkins, Steve Epting, Lee Weeks, Alex Maleev, Mike Deodato, and Billy Tan (a) assemble the final demise of the Marvel Universe in star-studded fashion. It ALL ends here! No more multiple universes. No more defunct multiverses. If Marvel owns any rights to it (or certain creators get paid to let their creations play, like the Alien Legion and Star Slammers), they shows up here for the biggest send off ever! From Star Brand to Quasar, from Gah Lak Tus to Vulcan, from Iron Lad (Kang) to Iron Man 2020 (Arno Stark) from Arana to M2’s Spider-Girl, everyone jumps into the fray – except Captain Marvel, who is still peacefully and rightfully dead, thank you. Includes a bagged fold-out poster of a ridiculously enormous battle drawn by George Perez.

The World of Marvel: New Beginning #1 80 Page Giant!
Kurt Busiek, Paul Jenkins, Ed Brubaker, J. Michael Straczynski, Fabian Nicieza and Stan Lee (w) and Frank Cho, Leinil Yu, Travis Charest, John Romita Jr., Mark Bagley, Stewart Immonen, Barry Kitson, William Tucci and Mike Deodato (a) present the unprecedented opportunity to jump into the new United Marvel Universe at the ground floor! This handbook features short pieces on the new teams and featured characters in the UMU, including Prime, Solitaire, Justice, Nightmask, Skullfire, St. George, Ectokid, and Trip Monroe, while saying goodbye to The Alien Legion and Star Slammers (don’t forget Marvel’s Creator Owned line, ICON, hint-hint!) and villains like the new Saint Sinner and Doctor Zero and Brimstone Love’s Theatre of Pain.

Whew! I gotta admit, that was somewhat exhausting. Researching defunct comics and working at the same time is stressful! Maybe I shoulda stuck with the Western spin I started a couple of weeks ago…nah, this was in my mind for some time, a big-ass Crisis on Infinite Marvels that NEEDS to be done. There are so many great characters languishing in the vault. I was a big fan of the too-brief the Ultraverse’s Solitaire with Jeff Johnson’s art, and Prime is in a…well…prime spot to take on the role of Marvel’s Shazam. I didn’t really understand it that well back then, but St. George was still pretty cool, and when I dig it out now I wish I had the rest of the Shadowline. 2099 was fun, if perhaps a little haphazard at times. And there are so many others: Planet Doom, M2, and so forth. I know the Ultimate line is a cash cow but it’s also moved beyond it’s usefulness. It was supposed to be the place to go for those who didn’t want to be encumbered by continuity, but could I pick up Ultimate X-Men or Ultimate Secret or even Ultimate Spider-man and know what was going on? No, and what’s more I’d be irritated that despite losing continuity nothing has really changed except Samuel L. Jackson is now Nick Fury. Opening up the vault and pouring all of the Marvel owned characters together gives the creators the freedom to explore the characters, while giving fans a more cohesive and less confusing universe. Continuity was never the problem. DC uses it to great success. Marvel’s problem is that nobody keeps it straight and the lack of solid continuity is frustrating to many readers.

But I’ve said that all before, and Quesada hasn’t got in touch with me yet, so it’s not likely to get fixed any time soon.

Welcome to my nightmare.