Marvel Comics #1000 came out celebrating 80 years of comics! The comic of 80 pages includes tons of artists, writers, colorists and more who come together to create a single paged story. Each team gets one page and with only that they all managed to touch your heart, make you laugh, remind you of some things and in general recognize how these comics and characters are so important.
Tributes to the creators of it all
All throughout the comic, there are tributes to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Also, a list of people at the very end who passed away but certainly are never forgotten for their work in the comic book world.
History
Marvel Comics #1000 is incredibly educational and in chronological order of major appearances, deaths and events of Marvel’s many characters. I will include a few that particularly stuck out to me but I highly recommend you read this issue to see it in all its glory!
From the start with the Human Torch in 1939
To the wackiness of Forbush Man in NOT BRAND ECCH
And additions of new characters from all backgrounds so there could be a hero for everyone.
Tribute to an early comic
The page depicting the first appearance of Inhumans is a homage to an early comic strip entitled “Little Nemo in Slumberland”. I recognized this from a comic book museum I visited in Brussels, Belgium.
Influence of the MCU
Many pages included years of big events in the MCU. A couple displayed below:
Political Issues
There are many controversies over a few of the pages.
Mark Waid
A page from Mark Waid that was changed before printing due to discussing Trump’s presidency and for criticizing America. The original essay is included below: (linked is another article describing Waid’s essay)
I’m asked how it’s possible to love a country that’s deeply flawed.
It’s hard sometimes. The system isn’t just. We’ve treated some of our own abominably.
Worse, we’ve perpetuated the myth that any American can become anything, can achieve anything, through sheer force of will. And that’s not always true. This isn’t the land of opportunity for everyone. The American ideals aren’t always shared fairly.
Yet without them, we have nothing.
With nothing, cynicism becomes reality. With nothing, for the privileged and the disenfranchised both, our way of life ceases to exist. We must always remember that America, as imperfect as it is, has something. It has ideals that give it structure.
When the structure works, we get schools. We get roads and hospitals. We get a social safety net. More importantly, when we have structure, we have a foundation upon which to rebuild the American Dream — that equal opportunity can be available to absolutely everyone.
America’s systems are flawed, but they’re our only mechanism with which to remedy inequality on a meaningful scale. Yes, it’s hard and bloody work. But history has shown us that we can, bit by bit, right that system when enough of us get angry. When enough of us take to the streets and force those in power to listen. When enough of us call for revolution and say, “Injustice will not stand.”
That’s what you can love about America.
The picture below is what is printed in Marvel Comics #1000:
Jeremy Whitley
The other page in debate is Jeremy Whitley’s on America Chavez. America explains how purposeful that out of anywhere in the multiverse she finds herself in a place that discriminates against everything she is and shows how hopeful she is to fight for change and equality.
In my opinion, what Whitley stated was simply fact. Personally, it came across as America being hopeful to change things rather than a commentary on how horrible the US is. It’s more about fighting for change in a good way and not letting the bad things that happen hold you back. Comics, radio, books and anything from today, 80 years ago and 80 years from now will and has always including “political” statements about the world and society. It’s not something new.
Overall arc
While each page is unique and involves different characters overall there is a story of the eternity mask and who lies behind the mask. The focus being on the scientific guild the Enclave, three X’s and for most of the comic the unknown masked character.
Personal Favorites
Pictured below are two of my favorite pages. Overall, the pages and the whole story are fascinating. I love seeing the collaborations and how much passion and hard work went into making each page and panel.
Improvements
While Spider-Man is a big part of Marvel, there are many pages dedicated to him and not enough for the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. These teams are a huge part of Marvel Comics and I expected more pages and mentions of them.
While I know my opinion is unpopular among certain groups, I think the inclusion of this page for Mary Jane is bland. Adding the part acknowledging the pose of Mary Jane is unrealistic yet continuing to draw in this art style is highly contradictory. Something just looks off about her proportions, ill say at the very least it seems to be getting slightly better. However, when people call him out on it or draw it in a more accurate style, it clearly caused debate on twitter. This page is the one thing I really did not like about the comic because I only support artists who do not justify drawing sexualized, basically anorexic women as being their “art style” (In fact, I wrote a whole blog about this issue within Marvel Comics). 
In contrast, a very well done page about Mary Jane where the words and arts come together beautifully is pictured below:
The future
This masked hero is a big focus for future comics. The last two pages reveal that they are going to have some appearance whether in their own series or in the upcoming Marvel Comics #1001.
Additionally, I felt the comic focused on some characters who are getting their own upcoming series. One example is Doctor Doom.
