Jan-Ken-Pon – Marvels: Eye of the Camera #4 review

    
We left the previous issue of Marvels: Eye of the Camera with Sheldon suffering from a changing world. In the midst of an ‘event’ if you will. It wasn’t a changing world as much as it was a realization that its marvels are not out of or beyond the mundane world, but stem from it, and suffer and succeed for and because it. Such a realization opens the door for new denizens, and more angles to those we already knew about. He witnessed the birth of impurity – or as he might say a stain – occur in the very face of freedom, and justice fall at her feet.

As I read this issue the word that struck me for was ‘crisis’. This is a term associated with DC when they attempt to consolidate, cut out, add, or clean-up fragments of their history into something that brings it up to date. Marvel tends to do this without the packaging, and just evolves in-story. I think if you were publishing in the 70’s and saw that a title of yours like Conan was kicking ass in sales, than sooner or later utopia was going to be stormed by some barbarians on both sides, of all sides. NYC has ample skyline and alleys. Sheldon’s crisis was consolidating that heroes and villains can be found in both, living by the rules each have.

Eye of the Camera is again a nicely written (Busiek) and beautifully rendered (by Anacleto) book, and there are some major moments that Busiek gives us a different perspective of events fundamental to the comic fan. The death of Elektra makes Sheldon have to ponder between his very real friend and the right of wonder in a very real world. The plotting of the stages of Sheldon’s cancer, his treatment, and how it coincides with Marvel events are effective. It may be bit too focused at times; it’s obvious enough for the non-inbred fan (if we have anymore in comics) to connect dots by inference even if not possessing personal knowledge of those events. We get a reprieve, an absence of icons off in some secret war, that suggests that we can get by, but our excitement on the return reveals us. Sheldon’s crisis of is cured as a an ‘alien’, a ‘villain’ and ‘heroes’ for a moment all becomes the latter, mending a rupture caused by the coming of the Beyonder. His soul is cured by what he sees, what he takes pictures of, to be his witnesses to the rest of the world.

A part of me wonders if we are for a moment – one of triumph and redemption – supposed to despise Sheldon? Do we ever look at ourselves and examine what we ask of our heroes? They disappoint by being level with us, and we have to witness them save the world to for our own conscious to be clear. It is the younger generation that always showcases the optimism, “That’s GOOD dad– isn’t it?”. Even the ultimate optimist has nightmares and times of crisis, but all of us have to wake up and take the white, black, and the grey; the good, bad, and ugly. It is the price of not just limiting ourselves to look up in the sky. We are able in some regard to look eye-to-eye, and see the flaws we may share and know that we haven’t exposed unfortunate flaws- we have exposed their humanity. Though they are ‘super’ they live in our world, are of our world, and it is our shared backdrop, failures included – that give scale to our wonder. While constantly having and even wanting a portion of them that mirror (fluidly) our worst selves, they get back up and try to take us with them one step at a time, even as we are destined to always hold them back with our shared ‘mortal wounds‘. It is because of their insistence, there faith in the face of our skepticism, that we still Marvel.

What I walk away with from the issue is seeing the completion of the beginnings of an integration being laid down to reveal the next phase, the next issue, that represents a legitimate notch- an evolutional leap – in the comics history timeline. A newer world, a new perspective, both cross-culture and isolated, with new demands . . . the coming of generation X.

    
- Jay Tomio

_{Jan-ken-pon is the time traveling, force-walking, multiverse crossing column of Jay Tomio, owner of 1/3 of everything you see currently on screen, and the editor of Heliotrope. Some call him the Bodhisattva.}

About Jay Tomio

...Jay Tomio is the co-owner of BSCreview and BSCkids--check out Jan-ken-pon, his time traveling, force-walking, multiverse crossing column. You should probably become his disciple through twitter @JayTomio. More fun awaits at the Vogue Immunity and at Spiff Six Shot