Marvel 1602

The always inventive Gaiman has concocted an unlikely-but fantastically successful-superhero comic that transfers Marvel's classic characters to the Elizabethan period. Nick Fury is still a lethal government operative, but now he's an adviser to Queen Elizabeth. Her Majesty is equally reliant on magician and doctor Stephen Strange. X-Men mentor Charles Xavier still shepherds a band of mutant teens, only now he's called Carlos Javier, and the mutants are known, and mistrusted, as "witchbreed." Carlos's mysterious nemesis has taken on a new job: grand inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. Peter Parker (here "Parquah") is still a confused but well-meaning teenager who has yet to be bitten by a radioactive spider. Placed in a period landscape (rendered in rich, painterly panels by illustrator Kubert and digital painter Richard Isanove), these familiar characters must grapple with the issues of the day, chief among them the machinations of the evil King James of Scotland. And, in classic superhero style, they must save the world. The improbable combination works remarkably well, as the superheroes' strange abilities adapt to Elizabethan culture. This glorious adventure is peppered with Scott McKowen's gorgeous, moody cover-art woodcuts. (Oct.) Forecast: Gaiman's dedicated following will flock to this; script pages and detailed notes and sketches in the back make it an even more attractive package. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

This marvelous oversized hardcover by the acclaimed Gaiman (Sandman) takes the Marvel superheroes and villains of the 1960s-the original X-Men, Daredevil, Dr. Doom, and many others-and places them in the early 17th century. While the Inquisition burns mutants at the stake, English spymaster Nicholas Fury and royal physician Dr. Stephen Strange confer with an ailing Queen Elizabeth about a powerful treasure of the Knights Templar that must be brought to England for safekeeping-and about the strange weather patterns that some feel portend the end of the world. Part of the fun of a book like this is seeing familiar characters in surprising new guises, and Gaiman doesn't disappoint on that score. But he also provides a highly enjoyable story of alliances and betrayals, of misdirection and revelation, with a more sf basis than the fantasies he is known for. (Readers should avoid the introduction, which gives away too much.) Marvel fans will be thrilled with the book, while Gaiman fans are likely to be split, with some finding it too slight-but it's strongly recommended for all collections, for teens and adults. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.