Marvel Finally Confirmed Its Own Watchmen (But It Doesn’t Work)

Let’s all be real for a second — Marvel has the best cosmic comics ever. Sure, DC has their multiverse, the New Gods, Vega Sector, and the various Lantern Corps, but none of that can match cosmic Marvel. Jack Kirby and Stan Less started cosmic Marvel in the ’60s in Fantastic Four and The Mighty Thor, and creators like Jim Starlin, Ron Marz, Keith Giffen, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and many more added to it wonderfully. In recent years, Marvel superstars like Al Ewing and Jonathan Hickman have done a lot of work on the cosmic side of things. Hickman returned to that corner of the Marvel Universe with Imperial, a book that has basically reset the cosmic characters and empires.

Cosmic Marvel stories are at another level, and Imperial had big boots to fill. The four-issue series did an admirable job of getting rid of some of the worst new cosmic ideas (I’ve never been a fan of the Kree/Skrull alliance; it wastes Hulkling and Wiccan), but it also ruined a lot of ideas and plots that fans liked. Imperial reset the cosmic status quo, but longtime comic readers will recognize some similarities between the story’s twist and a book that is considered the greatest comic ever: Watchmen. Marvel has been chasing the DC classic for years, and unfortunately, it looks like they’re going to have to keep chasing it, because Imperial doesn’t work.

Imperial‘s Ending Uses the Watchmen Twist Ending but Doesn’t Earn It

So, Imperial began as a murder mystery that blew up into a situation that changed the destiny of the cosmos itself. It was revealed that it wasn’t a traditional villain behind the whole thing, but Black Bolt, who wanted to make the Inhumans strong again, so they would be in position to destroy the Kree. From the beginning, Bolt, working with his brother Maximus, and the Grandmaster manipulated the entire intergalactic power structure into dancing to the tune he wanted them to. Nova, Star-Lord, and Shuri discovered the truth, with Star-Lord and Shuri choosing not to reveal the information because it would help their respective peoples, while Nova swore to reveal the perfidy that caused the whole situation.

The whole thing is Watchmen. In that classic comic, a hero started a sequence of events that would end with a war that he would stop in order to convince everyone in the world to stop fighting. There are certainly some differences between how Watchmen puts it story out there and the way that Imperial does, but it’s easy to see the similarities between the two. It honestly feels like Hickman used Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ classic to inform his own story. However, let’s be real — this newest installment in the history of cosmic Marvel will never be looked at on the same level of a book that is considered the greatest of all time.

Watchmen was a singular moment in the history of comics. The book built its story perfectly, with Moore and Gibbons putting an insane amount of work into each and every page. It’s a masterpiece on multiple levels; not only is the plot full of entertaining twists and turns, but the characters are all multi-dimensional and compelling, giving the book an emotional core that superhero comics often lack. It works because it is the sum of its parts; it is perfection right there on the page, and that’s why we’ve cared about the story as much as we have.

However, Imperial doesn’t really have any of that. I liked Imperial a lot as it was going on, but if I’m being real, it’s kind of a disappointment. Hickman’s work in the last few years (other than Wolverine: Revenge, which I will fight for) hasn’t exactly been as amazing as it once was — yes even Ultimate Spider-Man — and Imperial is the perfect example of that. The problem with the book is that its parts just weren’t all that interesting (other than the Black Bolt stuff), so its Watchmen pastiche just doesn’t land. I think Marvel figured that fans would praise the book as “Watchmen in space”, but it doesn’t have nearly the same amount of gravitas or impact.

Imperial Made a Huge Mistake Reminding People Watchmen Exists

Imperial was teased since last year, and fans were excited for it. However, instead of being like amazing Hickman-written event books such as Infinity, Secret Wars, House of X, Powers of X and Inferno, we got a bargain basement Marvel event. Honestly, it felt like it was more about trying to get readers to buy the one-shots that expanded on the story than it was to tell its own story. It’s the most Marvel book ever, and trying to remind people of Watchmen was the biggest mistake the book ever made.

Watchmen is the kind of book that even if you know the twist while reading it, it’s still an amazing moment. It’s built so well, that it doesn’t matter if you know it or not; it just works. Imperial isn’t that. It set up ideas that were expanded upon elsewhere, and the story really didn’t have anything to connect to readers with. Using the Watchmen formula and plot for the book was a huge mistake, because it will make readers think of a book that is light years better. Imperial tries to walk in those massive boots, and fell over.

What do you think about Imperial? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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