While self-satire is not a cure-all for the frustration fans can feel after an awful storyline or release, it helps to know that the creators feel just as lost and confused.
101 Ways to End the Clone Saga feels like a heightened-reality dramatization of conversations and discussions that might well have happened in the Marvel offices at one point or another. Perhaps this is why it resonates so well where future one-shots in this style haven't.
It doesn't even stop short of attacking the Clone Saga - certain moments spoof the mountain of plot holes in Marvel stories at that point, the dumbness of other stories running during the clone saga and the incredibly similar clone-based storylines in the X-Men books around the same time that didn't get nearly as much negative press. The humor is very clever and there's even an instance of Painting the Medium where an editor's note actually forgets the acronym for S.H.I.E.L.D. and comes back later in another panel apropos of nothing. The book's scrapped storylines sometimes even prove hilariously (or not-so-hilariously) prophetic.
The art? It's not Alex Ross or anything like that, but still way better than a book made in 1997had any right to be. All in all, an exemplary work of parody. Hated the clone saga? Read this!
ComicBook Biting-the-Hand Humor done right
While self-satire is not a cure-all for the frustration fans can feel after an awful storyline or release, it helps to know that the creators feel just as lost and confused.
101 Ways to End the Clone Saga feels like a heightened-reality dramatization of conversations and discussions that might well have happened in the Marvel offices at one point or another. Perhaps this is why it resonates so well where future one-shots in this style haven't.
It doesn't even stop short of attacking the Clone Saga - certain moments spoof the mountain of plot holes in Marvel stories at that point, the dumbness of other stories running during the clone saga and the incredibly similar clone-based storylines in the X-Men books around the same time that didn't get nearly as much negative press. The humor is very clever and there's even an instance of Painting the Medium where an editor's note actually forgets the acronym for S.H.I.E.L.D. and comes back later in another panel apropos of nothing. The book's scrapped storylines sometimes even prove hilariously (or not-so-hilariously) prophetic.
The art? It's not Alex Ross or anything like that, but still way better than a book made in 1997 had any right to be. All in all, an exemplary work of parody. Hated the clone saga? Read this!