Line #10 ComicBook/Marvels


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marvels.png]]
2
3	->''"As I have learned since, I was not the first anomaly to exist... but on that day of my freedom in 1939, this world had its first confrontation with the fantastic. The [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] of miracles would begin, and in the years to come, the world would know the presence of the unnatural and extraordinary as part of reality."''
4	-->-- '''[[ComicBook/HumanTorch1939 The Human Torch]]''', ''Marvels'' #0
5
6	''Marvels'' is a 4-issue mini-series, running from January to April, 1994. An exploration of the history of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse from the perspective of an [[TheEveryman Everyman]], written by Creator/KurtBusiek and illustrated by Creator/AlexRoss.
7
8	'''Warning: Spoilers follow'''
9
10	It's [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks 1939]] and Phil Sheldon is a young freelance photojournalist. He's interested in going over to Europe, where he knows trouble is brewing, and he has a young fiance, Doris. This all changes, however, when he's at the press conference where Phineas Horton announces his newest creation -- the android known as the [[ComicBook/HumanTorch1939 Human Torch]]. Soon, other "marvels" appear, the ComicBook/SubMariner and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica among them, and Phil can only watch on the sidelines, both awed and fearful. He hopes that they will leave, that this will all pass... but he knows better.
11
12	Soon, it's the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks 1960s]] and Phil Sheldon has two daughters and a thriving career. With the ComicBook/FantasticFour and the [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]] dominating the headlines, this seems to be an era of prosperity, where superheroes are the new celebrities. But even now, there's a dark side: [[ComicBook/XMen mutants]], ''[[ComicBook/XMen homo superior]]''. Even Phil seems afraid of them, but soon comes to realize his own prejudices when he finds his daughters have helped and hidden a little mutant girl from an angry [[TorchesAndPitchforks mob]]. Soon, the public even turns against the other superheroes. Even after the FF save the world from ComicBook/{{Galactus}}, the public seems to both love and hate the heroes.
13
14	Even after Phil's book ''Marvels'' comes out, he can't help seeing the story in the public's reaction. In his efforts to write another book and clear ComicBook/SpiderMan's name of Captain Stacy's murder, he meets and interviews Gwen Stacy. But what happens when superheroes fail? Where do you go when you start being within the story instead of outside?
15
16	''Marvels'' was published in 1994. Soon afterwards, several followups with a roughly similar format came out:
17	* ''Tales of the Marvels: Blockbuster'' (April 1995)
18	* ''ComicBook/{{Ruins}}'' (Aug-Sep 1995), a CrapsackWorld version by Creator/WarrenEllis
19	* ''Tales of the Marvels: The Wonder Years'' (Aug-Sep 1996)
20	* ''Tales of the Marvels: Inner Demons'' (1996)
21	* ''Marvels Epilogue'' (2019), a one-shot taking place during Christmas
22
23	Busiek would explore similar themes in ''ComicBook/AstroCity'', which started in 1995. The direct sequel to ''Marvels'', ''Marvels: Eye of the Camera'', also written by Busiek, came out as a six issue series [[ScheduleSlip from 2008 to 2010]]. And in 2020, Busiek curated a series of one-shots by different writers and artists called ''ComicBook/MarvelsSnapshots''. Also in 2019, Marvel and the podcast company Stitcher adapted ''Marvels'' into [[Podcast/{{Marvels}} a podcast]], which both adapts the 1960s chapters of the comic (centering the story around [[ComicBook/TheComingOfGalactus the Galactus incident]]) and continues the story. The podcast also [[AscendedExtra expands the roles]] of previously minor characters Ben Urich and Marcia Hardesty. promoting them to lead characters alongside Phil Sheldon.
24
25	Phil Sheldon himself has made cameo appearances in ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperHeroSquadShow'', ''VideoGame/MarvelsAvengers'' and ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''.
26
27	Compare with ''ComicBook/TheMarvelsProject'', a similar miniseries chronicling the Marvel Universe’s beginnings during the start of World War II.
28
29	----
30	!!''Marvels'' provides examples of the following tropes:
31
32	* AIIsACrapshoot: The original Sentinels turn on Bolivar Trask basically the second they're activated, telling their creator that they have no intention of following anyone's orders.
33	* AllOfTheOtherReindeer:
34	** ComicBook/SpiderMan and the ComicBook/XMen, especially in the second part where Phil speculates that the mutants are here to replace us and kick the dirt over our graves. A key theme of the story is Phil's increasing disgust at how much dirt and ingratitude the heroes constantly have to put up with despite selflessly saving the people, the city and even the entire world over and over again.
35	** ComicBook/TheThing deals with this too, despite him being part of the beloved ComicBook/FantasticFour.
36	* AmbiguousSyntax: When Iceman is hit with a thrown brick by an anti-mutant mob, Cyclops tells him not to retaliate because "They aren't worth it." He's obviously referring to how the catharsis of hitting back isn't worth compromising their morals, but wrapped up in the fear mongering towards mutants, Phil interprets it as him saying the regular people are beneath the X-Men.
37	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: When Phil interviews his old friend J. Jonah Jameson, he brings up both the latter's general slandering of Spider-Man as a threat and his more recent assertions of Spider-Man's "cowardice" due to not intervening during a crime wave. Phil logically asks how it's fair [[MortonsFork to accuse Spider-Man of being a menace when he does go out and fight crime while calling him a coward when he doesn't]].
38	* AnAssKickingChristmas: The epilogue has Phil and his daughters personally witness the X-Men fighting a bunch of Sentinels and the debut of ComicBook/{{Nova}} on Christmas.
39	* BadassCrew: ''ComicBook/{{The Invaders\|MarvelComics}}'', and later, ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'', the ''ComicBook/XMen'' and the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour''.
40	* BerserkButton: The Human Torch angrily storms out of a diner (melting a hole in a window on his way) after overhearing J. Jonah Jameson ranting about wanting "freaks" like him to be indiscriminately locked up.
41	* BewareTheSuperman: When the Human Torch and Namor first appeared on the scene, this was most people's reaction, even after the Torch began to operate as a hero. It mostly fell by the wayside with the introduction of Captain America, but flares up again during the anti-mutant hysteria in the 60's, which bleeds over onto other heroes as well.
42	* BittersweetEnding:
43	** After Gwen Stacy dies, Phil can't believe people would simply forget about her and go on, eventually realizing that he's inside the story now instead of outside and he can't be objective. So he retires with his wife and daughters.
44	** The follow-up miniseries ''Marvels: Eye of the Camera'' has Phil die of lung cancer before he can finish his new book. On the bright side, he is at peace in his final moments, he got to see Maggie again and be assured that she's alright, and his daughters and Maggie decide to finish his book after he passes away.
45	** The epilogue adds an extra sweet layer to it all, as Phil has his faith in the Marvels restored before his death by witnessing the arrival of Nova, while at the same time resisting giving in to his old MarriedToTheJob tendencies.
46	* BrokenPedestal: [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied Gwen's death]] causes Phil to lose faith in not just Spider-Man, but the Marvels in general.
47	-->"He failed her. They all failed her."
48	* CensorSteam: Namor's nudity is cleverly disguised by waves and careful placement. [[note]] Alex Ross drew him naked as a joke to see if anyone would notice.[[/note]]
49	* CerebusRetcon: In the original Galactus storyline, J. Jonah Jameson's editorial calling Galactus a hoax was pretty much a one-panel gag, with a couple of people joking about the absurdity of the claim. Here it's treated much more seriously, with many people not being so quick to dismiss Jameson's accusations, and it being a part of the larger trend that Phil is observing of an increasing lack of gratitude for the Marvels' world- and life-saving actions.
50	* CharacterDevelopment: Phil starts out completely buying into all the anti-mutant propaganda thrown around at the height of the 60's mutant scare. His experiences with Maggie and the anti-mutant riots helps him see things differently, and he is subsequently shown to be fully accepting of the X-Men as super-heroes.
51	* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Alex Ross used models for certain characters, such as Music/FreddieMercury for [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], Creator/TimothyDalton for [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]], [[Series/GilligansIsland Russel Johnson]] for [[ComicBook/MisterFantastic Reed Richards]], and, most notably, Creator/PatrickStewart for [[ComicBook/ProfessorX Charles Xavier]], years before the actor [[Film/XMenFilmSeries would be cast for that same character]]. Creator/DonKnotts also appears as Frederick Foswell, a reporter for the Daily Bugle.
52	* ComicBookTime: Mostly averted; Busiek chose to set his story at the times when the characters involved were first published, before this trope was really an issue. Played a bit more straight in the sequel, which covers events of comics published up to the late 80s, when the trope was already becoming evident. (For example, Phil's daughters are only teenagers by the final issue, despite their first appearances as young girls happening concurrently to stories published in the mid-60s.)
53	* ConstructiveBodyDisposal: After the disastrous public response to his press conference unveiling the Human Torch, Horton drops the Human Torch, still in his vacuum-sealed glass tube, into the wet concrete at a nearby construction site.
54	* ContinuityNod: While musing about the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner, Phil contrasts them with a couple non-superpowered "mystery men" who existed earlier in the timeline: specifically, the Angel,[[note]] premiered alongside Torch and Namor but as an already-active hero whose origin wouldn't be told until later[[/note]] the Phantom Eagle,[[note]] a WWI-era hero, premiered in the Silver Age[[/note]] and the Rawhide Kid.[[note]] an Old West-era hero, premiered in the later years of the Golden Age[[/note]]
55	* CoversAlwaysLie: Some editions of the book just show Spider-Man front and center on the cover, even though he has little if anything to do with the story. [[spoiler: However, Spidey's role in the events of ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied'' play a huge part in Phil's CynicismCatalyst.]]
56	* CurbStompBattle: Namor and the Android Torch absolutely steamroll battalions of German and Japanese soldiers when the Axis attempts to invade the US through Alaska.
57	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Eye Of The Camera'' picks up where ''Marvels'' left off, and deals with the darker turn of the Bronze Age of Comics. It also happens in-universe, as Phil's publisher wants him to do a sequel book about the darker sides of superhumans and focus on villains and monsters.
58	* DawnOfAnEra: The beginning of UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks (symbolized by the birth of the first Human Torch), followed later by the beginning of UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks (symbolized by the creation of the Fantastic Four).
59	* DeconReconSwitch: It's a deconstruction in showing how scary it would really be if a bunch of masked men with godlike powers started showing up, but then reconstructs it to show how awesome and heroic it would be too, especially when they save the day. And then it falls back into deconstruction at the end when it explores what happens when [[ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied these "Marvels" end up failing to save the day]]. Then it finishes by swinging back into reconstruction with ''Eye Of The Camera'' and the epilogue, as events cause Phil to regain his faith in the Marvels in the twilight of his life.
60	* DramaticIrony:
61	** Phil briefly encounters Peter Parker, whom he hates because of the way he profits off of giving Spider-Man pictures to the Daily Bugle, which are then used to slander himself. Taken even further in the sequel miniseries, where Phil, already in a bad mood, angrily brushes Peter off while storming out of a Bugle party. Out on the New York streets at night, he gets accosted by muggers, but before they can hurt him, Spider-Man saves him.
62	** Phil at the end says he's ''through'' with superheroes and never wants to be around one. He tells his assistant to take a picture of him with a nice ''normal'' kid, a newspaper delivery boy by the name of [[ComicBook/GhostRider Danny Ketch]].
63	** To contrast how differently mutants and non-mutants are treated, Reed and Sue's wedding happens mere hours before the Sentinels are announced to the world.
64	** At Alicia Master's art show, two old women discuss the Thing, noting that "at least he's not one of those horrible muties", just as Professor Xavier, Scott Summers, and Jean Grey happened to be passing by.
65	** The panels where Phil is told the mutants knocked a man off a construction scaffold and tried to kill him actually show the man fell because a rope snapped and the X-Men's various 'attacks' were them trying to save him (Cyclops vaporizing something he was going to smash into, Angel trying to catch him, Iceman creating a ramp to arrest his fall).
66	** In the issue where Phil and his family meet and befriend Maggie, she flees their home on a night where the mutant hysteria is at an all time high and the Sentinels have been unleashed to hunt mutants down. Phil soberly notes that they will likely never know what happened to her. Luckily for the readers, the issue's cover is of Angel rescuing Maggie from an angry mob.
67	* EasilyForgiven:
68	** None of the bystanders outside the story were very happy with the Human Torch making peace with Namor at the conclusion of their first fight and allowing him to leave without making reparations for the damage he caused, seeing it as this.
69	** Lampshaded when the Torch and Namor team up to fight the Axis powers, and are almost immediately adored as heroes on par with Captain America.
70	--->'''Phil's narration''': And if it struck me as odd, at the time, to applaud two men who'd caused so much destruction so recently...I was too busy cheering to notice.
71	* TheEndIsNigh: Phil and his family encounter a street preacher loudly announcing the end of the world when they visit a zoo, and claims that superbeings are heralds of the Apocalypse. Phil tells him off for scaring his daughters. Ironically, he's not entirely wrong, as not long after, Galactus arrives on Earth.
72	* EstrogenBrigade: In-universe, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica has an absolutely massive fan following of older women.
73	* TheEveryman: Phil Sheldon is an ordinary person in a world of marvels, making him a viewpoint character for the reader.
74	* EvilIsPetty: Doctor Octopus takes clear pleasure in confirming to Phil, without technically admitting to anything, that he (intentionally or not) framed Spider-Man for George Stacy's death.
75	* EvolutionaryLevels: Being a homage to the original Marvel series, ''Marvels'' presents the X-Men like they were originally introduced. In other words, through a complete misunderstanding how evolution works. Not only does it get evolution wrong, it gets ''radiation'' wrong, since the original X-Men were in part the result of atomic pollution. As any modern day reader with basic education knows, not only does radiation not work like that, neither does evolution. Mutants are not the "next stage in evolution" any more than having red hair or a sixth finger is.
76	* EyeScream: Phil is smacked in the head by flying rubble during a battle and loses an eye. He learns that superheros can withstand damage he can't, because he's only a normal man.
77	* FailedASpotCheck: In ''Eye of the Camera'', Phil is extremely frustrated that no one in the press seems to notice that the new "X-Terminators" mutant team is obviously made up of the original X-Men.
78	* FamedInStory: Phil becomes known as ''the'' photographer of superheroes (which says something in the same universe as Peter Parker), and is the first person the publisher of the Daily Globe thinks of to commission for many important events like the Fantastic Four wedding.
79	* FantasticRacism: As is common with works relating to the X-Men. Complete with ridiculous claims of mutants enslaving humanity, paranoid riots, and more. [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero Phil himself actually buys into the anti-mutant prejudice]] until he encounters Maggie and his stance softens a bit.
80	* FantasticSlur: Following with the FantasticRacism against Mutants, "mutie" gets used by their attackers.
81	* TheFirstSuperheroes: We get to see the Marvel Universe through the eyes of the ordinary person. The first issue is set in [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]], and we get to see the emergency of superhumans in a world that has never seen their like before. A sequel called ''Marvels: Eye of the Camera'', does it again, this time detailing the beginning of [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]].
82	* ForegoneConclusion: Even if you know a bit of the Marvel Universe history, you know the Fantastic Four defeat Galactus and that Gwen Stacy dies. But even knowing that, it's still interesting to see it all from a new perspective.
83	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
84	** Young Fury's left eye is always shown in shadow, to reference how he'll soon lose it in the war, and a lot of the dialogue during his appearance foreshadows the rise of the Howling Commandos.
85	** When Phil first sees the Human Torch, the reflection off his glasses covers the eye he'll eventually lose.
86	* FullFrontalAssault: Namor, for some reason, is entirely naked here-even though he first appeared in 1939 wearing his trademark green speedo. Apparently, this was done by Alex Ross as a joke.
87	* GoodParents:
88	** A big part of Phil's initial feelings regarding mutants was fear for the safety and future of his two young daughters. When he first sees Maggie in their basement, his first thought - which he would later be deeply ashamed of - was terror that the girls might have touched her and been "infected."
89	** And then, after Phil and Doris have come to care for Maggie, she runs away to protect them from danger by association with her, all alone on a night when merciless mutant-hunting robots are on the loose.
90	* GossipyHens: Two older women attending the Masters exhibit are seen whispering with each other about Reed Richards and Sue Storm, as well as not-so-subtly commenting on Ben Grimm.
91	-->'''First woman''': ...heard that on the side, she and the Sub-Mariner...\
92	'''Second woman''': ...well, I ''never''...!
93	* GrumpyOldMan: As he grows more and more frustrated over the public's treatment of superheroes, Phil [[LampshadeHanging unhappily ruminates that he's turning into this]], and he doesn't know how to stop it.
94	* HatesMySecretIdentity: Phil respects Spider-Man as a hero and hates how J. Jonah Jameson slanders the man in the Bugle. At the same time, he can't stand Peter Parker, seeing him as an opportunistic weasel who feeds into Jameson's anti-Spidey nonsense with his pictures for a quick buck.
95	%%* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: This aspect of Namor is heavily deconstructed. How?
96	* HeroWithBadPublicity:
97	** Even as the Human Torch saves more lives and begins to work with the NYPD, as well as battling Namor, many still think he's a threat simply because he's an android. However, once both of them unite and help Cap fight the Axis, the public immediately ''adores'' them.
98	** The X-Men and Spider-Man are both feared and hated by the general public. While Phil has his reservations with the X-Men and mutants in general, he truly believes in Spider-Man and is disgusted by how Jameson devotes himself to defaming Spidey.
99	* HopeSpot:
100	** Phil hopes to write a book exonerating Spider-Man of George Stacey's death and hopes to use writings that Gwen can provide, but then he sees the Green Goblin emerge from her window, with an unconscious Gwen over his shoulder. Happens again soon afterwards, as he observes Spider-Man arriving at the bridge and is so certain he can save Gwen.
101	** In ''Eye of the Camera'', Phil finally reaches some clarity about the darkness he's been observing in the Marvels of late, and subsequently figures out the angle for his new book, becoming happier and more motivated than he'd been in a long time as he gets to work on it with his daughters' help, and even throws away his cigarettes (where before he'd been fatalistically keeping up his habit)...and then we cut to his doctor looking over his test results, and revealing that the cancer treatment has failed, and Phil has very little time left.
102	* {{Hypocrite}}:
103	** The anti-mutant crowd harasses the X-Men around the corner from a store selling clothing inspired by the Wasp, someone with powers but not born with them.
104	** Phil himself is initially caught up in the anti-mutant fervor when it first begins, despite spending his whole life condemning that sort of bigotry (and having seen its results firsthand in WWII). He is deeply ashamed when he realizes this.
105	* ImStandingRightHere: A young Phil and J. Jonah Jameson have a discussion about Jim Hammond/the Human Torch in a diner, with Jonah rattling off a laundry list of criticisms and insults aimed at Hammond… at which point an enraged Hammond — who had been sitting, disguised, right next to them — stands up and snarls at Jonah to shut up before flaming on and flying out of the diner in a huff.
106	* ImproperlyPlacedFirearms: In the newsreel and the ending [=WW2=] scene, the Japanese and German soldiers are somehow almost all equipped with classic gangster [[GunsOfFiction/SubmachineGuns Tommy Guns]] instead of the MP-40 or Arisaka rifle. Justified, though, as the Golden Age comics often depicted Mooks using the Thompson M1921/M1928, due to it being the typical "[[GoodGunsBadGuns bad guy gun]]" at the time. [[RealityIsUnrealistic In reality though,]] [[TheEnemyWeaponsAreBetter only the Germans did capture American Thompsons and renamed them]].
107	* InnocentBystanderSeries: The entire point of the series, showcasing just how it would feel to suddenly be surrounded by metahumans.
108	* IronicEcho:
109	** When Phil first encounters the X-Men, he dismisses eyewitness accounts that they had saved a man from a fall rather than tried to kill him, on account of, "They wanted us all ''dead''. ''Everybody'' knew that." Later, upon discovering Maggie and having all his preconceptions of mutants suddenly torn to shreds, he desperately thinks, with clearly failing conviction, "They were evil! The mutants - they wanted to ''kill us all!'' ''Everybody'' knew that!"
110	** In ''Eye of the Camera'', when Maggie is telling Phil about where she went after leaving their house, she downplays the help she gave to the people of the New Guinea village who took her in, saying "''Anyone'' could've done it." Phil's not having it and responds, "But ''you're'' the one who did." A bit later, when his protegee Marcia comes on the news, Phil tells Maggie about how she got her start working for him, but insists she would have gotten it anyway due to her talent, to which Maggie responds, "But you're the one who did, right?" (Also, though not explicitly pointed out on-page, it's implied that Phil also hears this as a response to an earlier moment where, in a bout of despondency, he angrily dismissed his entire life's work, saying that someone else would have taken all the photos if he hadn't.)
111	* {{Irony}}:
112	** Phil has nothing but disdain for Peter Parker, viewing him as a snot-nosed creep profiting from J. Jonah Jameson's obsessive vendetta against Spider-Man... whom Phil admires.
113	** At the FF wedding, Phil muses that with so many superheroes present in one place, it would be a good opportunity for all their enemies to strike and take them all out at once. This is, in fact, exactly what happened in ''Fantastic Four Annual #3'', where everyone's memories of the battle were erased with the Watcher's Time Displacer.
114	** In ''Eye of the Camera'', Phil does a TV interview where he talks about the recent conspiracy against Captain America that had led him to quit super-heroing... then tries to build on his point by bringing up other heroes who had been unjustly prosecuted, like, say, "this new fellow Nomad."
115	** In the same interview, Phil is utterly dismissive of the notion that ''Canada'' of all nations would be fielding [[ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} a vicious covert-ops super-agent]].
116	* ItIsDehumanizing: When Phil first sees Maggie in his basement, his internal narration uses "it" when referring to her, but he very quickly starts to slip up and use "her" as it becomes blindingly clear to him that, far from an evil human-killing monster, she is just a traumatized little girl.
117	* ItsPersonal: Subverted after Phil loses an eye. He jokes about vowing revenge and becoming a villain to strike back, but he says he has more important things to concern himself with (his career and upcoming wedding).
118	* KentBrockmanNews: Deconstructed, as Phil's retirement is prompted by him realizing that his own journalism is becoming this because he's gotten too personally involved in the story.
119	* LampshadeHanging: When Galactus "visits" a second time, Phil's apathy (he's just sitting there fishing) may reflect just how insignificant and little-known the story was in RealLife.
120	* LawyerFriendlyCameo: You can see Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen, and Lois Lane in the background in one panel. (Phil returns the favor, making a cameo at the end of ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''.)
121	* LittleNo: Phil whispers "no" after witnessing Gwen's neck being snapped.
122	* LovedByAll: Everyone ''loves'' ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, to the point that he never gets slandered the way other heroes do. It's later subverted in ''Eye of the Camera''.
123	* LowerDeckEpisode: The entire perspective comes from a photographer who only has tangential connection to superheroes.
124	* MarriedToTheJob: Phil struggles with this as his career progresses, becoming immersed in his journalism at the expense of his family life.
125	* MetafictionalTitle: Near the end, Phil publishes his book, ''Marvels'', that the graphic novel is named for.
126	* MoodWhiplash: Issue 2 has a consistent feel for this. Phil gets slingshotted between the lead-up to Reed and Sue's wedding, a high mark in the Marvels' history that all of the city is happy to celebrate, and the rising anti-mutant hysteria. When the hysteria finally boils over into full-blown riots, Phil struggles to believe the wedding had taken place mere hours ago and has a hard time writing a fluff piece about it when his mind is occupied with far more grim thoughts.
127	* MyGreatestFailure:
128	** In Phil's head (since there was realistically little he could have done), failing to keep Maggie safe.
129	** Gwen Stacy's death ends up causing Phil to realize he's become too close to the story to be objective about it.
130	* MythologyGag: Lots, particularly single panels or pages referencing old Marvel comics/issues/fights. There's a page in the back of the paperback dedicated to listing all of them. And the [[http://imgur.com/a/jwoWR artwork]] [[http://imgur.com/a/bQtUj is]] [[http://imgur.com/a/uB3Lc very]] [[http://imgur.com/a/0aPku similar.]]
131	** One of the people Phil interviews is a teenage ComicBook/NickFury.
132	** When he was a cub reporter in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and before that, Phil worked alongside a buzz-cut, cigarette-chomping, superhero-hating cynic named [[ComicBook/SpiderMan J. Jonah Jameson]], determined to run the Bugle one day.
133	** At the end, Phil states he'll have ''nothing'' to do with superheroes ever again, and has his picture taken when a young paperboy -- named [[ComicBook/GhostRider Danny Ketch]].
134	** Doris (Phil's future wife) briefly dated [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Willie Lumpkin.]]
135	* NighthawksShot: At one point, Jonah and Phil are eating in a diner along with the patrons from the actual painting... [[spoiler:And one of them is the Human Torch.]]
136	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Used both in- and out-of-universe with the initial Namor/Torch fight. Phil says that it must've been a sight to behold, but all Phil and his colleagues (as well as the reader) ever get to see of it is brief glimpses or from at a distance and the only time they actually manage to get a good view of the combatants is after the fighting is over and the heroes had been convinced to make peace, much to the disappointment of most of the reporters.
137	* PassingTheTorch: At the end of the series, Phil realizes he's gotten too much perspective on the Marvels he'd been dedicating his life documenting, so he trusts his assistant, Marcia Hardesty, to continue covering the Marvels as a witness.
138	* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted. Phil can't believe the police would hold Spider-Man to blame for George Stacey's death, but he's surprised when the officers he talks to say they don't. They just want Spider-Man to come in for questioning since he was there; they're also certain that Doctor Octopus was responsible, based on the forensic evidence. In fact, they even blame Jonah for hyping it up as something more than this.
139	* RageBreakingPoint: The anti-mutant riots in the 60's are kicked off by the original Sentinels going rogue during the television debate between Xavier and Bolivar Trask, and Phil reflects that they weren't really about this specific incident, but rather it was the straw that broke the camel's back and let loose all the fear and paranoia that had been building up in the population since the reveal of mutants.
140	** Phil reaches his own on two different occasions: the first is when he hears people on the street dismissing the Galactus invasion as a hoax (perpetrated by the heroes who risked their own lives to save them), and the second is towards the end of the series, when Phil realizes that the murder of Gwen Stacy barely counts as a footnote in the newspapers as far as general society is concerned.
141	* RedShirt: Invoked and deconstructed. Phil takes Gwen's death very hard because he knew her, but she was just a name to most of the rest of the world. Phil can't believe that her death didn't seem to mean anything to anyone else or even warrant a front page article. His disgust with this is one of the things that makes him realize he's become part of the story and can no longer cover it.
142	* SeenItAll: Phil was there when Dr. Horton first unveiled the Human Torch, and though initially traumatized, by the fourth issue he's seen StrollingThroughTheChaos during one of Namor's attacks.
143	* SelfServingMemory: Phil fears that this will happen in the aftermath of the anti-mutant riots - that the people mindlessly lashing out in their fear and anger will wake up the next morning and "it would just be a dream. Something that happened to someone else." He sets about taking photos of the violence in an attempt to subvert this.
144	-->I had to get a record - had to show them - show us ''all'' - what we did in our nightmare.
145	* ShamingTheMob: Downplayed. Phil was part of a mob that harassed the X-Men. After he throws a brick at Iceman's head, Cyclops keeps Iceman from retaliating by telling him that his attackers "aren't worth it," which shakes Phil up.
146	* ShoutOut:
147	** Maggie, the skull-faced mutant girl, is based on an identical character from an issue of Creator/ECComics' ''Weird Science''.
148	** The Silk Spectre and Nite Owl from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' appear in a machine similar to Archie.
149	** Music/TheBeatles appear at Reed and Sue's wedding.
150	** Phil has a cameo in ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' during the press conference scene and in the last panel.
151	** A sailor heavily modelled on ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} also appears in a brief cameo for a panel, praising ComicBook/CaptainAmerica.
152	** At a press conference, [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen]] can be seen chatting. Clark and Lois also appear in [[http://imgur.com/kKK2v the audience]] when the Torch is unveiled.
153	** Phil noting that Judgment Day has arrived when the Silver Surfer, a ChromeChampion, makes his appearance, is a blatant reference to ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay.''
154	** Captain Marvel, presumably in his Billy Batson appearance from ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', can be seen in the theater audience that's applauding the newsreel footage of Namor and Torch battling the Axis. If you look even closer, you can spot [[Radio/TheShadow Lamont Cranston]] and Literature/DocSavage in the audience as well. Billy Batson also appears as a paperboy selling at a street corner.
155	* SupermanStaysOutOfGotham: Deconstructed. Spider-Man fails to save Gwen in a city where numerous other super-powered beings live. Phil even makes a point of thinking to himself, "They hadn't saved her."
156	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
157	** The epic duel between Jim Hammond/the Android Torch and Namor is beautiful to look at, but it also causes insane amounts of property damage and injures thousands of people, as well as scaring the public, and Phil as well, who fears that his kids could be in danger if Namor goes on another rampage.
158	** Phil's reaction to losing an eye in the above counts as well. When his friends and loved ones come to visit him, he cracks a joke about planning to enact vengeance on all superheroes for his loss, before laughing it off and proposing to his girlfriend instead. Because outside of comic books, people tend not to react to personal injuries and setbacks by swearing creative revenge on people who were tangentially involved at best and becoming supervillains.
159	** Throughout ''Marvels'', Phil is shown to be a casual smoker, nothing uncommon for his time. The end of the first chapter of ''Eye of the Camera'' reveals that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer.
160	** Lampshaded when Phil, undergoing chemotherapy, muses that the process seems like the kind of thing that would give someone superpowers, but really just leaves him feeling exhausted and bored.
161	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: When Phil interviews Doctor Octopus in prison, Octavius flatly denies that Spider-Man was able to make him lose control of his mechanical arms, despite Phil not having brought up Spider-Man in his questioning at all - [[LampshadeHanging which Phil easily picks up on]].
162	* TallPoppySyndrome: J. Jonah Jameson heavily implies that this is ultimately why he and other regular people always turn against the superheroes: the idea that people gifted with extraordinary powers would use them for selfless, heroic actions makes them all feel inferior, and so they try to tear the heroes down.
163	* ThereWasADoor: In a fit of rage after overhearing J. Jonah Jameson insulting him, the Human Torch flames on and exits a diner by spitefully blasting open a window with a fireball and flying out.
164	%%ZCE* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: Like the original comic it appeared in, the battle between Namor and the Torch is presented as this.
165	* UngratefulBastard: How Phil sees the people after the Fantastic Four stop Galactus. When the situation was in progress, many were panicking and pleading for salvation. After the FF save the day, Phil notices how quickly many of those same people were either criticizing how the FF handled the situation or flat-out calling the whole thing a hoax. Phil highlights other examples of similar ingratitude that follow this event.
166	* UngratefulTownsfolk: Deconstructed and criticized viciously. Phil comes to despise people that act like this as much as any reader would, and [[TallPoppySyndrome a very tragic reasoning for it]] is suggested.
167	* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: As he gets to know Gwen Stacy, Phil just can't fathom why she's dating that weasel Parker.
168	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Zigzagged. In ''Marvels'', when the mutant girl Maggie disappears, neither Phil nor the readers knows what happens to her. The issue's cover shows Angel flying her to safety, but since a cover rarely shows what happens ''after'' the story, we're left to wonder if it was true or merely symbolic. It's not until the sequel, ''Eye of the Camera'', that Phil learns Maggie's fate: [[spoiler:She's alive and well as an adult]].
169	* WolverinePublicity: Even though the events covered in the book are from well before the TropeNamer[='=]s time. The original trade paperback cover, used in the page image, is a photo of Giant-Man that made Phil's career. Later covers have put Spider-Man on the cover to emphasize a more marketable character.
170	* XRayVision: In ''Eye Of The Camera'', we find out this is Maggie's actual power (her alien appearance being an unfortunate side effect), and it's implied that she has other vision-based powers as well.
171	* YouAreWhatYouHate: When Phil learns about his daughters harboring a mutant girl, he looks in her eyes and compares it to the concentration camp survivors he met during the war. He realizes the anti-mutant bigotry he participated in is no different than the Nazis.
172

Context ComicBook / Marvels