Review: MULTIPLE MAN #4 (OF 5)

When I first heard about Matt Rosenberg and Andy MacDonald“s plan for a mixed up timey-wimey Multiple Man story, I was on the fence. To be honest, most of the time-travel stories that show up in comics are not worth the headaches they breed trying to follow their logic. But four issues in and I am fully converted.

Jamie Madrox is one of the few characters that believably survives his own (disturbingly frequent) deaths. As Multiple Man, all it took was a single duplicate (or original, who can tell at this point?) to be somewhere out-of-the-way of the clouds of Terrigen Mists and boom they were back. Rosenberg“s (Secret Warriors, The Archies, Astonishing X-Men) idea to give him access to Bishop“s time travel devices, pretty much ensures that we“ll always have a version of Madrox wandering around any and all of the timelines.

Which turns out to be a good thing, since the rebels fighting the always increasing Multiple Man“s (men“s?) army of the evil Emperor Jamie Madrox was overwhelmed. That left Jamie to be beheaded by a Jamie who then switches sides and searches out other Jamies throughout the various timelines to fight back.

And what a weird, wonderful mix of Multiple Mans it is that he finds.

Confused? Well you probably should be, but Rosenberg manages to keep the story pretty straight. But he is clearly having fun with the concept and you should be too. Despite all the fighting and death, he manages to keep a light and fun tone to this strange adventurous tale.

The fun is clearly shared by MacDonald (New 52 Future“s End, Legends of Tomorrow). You“d think think an artist would be strangling a writer who said, I need you to draw over a thousand Multiple Mans, but they all have to be distinct. (And for all I know he did.) But it looks like MacDonald is more than up to the challenge and brings in Jamies influenced by all the corners of the Marvel Universe.

This is one of those stories that has the feel that it could go off the rails any second. Yet it also has the feel of a roller coaster that allows you that illusion, all the while is guiding you safely through the experience. Rosenberg and MacDonald are experts at making you feel like anything can happen next, all the while knowing guiding the tale along exactly as they planned.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer: Matt Rosenberg
Artist: Andy MacDonald
Colors: Tamra Bonvillain
Letters: Travis Lanham
Cover Art: Marcos Martin

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Andy Hall

Sent from the future by our Robot Ape overlords to preserve the timeline. Reading and writing about comics until the revolution comes. All hail the Orangutan Android Solar King!