Archives for 03/17/2011 9:00 am

2003 wasn’t so very long ago but in many ways it was a completely different age for comics. Nü Marvel was all the rage as comics were climbing out of the sales tailspin of the late ’90s, and Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada reigned supreme at Marvel. Jemas in particular went off on some strange tangents. The Ultimate line may have been his signature achievement, but there were lots that aren’t remembered so fondly, or at all, like Marvell — a sort of satire of superheroes written by Jemas himself — and Trouble — a photo-covered “Gossip Girl” wanna-be that featured teenaged, randy versions of Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Hardly typical Marvel fare.