Not Brand Echh #14

A couple of months ago, Marvel, in a desperate attempt at winning back established readers who were disappointed with the House of Idea's very militant PC tone, issued a series of one-shots and a couple of miniseries. Those selected were follow-ups to some of Marvel's more daring and fun titles such as Darkhawk and Master of Kung-Fu. Of the dozen or so titles selected for a brief return, this title, Not Brand Echh, was the one that both puzzled me the most as well as called my name.

I own several issues of the original run of Not Brand Echh. This humor comic ran for 13 issues (obviously) from 1967-1969. In some ways, this title was Marvel's answer to MAD Magazine. While a lot of Marvel characters were roasted, the main target of the jokes were directed at DC Comics whom editor Stan Lee often referred to as 'Brand Echh.'

Over the past several decades, Marvel would continue to revitalize this genre with the series What The..?!  (1988-1993) as well as several humorous one-shots. With exception of the latter, Marvel really couldn't capture lightning in a bottle in their efforts. But, there were some pleasant surprises as there were in this book as well.

This issue skewers the recent cross-title events of Civil War II and the highly controversial Secret Empire. There's over a dozen vignettes that reflect on the last 2-3 years of Marvel mishaps. In a way, this issue is a sort of apology letter to readers who were disgusted with a Nazi Captain America, a female Thor, and over-saturation of Deadpool titles.

Not Brand Echh #14 wasn't exactly a barn-burning title. Some experts called it a failure. Critics for the most part hated it. And it appears that fans didn't buy into Marvel's attempt to make nice. 

I for one enjoyed it. The Forbush Man shorts were quite enjoyable. And I felt validated for not being happy with some of Marvel's missteps no matter how well intentioned they were. But if Marvel is really going to mend some fences with fans, they are going to have to tell owner's Disney to butt-out of the process of making comics. Hopefully, with the purchase of Fox and the return of the Fantastic Four and X-Men to the fold, Marvel will start to reverse over 5 years of poor comic book decision making. Only time will tell.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.