By Zack Quaintance — Marvel Voices #1 is, as the headline suggests, perhaps the first ever instance of a podcast being adapted into a comic and then being adapted back into a podcast. And while I don’t think this is a system that works for every podcast out there, it works quite well for this one, and this owes in large part to the amount of freedom given to the excellent set of comics creators involved with this project.

This 30-some page comics anthology is based on the Marvel Voices podcast, which focuses on the publisher’s diverse creators and their creative stories. This book has an excellent intro from the podcast host that explains all that, and what it amounts to in terms of the reading experience is sort of an unseen throughline, a knowledge as you go through that you’re reading a set of stories about diverse characters from creators that share similar experiences. This gives the entire project an added layer of meaning, but it is, of course, not enough on its own merits. No, the real substance of this book is the quality of the stories themselves, which range in length from one to six pages.

And the stories in this volume are excellent, ranging in nature from meta commentary about Blue Marvel’s relative obscurity (a highlight of that one being a character noting he hadn’t made it into any of the recent movies) to an homage to the shared history between Wolverine and the Hulk, played out through the new X-Men and Immortal Hulk status quos that are arguably the hottest properties at Marvel right now. After reading all the stories, I picked up on a second throughline uniting all of these tales — the creators involved seemed to have a noticeable degree of freedom to play within the interesting and varied Marvel sandbox. 

There’s almost an editorial fearlessness that is evident in everything from which characters appear (one of these stories is based around the radioactive spider whose bite set so much into motion) to whether or not they tie into current Marvel continuity. I was also pleased to see characters like Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur as well as the Inhuman Mosaic reappear courtesy of the creative teams that gave them both recent memorable runs in the first place. 

It’s all very well done, and it makes for an excellent read...or listen, or listen then read while listening, to — as the book suggests — get the “full experience.” 

Overall: This is a podcast to comics adaptation that has a recommended podcast to go with it, but forget all that — most importantly this is a book that features a bevy of talented creators given a noticeable amount of editorial freedom to tell the stories they want to tell. It all adds up to a quality read. 8.0/10

Marvel Voices #1
Creators: Anthony Piper, Luciano Vecchio, James Monroe Inglehart, Ray-Anthony Height, Nate Lovett, Emilio Lopez, Evan Narcisse, Jahnoy Lindsay, Vita Ayala, Bernard Chang, Marcelo Maiolo, Brain Stelfreeze, Brandon Montclare, Natacha Bustos, Tamra Bonvillain, Kyle Baker, Roxane Gay, Brittney L. Williams, Rachelle Rosenberg, Geoffry Thorne, Khary Randolph, Rob Markman, Damion Scott, Dono Sanchez-Almara, Method Man, Daniel Dominguez, Alitha E. Martinez, Charlamagne Tha God, Chris Miles, J.J. Kirby, David F. Walker, Chuck Brown, Sanford Greene, and Matt Herms
Letterer: Travis LanhamPublisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99
Solicit: THE WORLD OUTSIDE YOUR WINDOW! Marvel's acclaimed podcast series focusing on telling the stories of diverse creators and their unique perspectives becomes a one shot of brand new adventures! The X-Men find their place in the world after declaring a new nation! Killmonger strikes! Moon Girl and Devil Dino return!

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.