Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: marvel, Marvels, Siancong, vietnam
New Origin Of Fictional Vietnam, Siancong, In The Marvel Universe
What is Siancong anyway? The Marvel Comics sliding timescale has caused all manner of changes to Marvel continuity over the year. With the Fantastic Four launch into space now having to being set after 9/11, the origins of Mister Fantastic and Ben Grimm having fought in World War II together was an early casualty. The Punisher's origins in Vietnam were also shifted to a more recent skirmish. The Iraq Wars and the War in Afghanistan were recently repurposed for these characters, but even they started to move into the mid-distance, continuity-wise. So the History of The Marvel Universe #2 by Mark Waid and Javier Rodriguez, added a major rewrite.
For all these contemporary characters with wartime experience, aside from Captain America, the Red Skull, the original Human Torch and Namor, Sub Mariner, the war in which they all fought shifted from the Middle East, to a fictional war in East Asia. The Siancong War – originally the SinCong Conflict in Marve Comics continuity – a Vietnam/Korean War analogue from early issues of The Avengers, then shown as a revolution against the French Empire in the eighties, is now the place of conflict for The Thing, Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, War Machine, The Punisher and anyone else who needs such an event in their timeline. And, since it is a fictional war, it can slide down the timeline along with everything else. The Dragon's Breath mystical element from New Warriors, originally meant to be from Cambodia, is now also from Siancong and the mining of which seems to have fuelled such conflicts , as well as now being behind the power bases of plenty of the "yellow peril" bad guys from the 60s and 70s, including The Mandarin and Lady Lotus.
The Kurt Busiek and Yildiray Cinar series The Marvels has been delving further into the idea of Siancong, one that Kurt Busiek had back in the day, and how its history plays out in Marvel Universe history. And where do people find out about it? In a comic book of course. With a cosmic being hiding from her aggressors and coming to Earth…
And creating a country, squeezing in between other countries, and giving her name to this new country. She is basically the Marvel national equivalent of DC Comics' Danny The Street.
Which also explains the origin of Dragon's Breath along the way ,Shan-K'Ang is the dragon who breathes, and is the very land of Siancong, herself. And explaining why this fictional country happens to exist where it does.
As we all kmow, in the Marvel Universe, anything that happened in a comic book can be relied on, in a court of law as a legal historical document…
THE MARVELS #11
MARVEL COMICS
MAR221078
(W) Kurt Busiek (A) Yildiray Cinar (CA) Alex Ross
At last, the secrets of Siancong's history – not to mention its existence at all – are revealed. In…a comic book? But while the Marvels learn everything they need to know, they still have to find a way home. And they may have just triggered a threat capable of destroying them, Siancong, Earth and our entire universe. The end of everything may have just begun.
RATED T+In Shops: Jun 15, 2022 SRP: $3.99