1 Month 2 Live

Last updated

One Month to Live, also called 1 Month 2 Live, is a 5-issue limited series comic book produced by Marvel Comics on a weekly basis in 2010. It was written by Rick Remender in collaboration with Stuart Moore, John Ostrander, and Rob Williams. The concept was devised by Marvel editor Steve Wacker with the premise "What would you do with one month to change the world?" The storyline centers on a protagonist with terminal cancer, in response to Wacker's aunt having been diagnosed with cancer. [1]

Contents

The four writers found the experience of writing the story to be especially poignant, as all had personal experiences with cancer—in particular, Remender, whose father survived a bout with cancer in 2008, and Ostrander, whose wife Kim Yale died of cancer in 1997. [2]

Plot

In an accident with toxic waste, banker Dennis Sykes gains superpowers and an untreatable cancer. With a life expectancy of barely a month, Sykes launches himself on a brief career as a superhero, in an attempt to make a difference in the world while he still can, assisting the Fantastic Four in saving Ego the Living Planet from a cancerous infection and averting Hammerhead's attempt to take control of his neighborhood. Although use of his powers made his condition worse, Sykes makes a positive impression on many heroes with his dedication to doing the right thing, accepting training from Spider-Man and receiving honorary membership with the FF and the Avengers before he finally dies of stress from his final battle. [3]

Critical response

USA Today called the story "nuanced and moving". [2] IGN described it as "one of the most human stories that Marvel has published in a long time", and commended Marvel for not devising "some magical cure for Dennis' cancer"; [4] however, Comic Book Resources stated that it was "ambitious but flawed". [5]

Related Research Articles

Marvel Comics American comic book publisher

Marvel Comics is the brand name and primary imprint of Marvel Worldwide Inc., formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, a publisher of American comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwide's parent company.

Spider-Man Comic book superhero

Spider-Man is a superhero created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and in movies, television shows, and video game adaptations set in the Marvel Universe. Spider-Man is the alias of Peter Parker, an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City after his parents Richard and Mary Parker died in a plane crash. Lee and Ditko had the character deal with the struggles of adolescence and financial issues and gave him many supporting characters, such as J. Jonah Jameson, Harry Osborn, romantic interests Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson, and foes such as Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, Venom, and Mephisto. In his origin story, he gets spider-related abilities from a bite from a radioactive spider; these include clinging to surfaces, superhuman strength and agility, and detecting danger with his "spider-sense." He also builds wrist-mounted "web-shooter" devices that shoot artificial spider-webbing of his own design.

<i>Watchmen</i> Comics by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Watchmen is an American comic book maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987 before being collected in a single-volume edition in 1987. Watchmen originated from a story proposal Moore submitted to DC featuring superhero characters that the company had acquired from Charlton Comics. As Moore's proposed story would have left many of the characters unusable for future stories, managing editor Dick Giordano convinced Moore to create original characters instead.

Silver Age of Comic Books Mid 50s to 70s era of comic books

The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and widespread commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those featuring the superhero archetype. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and an interregnum in the early to mid-1950s, the Silver Age is considered to cover the period from 1956 to circa 1970, and was succeeded by the Bronze and Modern Ages.

Len Wein American comic book writer and editor

Leonard Norman Wein was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men. Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons' influential DC miniseries Watchmen.

David Lloyd (comics) English illustrator

David Lloyd is an English comics artist best known as the illustrator of the story V for Vendetta, written by Alan Moore.

Kid Colt is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first is a cowboy whose adventures have taken place in numerous western-themed comic book series published by Marvel. The second is a cowboy-themed horse-like superhero.

Robert Kirkman American comic book writer

Robert Kirkman is an American comic book writer, screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for co-creating The Walking Dead, Invincible, Tech Jacket, Outcast, Oblivion Song and Fire Power for Image Comics, in addition to writing Ultimate X-Men, Irredeemable Ant-Man and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series Haunt. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of its co-founders.

Tony Moore (artist) American comic-book artist

Tony Moore is an American comic-book artist, whose work consists mainly of genre pieces, most notably in horror and science fiction, with titles such as Fear Agent, The Exterminators, and the first six issues of The Walking Dead. He also co-created the Invincible Universe character Brit.

<i>Wolverine</i> (comic book) Comic book series

Wolverine is a number of Marvel Comics comic book series starring the X-Men member Wolverine. As of April 2013, 323 issues and 11 annuals have been published. It is the original flagship title created for the character.

Flux (comics)

Flux is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first was one of the Hulk's enemies.

Kieron Dwyer is an American comics artist. He is best known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics as well as for his creator-owned projects.

Hilary Barta is an American comic book writer and artist.

George Freeman is a Canadian comic book penciller, inker, and colorist.

Rick Remender America comic writer

Rick Remender is an American animator, comic book writer and television producer who resides in Los Angeles, California. As a comic book creator, he is best known for his work on Uncanny X-Force, Venom, Captain America and Uncanny Avengers, published by Marvel, as well as his creator-owned series Fear Agent, Deadly Class, Black Science and Low, published by Image. In video games, he wrote EA's Dead Space and Epic Games' Bulletstorm.

Stan Lee American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer (1922–2018)

Stan Lee was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which would later become Marvel Comics' primary creative leader for two decades, leading its expansion from a small division of a publishing house to a multimedia corporation that dominated the comics and film industries.

Lady Gorgon

Lady Gorgon is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Matt Fraction, Rick Remender, and Howard Chaykin, the character made her first appearance in Punisher War Journal Vol. 2, #20. She is an enemy of the Punisher.

<i>Venom</i> (comic book) several comic book series by Marvel Comics

Venom is the title of several American comic book series published by Marvel Comics focusing on the various heroic and villainous incarnations of the character Venom, which have usually consisted of a human host and amorphous alien being called a symbiote. The first incarnation of the character was the one created by the third and current human host to the symbiote, Eddie Brock, and—since 2011—its fifth host, Flash Thompson. Beginning with Venom: Lethal Protector, eighteen limited series following Brock's adventures were published monthly between February 1993 and January 1998. A monthly Venom series began publication in 2003, following a new character, Patricia Robertson, and a clone of the original symbiote. The series concluded in 2004 after 18 issues. In 2011 another monthly series, following the adventures of Flash Thompson, was launched. The series resumed with vol. 3, vol. 4, and vol. 5 from 2016 to present.

Jerome Opeña is a Filipino comic book artist best known for his numerous collaborations with writer Rick Remender.

Dennis Hopeless

Dennis "Hopeless" Hallum is an American comics writer from Kansas City, Missouri who has written for Marvel Comics, Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Boom! Studios, Arcana Studio, and Oni Press.

References

  1. This Week In Spandex – One Month To Live #1 at SciFiPulse.net, by Nicholas Yanes; published September 7, 2010; retrieved September 23, 2011
  2. 1 2 Marvel Comics gives a superhero cancer in 'One Month to Live', from USA Today; by Brian Truitt; published September 1, 2010; retrieved September 23, 2011
  3. 1 Month 2 Live #1-5. Marvel Comics.
  4. Heroic Age: 1 Month 2 Live #5 Review: And so ends the story of Dennis Sykes at IGN, by Dan Iverson; published September 29, 2010; retrieved September 23, 2011
  5. The Buy Pile, at Comic Book Resources, by Hannibal Tabu; published September 30, 2010; retrieved September 23 2011