WHEN WE WERE ULTRA: OOOPS--ALL CROSSOVERS! (FOXFIRE)

My theory on why the Marvel relaunch failed continues to develop.

Remember back in my first visit to the Ultraverse I mentioned that the intention of bringing eight writer together to create and plan out the Ultraverse was so that the line would have a tightly connected background that will facilitate crossover?

Well, the miniseries we're about to dive into requires you to have knowledge of a recent Marvel/Malibu crossover event, the original Exiles (but not enough knowledge of that series to think one of the characters who shows up was the same as the character who died in that series' last issue), a subplot from the All-New Exiles. the Godwheel event that kicked off the Marvel relaunch and after a gratuitous appearance from a Marvel character, asks us to head over to Ultraforce to read more of this character's story...which never actually happened.  If it was not for the fact that I read both iterations of the Exiles, I would be thoroughly lost...and it's a shame, because there's one issue where the character promises to be...really intriguing.

The miniseries, and the character, I'm referring to is Foxfire.

Rose Autumn is an average seventeen year old being uncomfortable fetishized by illustrator Kevin J. West when she discovers she's actually a superweapon created to prevent the invasion of an alien scourge called the Progeny.  After having her abilities activated by the Pheonix Force and discovering that his father and supposedly dead mother are cyborgs, she struggles to master her new abilities while also contending with a monster in the sewers, Ultraforce, a plan to use Ultra antibodies to keep her cyborg mother alive, and a trip to 616 and a inconsequential encounter with the Punisher.

I have not read The Pheonix Resurrections, which is the crossover event that preceded this series (it's coming up soon).  It was written by this series' writer Ian Edginton and ends with Rose fifty years in the future leading freedom fighters against the Progeny.  The first issue begins with Rose back in the present of 1996 with no explanation.   There are several moments that happen offscreen that would seem to have been important for us to see throughout the four issues.  Characters are introduced assuming we know who they are--even though one of them is debuting in that issue.  And on top of it all, the place is deluged with guest stars.

That's the biggest problem.  Our heroine is constantly pushed to the back for the special guest stars, whether it's The Punisher in the last issue (with a one panel appearance in the third that prompted him being shilled as the main attraction on the cover), Sludge in the first, or the Edginton line-up of Ultraverse in the second.  And I'm not even mentioning Mustang who pops up in the first issue and is a main character in the third--never once pointing out that he is a new character inviting confusion with the original Mustang who died due to his neck being snapped--only for him to be killed off part of the way through.  It's hard to get a fix on who your main character is when they're ramming these special appearances down our throat.

Although...

The second issue  ("Tunnel Vision") is the best issue of the run, and one of the reasons it's so good is because we get what looks like an actual character for Autumn as well as a real hint as to what the direction could have been.  In it, Firefox has a 'fight cute' with Ultraforce while Mastodon (a character introduced in the Gerber Exiles) and Sludge (Gerber's take on the muck monster template he excelled at in the 70's) trade blows.  What makes this issue so much better than the other three is both a very intriguing conversation between Autumn and the Black Knight (he was another guy that Marvel pawned off on the Ultraverse, and at the time is leading Ultraforce), the indications that Autumn--who supposedly has cosmic level powers--showing compassion to both Mastodon and Sludge, and a final page that seems like an indication of the direction the series would go.  To me, this showed a lot of potential for the character, being possessed of incredible power yet willing to show sympathy to whoever needs it regardless of who they are.

(Of course the next issue has her imprisoned next to Mustang by her cyborg mother who is using Ultra antibodies to repair her deteriorating body....guess the idea of an emotionally intelligent girl learning to navigate the world of ultras wasn't in the cards...)

This art was provided throughout by Kevin J. West--which makes this the first Marvel Reboot title I've talked about that had a consistent creative team throughout it's run.  It's very early in his career and very Image influenced, but there's also a lot of energy in his work.  I wish it wasn't so objectifying of seventeen year old Autumn, but that's as much on Edginton as on him, given the joke about the color of her underwear in that second issue.  His art is shaky when it comes to some of the high-tech stuff and his Punisher in the last two issues is...a bit dude-broey (check out the ponytail!), but overall I liked it.

I think Foxfire could have had some potential if Edginton hadn't had to make his plans for Autumn Rose secondary to the parade of guest stars.  Her background gave her a slight flavor of the Great Unfinished Steve Gerber project Omega The Unknown, and the idea of the Ultraverse's cosmically powered super being a teenaged girl with strong empathy could've made for some interesting stories.  We'll never know; the fourth issue promised that Autumn would show up in Ultraforce, and that never happened due to Marvel shuttering Malibu a few months later.

Next time we get to one of the inaugural Ultraverse titles, one written by the man I suspect is the reason we'll never see these characters ever again.  If X-Men had a baby with Milestone's Blood Syndicate and forced it to listen to a steady diet of Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots, you'd get...Freex!

Until then, why be meta when you can be ultra?

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