WHEN WE WERE ULTRA: GROWING PAINS WRAPPED IN GOO (PRIME V. 1, ELVEN, POWER OF PRIME)

When I talked about Freex, I discussed my very conflicted feelings about Gerard Jones.  On one hand, he was an extremely talented writer.  On the other, he was convicted of a particularly vile crime, the nature of which can color some of his work in a negative light.  In the case of Freex, I felt that negative coloring considering that he was writing a series about underage runaway kids.

In Prime, which was undoubtedly the single most successful Ultraverse title, the focus is on a thirteen year old boy who is able to create a super-powered shell around him....that degrades into a pile of slime when he's done, leaving him naked.

You can understand why I feel so queasy about this series--particularly because I was a big fan of Prime prior to learning what I learned about Jones to the point where I actually used him in a series of fanfics revolving around the West Coast Avengers.  And revisiting this series makes my conflicted feelings all the stronger because...well, it's so. damn. GOOD.

Hell, I'll go so far as to say the first issue of Prime is simply the best first issue of any superhero comic of its time.  It perfectly sets up who the character is, what he can do, who his main enemy is going to be and ends with the perfect mic drop of a cliffhanger.  

Even though there are bad guys and crossovers in this series, the actual emphasis is taking the 'what if an adolescent boy became an adult superhero' archetype and really, really diving into the 'adolescent boy' part of it.  As we all recall, we were jerks in our teen years--overemotional, prone to jump to conclusions, frequently unaware and naïve in their perception of the world around them--and Jones and co-writer Les Strazewski gets Kevin's mindset right.  Sure, the thought balloons and dialogue is sometimes awkward but that's the point.  What we're seeing is Kevin going through his development from a child he is to the man he wants to be, frequently being influenced by those around him both negatively (being saved by Alex 'Firearm' Swam prompts Kevin to create a rougher, tougher 'Rogue Prime' that misinterprets what Alex is really about) and positively (a team-up with Hardcase inspires him to create a more balanced 'Final Prime)..  Jones and Strazewski flips the script on the usual 'boy in a hero's body' and shows us why this power fantasy might not be for you.

And that's before they get weird....

After the opening arc is resolved with Kevin manifests as 'Final Prime' in Prime Annual #1, our writers start doing delightful things like having him fight a sea monster (#17, 'Hungry For Heroes, or A Sandwich To Die For!').  But it isn't until it's Prime enters into the Rafferty Saga and is 'killed' that we end up with Kevin operating a headless Prime shell (#21, "A Hero Dies"), fighting his counterpart Primevil with his head literally on backwards (#22, 'Getting Weird') and finally revealing his secret identity to his mother (#24, "Prime Revealed").  Unlike with Mantra, which seemed to wander about in its last half year before the Black September reboot or Hardcase, which decided to ring down the curtain with a definant crash, the last leg of this book seems to have freed them from being straightforwardly serious.

For the last leg of Volume 1, Jones and Strazewski decided to tie everything together in a nice little bow with 'The Origin of Prime,' which took up the last two issues of Volume 1, the four issue miniseries Power of Prime, and promised to explain everything about our hero, the origin of his powers, and the existence of his sister, Elven.

Sister?

...sigh...

Preceded by a short run in their traveling flipbook Ultraverse Premiere, Elven had a four issue run in that spot between Godwheel and Black September.  It was written solely by Strazewski with art by Aaron Lopresti and focused on Elvia, a young woman whose mother is escaping an abusive relationship.  Elvia also does a Prime, only that identity is influenced by her love of high fantasy novels--so she becomes a tall, musclebound, sharp toothed elf warrior that takes out her frustration by punishing abusive men.  During those four issues, Elvia meets up with a boy who has magical powers and insists that she's related to the Wold, an area on the Godwheel that was explored in, I think, The Solution.  It is very much not a good book a'tall.  Strazewski leans so into the thirstiness that it hasn't aged well, and I did not enjoy it at all.  But hey, Elven was related to Prime and had this magical aspect placed on her, so it was logical to bring her in.

Anyway, getting back to this 'Origin of Prime' arc, it's...not very good not to mention confusing as Hell.  There's a reveal that Doctor Gross utilized genetic material from a race on the Godwheel in his experiments, and there's a number of other 'Prime Babies' which are...well, unmemorable, and the whole arc seems very influenced by what Marvel was intending to turn the Ultraverse into.  The most telling image is the cover to Power of Prime #3, where there's no evidence of Prime, Elven, TurboCharge (a teen speedster introduced in issue #16 who is notable for the fact that comes out as gay during the course of his arc) or Phade (a character with density powers introduced in issue #21 designed to seduce Prime into working for the government)...but there's plenty of Wicca, one of the Prime Babies known primarily for her...extreme lack of clothes.

The artwork was originally handled superbly by the gone-too-soon Norm Breyfogle...but when he leaves around the 13th issue, Malibu--acknowledging Prime as their signature character--manages to get a truly amazing batch of artists to follow him.  Yes, there's still that visual dissonance that is the trademark of Ultraverse titles, but with issues by Darick Robertson (#13-14) George Perez (#15),  Tim Hamilton and Dave Cockrum (#19), Joe Staton (#21), Mark Pacella (#22), Bryan Hitch and Pat Broderick (#23) among the fill-in penciler, I did not mind it as much.  Joe Statema takes over for the last three issues, with Pacella handling Power of Prime, and they're both good.

Before I sum up, I should mention that the thirstiness in other Ultraverse titles is here at spots, but actually treated a little differently.  There's a scene involving an act that is majorly icky given Jones' post-career troubles, but the predator character hitting on Kevin is treated really poorly in his two appearances.  The subplot with Phade being sexually abused by one of her handlers is accompanied by the scientist he is working with being rightfully disgusted.  To be honest, the uncomfortable thirstiness is way more rampant in Elven, including a subplot involving our heroine's mother being sexually harassed by her boss.  I expected to feel more grossed out by Prime as a whole, and was surprised at how little of this grossness is there...except, of course, for the basic concept of an underaged boy depowering in a pool of viscous goo that could be mistaken for bodily fluids.

I cannot deny that Prime is still very readable, and very entertaining.  It does start to lose cohesion in its last few issues a bit, but I suspect a lot of that involved putting a bow on everything before the reboot changed everything.  I can see why this became the flagship title, and it comes highly recommended.

But we're not done with Kevin Green...Black September is right around the corner bringing with it a new volume and not one, not two, but three crossovers with Marvel heroes.  join me next time for Prime v. 2, Prime/Captain America and Prime vs. The Incredible Hulk!

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