THE REVENGE OF MARTIN: IS IT CANNIBALISM WHEN YOU'RE PLANT BASED? (MORLOCK 2001, MORLOCK 2001 AND THE MIDNIGHT MEN)

Last time I made reference to something I called The Fleisher Cannibal Hero Trilogy. For some reason three of Atlas Seaboard's titles featured heroes that ate human flesh. One of these titles is meant to be a horror title, so...okay, I guess. One of them is a super-hero title featuring an analog to the Hulk. And this one...

Morlock 2001 is set in a dystopian fascist United States in, well, 2001 and stars a character who is grown from a plant pod by an evil botanist who is pressganged into being an assassin for the government until he decides to rebel and periodically turns into a rampaging killer tree that dissolves its human victims.

The 70's was a Powerful Drug, my friends.

I've always been fascinated by media set in a 'far future' that has already passed, and instead of that, what we got we get...a very weird mashup of several different popular dystopia tropes. There's a lot of 1984 here, but Fleisher also adds in dashes of Farenheit 451, Soylent Green, THX1138 and other fairly recent iterations of the same kind of downbeat science fiction before Star Wars thoroughly killed that kind of storytelling.* If there's anything unique about this comic's world, it's how relentlessly nasty everyone is. Morlock is befriended by a pretty young girl--and is immediately willing to bad talk him to the government handlers which are using our hero as an assassin. In the second issue, Morlock is discovered during an ID check and is chased through the streets by the crowd looking to collect the bounty on his head...or to 'bash in his head--just for the fun of it.' He escapes on a train and is assaulted by a trio of...clowns? obviously patterned after the Droogs in A Clockwork Orange before being taken prisoner by the train conductor who keeps calling him 'deviant.'

I wonder if this parade of cruelty during this first two issue is to hide the fact that Morlock himself is a pretty terrible protagonist. Even though Fleisher tries his damnedest to portray him as an innocent figure, the fact that he has a highly infectious touch as a human and eats humans by dissolving them when he's a fuck-off tree monster...and is utilized as an assassin for this oops-all-dystopias civilization even after he has doubts, makes it hard for readers to sympathize with him. Even if we do have a shred of said sympathy, it's gone when he eats a little blind girl--arguably the only sympathetic character in the series so far--while he's tree'd out. Okay, sure, the girl's father was planning on selling out our hero to the government for cash, but still...

Even reading it today, and keeping in mind a similar scene in Fleischer's Hulk rewrite The Brute (which we'll get to soon enough), this scene seems a bit too much over the line. Yes, it's still within Comic Code Authority standards that had been loosened recently, but the cruelty might have hit readers harder than Flesicher, editor Jeff Rovin and the Goodmans thought it would be. As I've mentioned before, one of the things that attracted writers to Atlas Seaboard was a greater degree of freedom...and I think that is one of the reasons (but not the biggest reason) the comic company didn't catch on.

The biggest sin of Morlock 2001 is that there's very little plot to drive use forward in reading. There's so much cribbing from Dystopian Classics masquerading as world building that almost nothing happens. Thus, when the Atlas Seaboard Shakeup happened and Martin and Chip Goodman demanded that most of the titles needed to be rebooted, Gary Friedrich had his work cut out for him. His solution was to retitle the comic Morlock 2001 and The Midnight Men, retain the background and add things such as...you know, an actual character and a plot.

The third issue opens up with government agents killing another professor and destroying the house with fire. Meanwhile, Morlock has arrived--it is implied that he's looking for this professor so he can synthesize more serum to stabilize his form--and promptly trees out, kills one of the agents and passes out. However, the professor isn't dead despite having third degree burns all over his body, discovers Morlock as he reverts back to his human form, and decides to use him as part of this revolution he'd been planning for years. He puts on a blue costume and, inspired by the clock in his study that stopped when the house was burned down, declares himself (and his revolutionaries-in-arms) The Midnight Man. However, his plans go wrong and, with a treed-out Morlock coming at him and government agents discovering their underground hideout, our new hero decides "better death than slavery on the surface!"

While I may think Freidrich's script is trying too hard to accomplish too much, there's no denying he's committed to the bit. This may be the only Atlas Seaboard title where you can say the story ends on a satisfying--and as nihilistic as Fleischer's vision--note.

The art for the first two issues is by Al Milgrom, who will end up being a rather big artist for Marvel in the 80's, with Jack Abel giving it an appropriately gritty sheen with his inks. The third issue has the most novel artwork, however. The legendary Steve Ditko is enhanced with inks by the equally legendary Bernie Wrightson for that story, and the results are...unique. It's undoubtedly Ditko in its impressionistic cartooning, but Wrightson gives the art a degree of dimension and detail that makes it something impactful. If this was to be the art team going forward, I would have been very interested in seeing where it would have gone.

Regardless of whether we're looking at Morlock 2001 or Morlock 2001 and The Midnight Men, this series was a mess. Flesicher was so intent on playing with sci-fi tropes that he loved that he forgot to give us much in the way of plot to justify the overwhelming cruelty, while Freidrich is unable to do anything more than try to turn the mess his predecessor left into something barely comprehensible. Yes, the two artist/inker teams that handled the three issues are excellent for different reasons, but you can't get past the plotting and dialogue. I cannot recommend this.

Next time we encounter the first Atlas Seaboard super-hero...kinda. This character borrows the honorific of 'The Man of Tomorrow' in teeny tiny text on the first issue, and as 'The Man of Atoms' in the story itself. But as we'll find out, this series had a hard time deciding whether its lead wanted to be a two-fisted astronaut, a straight-on superhero or...a Jesus metaphor? Join us for a walk on the water with The Phoenix!

Until then, remember...Revenge is a Dish Best Served In Four Colors

* Yes, I said it. Wanna make something of it?

THE REVENGE OF MARTIN: NASTY, BRUTISH AND RIDING A UNICORN (IRONJAW)

If Atlas Seaboard could possibly be said to have a character that served as the face of the company, it wasn't one of their super-heroes that we'll meet in the future. It was a post-apocalyptic barbarian with an prosthetic metal jaw called Ironjaw.

Ironjaw not only starred in a comic bearing his own name for all four of Atlas' months of existence, he was featured in the sole issue of the anthology title The Barbarians. If it existed beyond the second issue, I'm positive he also would have shown up in the black and white magazine Thrilling Adventure Stories.

And to be honest, I'm not surprised. The four issues of Ironjaw are the best series so far.

The first three of those issues (we'll come to the fourth soon enough) were written by Michael Fleischer (1942-2018), a rather controversial writer at the time. Known primarily for his spaghetti western-esque run on Jonah Hex and a very brief, frequently gruesome series featuring The Spectre in Adventure Comics at the time of Atlas' reign, Fleischer also gained some fame for publishing a brutally lurid novel set in the comic industry called Chasing Hairy and suing Harlan Ellison for...well, praising his work in a typically Ellisonian way that he construed as a stream of insults. His window of fame was brief, lasting only a few years in the mid 70's although he managed to keep writing comics into the 80's. Even during his time in the spotlight, Fleisher was known for being one of the darker, grimmer writers in the industry....so imagine what he felt he could release on the public with a higher pay rate and a promise of minimal editorial interference. Under him, the saga of Ironjaw was one of an absolutely amoral lunkhead who managed to survive in a horrid world through his physical prowess and a bit of luck...and I say that with absolute admiration.

It seemed like Atlas knew it had something special in Ironjaw. The cover of the first issue was done by Neal Adams, and the pencils were handled by Mike Sekowsky in the first issue and the absolutely wonderful Pablo Marcos in the other three. Particularly under Marcos, the pages are the right balance of desolate and lush, giving us a sense of both times of old and times that have gone to pot...which is appropriate given the premise of the series.

You see, Flesicher makes it clear in the first panel of the first issue that this story takes place in a post-apocalyptic future. And with the exception of Iron Jaw's steed, which is an actual unicorn, the first three issues are free of magic or monsters. There's even a moment when Ironjaw and his adopted father goes to a mountain cave to worship his 'god' that turns out to be a washing machine tended by a 'priest' who's using obvious sleight-of-hand. Serpent Men are guys in suits, and 'cannibal bears' are normal sized grizzlies urged to maul victims solely because they're covered in honey. It's only until the fourth and last issue, written by Gary Friedrich that we get giant lizard monsters and a sorceress who is responsible for our hero's titular mandible.

That last issue is supposed to reveal Ironjaw's origin, and it paints a character much different from the brusque, brutish and uncouth figure we've come to know and love. In it, we learn that our boy used to be a...troubadour whose good looks and sexy singing voice enchanted the women of the tribe of thieves he belongs to. Angry that their women throw themselves at him, some of the thieves crucify him and tear off his lower jaw before leaving him for dead. But one of those women saves him and leaves him in the care of an aged sorceress--who ends up de-aging to be a total hottie. Said hottie sorceress nurses ol' Ironjaw back to health, giving him his prosthetic jaw, lets him get some revenge and...

Well, that issue ends with Atlas promising a second part of this origin, and that second part never comes. For me, this change in tone from darkly comic to more traditional low fantasy robs Ironjaw of what makes it so compelling. Once you get rid of the post-apocalyptic comedy and add in traditional magic and monsters into the mix, the title becomes, well, just another Conan rip-off, and in 1975, we had some super choice Conan comics being done by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Tom Palmer over at Marvel.

That being said, Ironjaw is the first Atlas comic I've run across I enjoyed unequivocally so far. Even that fourth issue is well-written and has that thoroughly gorgeous Pablo Marcos art to marvel at...and given the total whiplash changes in direction other titles ended up with, that change in direction seems more like a readjustment than a total abandonment of the premise for something entirely different.

(You scoff...but just wait until we get to one of my favorite titles in the line, The Scorpion...)

I would strongly recommend reading Ironjaw. Even if you're not all that enthusiastic about sword and sorcery like I am, there's some great fun in both art and storytelling.

We're not quite done with Michael Fleischer next time. In fact, we're about to take a look at a weird mash-up of science fiction tropes that serves as the first of the Fleischer Cannibal Hero Trilogy. Come with us to the future as seen through the eyes of a man grown from a plant pod with a habit of turning into the man-eating tree known as...Morlock 2001!

Until then, remember...Revenge is a Dish Best Served In Four Colors

THE REVENGE OF MARTIN: LOW KARATE (HANDS OF THE DRAGON)

Just like horror comics became a fad in the early 70's, so were kung-fu and martial arts comics. Bouyed by the runaway popularity of Bruce Lee here in the States just before his death, we had an influx of titles emulating the style of Hong Kong cinema.

There was one problem, though. Almost to a one, these comics were written by white writers who leaned on martial arts cliches. Marvel even revived the deeply racist yellow peril character Fu Manchu as the father of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu and evoked the white savior trope in Iron Fist. DC didn't do much better with Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter and Karate Kid. So it stood to reason that Atlas Seaboard wanted their own representative of kung-fu cinema. And to create their very own martial arts hero, they turned to Ed Fedory and Jim Craig.

I know what you're thinking...Ed who?

Ed Fedory (1949-2018) wrote a smattering of horror stories for Warren and Skywald--which was sort of the bargain basement Warren--before writing this singular story. According to the Grand Comics Database, he worked briefly at DC after Atlas Seaboard went out of business, but the other comic-related resources that manage to list him doesn't mention this. Fedory's big claim to fame was his career as a amateur historian and relic hunter which led him to write a number of books and a regular column for Treasure magazine. He seems to have been one of those people who dabbled in comics rather than a comic writer per se.

Given that he worked for Warren and had that rep as a historian, it makes sense for Jeff Rovin, who was poached by Martin from Warren, to reach out to him to write a martial arts comic. And pairing him with Jim Craig, who goes on to do, among other things, the first issue of What If and a number of later issues of Master of Kung Fu for Marvel Comics, seems like a good idea.

So what went so very, very wrong?

In this singular issue, two infant brothers are exposed to an exploding USAF bomb while being transported to China. One is scarred while the other remains handsome. So it stands to reason that as the brothers are raised by monks, the scarred kid becomes mean and cruel and evil, while the unharmed one becomes virtuous and handsome and apparently irresistible to his...partner? Secretary? Love Interest?...Nicky. When the good brother notices the presence of both his evil brother, now dubbed The Cobra, and a tattooed mastermind named Dr. Nhu in photos of the prime minister of a non-specified Asian country, our hero dons a blue and red costume complete with groovy chain and ventures out into the night of an unspecified city I think is meant to be San Francisco to stop an assassination attempt.

You know, so far all of the Atlas Seaboard titles I've reviewed have been varying degrees of Not Good (save maybe for Demon Hunter), but all of them have had some things for me to point at as positives. But this thing...Ye Gods, is this dire. There's nothing here I can say isn't stinky. The story is rancid, the characterization is non-existent, the art is average at best, the Asian mystic stereotypes are rampant and the pacing is so rocky it feels like riding a bicycle with two flat tires. There's also simple mistakes in the narrative, the most egregious of which is our being told the Dragon got a job as an anchorman but then ordering Nicky to 'work a layout' for some photos she took as if he was...editing a newspapaer? This was a painful book to get through, and I can't see anything to redeem it. I'm sure there will be worse books I'll be reading in this project--wait until we get to the Cannibal Super-Hero Trinity of Michael Fleischer--but Hands of The Dragon establishes a low bar indeed. When the final panel promises 'Dragonkill' next issue, I could not wait fast enough for that to happen.

Except, of course, it didn't. This book came out during the last month of Atlas' four month publication lifespan along with previous covered titles Demon Hunter and Fright and no amount of hyperbole by Larry Leiber was going to make that second issue emerge. And in this case, it was for the better. There is no way I can recommend this.

Next time we finally reach one of the very few titles to reach four issues, and arguably the character that became the face for Atlas Seaboard as a whole. Come with me to a barbaric land that may be more dystopian future than distant past and meet Ironjaw!

Until then, remember...Revenge is a Dish Best Served In Four Colors

THE REVENGE OF MARTIN: UNFORTUNATE SON (FRIGHT)

The loosening of the Comics Code led to a not-quite-so-brief horror comic fad. In the case of Marvel, which was the bane of Martin Goodman's existence during Atlas Seaboard's run, it meant a parade of comics starring versions of classic monsters. So Atlas Seaboard was intent on doing their own family of titles with horrifying monsters.

The most popular of these Marvel titles--a book that was considered a veritable classic back then and is still thought of in high regard--was Tomb of Dracula. So what does Atlas proudly presents as the central for its horror comic Fright?

Ladies and gentlemen...may I present Adam Lucard, The Son of Dracula.

To be fair, this singular issue does have something of a pedigree. The writer is Gary Friedrich, who came straight from Marvel after some disagreements over his co-creation Ghost Rider. Friedrich did know his way around a horror comic, and I have to assume he came here through some combination of the higher rates, creative freedom and a chance to stick it to Marvel. The pencils are by Frank Thorne who doesn't have the biggest body of work, but is a legit legend, having created the visual look of Red Sonja. Why these two professionals chose to do such a baldfaced imitation instead of coming up with something that would bring joy to both of them is beyond me. Maybe the fact that David Anthony Kraft, in the editorial postscript, claims to have a part in its creation has something to do with it.

And don't get me wrong--this is a derivative, uninteresting story. The beginning, however, shows promise. We see Dracula saving a woman from being burnt as a witch and the woman, understandably not wishing to trade in death by fire for death by vampire, makes Drac an offer--if he doesn't kill her, she will bear him a son. When she does give birth, the woman hides the kid away in the Appalachian mountains with very specific instructions for his new caretaker.

Okay, so far, so good. Even though there is a similar 'Dracula Must Spawn' subplot going on over in Tomb of Dracula, the more overtly monstrous Dracula and the implied emphasis more on a son unaware of his heritage being pursued by his horrific patriarch makes it distinct. And then there's the gorgeous Thorne art, which is distinct from the film noirish pencils of Gene Colon over at Tomb while also being incredibly appropriate for the gothic horror of the story. This version of Dracula is somewhere between Hammer Horror and Grindhouse.

But then we jump ahead to the modern day. Adam is now teaching a class at Columbia University in 'The Occult: Fact or Fiction,' as well as being a crush object by hot blonde Debbie Porter. Porter and her buddy break into apartments to loot for tuition, and Adam is fully aware of his vampiric heritage and is insistent on sleeping with an ornate crucifix lest he become just like daddy. Debbie breaks in to seduce Adam, removes the crucifix and...well I think you can figure it all out. Adam becomes a vampire, Debbie becomes his first meal, he also chows down on her partner and wakes up to regret it all.

This second half is hella disappointing because it's so by the numbers. Thorne's art tries to do the heavy lifting--there are some shots of Debbie that are outright gorgeous in a 60's throwback way--but there's a laziness to this part that can't be overcome. It feels unoriginal...and that's partially because it is. And because we can only judge the one issue that came out, there's no way of knowing if Freidrich had something else in mind for the series that would be revealed, we'll never know.

...actually, as we'll see when we examine some of the longer-lived series, we still might not. But that's for a later essay.

Fright is a good set-up with exceptional art dragged down by an awful back end that promises nothing. Back in the day, when Atlas books were commonly found in quarter bins (I recovered loads of them in the 90's by searching there), I'd maybe suggest seeking it out solely for Thorne's linework. Nowadays, when they're netting upwards of $30 on ebay, I just can't.

Next time, we switch from the fad that was 70's horror comics to the fad that was kung-fu comics. Join me, Jim Craig and Ed Fedory (Who?) for the sole issue of Hands of The Dragon!

Until then, remember...Revenge is a Dish Best Served In Four Colors

THE REVENGE OF MARTIN: CLOAK AND TIED (DEMON HUNTER)

Not every character created during that handful of months in 1975 died with the death of Atlas Seaboard. Two of them found themselves revived in 2010 by Martin Goodman's grandson Jason; somewhat fittingly, that revival lasted only two zero issues before Jason got embroiled in a legal battle for the Atlas name. And in 2019, SP Media and Jason announced they were going to revive the company's properties as a series of theatrical movies overseen by Akiva Goldsmith.

Still waiting for that first film, guys.

And then there's the case of two characters who escaped to the company Martin Goodman was looking for revenge against. Since Atlas Seaboard's offices were just a few blocks away from Marvel's at the time, the creators of these characters just marched down to the House of Ideas, changed just enough about them to make them legally distinct and continued writing stories about them. That is the case of Rich Buckler and his supernatural hitman/psychic/monster hunter Gideon Cross, the Demon Hunter.

Cross starred in one issue of Demon Humter, and his origin--which is recounted in said issue--is, well, convoluted. The tale is told non-linearly; we're told what a demon hunter is, we see him confront someone who was in his infantry unit who is who has become a hitman and hocks him over a cliff because...Mr. Cross is a hitman as well?....and then he receives a new assignment. Now keep in mind we see Gideon only in his red costume and blue cloak...only we're told he's using an illusion to make himself appear normal. Then we get some of Gideon's backstory before he heads to the airport and ends up fighting a blue demon dude in an unfortunate yellow outfit. Then he climbs a mountain in Nigeria, fights a little more, is told he's part of the cult we learned about in the beginning only to come across said cult conducting a human sacrifice ritual to summon Astaroth, the Grand Duke of Hell and...

Don't get me wrong--his origin is told in full, but the chopped up nature can make it lose some lucidity. How much of that is Rich Buckler, credited with 'concept, plot and art,' and how much of that is David Anthony Kraft may never be known. I will say that it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Kraft had a lot to do with this confusing non-linear story telling because he fancied himself the heir to Steve Gerber (just look at how much Gerber stuff he uses in his Marvel work), only with nowhere near the talent.

What isn't confusing is Buckler's art. Buckler was at the height of his game at this time, although he was held back by Marvel's dictate that he emulate a Kirby style. Here, with little to no oversight, Buckler is allowed to be his own man, and the work that results is lively and dynamic. On top of that, he designs a simple but striking costume for our demon hunter complete with a distinctive open face cowl. I find it telling that when the character is reworked elsewhere, the costume is altered very little--in the case of Devil Slayer, it amounts to just some palette swapping, the addition of crossed straps on his chest and the removal of the third eye and ankh symbols.

At the end of this issue, Gideon boards a plane in Nigeria to get to his next target. Not long afterwards, he gets off that plane in Marvel Spotlight with a new identity (Eric Payne) and codename (Devil Slayer) to fight Buckler's creation Deathlok. Under the name Bloodwing, he shows up in an issue of the fanzine Galaxia. The Marvel iteration stuck around for a while, primarily through Kraft's run of Defenders, and is given a resolution by J.M. DeMatties when he takes over the book. I'm somewhat surprised the Marvel version hasn't been revived in recent years given how they're busy reviving even the most obscure bit of ephemera. If Sleepwalker can get a brief revival, so can this echo of Gideon Cross.

Even though Demon Hunter kinda, sorta got a life beyond this single issue, I would have liked to have seen a second issue under Atlas. I suspect that the freer hand Buckler--and to a lesser extent Kraft--had over there might have led to a much more interesting book. As we'll see as we go deeper into Atlas Seaboard, the company wasn't afraid of being darker or more brutal than the company it wanted to unseat...and maybe Demon Hunter could have been a legitimate horror comic.

We're still horror territory next time and another single issue recounting an origin. But even though this one features art by a legit legend, the hero might be a bit...overfamiliar. Join me for the only issue of Fright, featuring...The Son of Dracula!

Until then, remember...Revenge is a Dish Best Served In Four Colors!

THE REVENGE OF MARTIN: BLAZING BATTLE TALES

Atlas Seaboard comics lasted less than a year. No comic published under the suspiciously familiar red band trade dress of the company last more than four issues.

It may very well be the first comic book company founded solely on spite.

In 1972, original Marvel Comics publisher Martin Goodman left the company. He had sold it in 1968, but stayed on, intending for his job to be taken over by his son, Chip. When it became obvious that the new owners wanted to make Stan Lee publisher, Martin walked out of the Fifth Avenue offices of Marvel, walked up a few blocks and rented office space for a new comic publishing house. In 1974, he hired Stan's brother Larry Leiber and Jeff Rovin to head up the new line.

It should be mentioned that some people don't think Martin did this over Chip's not being installed...but the combination of the trade dress, the hiring decisions and the choice of material for the titles make me think this is the truth...

Except for our first title, because everything about the one and only issue of Blazing Battle Tales screams DC's then thriving war line. The cover is a very conscious take on a classic Joe Kubert Sgt. Rock cover by Frank Thorne (a veritable legend, which we'll discuss more fully two articles from now), including the dialogue. And even though Marvel had its own Sargent in Nick Fury, the opening story (all three stories were written by John Albano) is obviously aping Rock with hero 'Sgt. Hawk' being aided by an native American and a jewish soldier to free a hot blonde French underground leader from the titular Nazi toturer, 'The One Armed Monster.'

The problem with this story, as well as the one that follows (the third tale is a recounting of a story about a Bronze Star soldier, so it's more akin to the single page 'Did You Know' pages included between stories in Golden Age comic) is simply that there's no character to these characters. If it wasn't for the fact that some of these characters are named and some wear different uniforms, I'd have no idea who was doing what to whom. The first story is mainly narration, and Albano doesn't give us anything--not even vocal ticks--to tell the main heroes apart. Since our heroes rescue the woman very quickly then go on a personal mission to avenge some dead American soldiers they happen upon, the woman...seems sort of inconsequential to the plot. At least the following story, 'The Sky Demon,' has actual dialogue but the plot--a navy pilot is told to stop doing solo missions, the pilot stops, but is told to continue doing solo missions once they learn a train he wanted to attack had Hitler on board...well, it's not...much, is it? Albano's style is dry and without much personality, and the entire experience of reading this book is the epitome of flat.

If there is a highlight, it is the artwork. Pat Broderick, very early in his career, pencils the Sgt. Hawk strip and, even though it seems like he was told to consciously ape Joe Kubert, his storytelling comes through. 'The Sky Demon' is drawn by Al McWilliams, and the two page back-up is by John Severin, both of whom are legendary war comics artists. They all needed much better stories to illustrate.

Now, to be fair, there is the possibility that Albano was intending to actually introduce some character to Sgt. Hawk, The Sky Demon, et al...but this was the only issue of Blazing Battle Tales, and we will never know if that was the case. I cannot recommend this title.

Next time, we'll be looking in on one of the few Atlas heroes who survived beyond Martin Goodman's folly...in this case, a horror-themed hero who got on an airplane at the end of his first and only issue and got off that airplane in the middle of an issue of Marvel Spotlight under another name to fight Deathlok...and also showed up in an issue of Galaxina under yet another name! Join us for the one and only issue of Rich Buckler and David Anthony Kraft's Demon Hunter!

Until then, remember...Revenge is a Dish Best Served In Four Colors

WHEN WE WERE ULTRA: TICKETS TO OUR DEMISE (ULTRAFORCE, BLACK SEPTEMBER, ULTRAFORCE/AVENGERS, ULTRAFORCE/SPIDER MAN)

 I really expected this article to be more upbeat.

Ultraforce was created to seal the deal with Galoob for a line of Ultraverse action figures and/or an animated series--I'm a little hazy as to the exact details--so customers can buy a comic with all the characters featured in one place. After fielding proposals from several creators, Gerard Jones and G.O.A.T. George Perez were tapped to make the title happen. The line-up consisted of Prime, Prototype, Ghoul (from Steve Gerber's satirical take on the X-Men, Exiles), Topaz (created by Jones but debuting in a key storyline in Mantra*), Contrary and Pixx (both from Jones' Freex). The initial storyline was designed to position Atalon, the leader of a hidden civilization, as the Ultraverse's Big Bad...even though they tried to make that already with Rune and, later, Lord Pumpkin. Ultraforce was supposed to be the line's Avengers, taking the tack of this group being banded together to be a self-regulatory panel for ultras.

None of this ultimately happened. Because of timing, Ultraforce can be seen as a clear account of how the purchase of the company by Marvel strangled it to death.

The initial six issues are pretty good. It does take advantage of where the characters are at this time in the Ultraverse--when Hardcase suggests the idea, Prime and Prototype take that idea and go to blows over who gets to lead--and even though Atalon was shoehorned into places he didn't belong prior to those first six issues (Solitaire? Really, Mr. Jones?), there is a definite effort to give the character the sort of nuance that would have made him a credible big bad for the entire Ultraverse. The choice to pull a Thunderbird with Pixx is clumsily handled, although Jones manages to squeeze in a rather neat scene where Prime wants to counsel and console her but doesn't for fear of revealing he's a thirteen year old. Also, Contrary pretty much proves useless to the point where I suspect the other heroes put up with her because, well, she's the one with the ride. It's competent if not great, and I could see a way forward with this title that would have been interesting....

Except that the Marvel purchase went through, and after a decent Ghoul solo story the main thrust of the next storyline is 'Hey, look! The Black Knight just dropped out of the sky!' You would think that Hank Kanalz and Marv Wolfman would have made more of a plot by a sinister corporation, Metabio, to keep 'angels of light' captive or the addition of Kanalz's character Siren to the line-up...but the shift of the book is very noticeable to emphasize the Marvel elements. Issue #8 features not only the Black Knight on the cover, but also Sersei and an summary of the Avengers' history featuring cameos by a good dozen Marvel heroes plus Utau The Watcher and just-defeated villain Proctor. Slowly, over the next three issues, the story becomes less and less about Ultraforce and more and more about the Black Knight. to the point where they actually visit the place Avengers Mansion is supposed to be in issue #10. Hell, the Knight is prominently on all the covers until the sixth issue of Volume Two!

I understand that having a Marvel hero in your book is a big deal, but I am willing to bet that Prime was a bigger deal than the Black Knight circa 1995.

So...this leads us into both the Black September reboot event and the Avengers/Ultraforce miniseries. Black September is...well, a mess. The climax seems to take its cue from Crisis on Infinite Earth, with the Ultraverse rejiggered so that some characters no longer exist and others are given new identities. It's very, very incoherent in its attempts at being profound and sweeping, and I literally couldn't remember anything about it once I finished. The way it impacts the crossover depends on which creative team is in charge--the Marvel issue, written by Glen Herdling and drawn by Angel Medina, sees the two teams sucked into the typical one-on-one fight games that's a Gamemaster favorite. The only noteworthy thing about this issue is that Herdling forces Starfox on the Avengers team so he and Contrary can snog. It ends with the Infinity Gems, which had been bouncing around the Ultraverse for the last few months, combining with a heretofore unknown 'Control Gem' to create Nemesis, who promptly undoes and remakes the universes ...

...leading us into the Ultraverse side of the crossover, written by Warren Ellis and drawn by a returning George Perez and it...sure is lively. Most of it and the Infinity issue of Ultraforce Volume 2 are composed of scenes from the alternate reality that merges the two universes, with a focus on Janet Van Dyne, who became the Black Widow after her husband Hank died and is trying to cope with her PTSD by sleeping with Quicksilver. It's pretty decent in a grand guignol way, not much plot but some gleeful screwing with characters (it took this reread for me to realize that Alec 'Firearm' Swan is this reality's Black Knight). By the end of the crossover issue, Ellis must've had a ball giving Perez nuts things to draw, like the Catholic version of Thor flying with the aid of his crucifix Mjolnir. It's definitely a step up from the Marvel side, even if it is a little incoherent.

And then Volume 2 officially rolls around with the three part 'Wave of Mutilation,' where Ellis introduces the new status quo--a new headquarters in an ill-defined metahuman prison in Arkansas, Prototype now back to being Bob Campbell, the regulation rude Brit character that always marks Ellis' work at this time serving as a merger of Jarvis and Gyrich--and two new characters. Wreckage is an ex-cop who gets back alley cybernetics so he can break up the mob who wrecked his life, and Lament, a Native American bounty hunter with stealth powers. Even though Marvel was really high on Ultraforce being the centerpiece of the rebooted line, reprinting the first issue in the back of the second at no extra cost, the story is a little too heavy on the punchy-punchy-run-run and light on characterization. After that, we get a Black Knight solo story and 'Smoke And Bone,' where Ellis gives Ian Edginton that Jack Hawksmoor solo story of Stormwatch to expand and rewrite into a three parter that ends with Black Knight firing pretty much everyone except for Prime and Prototype. Edginton is joined by Dan Abnett and has the team fight Future Ultraforce before having Foxfire show up for literally two pages so she could decide to go back to the future.

During this period, we get Ultraforce/Spider-Man, a single issue where the team teams up with Spider-Man and Green Goblin.

No, not Peter Parker and an Osborn. Ben Reilly and Phil Urich. This was, after all, when Marvel was constantly shaking things up in the effort to make their demented owner at the time money. This is more a publishing gimmick than a story, with the same beginning and end being printed in both issues but with a different middle of each issue, one focusing on Reilly and one on Urich. I think the plot, with a mysterious third party trying to trick the Marvel and Ultraverse realities into thinking they're being invaded by the other, is tied into the Tulkan/Demonseed story that ends up being the back end of Volume Two's run, but it's very unclear.

And speaking of all this Demonseed talk, Len Wein and the Deodato Studio are brought in to ring down the curtain. Wein does take a moment to try and give Cromwell a personality other than Standard Warren Ellis Jerk, but spends most of his time cleaning up the place and closing the doors behind him. The last Marvel characters stuck in the Ultraverse are sent home, the line-up is revamped in time for Hardcase to show up and try to explain what the Demonseed actually is and lead the team into a Big Ol' Blowout fight. By this time, the line was reduced to just this book and Prime, and this book shuts down on an ambiguous note before what remains of the editorial staff just give up and walk away.

And that's why my reread of this title turned out to be so bitter. The first six issues of the first volume build up to a definite setting of a status quo that will effect the Ultraverse as a whole--finally, we have a credible Big Bad, a flagship superteam with a unique angle, and a way forward. But the minute that status quo is set up, Marvel is in the driver's seat and literally drops a Marvel character into middle of the series and makes it increasingly about the crossover with the Avengers. By the time the second volume comes along, all the Ultraverse characters are playing second fiddle to the Black Knight. Hell, BK is featured prominently on all the covers! It seems obvious that the people in charge at the time cared so little for the properties they purchased that it must have repelled Ultraverse fans while not attracting new readers. By the time the book is back to being more Ultraverse centric, the end is in sight and the book has only two more issues before being canceled. That promised direction for the line as a whole is just tossed aside the moment it gets to take its first breath.

Ultraforce deserved better. The Ultraverse deserved better

*--I wonder, given what Roland Mann said in my article on Mantra, if Topaz was created specifically to replace that hero. I also wonder if the resistance to Mantra from partner companies also inspired the creation of Contrary, given the blatant thirst-trappiness of that character.