WHEN WE WERE ULTRA: A Gun To The Ultra Fight (FIREARM)

I'm still on the beginning legs of my Ultraverse reading project.  You've already read me talking about The Exiles.  I'm holding out on talking about two others--Elven because it ties in very uncomfortably with the series I am least looking forward to writing about, and Break-Thru because I suspect it will make more sense when I reread it at the end of this journey.  And one series, Eliminator, is just so, so nonsensically bad that it's not worth talking about.

I f'in love James Robinson's Firearm.

Alex Swan is an expatriate Brit living in Pasadena, California.  He works as a private detective and bounty hunter.  Before coming to America, Alex was a secret agent for The Lodge, where he was codenamed 'Firearm' due to his skill with his personal handgun.  We don't know if this is just a standard gun or something unique to Swan.  But we do know two things--Alex hates being called by his codename, and for some reason he keeps getting involved in cases involving Ultras.

This was the work of James Robinson, who was just making waves over at DC at the time--and I have a suspicion that he, being the only Brit in the Ultraverse Trust, was told to give the line it's own version of John Constantine...but the roots of Alex Swan are anchored more in classic detective fiction and the Denny O'Niell/Denys Cowan version of The Question.  And I really feel it lays down the roots from which grow the Dan Curtis Johnson/J.H. Williams III Chase, the Brian Michael Bendis/Michael Gaydos Alias, the Bendis/Michael Avon Oeming's Powers and the Ed Brubaker/Mark Rucka/Michael Lark Gotham Central--all books that feature (mainly unpowered) law enforcement professionals operating in and interacting with superhuman crimes.  

(Don't worry; Dave Ulbrich got his John Constantine-type when Warren Ellis took over Ultraverse after the Marvel-owned relaunch...and he was...something)

What makes Firearm work so well is Swan and his characterization as someone, well, really comfortable with himself.  A lion's share of the eighteen issues (plus a zero issue that came packed in with a half hour video 'movie'--the 90's were a powerful drug) are told through Alec's POV.  At first, he's the standard Bad-Ass Brit, but Robinson starts peppering his narration with references to his love of movies, books, and his adopted hometown of Pasadena.  My favorite issues are #5 ("Said T.E. Lawrence, Picking Up His Fork...") and #9 ("Idle Thoughts"). The former is primarily a conversation between Swan and a suicidal woman whose ultra-power is tiny wings and the latter is an essay on how great Pasadena is set against an extended fight scene.  Not to take away from the murderer's row of artists who contribute to this series, including Cully Hamner, Gary Erksine, Howard Chaykin and Mike Wieringo, but Robinson's command of  Swan's voice carries this series and grounds it throughout the run in a feeling that's distinct from other Ultraverse titles.

Another thing that made me love this series so much is something that snuck up on me towards the end of the run.  The run is bookended by two arcs, "American Pasttimes" and "The Rafferty Saga," with one and two issue stories taking up the rest of the run.  In "American Pasttimes," Swan contends with The Sportsmen, a secret society of rich ultrahuman cannibals.  This story, along with pretty much every story leading up to "The Rafferty Saga," ties into the seven issue finale.  Some of these tie-ins are fairly inconsequential (a number of Ultras are introduced throughout the stretch of done-in-one stories that are murdered by Rafferty in issue #12's prologue), and some are pretty hefty...especially when it comes to Ellen, the bewinged woman in issue #5 who we find out has been having a relationship with Alec since then leading to her marrying him in issue #17.  When we learn in issue #16 ("Rafferty In His Own Words") that this serial killer specializing in ultras is being financed by one of the Sportsman, I had a big ol' "Aha!" moment.

This is one of these series that ended because Robinson decided to end it...and for a while I worried that Malibu was going to pull another Exiles on us, but that wasn't the case.  I don't know if Robinson also intended to scare readers into thinking Ellen was going to be fridged, as Green Lantern's girlfriend was murdered and stuffed into the refrigerator a year earlier, incurring the wrath of Gail Simone...but damn if I--and a number of readers, judging from the letter pages--didn't feel that way.

I'm still at the beginning of my Ultraverse read-through, but so far Firearm is far and away my favorite series of the lot.  Robinson had promised he was going to pick up the character after a while, teasing a move to San Francisco in the last letter page.  Of course, by that time the Marvel purchase had gone through, and there were plans in store for a massive line-wide relaunch.

Alec Swan would be back...but he wouldn't be the star of his own book.  That's for next time.

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