One more short wrap up of...well, one shots.
There are three more one-shots that I haven't talked about, all with different objectives and approach. One is a charity benefit book, one is another flip book experiment, and one is another 'pilot' for a character who previously was showcased in Ultraverse Premiere...although unlike Elven and Eliminator, this guy never made the cut.
That guy is Ripfire, who is unique in that he was created, written and drawn by Darick Robertson. He appeared in the first two issues of UP before his serial ended abruptly. The story started therein is finished in this one-shot and that was that until he showed up out of nowhere in the last issue of All-New Exiles and became a member of Ultraforce for that series' last handful of issues.
Matt McKinney is a teenager growing up in the middle of Arizona and yearning to be somewhere else. He's hanging with his collection of teenagers-that-love-motorcycles (even though there's a motorcycle gang that harasses them, there's no indication that Matt and his buddies are an official gang themselves) when a trio of spaceships appear. Each of the teenagers--except for one, Clyde, that runs to the police--accept the chance to bond with the aliens within. The police stumble across Matt while he's in a battle for control with another teen/alien combo, call in the army, and the skirmish ends with some dead soldiers. Taking the name from his motorbike, Matt and his alien host flee for Los Angeles only to beat up some bikers in a roadside diner...and that's it.
I can see why Ripfire never made it past the pilot stage. While Darick's artwork is excellent even though it's early on in his career, there's a definite sense that the story needed to go through another draft, perhaps one that would tone down the Image-era 'extreme'-ness and make Matt and the aliens more defined. I never quite got an idea about what Matt's plans are after the final original segment.
There's a real sense that the Ultraverse staff wanted to give Ripfire a conclusion, but whoever decided to drop him in All-New Exiles in an issue set in New York when the character was heading to L.A. may not have cared too much.
Ultraverse Flood Relief was not a pilot but a benefit comic for, well, Flood Relief. In this story, written by the trio of Dan Danko, Hank Kanalz and Tom Mason, a selection of heroes (Prime, Hardcase, Prototype and...
shudder...Zip Zap) descend on Des Moines, Iowa to deal with a flash flood that is caused by a wetware application that has become a water elemental called Wave. As a benefit comic written by three writers and penciled by two (Aaron Lopresti and Richard Pace), it's pretty damn good. The thing that I think makes it work the best is how the writers managed to write a story that slides pretty easily into normal continuity. The heroes depicted are true to how they are in their own series and incorporates status quo for all of them (I especially liked how our writers tell full advantage of the Prime/Prototype rivalry). The villain, a creature made of water who comes out of some lost wetware and its bonding with a little girl, is okay, but it gives the characters something to try and punch for some action sequences. It a decent little story and I appreciated that it could stand along outside of the context of being for charity.
The last one shot I want to discuss is another of the Ultraverse flipbooks,
Ultraverse Double Feature. As I mentioned in past articles in this series, Malibu really went in on the flip book idea, launching an anthology book,
Ultraverse Premiere, to act as a floating flip book that would change homes from month to month. This is a flipbook that's kind of reminiscent of the classic 'duo feature' Marvel Comics like
Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense and
Strange Tales...which makes sense given the very retro feel of the Prime tale within. "King of the Beasts," written by Gerard Jones with art by Joel Thomas, sees Prime discovering a hidden civilization of intelligent talking gorillas and helping resolve a power struggle within. The other story, "No Place Like Home," written by Jones and Julie Huffman with art by Miraglia, features the hero Solitaire as he investigates a series of very...specific movie memorabilia thefts in Los Angeles.
Both stories are pretty good, but if I had to chose a favorite it'd have to be "King of The Beasts." There's such an infectious Silver Age throwback feel to the tale, and Joel Thomas' pencils are nicely detailed with a good sense of facial expressions. To be fair, my familiarity with the Prime character might have helped me in enjoying it as well. "No Place Like Home" is set up like a mystery (even though I figured out said mystery very early), and the tone seems to really fit the character, plus I liked the background of high end memorabilia collecting and how it was used. If anything, I got strong vibes of the Mark Evanier and Dan Spiegle's cult 80's comic Crossfire...which is a good thing.
If I was purchasing any of these three one shots back in the 90's, I think I would be most satisfied with
Ultraverse Flood Relief. Ultraverse Double Feature has two good stand alone stories that gives the reader a taste of the individual characters, although I don't know if my enjoyment would prompt me to check out their individual series. And even though I liked Darick Robertson's art,
Ripfire needed a little more refining before it could convince me I wanted to read more about the series. Still, I don't know if there's anything in this round of one shots I wouldn't recommend. I wouldn't necessarily recommend
Ripfire, but I wouldn't tell a fellow comic fan to stay away.
When next we return...it's the Big One. I start my re-read of the most popular Ultraverse title in its five year history, a title that almost made it to the Big Screen but most probably will now never be seen again. So see me struggle with that boundary between art and reality as I peruse the first volume of Prime!
Until then....why be meta when you can be ultra?
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