WHEN WE WERE ULTRA: CORPORATIONS ARE EVIL, OKAY? (PROTOTYPE)

Of all the solo Ultraverse heroes, you would think Prototype would be the easiest to figure out.  He's a guy in an armored suit who works for a corporation; he's Iron Man.  To be more precise, he's what Iron Man was supposed to be back when Tony Stark had a secret identity.  It's prolly why I passed over the book back in the 90's when it first came out.  It's prolly why I didn't pay much attention to the character in the second volume of Ultraforce, which is where he landed after Black September  and his book's cancellation.

So image my surprise to find out that this is something else, with a shifting point of view that comes off at times as a technothriller.  In many ways, the titular Prototype isn't the hero, but the catalyst for the action of others.

UltraTech is proud of its mascot, Prototype...until its operator, Bob Campbell starts believing he's a super-hero for real.  So, using the loss of his arm during one combat, Bob is ousted and the armor is upgraded for its next operator, Jimmy Ruiz--literally, as Ruiz is unwittingly a natural ultra whose energy abilities are able to fuel the suit.  But both men realize on their own that it's in their own interest to fight back against their employers.  Meanwhile, in the background, the 'terrorism corporation' Terrordyne and the Asian Techuza war against each other, involving both our heroes as well as the enigmatic super-scientific samurai Arena.

Visiting these issues for the first time was interesting.  I did not expect that it would be focused at times on both Bob and Jimmy, and it was the contrast between the two--and the chemistry between them in later issues--that is the book's biggest appeal.  According to Tom Mason, who co-wrote the majority of the book with Len Strazewski (three issues were written by Strazewski solo, with the final issue--easily its worst--a fill-in by R.A. Jones):

"My initial thought was that the book was going to be Bob Campbell's story. After some discussion with Len - all friendly back and forth as we tried to figure things out together - it became clear that Jimmy's story would be the journey to hang everything else on. Jimmy was Len's idea; Iron Man as a teenager learning. Everything else was subplot which would sometime take a larger piece of an issue to move things forward and keep things interesting."

Strazewski added:

"My original intention was explore multigenerational models for heroes and Jimmy led the way with his tattoo tech. The final result was to have two heroes--Prototype and Ranger, sometimes working together with different techniques."

And I think the fact that we had two writers championing two different characters may have made Mason and Strazewski work to make both characters more engaging...and it shows.  I never felt that one character's arc was interfering with the other, and it ended up creating a wonderful rapport between Bob, Jimmy and Bob's ex-wife that gave the series heft.  What's really remarkable is how seamlessly the series handles weaving itself into the larger crossovers--unlike other titles, there is never a sense that Prototype's main storyline is put on hold so the Break-Thru or Hostile Takeover event happens.

I was also rather taken by the way these events have repercussions.  After the Hostile Takeover event, Jimmy finds himself working for new employers with new rules on how to be Prototype.  Since so much of the series revolves around the corporate aspects, the writers are able to sneak notes of satire and parody of what was current culture at the time.

The villains are....iffy with the exception of Arena, who shows up in issue #6 to continue their conflict with Prototype unaware that there's a new operator in the armor.  Thankfully, Arena's story arc is resolved in both the Bob Campbell story in Ultraverse Premiere and an issue of Prime V. 2. 

I say thankfully because Prototype is ultimately frustrating because it just stops.  Strazewski, in the last few issues, builds up to a massive war between Prototype's new employers Nu-Ware and the Techuza, who has revived main series baddie Stanley Leland as a....cybersquid (trust me on this).  The two final issues make a big deal about Prototype: Turf War, a miniseries that would resolve this plot line.  However, I think it's telling that this miniseries was advertised as showing up just before the Black September reboot.  According to Tom Mason, it was cancelled before it could be completed, although there are some finished pencils by artist Gabriel Hardman over at the Ultraverse Facebook Group (and thanks to Mr. Hardman, here as well!).

Prototype did survive into the post-Black September era for a while as a member of Ultraforce V.2...but we'll get to that in time.

I was surprised at how much I took to Prototype.  It ended up being a title with one of the most consistent creative teams, and when it hit, it hit hard.  My biggest complaint is the fact that it remained unresolved--it ends mid-story with nothing close to a resolution to bring the series to a close.  I really recommend it.  Hell, if it wasn't for its lack of a satisfying end, it would have been one of my favorite titles in the re-reading.

Next time we approach the product of what was arguably the Ultraverse's biggest 'get'....which may have produced a series more suited for Malibu's Bravura imprint.  Unfurl your wings and sharpen your fangs as we take a look at Barry Windsor-Smith's cosmic vampire barbarian...epic?...Rune V. 1!

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

WHEN WE WERE ULTRA: Well, THAT Got Messy (PRIME V. 2, PRIME/CAPTAIN AMERICA, PRIME VS. HULK)

The end of Power of Prime #4, the last issue of the 'Origin of Prime' arc that closed out the first volume, Prime and his friends Turbo Charge and Phade were stuck on an island with a number of 'Prime Babies' asking what their future lies.

Prime Infinity, the first issue of volume two, has Kevin Green wandering the New York of 616 wondering how he's going to get back to his world and why his powers aren't working correctly...just before he get caught up in a battle between Spider-Man and...well, the comic insists it's Spidey's enemy the Lizard, but he sure don't look or act like it.

I've said in a couple of previous articles that the tightly interconnected continuity the originators of the Ultraverse came up with may have been more a bug than a feature.  If it wasn't true before, it certainly is in the post-Black September final months where Marvel has a firm grip on the reins.  Although this first issue does cite both Ultraforce/Avengers and Prime Vs. The Hulk in their explanation for what is going on, I only understood what they were talking about because I had vague memories from reading the former when it first came out.

To be fair, Prime vs. The Hulk is actually pretty good.  Split into two parts, written by Len Strazewski and Gerard Jones with plot assists by Peter David, it depicts Kevin's first day in Earth 616.  Looking for Avengers Mansion figuring they'll help him get back to his Earth, he runs across a scientist luring a teenager into his car so he can conduct his gamma ray experiments on her.  Understandably upset, Prime intervenes and ends up crossing paths with the Hulk.  There's a fight, there's an understanding between the heroes, and they bring the evil doctor to justice before Kevin runs away and ends up in the second volume of his own book.

And to be fair, the first couple of issues uses its Marvel connections to further the idea that this series is more about Kevin growing into himself.  Unlike, let's say, the Punisher showing up in Foxfire, Spider-Man is in Prime Infinity and Prime v.2 #1 to inspire Kevin to be more heroic.  Of course, that also results in him being Spider-Prime for a few issues, getting involved with the Ultra-world's version of the Spider Totem that I'm positive inspired J. Michael Straczynski four years later, and realizing that Prime is not just a body, but a union of that body with Kevin's soul....which is fortunate, because he has to confront his Prime body who's been running rampant in Ultra-Earth and overall being a dick.  Unlike some of the other reboots, the thing I like about this volume is how it builds upon the character as he was in Volume 1 instead of replacing him.

...and then we get a fill-in issue in  #5 that resolves a plot left over from Prototype, and Johns goes solo beginning with a three-parter that resolves plot lines left over from his series Solitare. Even though it has some great art from Scot Kolins, there is a definite sense that this was supposed to be a crossover between the titles that got retrofitted.  Solitare takes a lot of screen time away from Kevin, dealing with his paramour(?) Coco and the drug that empowers her hitting the streets.  On top of this, there's a big 'This is a message' vibe to the story that just doesn't quite fit.

But then, that seems to be the problem with Jones' solo work on the title.  He does stick around for two more issue to finally bring a conclusion of sorts to Prime's friendship with TurboCharge while also doing an amusing turn of the 'Superman-Flash Race' trope.  These two issues are elevated by Norm Breyfogle's brief return to pencils and the acknowledgment that the Ultraverse has a lot of speedsters, but overall Jones seems weirdly checked out of these issues.

Jones and Breyfogle also produced Prime/Captain America, which is easily the best issue of this second run.  Cap finds himself in the Ultraverse after some dimensional jiggery-pokery and ends up teaming with Prime to confront a plot to replace the President with a Bill Clinton from the alternative universe of the Ultraverse/Avengers crossover with the help of an alternate universe Prime who never grew out of his Rogue Prime phase and Liberty, an incidental character from the first volume turned into a patriotic-themed ultra.  It's lots of fun, the two heroes have equal time and there's a sense of humor--I really got a kick out of Chelsea Clinton figuring out Prime is actually her age.  And of course, it's a joy to see Breyfogle's take on classic Captain America (at this time Cap was running around in some awkward looking armor).

...and then V. 2 #11 comes along.  The remaining issues are written by Darrin Shaheen, although a lot is made of how Keith Giffen co-wrote the first three of the five remaining issues.  Art is by Al Rio and, while he has a fresh style that's more animation-based, he is made to draw this as if it is an Image comic; the posing of the female characters, even the non-sexualized one, is pure semi-broke back.

I think it's telling that these five issues focus more of Latin dictator Colonel Rinaldo and his supporting characters than Kevin.  Hell, outside of Kevin and his parents, a select few supporting characters only show up in one panel cameos during issue #14.  And the 'major new direction' that is teased in issue #10 is that the Green family is on the run after Kevin's secret is revealed.  The general plot is that Rinaldo wants to rule the world and wants to absorb Prime's powers....but he's also insane in the membrane, and there's members of his retinue plotting to overthrow him, and he's also growing Lord Pumpkin in a tube in a subplot that's not mentioned until issue #14, and...

It's terrible.  I think that Rinaldo was meant to be satiric ala' Giffen and DeMatties' lovely Justice League run over at DC, but whatever Shaheen meant is totally lost.  There just isn't anything there there, and it's doubly frustrating when you look at how this story totally ignores what Jones had set up.  Yes, those issues were written in what could have been interpreted as a closing of that chapter, but ignoring all the growth the character went through during the over two years of publication just rings false.  By the time we hit the last issue of volume two--it was released the same month that Ultraverse Future Shock was--I felt no stakes in either the story or Kevin Green.  And considering how much I had learned to like about this series in spite of the spectre of who Gerard Jones had become*, that's a pretty dire indictment.

To me, the potential of where a writer who wasn't Shaheen could take a more emotionally mature Kevin far outweighed what we ended up with.  I would have liked to see Prime interact with the Lauren version of Mantra, with the potential of the dynamics set up between Kevin and Eden Blake reversed.  Or seeing Kevin counseling Foxfire as she strove to become the heroine she wanted to be.  But what's done is done, and this five issue coda to what was overall a fairly effective series falls flat with a resounding thud.

.

..which may very well be said about the other Black September reboots...but there's still two of those to go.

Next time, we look at the second of the three inaugural Ultraverse titles, Len Strazewski's other contribution to the line...a take on Iron Man's cover story if not Iron Man himself.  Join us for Prototype!

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

*--and don't get me wrong, that spectre never quite left me every time we saw a naked Kevin rising out of the goo of his spent Prime shell...although the biggest 'ick' moment was reading Len Strazewski talking about how he delighted in how Kevin wandered about after his Prime Shell ran out in the videogame and the debate over whether they should give him boxers in the Prime Ashcan Edition.