Just Imagine Stan Lee with Jim Lee creating Wonder Woman #1

TITLE: Just Imagine Stan Lee with Jim Lee creating Wonder Woman #1

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

COVER DATE: August 2001

COVER PRICE: $5.95

40 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

There's not a whole lot I remember about this issue. In fact, I don't even recall if this was good, bad, or just plain mediocre. I never finished collecting the whole series, so I'm guessing it left me a little cold.

It does have Jim Lee doing the artwork, so I'm going to guess that it at least looks good. It's a long issue, so let's just get right to it.

Just Imagine Stan Lee's Wonder Woman

• Writer: Stan Lee
• Pencil Art: Jim Lee
• Ink Art: Scott Williams
• Letterer: Bill Oakley
• Colorist & Separator: Alex Sinclair
• Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston
• "Just Imagine..." initiated by Michael Uslan

Right off the bat, and Stan Lee is throwing us for a curve. The story starts where...

Ages ago, there was a time of wonder, a time of mystery and miracles. Come back with us to such a time.

Sounds about right for the origin of Wonder Woman, eh? But then before we even leave the same panel, we find out we're not going to Themyscira, but to Lake Titicaca!

It would appear we've traded the Greek canon for one half a world away, as the son of the great Incan Sun God rises from the lake. He leaves to found the legendary city of Cuzco to honor his father. To complete his task, he has been given an enchanted staff of gold with which he will plunge into the earth at the fateful location.

He soon founds the legendary city and ushers in a glorious age of peace and prosperity, but that was then. Today, Cuzco has been ravaged by time and the once fabled city has fallen into ruin. It is here that we are introduced to Maria Mendoza as she bemoans the current state of the ancient city, being plundered by an unscrupulous archaeologist named Armando Guitez.

It is also here that she also meets Steve Trevor, and idealistic archaeologist working for Guitez, who is trying his hardest to make sure that the plundered treasures are actually being bought by museums. There conversation is cut short however, as they are forced to leave in a hurry as a rather ominous noise scares them off the dig.

Steve gives Maria a lift back to her nearby village, where her father is the local judge. She catches him between cases and confronts him once again about being on Guitez's payroll. Maria is nothing, if not a little headstrong, and she finally gets her father to tell her the whole truth about her birth and what happened to her mother.

On the night she was born, her parents were returning to their home when they were stopped by bandits. Disappointed that the couple had no money, a scuffle ensued and a shot rang out. Maria's mother was unfortunately shot dead. Moments later, the local policia arrive, but they too are looking for money in the form of a bribe before they catch the bandits. Disappointed that the farmer has no money, they take his truck, leaving the heartbroken man to bury his wife. He swears then and there that he will protect his daughter, even if it means making a pact with the devil.

That devil, of course, is Guitez who shows up right on cue. He's here to oversee a case that a local farmer is bringing against the policia. The farmer accuses the policia of being in Guitez's back pocket and doing nothing to help them. The villagers believe that a demon of some sort is attacking their farms, but the policia refuse to help.

Guitez gives the word, and the policia beat him to set an example for the villagers that Guitez has their best interests at heart, and it is best not to question his methods. It would also appear that Guitez is unhappy with Judge Mendosa's behavior of late, as he feels he has been too sympathetic to the locals. The policia leave, taking Judge Mendosa back to Guitez's compound.

Desperate to help her father, Maria tracks down Steve Trevor and enlists his help in getting into Guitez's compound. Once inside, Maria watches from the shadows as her father confronts Guitez about his lawlessness. He has finally seen enough and threatens to go to the local governor with everything that he knows. Guitez, not surprisingly, has other ideas.

Maria rushes to her father's side as he breathes his last breath. Guitez does a little gloating and boasts that Maria, as his new bride-to-be, is never going to leave his compound.

Remember when I said that Maria was a bit headstrong? Well a quick elbow to the face, followed by a knee to the groin, and she's soon running through Guitez's compound after leaving him doubled over in pain. As she rounds a corner, she's reunited with Trevor who convinces her that they must go to the dig as there's something there she has to see.

Trevor tells her of the legends of the city, and the fact that this is the site where the sun god imprisoned the evil spirits that threatened mankind. Guitez plans to harness those spirits to attain ultimate power. Trevor has been working behind the scenes to send key artifacts back to Los Angeles before Guitez can figure out what is going on.

Unfortunately for Trevor, Guitez now knows the truth and guns him down. As Trevor falls to the ground, he drops an artifact covered in runes that cracks when it hits the floor. Purple smoke starts seeping from the cracks, which soon coalesces into a huge purple demon. The thing of evil quickly dispatches the policia and turns toward Guitez when the two have a bit of a showdown

As the demon tries to absorb Guitez's soul, it finds that he will not be easy prey. In fact, it is Guitez who emerges the victor, now merged with the demon and possessing all of his power. More artifacts are crushed in the melee, and another newly released demon soon meets the same fate as the first, as Guitez absorbs it and becomes even more powerful.

Leaving Maria to her fate in the crumbling temple, Guitez heads out and makes for Los Angeles to retrieve the two missing artifacts and all of the extra power that they contain. As the building falls apart around her, she is surprised to hear voices that surround her talking about the chosen one and prophecies and such. A golden staff appears before her, and as she reaches out to touch it...a Wonder Woman is born.

This is the first time that we get a look at Jim Lee's redesign, so let's take a moment to break it down.

The first thing you notice is the color scheme. Gone are the red, white and blue, making way for a two-toned costume of white and gold. Seeing as how this Wonder Woman gets her powers from an Incan sun god, it's only natural that she have a bright and shiny costume. The gold is also a nice nod to the Incan heritage and legacy.

This Wonder Woman is very much a warrior, similar to how our Wonder Woman has been played within DC's trinity in the last ten years. Gone is the lasso, replaced with a shield and the enchanted glowing staff that was used by the Incan sun god himself.

Finally, Jim Lee adds a Captain Marvel-esque style cape which adds a touch of regalia to top the whole thing off. I really like this design, and it's a shame that this was pretty much the only appearance of this Wonder Woman, and her costume, that we ever got.

Back to the story, we find that Wonder Woman has used her powers to lift Steve Trevor from he crumbling ruins to the safety of a nearby hillside. It's too late for him, however, as with his dying breath he tells her that she has completed the prophecy. She is the chosen of the sun god, and the protectress of the Earth.

The Wonder Woman visage fades, leaving an exhausted Maria to contemplate another death at her feet. The only rational explanation is that she is insane, and she breaks down crying.

The voices soon return, reassuring her that she is not insane. And really, who better to tell you you're not crazy than the voices in your head! The voice soon tells her how to control her new powers, as she sets out to catch Guitez and stop his reign of evil.

Arriving in Los Angeles, Guitez is now more monster than man, consumed by the lust for the power contained in the remaining artifacts. As his private plane crashes, he is photographed by one of the local paparazzi. Now rampaging through the city, Wonder Woman finally arrives to subdue him.

The two tussle for a bit, when Wonder Woman instinctively uses her shield to block some flying rubble that Guitez has thrown at her. Shards of energy burst forth from the shield and disintegrate the boulder. She then twists the shards of energy into an interwoven, glowing cable. Wonder Woman finally has her magic lariat.

Wrapping Guitez tight with her lasso, Wonder Woman takes to the skies where she has the advantage. Guitez still struggles, now climbing the rope as she flies ever higher. Just as Guitez is about to reach Wonder Woman, she lets go of the rope and Guitez falls to his death as he is impaled on the lightning rod of a nearby building.

Victorious, but exhausted, Wonder Woman collapses on the hillside underneath the Hollywood sign. She awakes the next morning and decides to make this town her new home, as there is nothing left for her back in Peru.

In a bit of inspiration, and a nod to the Clark/Lois/Superman triangle, Maria heads to the office of the National Exposure magazine. There she applies for the job of assistant for the reporter who had witnessed the battle the night before. Her day job will now be to help the man who is trying to uncover her secret identity.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

When this book got picked, I was kinda disappointed as I didn't have too many fond memories of this series. In fact, I only ever picked up three of the dozen issues that they released. I realize that Stan Lee is one of the guiding figures and living legends of comic books, but he had pretty much finished writing for good when I started reading comics.

Thinking back, I probably morphed my memories of this series in with Ravage 2099, which was my first experience with reading a new Stan Lee series. Needless to say, Ravage 2099 didn't necessarily set the comic book world on fire, and my experience there probably negatively affected my enjoyment here.

Now, ten years later, I couldn't be happier that the Randomizer picked this issue to review as I had a heck of a lot of fun reading this. So much so, in fact, that I found myself googling the rest of the series to see what I had missed out on. Stan Lee, Dave Gibbons, and Green Lantern?! What the hell was I thinking not picking that up?

What we get in this issue, is 40 pages of pure fun. Stan Lee appears right at home working with a modern master like Jim Lee, and if anything, it seemed like he was almost restrained in his usual bombasticness (no Hyperbole Meter needed this time around, sorry). He takes the warrior aspect of Wonder Woman and supplants it in a completely different mythos, freeing her from the patriotic garb and theme that always seemed a little out of place once you take her out of the World War II era in which she was created.

It probably took a little too long to get Maria transformed into Wonder Woman, as it didn't leave too many pages left for the big fight scene at the end. But if you're going to have a bunch of new characters talking for twenty pages, you could do worse than have them illustrated by Jim Lee. This issue is classic Jim Lee, doing what he does best, putting an effort in that rivals his work on Batman: Hush. It was clean, smooth, and expertly paced. When the action did pick up, the visuals never let up for a second.

I realize that it may seem like I'm doing nothing but heaping platitudes on top of platitudes, but the only downside I see with this issue is that we never did get anymore of this version of Wonder Woman once this series wrapped up.

All characters and artwork reproduced are (c) DC Comics

X-Men (Vol. 2) #1

TITLE: X-Men (Vol. 2) #1

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

COVER DATE: October 1991

COVER PRICE: $1.50

37 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

I didn't think so at the time, but looking back, this issue can plainly be seen as the downfall of my voracious interest in all things X. It would be years before I would give up on Marvel's mutants all-together, but from this point on there would be only brief snippets of genius intermingled with monthly mediocrity.

I still can recall vividly buying this issue (and all of the different covers) from my comic book store. I also remember laying all the covers out on my floor, to make one big panorama. This was when Jim Lee was king, and at this point he could do no wrong in my book.

Oddly enough, most of my memories of this book deal with my emotional reaction and ties to the issue, and not to the quality of the actual story itself. I don't really have a sense of the story, only that Magneto returns. Although, now that I think about it, this must be where Magneto's Alcolytes are introduced as well. I really didn't care for these jokers as villains or antagonists, so if this is dealing with them in detail, color me bored already.

Still, we'll give it the old college try and see how this issue holds up after close to two decades.

Rubicon

• Writer: Chris Claremont
• Co-Plotters: Chris Claremont, Jim Lee
• Penciler: Jim Lee
• Inker: Scott Williams
• Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
• Colorist: Joe Rosas
• Assistant Editor: Suzanne Gaffney
• Editor: Bob Harras
• Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

In space, a group of mutants in a hi-jacked space shuttle are desperately trying to find Mageneto's old base of operation, Asteroid M. They are just about caught by trailing military personnel, when Magneto makes his presence known.

Demanding only to be left alone, Magneto destroys their ships and is about to hurtle them all back towards Earth when one of the fleeing hijackers appeals to Magneto as a fellow mutant, as it's him they've come looking for.

Back on Earth, the fracas in space does not go unnoticed as both the Soviets and the Americans initiate their own plans to deal with Magneto once again.

The X-Men, meanwhile, are oblivious to what is going on out in space as they are in the midst of one of their ever-present training exercises. Professor Xavier has recently returned from Shi'ar space, and is back in a leadership position among his students. After being gone for so long, however, he looks to re-familiarize himself with their abilities and fighting styles.

What we get is eleven pages of the X-Men divided up into three different teams. Rogue and her group attack the mansion from outside and above, penetrating it's walls, only to fall within feet of the Professor at the mercy of Jean Gray and her psychic powers.

Wolverine and his group take a different tack and try to infiltrate the mansion from the tunnels below. Gambit falls first, as he takes the time to impress the ladies instead of delivering the killing blow. Wolverine proves that he's the real deal and manages to pop his claws mere inches from Professor X's nose...game over.

After the battle has ended, Wolverine and Cyclops have their usual pissing match that typified much of their relationship in this era.

It's not long, however, before they are summoned by Nick Fury and briefed on the recent happenings on Asteroid M. With the Russians and the Americans both on edge, Fury thinks it's best that the X-Men are notified. Cyclops agrees, while Wolverine thinks a man should be allowed to make a mistake first, before you condemn him.

Again with the disagreement...why don't you two get a room already.

Back on Asteroid M, Magneto has saved both the mutant hijackers and the American military that were chasing them, trying to stay neutral in their struggle. All he has done, however, is bring their conflict to his doorstep as one of the mutants is gunned down at his feet.

Using his magnetic powers, he forces the soldier's gun to point itself back at it's bearer and fire. Prodded and goaded on by Fabian Cortez, another of the mutant hijackers, he is once again brought into the struggle for mutant equality. These mutants, who have pledged themselves to his cause, will be his Acolytes.

Realizing that the Americans are unlikely to let this death go by unanswered, he decides to act pre-emptively in his own self defense. Returning to the scene of one of his own greatest tragedies, he raises a Soviet submarine that he was responsible for sinking earlier. He's not here to reminisce, however, as he uses his magnetic powers to salvage the remaining nuclear missiles that are still lodged within.

Unfortunately for him, the X-Men are here to talk him out of it. Its a pitched battle, but Magneto is able to withstand their assault long enough to gather his nuclear missiles and make good his escape.

Rogue is not willing to let Magneto go without hearing a piece of her mind, however, as she tries to draw on their recent time together to reason with him.

During her speech, the two of them have inadvertently flown over Russian airspace and the Russians have decided to take this chance to get their revenge on Magneto for the sinking of their submarine. Their fighter jets open fire, with Rogue caught in the crossfire. A further enraged Magneto reacts, with the closest weapon at his disposal...a nuclear weapon!

Before the rest of the X-Men can mourn Rogue for too long, Professor X sends a psychic communication that he has found her. She has ended up in a hospital on the island nation of Genosha? Now exactly how and why this happened remains a mystery (to me, at least), but it gives the X-Men a chance to go toe to toe against Magneto's Acoyltes because they all happen to be there as well, wreaking havoc on the city streets.

It's all a bit too much, and screams plotting by committee as everyone had to get their favorite location inserted into this issue. The X-Mansion...check. Asteroid M...check. Genosha...check.

It all comes to a head, as Magneto reappears to collect his wayward acolytes and pronounce that Asteroid M shall from this day forward be a sovereign nation for all mutantkind. Any act of violence perpetrated against a mutant, shall now be answered in kind.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

I think the biggest thing we've learned with this issue, is how much the economy of comics have changed in the previous two decades. Thirty-seven pages for a buck-fifty? That's crazy.

What's even crazier, is that all thirty-seven (and a two page centerfold also) are drawn by Jim Lee! I think that pretty much matches his output for the last three years?

As much as I enjoyed looking at all thirty-seven pages of this issue, it was probably twice as long as it needed to be. I mean, I love a good danger room sequence as much as the next fanboy, but a dozen pages worth? That's a bit much.

There's also an interesting kernel of a story in here, but it just gets buried by word balloon after word balloon. Claremont has never been the most terse of writers, but I don't ever remember it being this bad. Maybe it's the fact that Jim Lee co-plots starting with this issue, and it ended up cramping his style somewhat...who knows?

I liked the idea of Magneto being out-crazied by Fabian Cortez, and seeing him essentially being used by him, but it just takes us way to long to get there and did we really need to go to Genosha too? Say what you will about Claremont's meandering, years in the making, simmering plot lines, but they've always at least seemed like Claremont's heart was in it. This time...not so much.

It's too bad that this story ended up being Claremont and Lee's swan song as a team on the X-Men, as they were really put out high-quality work up until this point. Still, it didn't hurt the X-franchise any as they would go on to dominate the market for the better part of the rest of the decade.

All characters and artwork reproduced are (c) Marvel Comics

Comic Book Review: The Uncanny X-Men #285

TITLE: The Uncanny X-Men #285

PUBLISHER: Marvel

COVER DATE: February 1992

COVER PRICE: $1.25

22 pages


WHAT I REMEMBER...

This period of X-Men stories was really the beginning of the end of my obsession with the X-Men. I'd been reading for about 100 issues, and things had been building up to a fevered pitch over the last two years.

Jim Lee came on and took the title by storm and really rejuvenated things. Chris Claremont seemed to be refocused as well, and I was looking forward to the new titles and teams.

The actual execution, however, once everything was underway was underwhelming. After Claremont left, it didn't seem to be a cohesive universe anymore. There were too many people with too many ideas of what they wanted the X-Men to be, and not enough editorial control on what was best for the X-Men. As much flak as he gets for dangling subplots that last for years, you have to give Claremont credit that he kept that train rolling for far longer than it seems logically possible.

So Claremont was gone, with Jim Lee soon afterward, and it was a long time before any creator on the X-Men got me excited again. You can see my review here of an issue from The Age of Apocalypse storyline, which was the last gasp as far as my Marvel Zombie sensibility was concerned.

So yeah, long story short...this issue wouldn't have been on my top ten list of issues to reread, but here we are. Let's man up and see what's in store.

Down The Rabbit Hole

• Plot: Whilce Portacio & Jim Lee
• Script: John Byrne
• Pencils: Whilce Portacio
• Finishes: Art Thibert & Al Milgrom
• Lettering: Tom Orzechowski
• Coloring Joe Rosas
• Editing: Bob Harras
• Editor-In-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The story begins with Jean Grey and Colossus arriving on a different world after going through a portal of some sort. The trip puts the whammy on Jean Grey as well as their travelling companion, the Primate, who originally hails from this world.

As they try to get their bearings, they are set upon by a group of rebels who are desperate to get the primate back. Jean is able to use her psychic blasts on one of the soldiers, but there are just too many of them and it's only a matter of time before she is overrun.

They want her alive, but Colossus is not so lucky. Against a barrage of energy blasts, he falls to the ground, reverting to his human form in the process. The rebels take one look at his human face and stop in their tracks. They recognize his face as the one from the prophecy who shall return.

Elsewhere on this world, Storm has landed alone in the middle of an arid desert. She tries to coax some water from the desert winds, but fails. Weakened and delusional, she is found by a lone nomad in the desert.

He carries her back to his dwelling and offers her food and drink. Feeling she can trust this stranger, she eats and tells the tale of how she got to this world. At the mention of the portal, the stranger grows uneasy and upset. He feels her breach of the portal that brought her from her world will result in the destruction of his!

We now cut to another location on this world where a battle rages between some native soldiers and more rebels. They are all surprised by the sudden appearance of Archangel, who soon makes short order of the rebels.

The soldiers are not the only ones surprised by the ferocity of this winged warrior, as Archangel is not aware of the actions of his wings, which acted as if they were alive. Coming out of his trance like state, he is feted as a savior by the soldiers.

Finally, we turn our attention to find the last of the X-Men to have landed on this world...Iceman and Sunfire. It seems they have landed in the middle of a local tavern. That would all be well and good, but they came through the ceiling and it appears the owner is none to happy with him.

Back to the desert, and it would appear that Storm has regained her strength, at the expense of her outfit. Dressing in more appropriate desert/end-of-the-world armageddon garb, she and her new found companion are heading back to the portal to seal it before it destroys both worlds.

Colossus and Jean Grey, meanwhile, are being led back to the rebels base to spread the word of the "saviors" return.

If I was Colossus, I think I'd be starting to get a complex about going to other dimensions. If he's not being praised as it's world savior, he is being persecuted as it's destroyer.

Back at the tavern, Iceman and Sunfire have solved their problem with a little fire and ice teamwork. How these two never ended up as roommates in a 70's sitcom is a true travesty of justice.

Out in the streets of the town, there is something else that has everyone's attention. A town crier is announcing the return of the savior...a warrior forged of steel!

Archangel has arrived at the palace of the Wordly Avatar of the Triumvirate, who leads the soldiers that he has previously saved. In return for his bravery in battle, he is bestowed the honor of Protector General of the realm.

His coronation is cut short as news of Colossus' arrival is brought to the Avatar's attention. A ceremony of honor is turned to one of duty, as she turns to Archangel to lead her troops against the rebel saviour. I smell some X on X violence coming up.

Back at the rebel camp, Jean and Colossus realize that they must find their other teammates before things get any worse. Ororo beats them to the punch, as she has snuck into the compound to track them down. As surprised as they are to see her, the are even more shocked about the identity of her companion, for it is none other than Colossus' brother!

As if all of the scene changes weren't enough, we have time for one more...this time jumping to our earth where two murdered mutants lie on the street. Trish Tilby is reporting that the murderers appear to be fellow mutants, who are also tattooed with giant M's on their faces.

It would seem that Bishop is determined to stop the his future from happening, and if that means some nasty mutants need to be exterminated, thne he will not shy from his duty.

SO, WHAT DID WE LEARN...

If you would've asked me before I started this blog what some of my least favorite X-things were, somewhere on that list would've been Colossus' family and Whilce Portacio. Neither of those two have worn well with me over the years.

With Mikhail and Ilyanna and all of their dimensional and otherworldly adventures, it just seemed to not mesh well with the down to earth personality of Colossus. It was like their situations were wasted on Colossus as a foil. How many times can you go to the "farmboy in the big city" trope? It was cool and all the first time, but enough is enough.

And as for Whilce Portacio, his style seemed new at the time, but hasn't aged well. All his characters and faces seemed to look the same, and he didn't get much of a chance to refine his take on the team as he left within a year of coming onto the title.

But after reading this issue, I may have to revise both assumptions. Mikhail was nowhere near the bore that I was anticipating. Of course, he's not really in this issue too much as it's mostly just the setting of the stage for the coming conflict between rebels, soldiers, and X-Men.

And as far as Whilce Portacio goes, maybe it's Art Thibert on inks, but his pencil work seemed a bit more varied and spontaneous than I remembered. Granted, it's still not really my thing, but I found myself enjoying more panels than I grimaced through.

So there you go, an x-title that I wasn't looking forward to ended up being mildly entertaining. That sounds suspiciously like "damning with faint praise," so I better stop while I'm ahead.

All characters and artwork reproduced are (c) Marvel Comics

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Comic Book Review: Fantastic Four (Vol. 2) #6

TITLE: Fantastic Four (Vol. 2) #6

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

COVER DATE: April 1997

COVER PRICE: $1.95

23 pages

WHAT I REMEMBER: Heroes Reborn was a linewide concept that I remember enjoying. Of the four titles that participated, I remember enjoying The Fantastic Four the most. I'm sure it was mostly due to Jim Lee's pencils, as the scripting was a little rough. I even remember enjoying the Liefeld titles too, although more in the way that you enjoy a good train wreck when you're not actually driving the train.

The only other thing I remember, is that I recall they had Reed Richards and Dr. Doom working together in the same think tank from the beginning. I always liked that idea. For all I know that's the way it was in the 616 universe as well, as I've never read any of the classic Lee/Kirby 104 issue run.

All right, enough rambling. Let's get to it.

"Retribution"

• Plot & Pencils: Jim Lee
• Script: Brandon Choi
• Inks: Scott Williams & JD
• Colors: Joe Chiodo & Martin Jimenez
• Computer Colors: Wildstorm FX
• Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft/DL
• Editor: Mike Heisler
• Editor in Chief: Bob Harras

We open up with Alicia Masters being stood up for a date with Ben.

By the way, the Silver Surfer called...he wants his shirt back.

...and his lingerie.

Ben is obviously away on a mission with the Fantastic Four, which we get to on the very next page.

The big bad for this storyline is the Super Skrull. This isn't your Secret Invasion style Skrull, as Jim Lee has buffed him up to Hulk like proportions. He's also made him look a little more monstrous, which suits his style pretty good. The one re-imagining that I like is that they gave him the Power Cosmic.

How did that happen, you may ask? Lee and Choi definitely adopt the adage that "every issue is some body's first issue" as they break down in four panels everything that's happened up to this point.

When was the last time you read a modern comic book that spelled everything out so linearly.

I love how each different character takes a part of the recap as well. That's choreography that would make some musicals jealous. On a side note, I understand why the Torch's dialogue balloon is red and orange, but why is the Black Panther's dialogue colored blue?

The Super Skrull starts to take on both The Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom at the same time in a nice two-page spread. Doom talks a big game about regaining the cosmic power that he claims is rightfully his, only to have Super Skrull overload Doom's circuits, putting him out of commission.

The Skrull does the typical villain bloviating and explains to Reed that this is about revenge against the Silver Surfer and Galactus, who were responsible for the destruction of the Skrull homeworld. No big redesign on either the Surfer or Galactus...if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Over the course of the next few pages the Thing, the Human Torch, and the Black Panther keep the Super Skrull distracted while a revived Dr. Doom and Reed come up with a plan to steal back the Cosmic Power. This involves using Black Panther as bait and channeling the Power Cosmic through one of Sue's invisible tubes back into the Silver Surfer.

I wonder if he's pissed because the Super Skrull stole his Power Cosmic or because Alicia Masters stole his shirt?

The Silver Surfer and the Super Skrull have their tete-a-tete, which abruptly begins to destroy Castle Doom. Doom explains that the reactor core is going to blow, and I quote...

I must do what I can to salvage the reactor core. But should a single innocent Latverian die today...I will hold you and the other members of the Fantastic Four personally responsible!

So what does Reed do? Does he push Doom aside and fix the reactor core single-handily? Hell, does he already have it fixed? No, he just makes his body into a slide for the rest of the FF to escape the castle on.

It wouldn't even be that lame of him, if he didn't say this just two panels later...

I doubt that even Victor could have [shut down the reactor core] so quickly.

It's revealed a couple of panels after that that the Surfer was the one who used his powers to seal the reactor, but it's good to know that Reed is there in a pinch when you need him.

Right Reed? Dr. Richards?

Anyone?

Johnny? Ben..?

Oh, that's right...Ben had a date. I forgot.

On to the next story...

"Industrial Revoluton Prologue"

• Story: Scott Lobdell
• Pencils: Brett Booth
• Inks: Tom McWeeney

The second story in this issue picks up with Doom after the destruction of his castle. One of his Doombots interrupts him with some important news.

Apparently the Avengers and their mansion have been destroyed...You think Marvel would have known better than to give the editorial reins over to Rob Liefeld and his studio.

Doom soon discovers that it is the Hulk that is responsible for the destruction of Avengers Mansion. He uses "the world's most advanced computers" to deconstruct the image of the Hulk and is shocked to see the Hulk is none other than one of his old Atomic Knights of the Round Table compatriots, Bruce Banner.

So shocked is he, that he inexplicably does his best C-3PO imitation..."We're doomed!"

We then get a brief history of the Atomic Knights, specifically focusing on Victor and Bruce's disagreements about the proper use of gamma radiation. This was one of the few things I actually remembered about this run, and the idea that Victor, Reed, Bruce and Tony Stark were part of the same think tank was a novel idea, I thought.

One thing I didn't remember, was the addition of Rebel O'Reilly. Who the heck is Rebel O'Reilly? Google is no help, so I guess I'll have to do some more reading to find out.

The prologue ends with some villainous laughter from Doom, as he plans to watch his former allies tear each other apart, leaving the world ripe for him to take over.

SO WHAT DID WE LEARN...

Visually, the book holds up quite well to today's standards. This was Jim Lee at the height of his popularity, and if anything he has just gotten better.

Storywise, it's a little light. Everything from the previous five issues gets wrapped up in half of this issue. The scripting is a little rough, and I question some actions now and again...but this was Jim Lee re-imagining the Marvel Universe, so for all I know he nailed it exactly like he wanted to.

Overall, I still have some fondness for this Marvel event. Am I going to pull the rest of the issues out and reread them? Eh, probably not...but if the randomizer ever pulls another Heroes Reborn issue to be reviewed, you can bet I'll look forward to it.

Related links for your surfing pleasure

• Marvel's official Heroes Reborn website
  
  

All characters and artwork reproduced are (c) Marvel Comics