I really enjoyed the Ultimate Universe for the first 4 or 5 years... it's too bad they decided to destroy it. It's funny, they did the same thing to 2099, pretty much... big events that involved floods they kills lots of characters.

I expected to hate The Ultimates, bit as you say the first two volumes were excellent. Exactly like what I wanted in an Avengers movie. I'm even very surprised that the Matrix-like "Black Window jumps out of a building window to grab a falling machine gun and enter another building through another window" scene wasn't used!

The entire question about Thor being mad or not was also very cool; the ambiguity could have been maintained forever, as far as I'm concerned.

SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #16

On Sale March 22, 2006

Written by Mark Waid
Penciled by Barry Kitson
Inked by Mick Gray
Edited by Stephen Wacker
Cover by Barry Kitson

Yes, this is the month that DC skipped all its titles forward to "One Year Later." Let's see what happened 1001 years later.

and now...uh...there is no title for the story, moving on.......



The Legion is gathering outside the building of a citizen named Klar. He paid a year's salary for the view and he doesn't want it cluttered up by....ugh....people. His wife tears herself away from her viewscreen to implore him to contact the Science Police again. However, the barely clothed in two layers Klar is putting on a lot more garments to be decent when he goes outside to confront these hoodlums and defend the concept of dignity. I notice Klar sports a very familiar spit curl in his hair. The Legionnaires are tossing around a rather fat officer of the Science Police. Klar demands they put that officer down and tells the Legion about how things were in his day and if Chameleon Boy is mocking him behind his back there will be real trouble. (He is!) He threatens to turn the Legion over to the authorities, but the Legion has cut a deal with the United Planets. Like Judge Dredd, they are now the law. The SP officer they were tossing around is really a terrorist spy. Klar goes over to one of his neighbors and tells him to come outside. He's confused, why didn't Klar just call. Klar smashes the viewscreen and gathers up the rest of the neighbors to come out to confront the Legion. The mob gathered, Klar goes back outside to tell the Legion to quit being so colorful. Ultra Boy comes up with the idea that they should build the new Legion Clubhouse in the area. A very angry Klar demands they get out of their personspace! As the Legionnaires fly away, Shadow Lass comments that this is the first angry mob on Earth in a century. Even worse, the mob accomplished something by getting the Legion to leave. One child watches them fly away and the look on his face clearly indicates he thinks the Legion is double plus cool. This group drops off the spy at the Science Police. Ultra Boy taunts them about how they're itching to arrest him, but can't.

At the UP Headquarters, Ambassador Ardeen is talking to Lightning Lad and her daughter, Saturn Girl. She is showing them video of an object streaking through the galaxy moving at near light speed. Earlier today, it barely missed Neptune and left a huge scar on the planet's surface. It's headed right for Earth and will be there in less than three hours. There is no time to evacuate so the Legion needs to stop the object. One more image she shows of the object has a very familiar S Shield.  

Over at Legion Plaza, Cosmic Boy and Colossal Boy are talking about recent events. Cosmic Boy still isn't sure about the Legion losing their independence, but notes that's a problem for the next Legion leader. With 127,000 members now, he thinks the group needs to be a little more democratic. Colossal Boy is shocked and notes that no one is clamoring for a new leader. Light Lass interrupts with the new emergency situation.

The Legion gathers in space above Earth and watches the rapidly decelerating object come in. It looks like a giant bullet and Cosmic Boy notes it might be an old Dominator weapon that was launched from before they were all born. Various Legionnaires damage it and slow it down further, but Colossal Boy is unable to catch it. It's still headed for downtown Metropolis and the attempt to stop it has fried Colossal Boy's flight ring. He'll dies in space in seconds! A red and blue streak comes from nowhere and snatches Colossal Boy and drops him off in Metropolis. The crowd in the Plaza looks up in the sky to watch Supergirl destroy the object and save the day. The crowd yells "Great Krypton!" and Cosmic Boy lands to talk to her. She says it was a team effort as the Legion slowed it down enough for her to finally catch up to it. Cosmic Boy asks if she is really Supergirl and she flies him up to the top of a building to talk alone. She announces that yes she is Supergirl from 1000 years in the past. She is real, but the Legion isn't. They don't exist, she's dreaming them.


To Be Continued!



STORY: A-
I loved the concept of the "Eat it Grandpa!" Legion. It's a great send up of the upcoming tech generations and what could happen if they're not careful. I loved both Waid reboots of the Legion. Adding Supergirl and her revelation that she thought they were a dream made me want to check out the next issue for sure.

ART: B+
Kitson always did a very solid job unless he was drawing Superman's mullet.

COVER: B+

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: B-
A nice callback to the old Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes title. This would go a little over a year longer before Waid left. This Legion ceased to exist a few years later and was replaced by a return to a somewhat older classic model under Geoff Johns.  


up next... Nightwing OR Birds of Prey?

BIRDS OF PREY #5

On sale March 3, 1999

Written by Chuck Dixon
Penciled by Greg Land
Inked by Drew Geraci
Edited by Jordan B. Gorfinkel
Cover by Greg Land

and now...."Monster!"

On a dock on the shore of Lake Mackachitahoo, Black Canary encounters a plesiosaur that sees her as lunch. She dives into the lake to escape and gunfire from some locals drive it away. Gary and his uncle didn't believe in the "Mackachitahoo Monster either, but all three of them believe in it now! Gary tells Black Canary that he is concerned about three ladies that rented a boat earlier and haven't returned.  Black Canary calls Oracle too see if she has any information on this monster.

The three ladies are the Ravens: Cheshire, Vicious and Pistolera. They were paid by Kobra to find an old Soviet satellite in the lake and as they return to the surface of the lake they find themselves somewhere else, somewhere with a volcano.

At the Pentagon, Major VanLewton has a team of officers rying to track down a mysterious hacker. The soldiers are in awe of the hacker's skills but trace his location to the Gotham/Bludhaven area. The major gets together a helicopter strike force to send into the area to put the hammer down on this phantom hacker.

Black Canary is talking to Oracle about the monster when two men with guns burst in. They miss as Canary dives under the bed and then she quickly takes them out. Canary finds a tattoo on one of them and asks Oracle if she knows of Kobra. They both have heard of the organization and think that they may have something to do with the monster. Oracle thinks that Kobra had an operation going on there and Black Canary stumbled on to it during her vacation. Meanwhile, Major VanLewton and his helicopter is narrowing down its search for the phantom hacker.

The Ravens have reached the shore. Cheshire found a lot of neutrinos near the satellite and thinks that the Ravens have traveled through time. Then the group spots a herd of mastodons. Then they are attacked by a pair of lions. They kill them and Vicious thinks this trip is kind of cool. However, it is clear that they are lost in time long long ago.

Black Canary takes a boat out into the lake and find the Raven's abandoned vessel. She dives in and relays its Soviet origins back to Oracle. On the last page, something startles Black Canary while Oracle hears the sound of a helicopter approaching.

To be continued...

Words of Prey: Readers are very happy with the first issue. Gorf makes sure everyone knows that "Bird is the word!"



STORY: B
Dixon delivers a good amount of action and keeps the plots moving along nicely.

ART: B+
Greg Land was quite good back in this era, believe it or not!

COVER: B+
Lots of good parts in this cover like the dino footprint and the little Oracle masks on the towel.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: C
After starting out as specials and mini series, this team is up and running as an ongoing title.


up next....we travel back to 1993 and a comic from Image!

Unless it's....



1963 #1

On sale April 1, 1993

Sensational Script by Affable Al Moore
Promethean Pencils by Roarin' Rick Veitch
Immaculate Inks by Dashin' Dave Gibbons
Lyrical Letters by Dandy Don Simpson
Charismatic Chromas by Merry Marvin Kilroy
Additional art by Meticulous Murphy Anderson
Cover by Rick Veitch

ROLL CALL: Mystery Incorporated: The Planet, Crystal Man, Neon Queen and Kid Dynamo

each of them gets a one page pin up at the end of the issue

and now... "Mayhem on Mystery Mile!"


A large man bursts through a wall and enters Mystery Incorporated's mile long underground fortress. He smashes through steel bars and walks through flame jets. An attack by Crystal Man slows him down for only a moment as he shatters the hero. He's then attacked by Kid Dynamo, but the mystery man reaches into a wall and pulls out a water pipe to take down his opponent. Suddenly he's surrounded by a cloud of gas provided by Neon Queen. He can't hit it and is now having trouble breathing. The other two heroes arrive and he gives up. He pulls off his helmet to reveal that he is the fourth member of the group, The Planet. It turns out this has been an intruder test.

In another part of the base they look at rocket that started all of this. Time for an origin recap from Neon Queen. The group landed the rocket on a mystery asteroid and found a stairway that led inside. At the bottom they encountered four gigantic statues. When the fantastic foursome stood on discs underneath the statues they were transformed into heroes. Was it a place where the aliens worshipped their gods or created them, they cannot say. The team then retires to the mailroom to read letters from their fans that were passed on to them by a comic book company. One reader wants to know where the Planet's other two fingers go on his hand when he changes. Neon Girl notes that all her mail wishes she would quit the team. Kid Dynamo says everyone knows that all the best heroes are guys and Neon Queen walks to her quarters wondering if she is the weak link on the team.

On her way she encounters a strange intruder backing out of the Maybe Machine chamber.  She changes into a gas, but he seems to be getting stronger from her attack. He's walking backward toward the machine and getting faster until he disappears in a flash. She summons the others, but Crystal Man can find no evidence that there was an intruder. The Planet finds footprints and the team follows them to the Maybe Machine, the strange window into other possible worlds. Nearby they find another set of footprints leading to the computer room. Kid Dynamo goes off to investigate. The rest of the team recalls previous adventures to eliminate possible intruders from the list.

As the threesome approaches the Mystery Train, Neon Queen is trapped in a glass cage. Crystal Man notes it's one of the base's defense mechanisms. The Planet bashes open the cage, but is then attacked by a laser. Crystal Man's prism like body changes the laser into a harmless beam of color and the Planet pushes him on top of the laser machine, crushing it. The action is causing tremors above on the streets of New York City. However, the Fury is too busy guarding Cargo X to investigate. Down below, the team is trying to make its way across its base. Neon Queen is almost sucked into a vent when Crystal Man clogs it up with shards of his body. Next the team encounters a large robot. Watch out robot, there's a planet coming! As they scrap, Neon Queen turns up the brightness to blind the robot. Crystal Man then enters the robot and his shards shut it down. He then links up with the headquarters' computer to shut down the defense systems. He also think he's solved the mystery of the reversible raider.

Meanwhile, Kid Dynamo has found the intruder. He was wondering how long it would take for the fools to find him. Kid Dynamo zaps him hard, hurting the intruder even through his insulated suit. The intruder fires an arrow through him, but it bursts another pipe and Kid Dynamo is forced to turn back into his human form. The intruder knocks him down, but he's standing in a puddle. Kid Dynamo changes back into his electric form, but it was a ruse by the intruder. He traps our hero in a little electronic device. The intruder walks off and says that Kid Dynamo is the first pawn to be captured in a war of the worlds.

In the Lecture Room, Crystal Man tells the others of his findings. He thinks the intruder came from another universe through the Maybe Machine. We then see glimpses of other Mystery Incorporateds that have been encountered before. Crystal Man also thinks that the intruder was moving backward in time. He could be in two places at once, one walking back in time encountering Neon Queen while the other heads for the library. They find only the intruder's bow and arrow, Kid Dynamo has disappeared. There's only one way for them to find him and the team enters the Mystery Machine!

To be Continued!

Mystery Mailbag: Various made up letters are quite fun. They also did a fake ad on the back as Moore would later do in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

STORY: A-
You certainly get a feel that it was a mythical Marvel comic from 1963. The team is like the Fantastic Four except the romantic and family dynamics are a bit different. The powers were redone quite well and there's plenty of "comic book" science. There's Marvel Bullpen nods, continuity bits with other titles  and all the action you expect in the might Marvel manner.

ART: B+
It's a solid art job, but lacks the Kirby level edge to make it hit home. Probably only Steve Rude could have got it done.

COVER: B+

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: B
Image's first great comic book series. Sadly, it was never finished. Due to creators issues, it has never been collected either. Most of the six issues are available at cover price or less at your favorite comic book purchasing places.


Up next....back to Essential Marvel

Basically, it's Moore and company trying to make comics that look and feel like silver age Marvel--and doing a pretty good job of it.

I read the 1963 books for the first time just recently, and my impression was that they were imitation Silver Age Marvel, not the real thing but better than Mighty Comics or the Harvey/Joe Simon hero books.