I hope this isn’t Grenade and Electrocute’s first date.
The Strangers #6
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (November, 1993)
“The Tao Of Physiques”
WRITER: Steve Englehart
PENCILER: Rick Hoberg
INKER: Dave Simons
COLORIST: Robert Alvord and Prisms
LETTERER: Dave Lanphear
EDITOR: Chris Ulm
Turns out Deathwish isn’t quite gone yet. The woman they thought was Deathwish is just his nurse. The old man is actually Deathwish, and the spirit awakens in the hospital to take more lives. Locking him in the morgue, Zip-Zap’s plan, doesn’t work and Spectral’s healing flame is now useless. It takes Yral doing a voodoo style ritual to gain enough magic to awaken the nurse’s true Ultra power as Deathwish’s counterpoint, Birth, to finally end his attack, destroying them both. However, our heroes realize that just because their Ultra powers showed up immediately, others in the Jumpstart incident may take longer to reveal their powers.
What they got right: In both dealings with Deathwish it takes the opposite of his powers, healing and later birth–both connected to life, to ultimately stop him. Electrocute reveals that her new status comes with the price of not being able to die, which makes her feel like a stranger apart from the other Strangers.
What they got wrong: Did Yral fake her renewed disinterest in the team to hide what she had to do to gain the power to awaken Birth’s powers? Her magic has been weakened by prior events, but she was finally starting to come around, while still not coming completely around. I want to see her and Zip-Zap bonding, like a sibling connection or something. (Age gap is way too big for coupling them up.) We’ll have to see what Electrocute’s statement about wanting to “fear death” to feel human. Part of me thinks bringing Deathwish back so early is wrong, as he could be a decent threat, but on the other hand this resolution wouldn’t work if too much time took place after the last encounter.
What I think overall: This one was a bit clunkier in parts, like Electrocute suddenly rambling about how she can’t fear death, but for the most part I’m still enjoying this series.
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