Okay, there might be some confusion here between the Grand Comics Database and the…scan source, but it could just be me. This one appeared in Wizard magazine and serves as a preview for the Ultraforce’s upcoming existence and comic series, of the Ultra version of the Avengers or Justice League. The one at GCD seems to be just text introducing the characters. I’m only doing the Wizard one because it actually has a story, not just describing what’s coming with the occasional image. And so we review:
Oh, they got stuck with THAT Prime for their debut? That’s unfortunate.
Ultraforce #0A
Malibu Comics/Wizard Magazine (June, 1994)
“Ultramadness”
WRITER: Gerald Jones
PENCILER: George Perez
INKER: Al Vey
COLORING: Tim Duvar & Violent Hues
LETTERER: Patrick Owsley
EDITORS: Chris Ulm & Hank Kanalz
I don’t know what happened to Ghoul since we last saw him in Exiles but now he’s waking up in a grave and freaking out a pair of teens looking to hook up. (Not with Ghoul. That’d be weird.) People start freaking out, but he’s not hero or monster, he just wants to know what happened to the Exiles. (I’ve got some bad news for you, bud. Though it was good news for ME.) Hardcase gets him out of there, convincing the public he’s here to help investigate a supposed Ultra attack on a military base. Kevin Green sees this on TV and turns into Prime in the hopes of convincing Hardcase that Ultra heroes CAN work together, while a woman named Contrary and her companion Pixx (who apparently showed up in the Freex comic but I stopped reading long before that) wants to recruit Ghoul to some school Contrary operates. Hardcase and Ghoul find a survivor mourning her fiance, which Ghoul brings from the other side long enough to learn what happened, as Atalon has come from beneath the underground to steal nukes!
What they got right: This is an ashcan preview from Wizard magazine so I don’t know yet how much of this is in the regular #0 I’ll probably be getting to at some point. For anyone who hadn’t been following the Ultraverse by this point, it does a good job introducing the characters and situations going on. Continuity is a bit off given where we are in the comics, but there’s no getting around that given where this is being released. I’ll learn more when I get to #0B.
What they got wrong: Unfortunately we still have Prime in his 90s macho man phase. Any other problems are personal and I think I prefered the cartoon versions of Contrary. This one is talking about “pleasure” and stuff and is kind of creepy, while Pixx’s outfit (and this could be bias from the cartoon, my introduction to the Ultraverse and Ultraforce) looked better on the show that what she’s wearing here.
What I think overall: Most of my gripes are personal, not technical. For what it is, it’s a good introduction to at least some of the characters that will be joining Ultraforce and the universal concept of Ultras without too much baggage. (Captions point to issues without requiring them to know what’s happening.) We’ll see in the next or full issue, however this is going to work, where we go from here.
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