The Strangers #13/Ultraverse Premiere #4 flipbook
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse (June, 1994)
The Strangers: “Battle With Boneyard”
WRITER: Mike W. Barr (plot) & Steve Englehart (plot & script)
PENCILER: Mike Gustovich
INKER: Thomas Florimonte
COLORING: Moose Baumann & Violent Hues
LETTERER: Susan Dome
EDITOR: Roland Mann
Ultraverse Premiere
LETTERER: Patrick Owsley
EDITOR: Roland Mann
Prime: “Anatomy Of A Hero” part 2
WRITER: Len Strazewski
PENCILER: Frank Gomez (also UP cover)
INKER: Troy Hubbs
COLORING: Keith Conroy, GCOX3 (also UP cover), and Foodhammer!
Credits come from the Grand Comic Database, because they don’t seem to be listed in the comic, at least not in the scans I’m using.
Ladykiller: “Market Realities” part 1
WRITER: Kurt Busiek
PENCILER: Kris Renkewitz
INKER: Jeff Albrecht
COLORING: Mickey Rose, Tim Duvar, & Violent Hues
In the main comic, Boneyard hijacks a plane to draw out the Strangers, telling them about the demons they let loose into the world. However, Mantra shows up to let them know he’s a liar by nature, so he kidnaps his most important target: Atom Bob. The others, after settling who’s in charge, go after him but are attacked by Boneyard’s “wives” and elite guard. They eventually defeat them both and find Bob, but Boneyard has siphoned enough of his power to open the breech and let out other demons, believing that if they’re attacking Earth they’ll leave him alone.
What they got right: We learn some interesting information about Atom Bob’s powers, how he can convert magic. The action is pretty good.
What they got wrong: Except the last half of the fight seems to happen off panel. Instead, they make time for Mantra to ask Electrocute about being a woman and Spectral about being gay, both of which I assume is tied to her (his, given Mantra’s bit is a man trapped in a woman’s body…long story) story arc, but takes time away from this story. I’m not sure who’s doing what on the final page.
I’m going to speedrun the two Ultraverse Premiere stories for the flipbook just because I don’t have a lot of time this week. The first story continues from the previous issue, and one of the reasons the old reading order I was using was so messed up. A mortician found a Prime body that didn’t disintegrate and somehow managed to operate it like a suit of armor, complete with powers. However, the body is finally starting to degrade, but the neighborhood is now emboldened to fight back and bring the cops back to help watch over it. The gang member he chased off before comes back for revenge but ends up blowing himself up instead. With the cops back, the mortician buries the decomposing Prime body. It’s an interesting look at how a hero can inspire, as well as the downsides of being a hero with so much death and destruction around him (especially in the 1990s).
As for Ladykiller’s solo adventure, it doesn’t run concurrently with the Strangers’ story on the other side of the comic. A studio shows Elena a prototype intro (no, not him) for a Strangers cartoon. (Interestingly, they and the incident that created them and The Night Man do show up in the Ultraforce cartoon.) The company tries to buy out hers, but she knows Hunt is behind it and backs them down. She also asks for one of Hunt’s helicopters so that he knows she’s aware of the stunt he tried. The pilots are replaced by two guys with beef against Hunt and want revenge, thinking she’s working for Hunt. I have no idea how they came to that conclusion unless taking the helicopter had something to do with it. If anything she and the Strangers are part of his enemy list. Ladykiller tries to escape but only crashes the helicopter. The other guy is dead but the first guy still wants to use her to get revenge.
It’s Kurt Busiek, one of my favorite writers, but the story is going on a premise that doesn’t make much sense given he should know that the Strangers are at least not Hunt’s allies even if he’s not aware they’re enemies thanks to Electrocute. We’ll be seeing more of these flipbooks in later reviews and we’ll see where it goes in Firearm #11, if I remember because it’s not one of the titles I follow.
What I think overall: I guess Mantra’s going to team with everybody sooner or later. One minor misstep in that it takes time away from the story to focus on other unrelated things that I expect from a 2020s comic. The rest of it has an interesting start, but we’ll see where it goes. The Prime story ends well enough and the Ladykiller solo has a start I’m not really into but we’ll see where it goes.
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