Hero Go Home

The fourth and final month of the Comics’ Greatest World introductory miniseries in some ways saved the best for last, as the final storyline by Randy Stradley took place in Cinnabar Flats, the area where the prologue story took place. The area where the alien scientist conducted his forbidden experiments until he was interrupted by a nuclear test in the desert above, where the U.S. government discovered a dimensional anomaly which could mutate humans and grant them amazing powers, the start and center of everything else. Dark Horse also saved some of their best artists for the final month; every month’s artist was a recognizable name, at least to me.

Unfortunately, the storyline and selection of characters was weak.

The first issue was Division 13, in which escapees from the government’s special mutant ward attempt to break in to free their fellow prisoners still trapped inside. Unfortunately, the aliens who have been hovering in the background for the past three months have tracked their “heretic” to this same location, and attack the base, putting it on full alert.

The art and cover by Doug Mahnke (The Mask, Superman, JLA) was good, but the characters were dull. In fact, the alien assault storyline was more compelling than the adventures of the title team.

In the end, the aliens breach the containment facility holding the dimensional anomaly known as the Vortex, and something escapes.

Which leads to the next title, Hero Zero, illustrated by Eric Shanower with a cover by Art Adams. I never could figure out how Shanower ended up doing this book. His art has always been technically excellent, with solid expressive drawing and clean, controlled lines.

But his work was also always a bit happy and bland; he was best known for a series of comic adaptations of the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. Seeing him illustrate this fighting adventure story about a schoolboy who can transform into a giant robot-type guy to fight giant monsters was just weird. Not as weird as if he’d been doing something like Faust, but still…

Anyway, this classic Chinese dragon escapes from the Vortex and a kid transforms into Hero Zero to stop it. And like I say, though Shanower’s work looks gorgeous, it doesn’t carry the same kind of visceral thrill as a cruder artist like Frank Miller manages when he’s on his game.

Hero Zero defeats the dragon, but it separates into several smaller spirits which fly away, vowing vengeance.

But they don’t get far before they run into the star of the next book, King Tiger, some kind of martial arts sorcerer. He traps the spirits inside a magic circle, then attacks them using magical arrows.

And once again, the book should have been a natural fit for me, given my affinity for martial arts movies and the artists involved. Geoff Darrow (Hard Boiled, The Matrix) turns in a cool cover, and the interior art was done by Paul Chadwick, who had first made a name for himself on Marvel’s Dazzler, of all books, before branching out to create the award-winning Concrete, about a guy stuck inside an alien suit that sets him apart from the rest of the human race.

But while Chadwick’s style was perfect for the introspective, humanistic drama of the environmentally-conscious Concrete, it didn’t make as good a fit for the frantic martial arts action of King Tiger battling elemental Chinese spirits.

Tiger eventually wins the fight with the help of his friends, but in the meantime, the aliens have penetrated the inner base in search of the Heretic.

Leading to the final confrontation in Out of the Vortex, the final book in the miniseries. Frank Miller provides the final cover as a counterpoint to his cover on X, the book that launched the miniseries. Interior art was handled by Bob McLeod, perhaps best known for co-creating Marvel’s New Mutants with Chris Claremont. Like Shanower on Hero Zero, McLeod did his own inks as well, and the result is polished and detailed, but again, the brief story falls short.

Basically, the entire issue is filler leading up to the final panel, as the aliens penetrate the inner core of the base to try to destroy the dimensional anomaly that bears the Heretic’s energy signature. Meanwhile, some of the prisoners from Block 13 are escaping, as well as the Division 13 stars. The Hero Zero kid sneaks back home, and King Tiger and his friends retreat the battlefield as well. When the aliens attempt to breach the Vortex, there’s a dramatic explosion of energy.

And then out of the Vortex comes the dude on the cover. The End. Who is he? Buy the first issue of his regular series to find out.

I didn’t bother. I didn’t bother buying any of the Comics’ Greatest World books, except for maybe one or two issues of Ghost. And as I said before, with the exception of Ghost, none of them lasted longer than two years. And the only character that anyone except a hardcore Dark Horse fan would even remember is Barb Wire, because of the Pamela Anderson movie.

I’m actually kind of happier that the entire enterprise collapsed. Dark Horse made its reputation on well-crafted creator-owned properties (plus a few licensed properties like Aliens). A me-too superhero universe just didn’t suit their strengths.

Continuing a look back at Dark Horse’s short-lived 1993 attempt to create a shared superhero universe. In month 3, focus shifted from Golden City to Steel Harbor.

But first, the prologues: The first page of every issue formed a separate, parallel story written by Mike Richardson and illustrated by Lee Weeks. In month 1, aliens built a base under a desert in the American West. In month 2, that alien base was in the middle of a very delicate experiment involving some kind of dimensional wormhole, when the U.S. conducted a hydrogen bomb test just overhead on the surface. Now in month 3, American military forces descend to the base and approach the dimensional anomaly, only to discover that it causes them to mutate, developing monstrous bodies and/or amazing powers.

Cut to the first book of the Steel Harbor group, and it’s a name that even non-comics fans might be familiar with. Because Barb Wire, the tale of a hard-boiled, bounty-hunting bar owner with big boobs and a bad attitude, was adapted into a major motion picture starring Pamela Anderson.

What’s that? You say you were unfortunate enough to see Barb Wire and you don’t remember anything about superheroes or aliens? Well, no. The movie adaptation is an insufferably “gritty” reimagining of Casablanca. But since this isn’t Super Movie Monday, we’re here to talk about the comic book.

And in the comic book (written by Chris Warner with art by Paul Gulacy), Barb hunts supervillains, like this pyrokinetic dude named Ignition.

Barb is a serious bad-ass. But Ignition doesn’t stay in jail long, because he’s got a seriously high-powered lawyer. Turns out Ignition is a small fish working for a really big fish named Mace Blitzkrieg.

Blitzkrieg heads up the Prime Movers, a coalition of gangs that is planning a strike against the one gang in town not in the fold, not coincidentally the strongest gang in town–Wolf Gang. Barb suspects that something big is going down and she’s determined to get to the bottom of it. It’s a pain, because the bouncer at her club hasn’t shown up for work and the riff-raff are tearing the place up. But after Barb gets them all sorted out, she  contacts a man named Avram to help her.

And this is one thing that Chris Warner, writer of the Steel Harbor sequence, did differently from either of the two previous writers. Where Jerry Prosser and Barbara Kesel introduced each new character in his or her own book, Warner introduces or alludes to  all of the characters in the first book, and interweaves all of their stories in each issue. For instance, the Avram that Barb decides to contact in her issue is actually The Machine, title character of the second book in the Steel Harbor sequence, drawn by Ted Naifeh.

Avram is a cyborg who is tied in to the Matrix, the comic book equivalent of the just-launched World Wide Web (predating the Keanu Reeves movie by 6 years). He uses his machine powers to save Barb from Ignition’s attempt at retribution, and in the process, demonstrates that his skills are not limited simply to information retrieval.

Naifeh’s art works really well with this character. Avram tries to figure out what Mace Blitzkrieg is up to, and discovers his plan to attack Wolf Gang and take over the waterfront. Meanwhile, Mace Blitzkrieg gets tired of Ignition’s constant failures and excuses and kills him before ordering his people to move out. And Barb’s bouncer is arguing with voices in his head, while Avram discovers that the invisible aliens who have appeared in the previous two cities are in Steel Harbor as well, so he disconnects from the Matrix and rides with Barb to warn Wolf Gang.

Which take us to Wolf Gang, the third book in the sequence. Chris Warner is not only the writer for this issue, but does the art honors as well, becoming the first artist to repeat an issue. And he is also the first artist to provide both the interior art and the cover art, as the previous two covers were provided by Dave Dorman and Mike Mignola.

Barb rides her motorcycle to the waterfront to warn Wolf Gang, but is almost immediately attacked by gang members who don’t know who she is (which makes you wonder why she’s so desperate to warn them if she doesn’t know them). Her assailants are the superpowered thugs depicted on the cover, whose names are Burner, Bomber, Breaker and Cutter.

Wow, this is a gimmick that’s not going to wear well. I was tired of it by the second guy (who was actually a girl, but you know what I’m saying). I’m guessing the gang’s lawyer is Public Defender. Barb and Avram narrowly avoid death due to the timely arrival of Hunter, the gang’s leader.

I don’t think Hunter is actually her brother. From the way they relate in the rest of the story, it seems more a term of affection than relation.

Anyway, Mace Blitzkreig and his coalition of superpowered gangs attacks. Wolf Gang is surrounded and outnumbered. Things look bad for them, and for Barb. But remember Barb’s bouncer, the one who was hearing voices? He has attracted the attention of the inviso-aliens, and unluckily for them, they’ve drawn his attention as well.

Because he is Motorhead, the title character of the fourth Steel Harbor title, with cover and interior art by Vince Giarrano. We never learn much about him, although it’s implied that he’s got some piece of alien technology hidden under that scarf he wears. It talks to him and he argues back. And it’s also incredibly powerful, as we learn when he effortlessly kills the two aliens observing him.

He then flies down to Barb’s club, the Hammerhead, to see if she’ll give him his job back. When he learns that she’s trapped in the pitched super-battle between Wolf Gang and Blitzkrieg’s Prime Movers, he decides its time to take a hand. Or a you know, head.

The problem with Motorhead as character was that he seemed omnipotent, which doesn’t seem to allow a lot of places for the story to go. But it did provide a convenient ending for the Steel Harbor cycle, as Motorhead saves Barb, Avram and Wolf Gang, then asks if he can still work as Barb’s bouncer. She says yes, of course, because where does an omnipotent schizophrenic with a piece of alien technology in his head bounce? Wherever he wants.

Next week: Comics’ Greatest World concludes with Cinnabar Flats and the Vortex!