SABRETOOTH versus JUBILEE
Rites of Passage (Marvel comics)
Where: Adventures of the X-Men #7 When: October 1996 Why: Ralph Macchio How: Andy Kuhn

The story so far...
In their last confrontation, Sabretooth and Wolverine battled in the snowy ranges of Alaska, where the X-Man was able to out maneuver his old foe to send him hurtling down an icey ravine.

Having finally clawed his way back to the surface, Sabretooth is madder than ever, and intent on getting revenge on his arch-nemesis.

Stalking his way across America, Sabretooth returns to the X-Mansion he once infiltrated under orders of Magneto. Ironically, the X-Men are abroad in Russia tending to matters concerning the master of magnetism, leaving Professor Xavier and Jubilee alone in the mansion -- with Sabretooth!

Previous Form:
Sabretooth (#326): Suffered a defeat at the hands of Iron Fist and Luke Cage.
Jubilee (#224): Went down to Robin during the inter-universe competition.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Sabretooth 4 (Steroid Popper)
Intelligence: Sabretooth 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Sabretooth 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Sabretooth 5 (Marathon Man)
Agility: Sabretooth 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting Ability: Sabretooth 7 (Born Fighter)
Energy Powers: Jubilee 3 (Explosives)


From one mansion incursion [Ultimate X-Men #49], to another! Just like last time, Professor Xavier has been taken out before the action could even get started, so we're going to take a look at this one as a one-on-one situation. Which is a little bit ridiculous, because, well, just look at those stats...

By way of the patented Haseloff tape, we see that Sabretooth represents one of the most well rounded fighters in the Marvel universe, moderately ranking in most areas, excelling in the field of combat, appropriate for this particular website.

Jubilee is... Jubilee. Granted, she's got several steps up on Angel, but her powers generally extend to wearing a yellow jacket and surrounding her hands with colourful pops of light. An "omega mutant" she is not.

Jubilee really has no business fighting Sabretooth. Well, okay, maybe we could come with something. I mean, Jubilee is a victim of her perpetual youth. It's reasonable to assume she'll grow up into a plasma-blasting bad ass. Maybe one day we'll find out Boom-Boom, Jubilee and Dazzler are all descended from neanderthal finger-sparky disco queens who invented fire and were mortal enemies of the Sabre-rine species Jeph Loeb introduced recently. But I digress...

Sabretooth almost certainly eviscerates Jubilee in the most horrific of ways, but this book's based in the 1990s cartoon universe, so we know that won't happen. On the integrity of this section, I cannot say Jubilee would win, but...

The Math: Sabretooth (Meta Class)
The Pick: Sabretooth

What went down...
Arriving on the mansion grounds, not even the stealthy Sabretooth can evade the X-Men's hi-tech security systems. With the alarm sounding, Professor Xavier is unable to pin point the intruder telepathically, forced to activate the defenses.
Sabretooth is able to call upon his mutant gifts and years of experience to survive the various nets and pits, making it to the roof of the mansion.

As Sabretooth halts a skylight shield mid-closure, Jubilee convinces a reluctant Professor Xavier to allow her to investigate. Scouring the levels of the mansion, Jubilee reports via contact pin, finding nothing out of place on the first two floors, but a trashed mess in Wolverine's bedroom.

When contact goes dead, Jubilee scrambles to Professor Xavier, piecing together the clues to deduce the identity of their intruder, just as she turns the corner to find Professor Xavier, bruised and in the hands of Sabretooth!

He tosses Xavier aside and makes chase of the fleeing Jubilee. She scrambles through the mansion slamming doors on her way, but the powerful Sabretooth is able to smash his way through with minimal resistance.

She slows the feral villain a little with her mutant generated plasma explosions. The move further provokes the volitile intruder, but buys Jubilee the space to duck into the control room for the danger room, where she had trained earlier.

Tapping a few controls, she smashes through the observation deck window as the looming shadow of Sabretooth is cast over the control room doorway.

Breathing down her neck, Sabretooth suggests Jubilee simply give in to the inevitable. With hand on hip, she wags her finger in mocking satisfaction for the plan she has hatched to use the X-Men's training facility as a weapon.

To Sabretooth's dismay, attack discs fire from the walls, striking him in the behind. The surprise punishment doesn't stop there, jets of flame adding a light toasting to the ill prepared Sabretooth, who suffers the brunt of the attack while Jubilee backflips through the obstacles.

With his mutant healing factor taking care of most of the damage, Sabretooth arrogantly congratulates Jubilee on her improvement since the last time they clashed. Before he can punctuate his sarcasm with a gutting, he finds himself sprayed with a super-adhesive that holds him in place as giant mobile walls begin to move toward him!

Jubilee, also ensnared in the sticky goop, taunts the enraged Sabretooth some more, before using her pyrokinetics to free herself and make a dash from the final press of the giant training trap.

Jubilee quickly returns to the embattered Professor Xavier, helping him to his hover chair. She recounts her triumph over both danger room, and super villain alike, but the wise Professor warns, "Don't assume anything where that maniac is concerned." A decided shift of opinion from the last time Sabretooth clashed with Jubilee, having taken up quarters to receive 'therapy' from the Prof.

Predictably, the Professor's ominous warning marks the charging entrance of Sabretooth, sans half his pants. No longer content with taking it easy on Jubilee, Sabretooth refuses to take chase, instead bringing the fight to his own terms by wrenching a computer console from the War Room floor.

Sabretooth's aim proves off, Jubilee swiftly ducking the incoming projectile.
She shows him how it's done, blasting him with more of her patented multi-coloured plasma bursts. Like red to a bull, the attack serves only to renew Sabretooth's attack.

Jubilee again calls upon her maneuverability. She ducks an unrefined lunge, and does equally well leaping a savage claw slash that misses her by inches, and puts the savage Sabretooth off-balance.
The break, having provided Jubilee another tactical opening, allows her the opportunity to expel her energies at the ceiling, bringing down a hail of computer junk and rubble atop the feral mutant marauder.

Seeming unstoppable, Sabretooth quickly emerges from the tonnes of rubble, finally getting his clawed hands on the wile X-Man. Having caught her ankle in mid-flight, he pins her to the ground, using his massive weight advantage to prevent another plasma blast, and give her nowhere to go.

He savours the moment, suffering a rebellious spit to the eye!
Enraged to the final point, Sabretooth raises his claws to deliver the killer blow, but the recovered Xavier manages to halt his murderours thoughts with a telepathic mind-blast!

With the situation dire, Jubilee gives her blast everything she's got, knocking Sabretooth backward to live wiring exposed by the console he tore up.
Her options becoming limited, she bravely charges full force at Sabretooth, knocking him back into the wiring! He lights up like a smouldering Christmas tree, but doesn't go down before delivering a final scare, reaching out in vein before collapsing unconscious.

The hammer...
Proving her value as an X-Man, the winner, Jubilee!

And who'd have believed it? Two X-Men features in as many weeks.
Features that didn't even contain Wolverine. What can I say? I'm not an Adventures fan, but those kinetic Andy Kuhn pencils lured me in for another dose of mansion mayhem!

I like to think the relaxed schedule has affored us the opportunity to approach these reviews something like a discussion. Even though we've seemingly thrown off the oppresive shackles of scheduled themes, you'll notice they're still weaving their way through the posts. I guess you can consider the empowered young female X-Man being the current topic of interest, but it's not going to stop here.

Certainly there are very specific beats in this story's script that really call back to the classic Uncanny X-Men #143, where Kitty Pryde finds herself alone in the mansion with a renegade demon from the N'Garai!

Like that classic issue the young mutants struggle in a condensened coming-of-age story, pitting them against overwhelming odds that would otherwise be swiftly dismissed by more senior X-Men. Like this issue of Adventures, Pryde used many of the same strategies to compensate for her offensive inadequecies against a much more powerful foe, but we'll talk more about that when we take a look at that famous issue.

Prompting this pseudo-discussion was a cocktail of Sabretooth's recent decapatation in the comics, and late night viewings of the 1990's X-Men cartoon, upon which this particular issue is based. As far as I know this isn't among the transcribed stories from episodes, but it does draw specifically upon the fourth episode of the series, Deadly Reunions, where Sabretooth infiltrates the Mansion on the behalf of Magneto, who more specifically combats Xavier for the first time in years.

In that episode, Jubilee is left alone, tricked into freeing Sabretooth of his shackles, and saved only by the intervention of Wolverine, who had stormed off previously in protest of Xavier's leniency for his old foe, while they battle Magneto on the basis of Xavier's history.

What's shameful about this story is how clearly it highlights Jubilee's lack of development through the nineties. While I wasn't a reader of Generation X, I think it's safe to say any headway made in those issues was minimal, as Jubilee fell by the wayside, a victim of perpetual youth.

Until now, it's perhaps only in the ill-fated M2 comics that anyone has made any attempt to develop Jubilee, those books recasting her as an adult member of a future Avengers. Although, even here, it should be noted that she's still sporting that ridiculous yellow coat, and fairly tame plasma based powers.

It seems a little obscure, but I'm pleased to see that Jubilee is at least appearing in some capacity, albeit under the guise of 'Wondra', in the pages of the new New Warriors book. Not only that, but she's taking on a more senior role within the team, which might be ambitious, but is certainly a positive step.

Maybe I'm too sentimental, but like Rogue [discussed Ultimate X-Men #49], it seems like such an injustice for a character who no doubt ushered many fans into the fold (via the cartoons), would fall so thoroughly from relevance.
I'm not really a fan of the character, so unlike Rogue, any personal connection is marginal, but it just [seemed] like such a typical case of dropping a ball of potential during play.

The utterly ill-conceived and disappointing Blade series, which recently came to an end, feels like another prime example of a failure to capitalize on properties developed prominently outside the existing fanbase.

Still, the clock's just ticked over to the AM, and I'm running late for our Monday appointment because of this, so I might bid you adieu before I get distracted by further tangential topics.

Before I go, I should direct you to the super-index site When Fangirls Attack, which is currently directing traffic to the last mansion-update. As a hub of all the feminist-based niche discussions, it's a very interesting source to visit and explore from time to time. It's a real pleasure to get a mention, as perhaps one of the less overtly intellectual blogs. Hopefully our superhero fisticuffs and interested musings are sufficient for their readers.

Also, I'm hard at work on the second issue of The Kirby Martin Inquest, so if you haven't already, see about picking yourself up a copy of the utterly affordable first issue. You can get link details from Nite Lite Theatre.
Just a day or two ago I got pin-up artwork from Chris Fason [Hero Happy Hour] that's looking super, and I'm very excited about the overall presentation of the book!

With that said, I'm bloody tired, so be kind if I'm a little late.
Also, yes, I have a new avatar. One that isn't a sissy looking Sentry.

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 4
[Kuhn is one of the unsung heroes of superhero comics. A fast, fun and energetic story, complimentary to the cartoons, but easily handed to anyone uninitiated. A feint reminder of how disappointing it is Sabretooth's off the board!]

SINISTER versus THE X-MEN
The Tempest: Part 4 (Marvel comics)
Where: Ultimate X-Men #49 When: September 2004
Why: Brian K Vaughan How: Brandon Peterson

The story so far...
A mysterious serial killer called Sinister has been murdering mutants throughout the Manhattan district, raising the concerns of the X-Men. Though reluctant, Professor Charles Xavier solicits the deployment of six of his most notable and seasoned students in the pursuit of the killer.

Though Wolverine and Storm track Sinister to his lair, they are horrified to discover the killer has already eluded them, and unbeknownst to the youthful X-Men left behind, he's coming for them.

Unable to detect Sinister's presence, Professor X is unable to prepare his mutants for the threat that is coming for them. Dazzler, Angel, Kitty Pryde, Rogue and Ice Man will have to fend for themselves, or die trying.

Previous Form:
Angel (#36): Has defied logic to be ranked inside the top 300.
Iceman (#42): Aided Beast in the defeat of the Lizard.
Kitty Pryde (#50): Defeated a Hydra posessed Wolverine with lethal results.
Rogue (#54): Led the X-Men to a defeat against Nimrod.
Sinister & Dazzler: Each making their first appearances in the Infinite Wars.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Rogue 5 (Super Strength)
Intelligence: Sinister 6 (Genius)
Speed: Rogue 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Sinister 6 (Generator)
Agility: Ice Man 7 (Unlimited)
Fighting Ability: Kitty Pryde 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Professor X 6 (Mass Destruction)


Some of the more astute readers of the Infinite Wars will have noted the absence of Ultimate Marvel titles, and perhaps even reached the deduction that I have a particular distain for them. While that wouldn't be far from the truth, we finally prepare to usher in this new take on Marvel's merry mutants.

For the most part these X-Men resemble their aged counterparts, lacking only the lengthy experience and control over their powers otherwise attained by the originals. That said, they remain a potent force to be sure, even with Angel dragging the team down.

The exact extent of Sinister's abilities are potentially untested, but there are noteworthy differences in the offensive of this character. Gone is the Darwinist mad scientist of immense intellect, in his stead, an ex-Oscorp employee who may very well have gone completely insane.

Believing he is in the servitude of one Lord Apocalypse, he uses good old fashioned .45 pistols to do his mutant hunting, with the added bonus of an ability to avoid detection, and a telepathic influence graphically represented by the classic red diamond on his forehead. It is something of an evil eye, one might say, allowing him hypnotic influence over his subjects.

These powers all make Ultimate Sinister a worthy adversary, but against the likes of Rogue, you have to wonder how far he's going to get.

Recalling the long hours spent in the danger room, this team of mutants has a well rounded foundation of powers to call upon in the name of team work.
Iceman provides a strong offensive/defensive role, capable of both protecting his fellows with icey walls, while also attacking with shrapnel attacks, and his own icey, rocky exterior. On the projectile front, Dazzler also brings her colourful pyrokinetics to the game.

Kitty Pryde's phasing powers potentially provided an elusive defensive for the team, being that she can share intangibility with whomever she comes in contact with. If unwilling to attempt to phase-attack Sinister for fear of succumbing to his evil eye, she can at the very least ensure the ammunition rounds of his forty-fives don't hit their marks.

Finally, there's Rogue, who even without the Ms. Marvel capabilities of her counterpart, remains a threat capable of gaining energy and abilities at the expense of her opponent. The only question concerning Rogue's power stealing, is whether or not she can cope with the dark insanity of Sinister's mind.

Professor Xavier is counted, but absent for the majority of this battle, falling victim to Sinister's brutality before the game really begins. Apparently immune to Xavier's telepathy, Sinister exploits the most mundane weakness in Xavier's arsenal -- stairs.

Angel is present, and summarily useless.
His mutant power? The ability to fly away.

The Math: X-Men (Total) Sinister (Average)
The Pick: The X-Men

What went down...
Sneaking in to the mansion undetected, Sinister counters Xavier's telepathic suggestion with his own, wealing the apparently helpless mutant out into the hall only to dump him down a staircase.

Ready to murder the battered mentor, Sinister is discovered with pistols drawn by the icey Bobby Drake -- Iceman! He calls Sinister to freeze, utilizing his mutant gifts to gather a frost around Sinister's hands, to freeze them.

Sinister shoots his way out of his freezing restraints, and continues the hail of bullets, striking Iceman in the chest! The ammunition cracks and shatters his chiseled chest with an explosion of ice!

Rogue wanders out of a hall to witness the shocking event, too shocked to avoid another two-shots from Sinister's guns. Even so, both she and Sinister are stunned to find her unharmed, until the hand of Kitty Pryde slides it's way up Rogue's leg from the floor.

Shadowcat drags her fellow X-Man down through the floor, pulling her to safety in the level below. Alone, Sinister begins the hunt again, relishing their resistence as though it were meaningless sport.

As he charges through the mansion, his guns are suddenly knocking from his hands by the swipe of feathered resistance. The unhinged man finds himself on one knee, bowing before an angel of earth -- Warren Worthington III.

Angel takes a superior attitude, surprised to find himself unafraid of Sinister once disarmed. Unfortunately for him, Sinister has tricks up his sleeves, and Angel finds himself the victim of his telepathic suggestion. He compells Angel to do the unthinkable -- choke himself!

Angel drops to the ground gasping for air as he crushes at his own windpipe.

Sinister gives a brief sermon on his interests in evolution, and beliefs in reincarnation rather than heavens and hells. Before he can satisfy his biological curiosities he's blasted through a window by a volley of coloured beams!

Freed of Sinister's suggestion, Angel finds himself rescued by tearaway student - Dazzler!
The punk rock plasma chick leaves Angel to finish Sinister off for daring to invade their mansion. Before she can strike the finishing blow, Sinister counters, wrapping her arms behind her back in a cobra clutch, whilst drawing a blade from concealment.

He puts the knife to her throat, sharing the prospect of finding out what colours she has inside of her, when a stand off is reached.

Believing Iceman to be dead, Rogue holds one of Sinister's own guns on him with the intent to fullfil an eye for an eye. Fortunately for Sinister, Kitty Pryde phases through the floor to join Angel's pleas for peace, informing her Iceman suffered a broken rib or two at best, his ice absorbing the impact of the gunshots.

With a potentially lethal hostage situation still before them, Rogue insists on taking the shot, much to the dismay of Worthington. Loathed at an X-Man taking a life, he grabs Rogue by the arm, catching the gap between her long glove, and short sleeved t-shirt.

The contact proves sufficient for Rogue to begin sprouting giant angel wings from her back, while Angel drops to the ground, suffering the sapping effects.

Sinister takes pleasure in the girl's inadvertent skill to incapacitate her fellows, provoking her rages further. She leaps from the window, swooping down to snatch Sinister by the shirt, to drag him into the air.

Asking for a reason not to drop him to his demise, Rogue soon learns the depth of Sinister's insanity. With glowing red eyes, Sinister dares her to drop him, influencing her with his powers of suggestion, believing he has the greater odds of survival, perhaps by way of further powers of invulnerability or healing.

Fortunately, as Rogue begins to fall under the evil charms, Storm descends, having arrived by Blackbird with the other mutants who had been sent to the city to track Sinister. She summons a mighty storm, breaking through the suggestion with clarity and confidence. She compells the southern belle to abandon her bloodlust, and return to Earth before her borrowed wings expire.

Though it takes some doing, Storm finally talks Rogue down from the edge of murder. Though Sinister continues to try to influence the young girls decision, she proves strong enough to resist, content with knocking him out with a stiff shot, before she and Storm return him to terra firma.

A few hours later, Nick Fury and his SHIELD operatives arrive to take Sinister into custody. While locked in the SHIELD Triskelion detainment centre, Sinister has a visit from his master, Apocalypse. Emerging from the shadows, the Lord asks of his unworthy servant suffocation.

Crazy, or frighteningly real?

The hammer...
With the assist from her fellows, Rogue leads the X-Men to victory over the mansion incursion of Sinister!

Y'know, this is kinda like having all the planets in perfect alignment. This entry represents a rare occurance for the Infinite Wars. One, I've indulged in reviewing an issue of an Ultimate title, and two, it's an X-book! Rare are the days when I would be compelled to review such genres outside of some kind of forced and labored theme.

Of all the things to lead to this conclusion, a restless late night viewing of a few episodes of the 1990's X-Men cartoon, and some scenes from the Brett Ratner directed, X-Men 3. Though each have their fanbases, they're not typically what I think you'd expect to provoke decision making on a blog like this.

It was the notable downscaling of the Rogue character in X3, and her Jim Lee inspired prominence in the cartoon that really brought me to this title.
As far as I know she's absorbed some of her Age of Apocalypse style role, currently serving as a team leader for the team in the adjectiveless title.

Even so, while watching the cartoon it occurred to me that Rogue isn't the character she used to be. I mean, particularly out of the eighties and into the nineties, Rogue got to be a pretty big deal! Rogue was a character you'd find on lunchboxes and in lists of kid's favourite superheroes, whereas now, even for her elevated status, it feels to me that the character has slipped into relative obscurity.

Perhaps that's mostly a symptom of her core association with the X-Men.
We've discussed before my feelings on the progression of the X-Men in the years post-Grant Morrison, which I feel have been a drastic series of steps backward. [New X-Men #124, #150]

On a whole, I would say the X-franchise has been generally squandered to the point of total irrelevance. Only through the integration of a character like Wolverine, who serves up a six degrees of Kevin Bacon special by officially joining up with the Avengers, do the X-Men even really hit my radar.

It's probably an even sadder occasion when Angel is one of your most prominent characters, earning some spotlight through his appearances in Incredible Hulk for the World War Hulk crossover event. I mean really, Angel?!

I suppose it's fair enough to say the movement of popular stories is cyclical, and attentions have been redirected to titles that were suffering during the X-Men's previous reign of prominence. Certainly the Avengers is a prime example of the shift in vitality, bringing those characters to the forefront in a way the X-Men seemed to be for large sections of the passed decade.

Also in mind, the discussion regarding feminine concerns in comics that perpetuates many niche movements in the blogosphere. While my interests are limited, it's a subject we've touched upon before [Spider-man Family #1, New Avengers #27, Superman/Batman #15], albeit also in the hopes of getting a link on When Fangirls Attack, because let's be honest: The hits wouldn't hurt!

Something that's always attracted me in particular to the Rogue character, apart from the skin-tight yellow and green spandex bodysuit, was the fact that her character was relatively well developed within and of itself.
It seems to be typical of super heroines to be excessively derivative of existing properties, often spinning out of male counterparts. Even at the best of times these characters struggle to maintain my interests, often suffering in general.

Supergirl is probably a prime example of an unconfident and confused approach to a character inherently weakened by a redundancy complex. Without getting cringe worthy tales of super menstruation, you struggle to imagine anything unique coming from a bubbly young Kryptonian girl that hasn't already been approached with the Smallville tales of a young Kal-el.

Something the mutant women have always exceeded at is outdoing those constraints, with characters like Rogue certainly owing a lot to the creative influence of Chris Claremont. With X-Men as a vehicle, Claremont seemed to successfully champion original female characters, notching up other noteworthy works with Storm, Jean Grey and perhaps the most beloved, Kitty Pryde.

It's hard to say whether there's really any basis of mysoginism here, or if it's just a case of cheap and easy writing.

The X-brand affords a writer the creative hook of imagining a specific fantastic ability. With it instantly comes all the conceptual baggage, good and bad, of mutant society, making for a very simple, one-step hook that appears unique on it's own merits.

It more efficiently serves the purpose of spinning a character out of Superman, or the Hulk, or Batman, or Captain Marvel. Instantly granting a character a sense of identity, without distracting or lending the concept to lesser interpretations based purely on a big red S, or green hair.

Rogue definitely remains a great example of how the mutant hook presented a fairly basic slate of an idea, but eventually expanded it through the tugs and pulls inherent to that universe. It took some time, but like a Scarlet Witch, Rogue grew beyond the timid and uncertain young girl, to join the more assertive and well defined characters.

Seen here, developments derivative of the character conflicts Rogue experienced under the guidance of writers like Claremont. Rogue grapples with emotional concerns regarding her powers, and how her interactions with her friends can be potentially dangerous; while also struggling with her own rages and connection to the dark side. Certianly her association with Mystique in the core universe a defining quality to her interpretations here, and even in something like the X-Men: Evolution cartoon.

Layers like these have made Rogue one of the enduring characters to come from the 1980s. I only hope she becomes that significant, to me, again.

The Fight: 3.5 The Issue: 4
[Vaughan fails to fullfil the excellence expected of his less mainstream projects, but competently lives up to the contemporary styles of the Ultimate brand. Skims over character, falling a little 2D as it grabs at broad strokes of concepts.]

NOTE: Prof. X also takes a defeat. Storm's involvement, inconsequential.

POWER MAN & IRON FIST versus
CONSTRICTOR & SABRETOOTH
The Jade Tiger! (Marvel comics)
Where: Power Man & Iron Fist #66 When: December 1980 Why: Mary Jo Duffy How: Kerry Gammill

The story so far...
Colleen Wing and Misty Knight are the freelance private investigators behind Nightwing Restorations. The job has taken them into the criminal black market trade of rare and exotic artifacts.

When they find their way into the bowels of the criminal's lair, the Nightwing investigators find themselves biting off more than they can chew as they stare down the menace of hired mercenaries, the Constrictor and Sabretooth!

Though Colleen Wing manages to escape, Misty Knight is thrown into the airtight safe that houses the many rare goods. Thus, Wing must seek out the aid of the Heroes for Hire, Powerman and Iron Fist, to formulate a rescue mission!

Previous Form:
Iron Fist (#96): A solo tie against Daredevil, with team-up victory over The Hand.
Power Man (#98): Avengers victory against The Hand, with defeats to Charnal and Iron Man.
Colleen Wing, Constrictor & Sabretooth: Each making their first appearances in the Infinite Wars.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Luke Cage 5 (Super Strength)
Intelligence: Iron Fist 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Iron Fist 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Sabretooth 5 (Marathon Man)
Agility: Iron Fist 4 (Acrobat)
Fighting Ability: Sabretooth 7 (Born Fighter)
Energy Powers: Constrictor 3 (Explosives)


They just seem to keep coming up. Combinations, characters and comics you would just assume we'd have featured in over a year and a half, and yet, this marks the first outing for Powerman and Iron Fist as the Heroes for Hire!

What a great coming out it is too, because they're pitted against the overwhelming debut tag team combination of SHIELD agent gone bad, Constrictor; and the feral mutant menace, Sabretooth!

We'll talk more about how fantastic this comic is later, but for now, who's going to win this fight? Well, they're two very different pairings, to be sure.

Sabretooth and Luke Cage are bringing the physical strength to this fight. Each possesses enhanced strength that has been known to range everywhere from a human and peak physical conditioning, to the definition of super strength.
You'd think putting these guys up against each other you'll reach a stalemate of sorts. If I had to give it to someone, it's going to be Luke Cage.

Durability is key to the strengths of Powerman and Sabretooth both, but their resistance levels vary in the way they survive. Luke Cage's super-tough hide means he can resist damage without harm, while Sabretooth is more of a marathon player, his healing factor keeping him in the big picture, but leaving him susceptibale to short term defeats. A trait we've seen in Wolverine.

Up against Constrictor, Iron Fist is going to struggle.
As a keen martial artist, the Fist fights at close quarters, and with those lengthy adamantium tendrils, the Constrictor is going to be able to keep his distance.

Other than some negligable armoring, the Constrictor's fighting capabilities are limited to his coils, which can become electrically charged, and his combat training from days as an agent of SHIELD. So if the Fist can close the gap, it's almost a certainty that Constrictor will go down.

Fortunately there's strength in numbers for the Heroes for Hire, since a shaken Colleen Wing is able to accompany them back to the villain's lair. Her samurai training makes her a tough customer, and while she might not be able to sever the adamantium coils of the Constrictor, she can certainly tie them up sufficiently to close the gap herself, or provide the opening for Iron Fist.

For the villains to win, they just have to press their advantage.
This fight is really in the hero's court, but I think they have the experience and expertise to handle it.

The Math: Heroes for Hire (Total) Constrictor/Sabretooth (Average)
The Pick: Heroes for Hire

What went down...
Having found her way to the Heroes for Hire, Colleen Wing leads them back to the base of the villains dealing in rare art. With an army of gun toting thugs, they survey the situation from across the street, assessing the best way to infiltrate the building without arousing the thugs' attentions.

Before they can pool their resources, Iron Fist disappears from the group, utilizing his training in the art of Ninjitsu to slink across the street unnoticed by cover of shadow. He sneaks right under the crook's noses, silently infiltrating the building, while across the street...

... Luke Cage decides to forego silent entry, using his brute strength and resilience to storm the building, drawing the fire of well over half a dozen crooks. Colleen joins him, using her sheathed sword as a non-lethal weapon to wrack up her own scalps, before the two reach the front entrance.

Already inside, Iron Fist uses the move that earned him his name to smash through the interior vault's door, where he finds a near unconscious Misty.

Unfortunately for the good guys, the rabble raised by Cage and Wing brings the intervention of the Constrictor. Wing draws her blade, but suffers an electric charge for her troubles, the zap channeled through her metallic blade.

Furious, Cage stalks toward the villain, resisting the whipping prod of the adamantium coils until Constrictor amps up the power to unleash an electrical charge that, he proudly boasts, once felled even the incredible Hulk!

Cage survives the hit, but the powerful charge is enough to put the fear of god even into his mighty heart! He takes evasive action, as the Constrictor lordes his advantage.

Elsewhere, Iron Fist helps Misty Knight from the vault, crediting Cage and Wing's attack as a diversion. All is going well until a gruff voice peeks from the gloom, and the heroic pair turns to find Sabretooth perched atop an armless sculpture!

Having heard the crackling of the iron fist with his animal-like senses, Sabretooth came running for a chance at payback for a previous encounter with Iron Fist.

Sabretooth launches himself at Danny Rand, who selflessly pushes Misty Knight aside to take Sabretooth's momentum and use it against him with a Judo styled toss.

Sabretooth hits the adjacent wall hard, but it's not nearly enough to stop the berzerker rage of the feral mutant. He charges back with claws at the ready, halted just barely by the speedy hands of the Iron Fist!

His hands held, Sabretooth continues to pursue his prey, gnashing wildly at Iron Fist's chest. His bites tear a piece of fabric from the green and yellow costume, and serve to rattle even the cool combatant in Iron Fist.

Doing his best to emulate his partner, Luke Cage is having even less luck with the Constrictor. Utilizing the art of "nin-whatchama-callit", Cage does his best to evade detection by hiding behind various crates and artifacts littered throughout the holding space. Alas, Cage's skills in the way of invisibility are lacking.

Constrictor taunts Power Man, giving him credit to believe sneaking is below him. His taunts of waiting for Cage to die of pneumonia, as an exposed pipe pours water over him, are enough to again stir the bravado of Cage.

Back up stairs, Iron Fist is stirring his own battle, tossing Sabretooth into a suit of armor. All looks good, but it places Sabretooth by the light switch. In the dark, Iron Fist is at the mercy of Sabretooth's keen senses.

Iron Fist does his best to feel out his opponent, but soon feels the slashing sting of Sabretooth's mutant claws. Leaping from the darkness, Sabretooth slashes at his back, dropping him with full force.

Misty Knight can do nothing but watch in horror as Sabretooth lurches from his squat position, looming over a fallen and apparently defenseless foe.

With little regard for honor, Sabretooth offers to give Misty the hero's heart as a memento of her feelings, but before he can make good on his promise of butchery, yellow bootied feet spring forth!

With lightning speed, the cunning Iron Fist launches at Sabretooth with a kick to the face, followed with a stiff right that knocks the murderous mutant silly before he hits the ground!

Rand reveals a sneaky plan to roll through Sabretooth's attack, and lure him in with a little animal trick of his own -- playing possum! With the entirety of his strength behind the blows, Iron Fist succeeds in putting Sabretooth down for good.

Elsewhere, Power Man charges at the Constrictor soaked in water from a pipe exposed during his evasion. The Constrictor makes good on his name, wrapping Cage up in his unbreakable coils before unleashing the full electrocuting force they channel.

Though super-durable, even Cage sweats it out under the concussive power.
Running out of options, he uses the last of his strength to yank Constrictor off his feet by the coils, and swing him around the room!

Like a super villain hammer toss, Cage hurls the Constrictor at the exposed water pipe, turning his electrocution powers against him! Unable to cease the power before impact, Constrictor fries by his own hand!

Fortunately for the villain, his suit provides insulation, but Sabretooth and he are left helpless for the police. And Nightwing Restorations can notch up another successful case, retrieving the Jade Tiger they were hired to find.

The hammer...
Sweet Christmas! It's a victory for the Heroes for Hire, with an assist from Colleen Wing! A good result all round, not just for the gang, but for us. This is one of those issues that's just been sitting on my pile for so long, it was about time we looked at it.

What really pressed the matter was the recent death by decapatation of Sabretooth in Jeph Loeb's conclusion to his disappointing Wolverine/Sabretooth encounter, Wolverine #55.

We were supposed to have already had a look at a couple of other Sabretooth features by now, but I suppose it's serendipity that we start with one of his more conspicuous appearances. The movie-going kids will be interested to know that this was only Sabretooth's second appearance, having faced off against Iron Fist some fifty issues previous!

It would be some years before Sabretooth would become forevermore bound to the Wolverine character, as their histories were developed and intertwined.
For the uninitiated, it should also be noted that Wolverine made his first appearance far away from the mutant mire, showing up in Incredible Hulk #180.

Sabretooth would go through many iterations throughout his thirty-year career in comics, meeting his end while an active member of the X-Men, an unlikely position he has taken more than once. More often than not, Sabretooth's prevailing brutality and lack of true goals have been the difference between he and Wolverine.

We actually see in this issue one of the things I like about Sabretooth, and a tangent by degrees to what's been great in Ed Brubaker's Daredevil.
It seems I just can't help but bring it all back to mercenaries and street-level villains. I guess that's just something I really enjoy and feel passionate about, and I'm sorry that the Sabretooth character won't be a part of that scene.

Well, I say won't, but it probably shouldn't be any less likely that a character with a healing factor would come back to life. Even if his death involved decapatation with a magic sword capable of nullifying healing powers.

But to get back on point, it's the existence of these recurring mercenary characters, whose motivations are malleable to a story or situation, that is something I find so enjoyable about these characters. Ed Brubaker is doing it better than ever in Daredevil, currently utilizing characters like Mister Fear and the Enforcers to great effect.

Unfortunately, as far as I'm aware, the title he's been co-writing with Matt Fraction, Immortal Iron Fist, has lacked this kind of look at the Marvel underworld. Looking at this particular issue really brings up how much I'd enjoy seeing that kind of approach to Iron Fist, but it's been the prerogative of Fraction and Brubaker to steep Iron Fist in a new, retroactive history.

There's a lot of literary and pulp precedent for the work they're doing.
Shades of various pulp characters with ties to the orient, and the famous successive nature of characters like The Phantom have been strongly swirled through, while the Iron Fist mythology grows, combining it's kung-fu heart with various styles and eras. Fun, but maybe not the Iron Fist for me.

It's this more superhero styled Iron Fist that interests me.
The type of character that will cross swords with Sabretooth, and other characters of this kind. A character whose yellow and green togs specifically relate to the simplicity of a combative superhero life; rather than tangential colours representative of a clan that somewhat strips the character of his individuality.

Still, this is really more of a personal desire, and not necessarily a sleight to the work. Certainly I can find something more along those lines in the pages of New Avengers, where Power Man and Iron Fist have been reunited as part of the secret team of Avengers pursuing less cosmic or overly super challenges.

Brian "Lemon Lumps*" Bendis is bringing the corner of the Marvel universe I so keenly enjoy to the New Avengers, as he transitions out of the Skrull-Elektra story, into a new tale starring The Hood, who's aspirations are to become Kingpin of Super Villains.

In a lot of ways this is exactly what I'm talking about, although, we bring the point back to the original motivator - Sabretooth's death - by expressing some disappointment in the way The Hood's story has begun. A collected auction for a mysteriously inoperative Deathlok is the scene where the Hood stakes his claim, assassinating auctioneer The Owl as a way of sending a message.

It's another case of an unfortunate loss of a valuable character, but like Sabretooth, I suppose we can assume there's every chance The Owl will reemerge. It's just a shame that such an unrealistic tact has to be taken for the continued interests of these characters. Lord knows there's no easy way to bring a character back from the dead, as we're seeing with the announced time slip of the 1940's Invaders in the upcoming Invaders/Avengers, that will see a return for Captain America.

But that might be a subject for another time. I think I've awkwardly crammed enough discussion into this Friday's conclusion. Verily, let there be one more item discussed, for it is Friday, and the cosmic decree of Bahlactus rings true!

So it is written, so too must it be that Bahlactus surveys all combat on this night of fights! Though we may claim our place among the first, let all know that the bloggerverse is watching Bahlactus, and he is watching back!... Or something...

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 5
[Like previous entries from 1980, a thoroughly enjoyable superhero romp full of action, excitement and super villains! I wouldn't have it any other way!]

* Not an actual nickname for Bendis.

ANNIHILUS/DEFILE versus
THE FANTASTIC FOUR
World War 3 Part 1: Life in Wartime (Marvel)
Where: Fantastic Four #13 When: November 1997
Why: James Robinson How: Mike Wieringo

The story so far...
Two very distinct worlds collide as battles with cosmic forces undo all that is, and redefine it as all that could be. Marvel's mightiest heroes, having been trapped in a parallel universe of Franklin Richards' creation, soon find themselves thrust into yet another existence, this time along side the heroes and villains of Wildstorm.

This new world leaves behind the threats of Galactus and Damocles, creating it's own new history of turmoil.

Asia and Europe have fallen to alien invaders, as the Daemonites and Skrulls form an unlikely alliance with a traitor to all humanity -- Dr. Doom. Together, their technologies and inherent abilities allow them to infiltrate the rebellious remaining walks of life, creating a grim new world of distrust, chaos and war.

Previous Form:
Mr. Fantastic (#10): Victorious over Iconoclast, Frightful Four & Sinister Twelve.
Invisible Woman (#17): Victorious over Iconoclast, Frightful Four & Sinister Twelve.
Annihilus, Defile, Burnout & Maul: Each making their first appearances in the Infinite Wars.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Maul 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Annihilus 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Defile 6 (Generator)
Agility: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Maul 6 (Warrior)
Energy Powers: Annihilus 6 (Mass Destruction)


So, once again we dive into the unfamiliar waters of Wildstorm comics. It's all become a bit Marvel lately, and while I'm much better exposed than that might lead you to believe, Wildstorm's properties remain something of an unknown quantity for me.
Yes, berate as you please.

This particular Fantastic quarter consists of an even split between traditional and Wildstorm. Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman remain in tact, while Burnout and Maul step in as entirely plausible replacements for the Human Torch and Thing.
Actually, if you didn't take the time to read the issue, you'd be forgiven for assuming they'd slapped a late goatee on the Torch, just to go along with the contemporary beat of the Heroes Reborn philosophy.

For the most part Burnout and Maul fulfill much the same duties as their counterparts. Maul has the distinction of sliding his intelligence in relation to his strength, making him a little bit more like a controlled Hulk than the Thing, but otherwise, he's supplying the muscle for this team.

One of the great things about Annihilation was the way it amped up Annihilus from a regular annoyance, to an A-list cosmic threat. We can't really consider that the definition of Annihilus, but it's nice to acknowledge that potential.

Here, Annihilus and Defile present an atypical villain threat.
Escaping the Negative Zone to wreak a brief wave of destruction is nothing new for Annihilus, nor is thwarting it new to the Fantastic Four. Not that the threat should ever be discounted, but it's not until Annihilation Wave that you could ever consider picking anyone but the FF, here.

The Math: Fantastic Four (Total) Annihilus/Defile (Average)
The Pick: The Fantastic Four

What went down...
Returning from an expadition to the Negative Zone, Mr. Fantastic and his fellows are excited to have gained further knowledge, despite failure to recover their missing ally -- Benjamin J. Grimm aka The Thing.

Richards instructs his teammates to begin the process of closing the doorway to the Zone, while he prepares to contact SHIELD about their findings.
Before Richards can even get a dial tone, their Negative Zone pursuers burst through the gateway between dimensions, bringing lethal intent with them.

Pledged to prevent the leaking of knowledge, the two otherworldly invaders go straight to work. Before Burnout or Maul can activate their powers, the two are sent hurtling through the air by their attackers.

Richards orders the Invisible Woman to continue the closing process, while he attempts to wrangle Annihilus and Defile back into the Negative Zone. Fortunately for Mr. Fantastic, Burnout and Maul recover from their spill, ready to step up to the challenge. Annihilus declares his "small" foes barely worth the sport, but Annihilus is soon forced to eat his words as Maul expands to deliver a giant knuckle sandwich!

Disgusted by the notion of a one-punch defeat, Annihilus prepares to vault off of his buttocks back into battle, but before he can do so a jet of flame pushes him back through the portal!

Meanwhile, as Invisible Woman attempts to hide from sight while initiating the shutdown sequence of the N-Zone portal, Defile comes to menace her. Using his Daemonite senses, he looms over the occupied Sue Storm with evil intent, but soon finds himself tangled in the rubbery limb of her lover, Mr. Fantastic!

The FF leader thoroughly wraps up his foe, able to overcome Defile's impressive strength through sheer leverage. Using his bendy spine, Richards maneuvers the monster back to the portal, and sends him through at the cost of his own safety.

With Defile through just in the nick of time, Richards finds himself on the wrong side of the dimensional gate as it begins to close. He stretches a hand back desperately, finding Maul, who has strength enough to whip the elastic man back into the right dimension at the very last second.
A flash of spectacular white light serves the backdrop as the doorway closes!

The team regroups, victorious against the Negative Zone menace.

The hammer...
The winners through strength of teamwork, the Fantastic Four!

As you might imagine, I chose this entry as something of a bridge between the Heroes Reborn comics we've been discussing lately, and the pencils of Mike Wieringo. There's probably a good chance you've already learned of his shocking death just a few days ago.

I didn't know Wieringo personally, but like many regarded him as one of the many fantastic pencillers working in superhero comics over the past decade.

For me, I probably connected with his energetic pencils mostly through his Spider-man work, but could not escape his influence on books like the Flash, and of course, Fantastic Four. Rightly or wrongly, he's the artist I most identify with giving Thing teeth, which is just a weird little tidbit.

Like many, I'll certainly miss the vibrance of his artwork. He was, with no conceit, part of the contingent of mainstream superhero artists who managed to compromise the so-called photo realistic with a more cartoony, and animated approach to pencilling, which was something I greatly appreciated.
I won't say much more, suffice to say, it's a tragic loss for his friends and family, and the comic book community as a whole.

On a lighter note; you may recall the last entry [Fantastic Four #6] where I described the Heroes Reborn: Fantastic Four run as a great collection for fans of the movie, or new readers in general, to get initiated with the characters.
I've obviously been championing the ninties somewhat lately, and as much as I feel Heroes Reborn is worth defending, this is probably where the wheels undeniably fall off.

There might have been a nice enough story here, but the thirteenth issues of the four Heroes Reborn titles live up to the number's dread. I could be wrong, but the way I remember events panning out, each book was only announced for a year's worth, twelve issues each. Presumably, if that was the case, these issues represent a final chance to milk a little extra out of sales all round, and for Wildstorm to slip it's characters into the larger audience, who might not otherwise be reading these characters.

We haven't really touched on the fact that the Heroes Reborn story was built out of the shock commissioning Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee at Wildstorm Comics to return to Marvel, (years after their Image coup), to tackle the sinking core properties of the Marvel Universe.

The deal presented mutually beneficial advantages, among those, the chance for Marvel to come into contact with the Wildstorm digital colourists who were doing a lot of impressive work through the mid-nineties.

After an already garbled crossover amongst the four titles, which featured time travel antics facilitating multiple battles with Galactus and his heralds, World War 3 was not really the ideal way to go out. Establishing a new reality (akin to the Amalgam characters) through flashbacks and vignettes is interesting, if not very effective. Though informative, it isn't terribly exciting, and asks a lot of a reader who may not really be all that interested in investing in what will be a short term spark of four-colour mayhem.

Through the mess of this character shuffle we get a glimpse of another surprisingly topical happening -- paranoia in this dystopian future over the potential infiltration of Skrulls. Something we expect to be dealing with in the coming year with Marvel already alluding to just such a problem in the pages of New Avengers, (written by Brian "Sugartits*" Bendis).

Makes you think!

The Fight: 3.5 The Issue: 4
[Not the best written issue in the history of the FF, but a fine representation of Wieringo's kinetic pencils, and stretching influence across Marvel's properties.]

* Not an actual nickname for Bendis.

SUPER-SKRULL versus FANTASTIC FOUR/BLACK PANTHER/DR DOOM
Retribution (Marvel comics)
Where: Fantastic Four #6 When: April 1997
Why: Jim Lee & Brandon Choi How: Jim Lee

The story so far...
Reborn in a pocket universe created by Franklin Richards; the Fantastic Four are destined to relive their origins all over again as they unwittingly encounter familiar shadows of the past, also reborn in this new world.

Accosted by Victor Von Doom, a student from Reed Richards' days in college; the Fantastic Four and Black Panther find themselves the reluctant guests of castle Doomstadt. There, Doom is holding a mysterious chromed alien hostage, but this is not the limit of the extraterestrial presence.

Hidden within SHIELD and disguised as Agent Wyatt Wingfoot; a cosmically sleeper soldier of the Skrull empire has finally exploited his position, an alliance with Doom allowing him access to the herald of the Skrull Throneworld's destruction. Betraying Doom to use his machines, Kl'rt has absorbed the Surfer's cosmic power, and now prepares to turn his imitative Super-Skrull abilities against him.

Previous Form:
Fantastic Four [#3]: Victorious over Iconoclast, Frightful Four & Sinister Twelve.
Dr. Doom (#55): A Doombot successfully defeated Silver Surfer.
Super-Skrull (#113): A victory and defeat against Hulk and Thor respectively.
Black Panther: Making his first appearance in the Infinite Wars.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Thing 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Black Panther 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Super-Skrull 6 (Generator)
Agility: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Super-Skrull 6 (Warrior)
Energy Powers: Human Torch 7 (Solar)


Okay, so let's try to clarify the situation here.
I'll go more into the depth of the scenario later, but for the time being let's at least distinguish the clear lines of battle.

The Fantastic Four and Black Panther formed amicable relations a few issues previous, before being abducted by Doom -- who beat them to discovering the Silver Surfer. Doom is holding the Surfer, unwittingly, with the help of a cover Kl'rt, who has used Doom's technology to realise his potential as the Super-Skrull. Kl'rt wants to be the Super-Skrull to gain revenge on Silver Surfer, and by extension, Galactus.

Dr. Doom, displeased with the unpredictable course of events, throws in with the FF and Black Panther against Super-Skrull, to vanquish his foe and regain some control and measure of vengenace of his own. The Silver Surfer, though present, is rendered incapacitated at the opening of our story, and therefore has not been rated.

Traditionally Super-Skrull is specifically enhanced by the Skrulls to possess the collective abilities of their greatest foes - the Fantastic Four. In this case, the Super-Skrull develops under more organic circumstances, using the power cosmic to enhance his natural biological adaptive and metamorphic abilities.

Something I particularly enjoy about this story is the threat level given to the Super-Skrull. Much of the recent Annihilation mini-series that thrust the character back into a spotlight was about the many defeats the character had suffered, rendering him a joke amongst his own people. Here, we see a Super-Skrull embued with status befitting of a warring alien specie's greatest soldier.

The battle takes place in Castle Doomstadt, so you'd have to pay the advantage to Dr. Doom, who essentially builds his argument on preperation. Taking him on literally in his backyard is like showing up to a garage with your best toolbelt, and challenging a mechanic to a repair-a-thon. You might do well, but the home team has all the tools and parts they need on-hand.

Off the back of newer issues of Fantastic Four, there's been some debate about whether or not Black Panther is playing too far above his weight. I tend to be pretty conservative in my assessment of the character, so I'd be pretty willing to write him off at this point. Black Panther's main contribution here is merely a numerical one. Of course, in a team-up that includes the Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom, numerical advantage starts to be a pretty big talking point.

Alone, I'm just not sure I can give it to Super-Skrull.
Even on his best day, I think it would take a considerable element of surprise and speed to overcome this particular alliance of powers. Then again, the math tells a very different story...

The Math: Fantastic Four (Total) Super-Skrull (Average)
The Pick: Fantastic Four/Black Panther/Dr. Doom

What went down...
Having revealed himself and taken the Surfer's power, the Super-Skrull stands as an impressive threat to Dr. Doom and those that would stand in the way of his revenge. Doom takes none too kindly to the turn of events.

The Super-Skrull demonstrates his power with a blast of energy that topples the mighty Dr. Doom. Furious with the Skrull's advantageous betrayal, Doom blasts as the alien with the intent of taking that which his machines bestowed, but the Super-Skrull's understanding of the power cosmic makes it difficult.

Deflecting Doom's gauntlet blast, Super-Skrull returns the favour with the full fury of the power cosmic. Even the mighty Dr. Doom suffers considerably at the hands of the green alien creature, his armor struggling to cope.

The true Wyatt Wingfoot, agent of SHIELD, suggests the necessity of an alliance with Doom to use his machines to return the power cosmic from whence it came, back to the limp and lame body of the Silver Surfer. Doom quickly shifts his weight into the favour of his arch-rival Reed Richards, and his accompanying bed fellows, clearly recognising the unfavourable shift in the game.

At Reed Richards' request, Kl'rt reveals his motivations and the history of Galactus' involvement in his people's destruction, revealing base motivations for what is actually a plot potentially beneficial to the human race. Never the less, the unwitting humans see the benevolent unknown quantity of the Silver Surfer to be far less threatening than the Skrull, who had previously murdered several Wakandans prior to the Surfer's retrieval.

The Super-Skrull's history lecture is ended when Skrull agents send word of an incoming SHIELD extraction team requested by the real Wingfoot.
With his increased abilities and cosmic awareness, the Super-Skrull creates a giant invisible force field around Castle Doomstadt, destroying the incoming aircrafts in an instant.

With the stakes raised, Thing checks his watch to discover it's clobberin' time, opening up with his own cosmically charged super strength sufficient enough to topple the mighty Super-Skrull.

Enraged by the attack, Kl'rt uses his cosmic abilities to shift his fist into a mirror image of Thing's own, striking back with force considerable enough to launch Thing into a forced retreat. The blow sending Ben Grimm airborne!

Happy to take the fight airborne is the Human Torch, who takes to the air in a dazzling blaze of flames.
Looking to capitalize on a range advantage, the Human Torch fires off jets of flame at the Super-Skrull, who quickly dispells any illusions the hothead may have about his advantages.

Imitating Mr. Fantastic's elastine capabilities, Super-Skrull closes the distance gap with a stretched rocky fist that makes light work of the Human Torch.

With his flame put out, the Human Torch is rendered unconscious in the Super-Skrull's arms, while Doom, Richards and T'Challa [Black Panther] begin formulating their plan of attack to return the power to the Surfer.

While Doom demands total cooperation of his unlikely allies, the Black Panther jumps into the fray to buy them some time, as options of physical distraction begin to wear thin.

Launching at the alien with a stiff martial arts kick, the Black Panther knocks Super-Skrull back with surprising efficiency for the most human of all present.

The Panther provokes the Super-Skrull's most lethal intentions, narrowly leaping over a cosmic power blast in an effort to spring the heroes' plot to channel the energies back to their source. Invisible Woman uses her invisible force fields to divert the energies back to the Silver Surfer's shackled body.

With Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom manning the machines, they ensure the appropriate processes are in action for the gambit. An explosion throws cosmic vapor and smoke into the castle room, but Doom is certain of the result.
Emerging from the smokey frost, a solitary and uncomplicated figure -- the Silver Surfer, embued once more with his Galactus-given cosmic power.

The Surfer's resurrection allows the powerful Super-Skrull to refocus his priorities back to revenge. Stepping up to the Silver Surfer, he prepares to unleash the remaining power cosmic stored within him in a final attack on the Surfer.

Though weakened, the source of the syphoned power cosmic proves to be far more capable and powerful than even the Super-Skrull could imagine. For all the knowledge of the Surfer's humane past, the Skrull is soon privvy first-hand to the matter of fact that the Silver Surfer is anything but human.

With each extra-terrestrial influence unleashing their powers to their fullest extent, the heroes and Dr. Doom are forced to flee the scene. As the power cosmic tears Castle Doomstadt asunder, Doom recognises a new threat arising, as their energy threaten to compromise the integrity of his own nuclear fusion power sources.

Ever the survivalist, Doom takes advantage of his homeground preperations and leaves the Fantastic Four and their allies to fend for themselves as the castle crumbles. Fortunately, the FF reach their transport in time, but mysteriously the threat of explosive vaporizing never arises.

As they take leave, from somewhere amongst the rubble stands a stoic Silver Surfer. Though unfeeling, the cosmic herald grants the heroes some shred of gratitude for saving his life by diffusing the threat of the reactor.

The hammer...
Though he is destined to bring about their destruction, on this day, the Silver Surfer saves the lives of the Fantastic Four, Black Panther and Dr. Doom -- victorious over the Super-Skrull!

For what is essentially a pretty simple comic, there's a lot of moving parts at work here. The two issues preceding lay the immediate groundwork for this story, while plotlines like the traitorous Wyatt Wingfoot are the culmination of the entire six issues of this volume.

[In FF #4]; the Fantastic Four travelled to Wakanda and met with Black Panther, and developed relations there whilst searching for an anomaly Reed Richards tracked from space -- the Silver Surfer. Way back at the beginning of all this [FF #1], Wyatt Wingfoot turned out to be a turncoat, sabotaging the space mission that leads to the creation of the Fantastic Four [in the Heroes Reborn world].

That Wyatt Wingfoot is in actuality Kl'rt the Super-Skrull, presumably posing as a SHIELD agent in an effort to use our destination point as a means of locating the Silver Surfer. As Wingfoot, he falls in with Doom, who no doubt represents one of the most likely technological influences to discover the Surfer, and so we begin to understand his motivations for interfering in previous events.

Having knocked the Silver Surfer from orbit, Doom's forces race to recover the herald to Galactus while he leaks cosmic energy in a Wakandan jungle.
This provides some level of confusion, while Kl'rt covertly uses his Skrull abilities to operate not unlike the Predator, picking off Wakandan warriors and preventing their interference in the efforts of Doom.

The Fantastic Four and Black Panther, disturbed and uncertain about the developing events, force themselves on the situation and are quickly neutralized and caught by Kl'rt, who takes them (with the Surfer) to Dr. Doom.

Collectively abducted, the FF (with the crucial addition of the Black Panther) maneuver their way through the stock standard series of traps and holding cells typcial in classic Dr. Doom stories, to finally confont the man himself.
With no memory of their past lives, this serves as a second first-time meeting of old rivals in Richards and Doom, who were perhaps even more intertwined in this world's history than ever before, as part of the collegette 'Atomic Knights.'

Doom is generally content to play games with his arch-foe and Reed's fantastic allies, while also undertaking the personal project task of syphoning the Surfer's energies. [Nothing new there. See; Silver Surfer #107]

Which finally brings us to the issue reviewed here, where Kl'rt uses Doom's machines to absorb the Silver Surfer's powers himself, thus reawakening his Super-Skrull abilities from his previous life (with a little something extra!), and so we have our issue-long battle!

The issue then includes an introduction to the line-wide Industrial Revolution crossover, where Doom witnesses the aftermath of the siege on Avengers Island [Avengers #4 & #5], and makes the shocking discovery that Bruce Banner -- young optemist of the Atomic Knights -- has becoming the raging Hulk!

So, if knowing is half the battle, and now you know, you should have a pretty good edge in a fight against any of your friends who are buying Onslaught Reborn, but didn't read Heroes Reborn. Which has been a recurring theme for us here on Secret Earths for no real good reason.

I have to admit, I've been quite content flicking back through these issues, which I actually enjoy on the level they are intended. The Fantastic Four was definitely, I believe, the strongest series of the lot, anchoring much of the broader stories with it's mythology. Of particular note are the increasing recurring references to Galactus, which become of greater importance in the later half of the Heroes Reborn year, and build to a really epic event that puts the "Ultimate Gah-Lak-Tus Trilogy" to embarassing shame. Ouch, Ellis! Very ouch!

Like I've said through discussing a lot of these issues, as simple and naff as they are, there's a lot of good in these pages. I think we see here an illustrated argument for Jim Lee's involvement in the industry, and a creative potential that's easily forgotten on the basis of his flashy pin-up style and involvement in projects like the increasingly late All-Star Batman and Robin, and WildCATS.

I like what they've done here, and again, to put today's Ultimate books to shame, read the first six issues of this, and then browse the pancreatic team-up of Bendis and Millar on the first six of the Ultimate book. Heck, read through the first twelve issues of the Ultimate books, and witness good books gone bad.

Dr. Doom gets the classic treatment here, versus the embarassing bastardization of one of the most prevelant villains in popular culture. While Super-Skrull shows the potential improvement to be made with reinvention of classic ideas.
Also something I've long considered an interesting concept, tying the 'cosmic rays' that gave birth to the FF, to the cosmic influences of a character like Galactus. This has, as long as I can remember, struck me as a no-brainer.

The Fight: 4 The Issue: 6
[If you saw the movie and then wanted to check out the comics, the complete Heroes Reborn FF might just be the penultimate purchase! Classic interpretations through a contemporary filter, and fun aplenty!]