Prototype #1

Prototype #1 August 1993

Writer: Tom Mason and Len Strazewski

Artists: David Ammerman and James Pascoe

Letters: Tim Eldred

Color Designer: Paul Mounts

Editor: Chris Ulm

Cover Art: David Ammerman and James Pascoe

Variants: Ultra 5000 (same cover art as standard issue) Silver hologram (same cover art as standard issue), Gold hologram (same cover art as standard issue)

My summary/review (Just as a note of warning, there are all kinds of spoilers in this review):

Title: “Budget Cuts”

We open with Bob Campbell (Prototype) in a fight with a  robot that was supposed to be an exhibition.  Bob looses his right arm in the fight. 

Bob wakes up from a nightmare of the incident, in one of the most bizarrely drawn panels of a man and cat n bed. (scan to come soon)

He is going to be going to the Ultratech stock holders meeting.

We then see Larry (an Ultratech guy) and his ‘girl’ talking about last night.  They are attacked by Glare, who is searching out Ultratech.  Glare blinds the girl and Larry gets tossed into a wall.  Not sure why this Glare person/creature has no idea where a stationary building is…but it is a comic.

At the Ultratech stock holders meeting, Mr. Leland is introducing the new and improved Prototype.  A sleeker model with a younger operator…who has been enhanged with Ultratech microchips.

Bob asks some questions and is shown the door.  The new Prototype (Jimmy Ruiz) is said to be genetically enhanced.  He complains of a splitting headache from using the suit, and is given pain pills.

Glare attacks, and Prototype is sent to fight him…more as a P.R. stunt than anything else.  The fight lasts for a little while and Prototype gets a good shot in knocking Glare down.

Marjorie, one of the Ultratech higher ups, is watching the fight and when Glare is taken down, she moves in and touches Glare on the forehead and he is seemingly dead.  He also seemed to know her.

Protoype is of course blamed for the death, and we are left with that cliffhanger.

The story is pretty predictable and pedestrian.  Not great, not terrible…just somewhere in between.  There is some clunky dialog throughout, and some very clichéd writing in areas.

The art is a mixed bag.  Some of it is decent comic art, and there are some truly ugle panels here as well.  I am reminded of Rob Liefeld in the tone of the art and some of the panels.  There are weird perspectives that just do not make any sense and some poses that just boggle the mind.  The characters do have feet however, so that is a plus.

There’s not too much to work with character wise here either, which is a huge drawback.  The only character we really get to hang out with is Bob Campbell, the original Prototype…and there’s not much there either.  He’s a disgruntled ex-employee with a bone to pick.  That also seems to be the case with Glare…but we never really find out.  Ah well, I remember this being better than this.  Maybe it improves as we go along.