Prime #4 (September
1993)
Writer: Len Strazewski and Gerard Jones
Artist: Norm Breyfogle
Letters: Tim Eldred
Color Designer: Keith Conroy
Editor: Chris Ulm
Cover Art: Norm Breyfogle
Variants: There are two covers for this book. The first is with Prime standing over
Prototype, and the other is with Prototype standing over Prime. There is also a bagged copy of the Prime
standing over Prototype cover with a trading card. Seen here: http://cheepultraverse.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/prime-4-in-the-polybag/
My summary/review (Just as a note of warning, there are all
kinds of spoilers in this review):
Title: Heroes
Prime has crashed Prototypes commercial shoot, and Prototype
isn’t happy about it. They fight as per
standard hero meeting fare..
As they fight, Kevin thinks of how Prime os able to stand up
to guys who talk like Prototype does (like a street punk), while Kevin has to
just walk away.
We also see an entity that resembles the one in The
Strangers floating around. It checks in
on Bomeyard (from Mantra) and then uses Boneyards portal to enter the realm of
the Ultras. It ends up at the animation
studio attached to the company that was shooting the Prototype commercial.
Prime starts deteriorating, and Kevin barely makes it
home. His dad finds him and tells him to
tell his mom anything, but to not let her get him tested for drugs. Kevin goes to school the next day after
getting into a fight with his best friend and tries to talk with Kelly.
During their talk, a commotion is heard and the two run off
to see what it is. Actually Kelly runs
off thinking it is Prime, and Kevin goes to stop her. They run into Maxi Man (the entity from
earlier that has brought to life a kids cartoon. The cartoon itself is a rip off of He Man and
the Masters of the Universe called Maxi Man and the Heroes of the Universe,
which in turn explains Primes look as Kevin was a fan of the show when he was
younger.
We end with Maxi Man about to teach them the meaning of
fear.
We have another solid issue of Prime. The plot moves forward a bit, and Norm’s art
is great as always.
Thanks for the review. I'm sure I read this at the time, but I have no memory of it. What stands out in your summary, though, is how "Marvelesque" it seems: heroes fighting, an appearance by a villain from another series, a cliffhanger ending, and so forth.
ReplyDeleteNot that that's bad. In fact, I remember thinking of the Ultraverse as Marvel done right at a time when the real Marvel wasn't.
Good points on the "Marvel feel" to the fight. The thing that I was impressed with here was that they both realize at some point that they need to do what's right...but still continue to try and make the other one look bad. Kevin is a young teen, and acts like one. Jimmy is a street kid that they turned into a corporate hero. Neither are really hero material on the surface and their egotistical fight makes way more sense in that regard than 95 percent of other comic heroes fights.
ReplyDelete