Imperfects #2

Background

This comic is something a little bit different from Marvel. Instead of being generated by the comicbook division, it is an outgrowth from one of their licensors. The videogame was created by Electronic Arts (EA) in association with Marvel's brand-new game production division, this fighting franchise has first-line Marvel heroes going up against a brand-new band of characters developed by EA's creative designers.

In Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects (both the game and the comic), an alien genius (nutball, take your pick) is attempting to create a class of, perfect super-warriors (apparently he didn't see any of the Aliens films, for if he did, he would have seen where this is all heading). At any rate, his creations are masterful and powerful, but he and his creations must contend with the Marvel superheroes when the mad scientist begins his experiments with earthlings.

Story 'Rise of the Imperfects: Part 2'

ParaAs we open up this episode, the four heroes from last issue (Spider-Man), The Thing, Wolverine, and Electra were all injected with the Alien Dr.'s voodoo cocktail and are pitched into a room where they began to whale the tar out of each other (Wolverine vs. Electra & Thing vs. Spidey), while the Dr. Rorekel and staff of acolytes observed. Just as the four doped up heroes were getting into the mix, The Human Torch and Storm both appear overhead.

All six heroes are reveling in their powers, with no holding back. The drug has freed them from the confines of their morality, and is allowing them to unleash their full powers and abilities upon their foes with no regard for the consequences. All of them seem to both love and hate this new-found freedom and react to it in differing ways, wanting, yearning to unleash yet still somehow terrified to do so.

Meanwhile Dr. Rorekel and one of his assistants, Benedetta, discuss the relative merits of the experiment and the test subjects, as the pair of them wander through the Doctor's lab.

Returning to our heroes, Spidey and the Torch are in it hand-to-hand how (it is raining in the chamber, and Torch's flames are out). Spidey is about to plunge a shard of metal through Johnny Storm's chest and Johnny is yelling for him to do it, but Peter, ever the Boy Scout, simply can't do it, and tosses the shiv away. In doing so, whatever was the active ingredient of the drug, simply gushes out of Spidey and onto the floor. Now, with the upper hand, Torch flames on (a nice green flame) and is about to turn Spidey into a crispy critter when he too overcomes the drug, and his flame returns to its usual red hue.

Across the chamber, the brawl between Wolverine and Electra winds up the same way, with both of them overcoming the drug, and returning to (their each own unique versions) of sanity. The four of them then work on Ben Grimm and Orro who also overcome the drug. Upon seeing that all of the heroes have tossed off the effects, Dr. Rorekel teleports them all back to Earth where all of them instantly regret no longer feeling as free as the drug made them feel.

This phase of his experiment over, Dr. Rorekel now gives the order to release the ships (whatever that means), and we are now looking in on Attorney Matt Murdock who is consulting in a jail cell with a client of his, and older man named Johnny. Well Johnny is refusing help from Murdock whom he sends away. Then Benedetta mysteriously appears and injects Johnny with the drug, while the Dr. makes Johnny an interesting offer. Back at Four Freedoms Plaza, Ben and Johnny Storm are discussing what when down between them and Grimm is morose over how he reacted to the drug. This issue ends when Electra observes several figures dropping out of some sort of flying saucer.

General Comments

Considering what this is, I suppose that it is made well enough, only it seemes to me that the writer is going through all sorts of convolutions to make our heroes jump through all sorts of hoops only to get them to the end of the story. This may be enjoyable for some folks, but it is starting to leave me cold.

Overall Rating

Again, I have to say that while it is obvious that the writer has something to say it just seem that he is taking his sweet old time saying it. However, as this is a marketing tit-in to the EA game of the same name, the company is going to milk it for all it is worth, while putting the characters back where he found them at the start of the series, so we know up front that nothing that happens in this storyline is ever going to come up in regular continuity.

Footnote

Oh yeah, remember what I said last time about the fact that everything is colored green, I have the same issue with this issue. Once again this entire issue is dark and dismal (yea, I know that it sets a tone, but it seems that there are simply way too many "color" comics that are done in duo-tone (muted dark colors with only small splashes of actual color). Again, I'm from the day when comics were "All in color for a dime" (OK, OK, when I started buying them they were $0 .12, but you get my point). I really do understand what the colorist is attempting to do here, but seriously, enough is enough already.