Marvel Comics: The End Of The Century, Part 2

 

In Part 1 of our look at Marvel's line of books published prior to the close of the 20th century--specifically, April of 1997, twenty-five years ago this month--we covered a number of titles which still had running series at the time, with the exception of four mainstream books that came to the end of their run following the onslaught of... well, Onslaught, the malevolent psychic entity composed of the consciousness of both Charles Xavier and the master of magnetism, Magneto. Those four titles--Invincible Iron Man, Fantastic Four, The Avengers, and Captain America--all ceased publication in August-September of 1996 and were relaunched in November for a limited, year-long stint that fell under a single promotional banner*:

*Unrelated to the 2021 series of the same name (though the concepts share similarities).

"Reborn" as in all of the characters suddenly leading different lives and having different histories and memories than those individuals who preceded them. For the duration, readers would be kept in the dark on the underlying questions: How, and why?

April finds each of these titles in its sixth issue, where, alternate world or not, all have discovered the time-tested and lucrative advantage of a crossover story--namely, "Industrial Revolution" (don't forget to invert the letter "n"), where the reactor core of the now-in-ruins Avengers Island is in danger of a meltdown which would irradiate most of the United States. Aside from the obvious historical context, it might seem at first perplexing as to where the "revolution" part comes into play; but while the crisis acts to draw the heroes of all titles together, the story also flashes back to the formation of a group of "eggheads" (as Ben Grimm would refer to them--Bruce Banner, Victor Von Doom, Connor "Rebel" O'Reilly, Anthony Stark, and Reed Richards) who would work to "protect the world from its own basest instincts" and "wield power for the benefit of all mankind," baseline goals which Henry Pym jokingly refers to as the group's "industrial revolution." (Pym seems to be omitted from this group--maybe that's a good idea, though it feels like a better fit overall with just the five of them.)

At the time, the rundown of partly outsourced talent for each book is listed as follows:

Fantastic Four
Script: Brandon Choi
Art and Plot: Jim Lee

Invincible Iron Man
Script: Scott Lobdell
Art: Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Ryan Benjamin

The Avengers
Plot: Rob Liefeld and Jeph Loeb Script: Jeph Loeb
Art: Ian Churchill

Captain America
Script: Jeph Loeb
Art and Plot: Rob Liefeld

In a relatively small dose of thirteen issues each, the "Heroes Reborn" collection of books makes for an interesting diversion, though eventually the characters' main titles would undergo an informal, er, "Heroes Rebooted" refit in preparation for their new 1998 runs (which would reset each of them to issue #1). For roughly the first half of the '96-'97 books, you'll find the writing crisp and engaging while retaining the "flavor" of the characters, along with an influx of other mainstream characters that were not spirited away during the Onslaught crisis and are still handling matters in their regular series. (E.g., Cable figures prominently in the "reborn" Captain America book.)

In order, then, here are a few sample pages from each title's sixth issue detailing key scenes from the Industrial Revolution crossover--starting with its prologue in Fantastic Four, where we pick things up during a crisis already in progress involving the FF, the Silver Surfer, the Black Panther, Doom, Wyatt Wingfoot... and the Super Skrull, whom Lee appears to have turned into a dead ringer for the Abomination.

Doom's castle has its own problems in regard to a reactor breach, as the massive energy fluctuations caused by the battle between the Abom ... Super Skrull and the Surfer have ruptured the containment walls of the castle's fusion reactor. Fortunately, in dealing with the Skrull, the Surfer prevents the breach to repay the humans for saving his life; but one of Doom's bots has brought the disaster at Avengers Island to its master's attention, and in scanning the area he notices one particular being whose gamma radiation makeup has stirred memories of people he now regards as bitter enemies.

The story is handed off to the Avengers book at that point, though it's the FF who open the story when Bruce Banner, who takes responsibility for the situation at Avengers Island, asks for help in dealing with the crisis. Unfortunately, not announcing himself beforehand has its drawbacks.

Meanwhile, Iron Man (and, by extension, Tony Stark), who has inserted himself into the situation, is having a few words with Nick Fury--or, rather, the other way around, since the Avengers fall under the jurisdiction of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and, by extension, Fury), and Fury has a few things to say to him about who will head this operation. As we'll see, Fury also has an uninvited "guest" in the form of Loki, the Norse god of mischief.

The conclusion of the issue is ripe for handing off the baton to the Invincible Iron Man book when Banner and the FF arrive, and Banner's frightful encounter with Hellcat (Tigra)--who senses that the distraught Banner is the one responsible for the danger--triggers Banner's transformation to the Hulk, just when Banner is needed the most.

With Iron Man's arrival (with the Thing--who didn't make the best first impression with Thor--in tow), Reed and Iron Man put their heads together and figure their best chance for shutting down the reactor is to work on a plan to rechannel the energy being released so that it's directed through the Earth's core, while Thor and the Thing enter the reactor core in an attempt to contain the radiation. But things take a turn for the worse when the radiation levels spike and Iron Man is forced to evacuate the now unconscious Ben and Thor, with the only hope now being to somehow close the main valve.

And thanks to Iron Man, who implores his old friend buried within the monster to save the lives of millions, you can probably guess who stuns everyone by volunteering to do the deed.

Once the crisis passes, the Avengers are left to reassess their future. Over in the Captain America book, however, it looks like Cap's current mission has spilled over to prevent a smooth transition to the conclusion of "Industrial Revolution." It's not until the final pages of the issue that we're witness to the crossover's epilogue, where the Avengers have a few things to say to Fury about just who will control their activities from this point on.

If you're curious to see a bit more of the "Heroes Reborn" stories, both Captain America and The Avengers have been reviewed previously in the PPC.

COMING UP:
Iron Man takes on the stewardship of [this] Earth's Mightiest Heroes. (With reservations.)