Cap believes in sharing.
Right about now, they seemed to be rotating “Avengers Attack” into the mix quite a bit, but in this sequence they got it right.
Note: Avengers 164-166 are actually one long arc, but I love these issues so much I decided to give each one their own post.
In this Negative Zone tale, Reed loses his powers and has to team up with Annihilus. It’s actually very cool. And I love the above panel. It makes me think of the Sistine Chapel.
Anyway, the two mortal enemies figure out that they need to team up…
…Sue figures out that she’s been hugging the wrong stretcho…
…And Impossible Man is useless because he’s discovered TV.
In the end, Counter-Earth Reed sacrifices himself to save “real” Reed, who is now depowered.
One of the cool things about Jonathan Hickman’s recent Fantastic Four run was his use of all the alternate reality Reed Richardses. Hickman made each alternate Reed have a distinct personality, but all of them were shades of the same Reed. (Peter David has played with similar personality issues in his brilliant portrayals of Madrox in X-Factor over the past six-plus years.) If Hickman didn’t consciously crib from this storyline, and the “Fifth Dimension” storyline, then I’ll eat my hat.
I had the damndest time finding a single panel from the final chapter to use on this site. Unlike most “last issues,” Miller didn’t wrap up with a huge booming explosion or large dramatic conclusion. In fact, Batman isn’t even in the third act. Instead, Miller first shows Catwoman moving on to the next phase of her career and then wraps up with Jim Gordon.
In the end, I picked the above sequence because it shows how Gordon is morally flawed but also because of the clown. I don’t know if that was Frank or Dave’s idea, but having a tacky clown picture behind the corrupt police commissioner was genius. Genius!
And so my review of Frank Miller’s Batman work draws to a close. Now, what to examine next?
