The late nineties of superhero comics have always been such a fascinating wild west to me. I know so little about this period that is building off the industry’s most significant recession. With so few eyes drawn to it, it’s ripe for uncovering fascinating hidden gems or unreadable stinkers. This year I’ve dug up the series and burgeoning franchise “A-Next” to sink my teeth into. Which category will this spinoff-of-a-spinoff fall in? Let’s find out together, dear readers!
A-Next #5
Scripted by Tom DeFalco
Plotted and Illustrated by Ron Frenz
Finished by Al Milgrom
Colored by Bob Sharen
Lettered by Jim Novak
The cover and the introductory page give us an exciting hint at things to come: Doctor Doom and Latveria antics! Yes folks, as one of the major players of the Marvel universe, it was guaranteed we would check in on what Victor Von Doom would be doing in the M2 timeline. The setup page instills a good sense of dread for this corner of the world, with some soldiers being cornered by rogue Doombots whilst a Doom-like silhouette watches from afar. The Doombots look terrifying and protean, with new finisher Al Milgrom delivering some chunky inks to give them more weight and impact. But more importantly, the soldier who spots Doom speaks “He’s finally back!”, setting up two strong mysteries for the readers: Why did Doom leave, and why is he back now?
Before we get too muddied in a foreign conflict, we jump back to the main roster in the Avengers headquarters. This issue addresses the multiple elephants in the room introduced last issue: the addition of the fledgling Dream Team to the Avengers roster. In particular, Stinger AKA Cassie has an issue with these folks getting such a privileged position within the team with seemingly no experience. Mainframe, whose identity is still a mystery, has Cassie take these new members with her to investigate the disturbance at Latveria and a child gone missing. In the lead-up to their departure, we get a fun look at what the Fantastic Four, now the Fantastic Five, are doing these days. Franklin is all grown up and going by the title Psi-Lord, whilst Ben has mechanical limbs and Johnny is rocking a flashy red and yellow bodysuit. These are fun artistic easter eggs that are purely visual, which works for the best. The narrative doesn’t need to be bogged down in explaining these little tidbits, it’s more exciting to unpack what might have happened to cause them as a reader. We do find out one key clue, however: Cassie had a very personal connection with Doctor Doom’s ward, Kristoff.
DeFalco keeps a b-plot running through this issue that allows us to spend some quality time with teammates Thunderstrike (Kevin) and J2 (Zane). Kevin is accompanied by Zane to visit the grave of his father, the original Thunderstrike, in which even Zane addresses how little the two heroes have interacted or bonded before. DeFalco draws more attention to each character’s humanity by literally having them depower into their human forms, before retiring to get hang out and get some pizza. DeFalco shows that the characters have surprisingly good chemistry as they form a found family-esque brotherly connection. Frenz and Milgrom get to draw Kevin’s college room which looks exactly as it should: messy, filled with posters and strange knick-knacks, and dozens of unpacked boxes that function as furniture. The two characters connect on the absence of an approving father figure in their lives. It’s a fantastic way to develop both characters simultaneously and build a good teammate bond.
Back to the main plotline, the team has shot off to Latveria where they are almost instantly met with Doombot resistance on landing. This is where DeFalco gives the new teammates an opportunity to strut their stuff. American Dream is constantly trying to be the diplomatic peacemaker, trying to get to the heart of why Cassie is mad at her whilst they brawl. Bluestreak continues to be delightful and zany as she disassembles a Doombot at superspeed, whilst Freebooter makes some weirdly chauvinistic comments mid-brawl. The big reveal, however, is with Crimson Curse effortlessly taking out a group of Doombots with magical destructive force, to which Stinger stands in awe of her raw power display. Whilst Crimson Curse’s costume design draws on the worst elements of the classic Scarlet Witch design, it does feel more mystical in nature and works well when Frenz and Milgrom draw her in a devil-may-care pose after her display.
At this point, we can see DeFalco starting to fit the puzzle pieces together for readers. Stinger was opposed to these newcomers, but after seeing them so adeptly handle themselves in the field, she starts to respect them. Before she rolls out the proverbial red carpet for her teammates, however, she storms off alone claiming that she can do this job herself and find the missing child and this returned Doctor Doom. She stumbles upon the Doom figure in the sewers protecting the missing child before he takes off his mask to reveal himself as Kristoff, Doom’s ward! It’s something of a convenient plotline, especially considering the foreshadowing seeds DeFalco demanded we look at earlier in the issue, but it works pretty well considering the character’s history and complicated relationship with the original Doom. Frenz and Milgrom render him visually distinct too: his cloak isn’t as regal or as tightly organized as the original Doom’s, giving him the appearance of more of a biblical shepherd than a regal figure.
The rest of the Avengers stumble onto this scene, and Cassie explains the situation before things get too heated. In a beautifully leftist moment, the team hides Kristoff from the local cops and allows him to complete his personal mission. We see this being in the background f a panel, as colorist Bob Sharen ignites the Latverian castle with searing, cosmic green energy, obliterating the castle with a final scene that uses a more muted palette of blues, greens, and greys to feel appropriately apocalyptic. It’s a very neat bowtie to this Latveria side-story, with Stinger finally accepting her new teammates and Kristoff disposing of his own father figure’s dark legacy, tying back into the conversation Kevin and Zane had earlier. “A-Next” is certainly building and sustaining momentum at five issues in, and I hope that it keeps up this energy.
