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 #6
Scripted by Tom DeFalco
Plotted and Illustrated by Ron Frenz
Finished by Al Milgrom
Colored by Bob Sharen
Lettered by Jim Novak
Just like last week’s issue, this comic centers around the overarching theme of father/son relationships and how superhero careers can strain them. Set to some pulse-pounding narration, we see the son of the demi-god-turned-hero Hercules walk through New York City, a fellow named Argo. Here’s the thing about Argo: he’s written ambiguously as a half-latinx character but falls into some unfortunate stereotypes. The most blatant is literally written into the narration accompanying his march through the city as DeFalco calls him an “angry young man”. It’s a trope worth exploring but one that has been beaten to death, especially around this time period of the late-nineties, and Tom DeFalco is not the type of person who should be handling this trope. Argo slips into his local jargon every now and then but this doesn’t feel as egregious. However it felt worth touching on the fact that the comic fails somewhat in it’s overall portrayal of this character.
Moving right along, we’re dropped right in the middle of a scene of Thunderstrike catching up with J2 as he himself catches up on TV with some popcorn and soda, a delightful touch from artists Frenz and Milgrom. To make the scene even more chaotic, American Dream arrives in the middle of it with a bunch of tourists from her tour guide group. DeFalco gives her a great little character detail as she mentions she’s still a tour guide in order to have a stable income, in which Thunderstrike also admits to being a dishie (Hey! It’s a noble profession, no shame there Kevin!). This is then further interrupted by Argo crashing the room through the window, starting up a brawl before subsiding things with the hilarious touch, “I was just saying Hi in the grand old tradition of super-guys everywhere.”. Frenz and Milgrom are at the top of their game here too, with figures being whipped around the room in dynamic angles punctuated by masses of speedlines.
Once everyone has cooled down and gathered, Argo reveals he’s looking for his wayward, ten-years-gone father Hercules, which immediately strikes a chord with Thunderstrike and J2. In Mainframe’s search for the demi-god, the name of a hidden quarry named “The Merchandise” continues to pop up, prompting the team to go and investigate at a SHIELD base on Mount Athena. It’s a strange little cover up for what is obviously Hercules, and feels somewhat unnecessary and confusing. Also, “The Merchandise”? Okay, Tom. Regardless, whilst this is all happening, a sect of the team including Stinger, Freebooter, Crimson Curse and Scott Lang, are investigating the lower levels of Avengers mansion, of which there are allegedly too many for even Jarvis to keep track of. They’re down there investigating a ‘presence’ that Crimson Curse has felt since first entering the compound. It’s an interesting idea that leads to a cliffhanger to this B-plot towards the end of the issue. However, it’s so interspersed through the main plot and vague in what the actual threat is that I found myself confused every time the plot touched on it.
Back to the A-plot, the gang are working their way towards “the Merchandise” AKA Hercules whilst being hampered by some stray security protocols, in which Bluestreak gets to stretch her legs and reveal a little about her past in the X-People’s danger room (I still cannot get over the name X-People). The real twist happens when the gang finally gets to Hercules, who is revealed as a crazed, maddened and messier version of his usual clean-cut self. Frenz and Milgrom go to town on rendering this figure in the most monstrous way possible whilst still maintaining a human form, portraying him as fiercesome but tragic. A fight quickly breaks out between Argo and Hercules as the former laments his father, angry that he left he and his mother for some “grand battle”. In a nice moment of growth for Thunderstrike, he intervenes and cools Argo down, telling him to really get to the core of what made his father this way instead of implying showing him aggression. It’s a fantastic non-violent alternative resolution, and DeFalco handles it really well.
Hercules waxes poetic on the grandiose of the Avengers in the good old days as they “strode across the Earth like modern-day Titans”, showing that DeFalco has a great handle on the faux-god-speech that Marvel is infamous for. Frenz and Milgrom draw snapshots of the older Avengers, which Bob Sharen colors with a stained-glass green to give it a nostalgic yet mythic tone. Hercules reveals that he’s cursed by the memory that he could do nothing to stop his comrades from dying. The second-last page of the issue has Thunderstrike holding Hercules’ broken form, before he notices Argo looking on in the background, and lets him come down and embrace his father for the first time in years. It’s a silent page and executed perfectly by the whole art team, with Argo’s expression changing from one of alienation to one of sombre acceptance. Sharen also colors the backgrounds with stark blue and greys, which set the tone perfectly. It’s one of the most powerful scenes in the series so far, and leaves us with a great cliffhanger question: what DID happen to the original Avengers? Find out next week!
