Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Ed McGuinness, James Stokoe
Published by Marvel Comics
The Heroes Reborn crossover’s main title has done a fun job these past few issues by digging into this upside-down Marvel Universe where the Avengers never formed.
The title centers all of Marvel’s DC-equivalent characters in the Squadron Supreme of America.
Hyperion is their Superman, Blur is their Flash, and now we meet their Green Lantern, Doctor Spectrum, in “The Most Hated Man in the Heavens.”
U.S. Air Force Colonel Joseph Ledger found a glowing gem in space and became a crusading cosmic lawman.
An agent of the U.S. government with a direct line to President Phil Coulson, Doctor Spectrum appears here as an ultra-right, America-first xenophobe and racist, Manifest Destiny taken to the stars.
He sees the entire universe as something for America to dominate and any resistance as his to exterminate.
Instead of the final frontier, Doctor Spectrum calls space “a savage frontier.” (I’m guessing there’s no Star Trek in this reality, unless it’s the MirrorVerse’s Terran Empire as the heroes.)
We quickly see savagery, from Doctor Spectrum’s path of extreme justice. This issue’s a wild ride when you see Kree and Skrulls unite in a revenge society led by the Watcher, who has been blinded and now watches nothing.
This is an issue in which Doctor Spectrum shoots apart Thanos’ hand to get the Infinity Rings off his fingers! ‘Nuff said!
James Stokoe’s art is … not my favorite. Clearly they can draw, yet the look of it feels like fan art sent to Wizard Magazine in 1994 from kids aping Marc Silvestri and other Image books. The hyper-details can work with a large, dominant image such as this reality’s version of Nowhere, built on the skull of a Celestial.
However, in sequences such as the gross cosmic fight with Rocket Raccoon and a version of Groot that is fashioned into a machine gun, I can’t pick out what all is happening all that well. There’s so many lines and things happening that foreground and background elements run into each other.
As Doctor Spectrum’s narration tells us about his battles against Beta Ray Bill, Inhumans and more, he discusses the mystery of that glowing gem which bestowed its power upon him. “The Power Prism comes from God almighty,” he says. “So I can be His instrument.”
Reading this issue, I kept thinking about the Green Lanterns.
Their power rings find people who can overcome great fear and are connected to exacting justice in the cosmos. Abuse that power at your peril, because balance will be restored one way or the other.
Yet the Power Prism, which may be sentient, has attached itself to this clearly wicked man. Why?
And what God would approve of this mess?
Oh, ho, ho, but wait. Just read this issue, which drops some reveals that show just how twisted this world has become, and possibly some hints at who may be behind this altered reality.
The backmatter picks up some other threads in which the vendetta against Doctor Spectrum will continue, including a young Star-Lord and Wakandans in space.
Tasty stuff, there!
