A-Next Infinity Comic Review

 

It looks like 2023 is a good year for MC2 fans, with Cassie Lang suiting up (still without a codename) in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Aftershock appearing as the first antagonist in Disney’s animated Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur show, and now we have been graced with a brand-new two-part A-Next story in the digital pages (or should I say panels?) of Avengers Unlimited Infinity Comic #37-#38. I want to give a quick review of this story.

 

Exclusive to the Marvel Unlimited digital comics subscription service, this two issue A-Next tale was brought to us by MC2 co-creators Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz with inks by the brilliant Brett Breeding, colours by the colossal Chris Sotomayor and loving lettering by Joe Sabino. The first instalment opens in ‘a future…which may or may not be our own’ with J2 telling Bluestreak about the unseen events on Asgard alluded to way back in A-Next #1. First recapping the events of the aforementioned first issue of A-Next, impeccably recreated by Ron Frenz, Bluestreak demands further details of J2 when he mentions a feast and another fight (Avengers Unlimited Infinity Comic #37).

 

It is nice to discover that Jolt and Stinger enjoy a good party. Feeling humiliated in front of Loki, Tyrus the Terrible leads a group of trolls in ambushing Thunderstrike and J2 for a rematch. But after a brief battle, the trolls flee when confronted by the assembled soon-to-be Avengers alongside Thor, though still threatening revenge. J2 finishes his recollection, doubting Tyrus is dumb enough to return after two embarrassing defeats. However, a portal opens and a hand emerges within Avengers Compound through the framed picture of those early A-Nexters (Avengers Unlimited Infinity Comic #37).

 

The following issue brings us back to the MC2’s present where the previous one left off as we see the Uru Monster named Uroc emerge from the portal alongside a horde of rock trolls led by Tyrus who wields ‘The Orb of Orikal,’an artifact which attracts and absorbs Uru energy. Bluestreak and J2 battle the trolls alone before being joined by Sabreclaw and the rest of the Avengers. Among the rock trolls is Maroc aka ‘Granny,’ the elderly grandmother of Uroc responsible for transporting them to the Avengers Compound (Avengers Unlimited Infinity Comic #38).

 

When the Orb is activated, it begins to pull in Thunderstrike until Stinger suggests he overload it with his blasts which causes the artifact to explode and knock down Tyrus. With their leader down, Uroc demands Granny return them to Asgard. Granny Mardoc does so, chastising them all and suggesting they instead focus on mining and crafting rather than seek pointless revenge. Bluestreak tells J2 that he knows ‘how to show a girl a good time’ before kissing him on the cheek (Avengers Unlimited Infinity Comic #38).

 

Some genuinely wonderful stuff here. I am probably just a smidge biased but it is delightful seeing Tom and Ron seamlessly slide back into the MC2 and deliver a brand-new story. A few points I found interesting: the Orb (and its namesake Orikal) first appeared way back in Thor #138. Uroc, the Uru Monster makes his MC2 debut after being first introduced by Tom Defalco and Mike Mignola in the pages of Thor #408. Granny Mardoc is also apparently a familial relation of Uroc, and mentions she granted Uroc his Uru form and healed his past injuries. Notably, Uroc here has a new and familiar looking left hand, which references his previous limb being destroyed in Thor #450 by the special police unit Code: Blue and acts as a dual reference to Mignola’s most well-known creation Hellboy who has a ‘Right Hand of Doom’.  

 

In addition to the familiar relation between Uroc and Granny Mardoc, we also learn that Tyrus is the son of Ulik, a mainstay of Thor’s rogues gallery and who showed up in the Avengers Next mini-series working alongside Sylene, the daughter of Loki. It is a nice piece of continuity that father and son troll worked opposite daughter and father Asgardian, respectively. Tyrus also spoke of regaining the good graces of his Lord Loki, perhaps suggesting Loki returned from Limbo or that Tyrus does not know of Loki’s fate. The first time we encountered Tyrus was as an alternate future version opposing the Dargo Ktor in Thor #384, wherein he is apparently missing an eye which is echoed here when the Orb explodes.

Finally, Ron Frenz managed the nigh-impossible task of connecting the Troll dolls of the 80’s to the orange-skinned rock trolls of Marvel by way of Granny Mardoc’s appearance. Thanks to Mr Frenz for clarifying a comment he made on the Make Mine Mayday podcast regarding this. *An additional thanks to Ron Frenz for clarifying and correcting the original version of this post*

 

I was very pleased with this short story, it managed to fill a long-existing gap between panels in A-Next #1 and provided us a glimpse at the Avengers team in the MC2’s present at the same time. Now we’ve gotten essentially A-Next #½, I’m hoping someday we’ll get the inevitable A-Next #1½ story which details events surrounding Jolt, Jubilee and Speedball returning to the Avengers Compound during Peter Parker’s visit in What If #105. Come on, you know you wanna do it, guys! I am guessing Crimson Curse was not a member anymore since she’s…. you know…probably dead again following the 2015 Secret Wars event.

 

Until every gap in the MC2’s storied history is filled, I happily remain

 

frogoat

Ultron in the MC2

 

I might be a little late to the party with this post, but I still wanted to put something out to cover Ultron in the MC2, especially given I missed my chance last time he made a major appearance on the big screen, so now with his return to the small screen via the Disney+ animated series What If, I'm seizing the opportunity.

 

I briefly touched on Ultron in my History of the MC2: The Avengers post but let’s take a more focused look this time. At an unknown point in the team's past prior the original team’s final mission, an Avengers team which included Captain America, Iron Man and Thor fought Ultron Extreme, the newest model of the team's old foe. Iron Man eventually managed to erase Ultron's programming and the villain's indestructible body was sealed away ‘half a world away, in a cavern far beneath the Earth’ for over a decade (Avengers Next #2-#3).

The Avengers Compound contains an armory and ‘trophy room’ within which an inert head of an older model Ultron was kept. During Sylene’s staged attack on the Avengers Compound by ‘Zombie Avengers,’ her lackeys Warp and Ulik secretly stole this Ultron head. Sylene then used her magicks upon this Ultron ‘artifact’ so that it would guide her to the body of Ultron Extreme (Avengers Next #1-#2).

 

Still inert with its programming wiped, Sylene imbued the shell of Ultron Extreme with her magic and set it against the Avengers, while disguising herself as another ‘prime’ Ultron resembling that of the stolen head. However, when ‘Ultron’ Sylene’s assault module was suddenly destroyed leaving her vulnerable, she was forced to cover her deception by appearing to ‘self-destruct.’ Busy using her magic to disguise herself as the kidnapped and depowered former Avenger Kevin Masterson to enable her to enact her final plan, the Ultron Extreme body was left to collapse inert once again on the remote island atoll (Avengers Next #3).

It’s also worth mentioning that a model of statue of Ultron is on display in the Avengers Compound alongside many others representing past Avengers foes (American Dream #1). Presumably the actual head of Ultron and other villain ‘artifacts’ are kept well away from the public in the aforementioned armory or trophy room.

 

While this might be the last time we see of Ultron in the MC2, the ever-clever Stinger notes that the villain was previously only deactivated and that his programming could be copied or restored in the same way Avengers members Mainframe and the Vision have done in the past (Avengers Next #3).

 

Until I learn how to restore myself from some lines of code, I remain

 

frogoat