Resurrection Man #27

The Ends of the Earth

Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning • Story
Butch Guice • Art
Ken Lopez • Letters
Carla Feeny • Colors
Frank Berrios • Edits

Our cover by Butch Guice unfortunately doesn't show anything that happens in this issue. It's a stark image of Resurrection Man standing in front of his grave in the rain. I suppose it's decent enough, but it has nothing to do with the story inside, nor does it convey the finality of this series.

When we last left off in this series, Impulse, Robin and Superboy joined a whole bunch of other superheroes in investigating a strange disturbance in Antarctica. This was caused by a reality-altering monster called the Warp Child. And most of the superheroes succumb to its effects.

I'm not sure what's going on with Starfire or Red Tornado, but Jesse Quick and Green Lantern appear to be translucent. Superboy is some sort of lizard monster frozen in ice, Robin is a shadow, and Impulse an old man. This reminds me of the time Psymon made Impulse think he became an old man. Anyway, as we can see, none of these heroes are properly equipped to deal with the monster's reality-warping abilities.

There are exactly three individuals who are immune to the Warp Child's powers — Resurrection Man, Vandal Savage and Immortal Man. The three form an uneasy alliance, and Vandal Savage and Immortal Man keep trying to secretly use the Warp Child for their purposes. Finally, they agree to work together, and Immortal Man seemingly sacrifices himself to get rid of the monster.

Everything returns to normal, and Vandal Savage slips away in the confusion, leaving Resurrection Man with all the other heroes. The Flash and Aquaman are also there, even though they weren't shown previously. I guess they were just late arrivals. Anyway, the story ends one week later with Resurrection Man kissing his girlfriend, Kim Rebecki. And an editor's note says, "This one's for Joe Orlando," who was a prominent DC editor in the 1960s, specializing in these type of strange, supernatural tales, and died Dec. 23, 1998.


I imagine this finale would have been a lot more meaningful had I read the previous 26 issues of this series. Until I gain that perspective, I'm left feeling rather lukewarm about the whole thing. Resurrection Man was given an obstacle only he could overcome, and Earth's mightiest, and most popular heroes were thrown into the thick of it just to illustrate this point. It's kind of an odd use for a whole bunch of cameos, but I don't necessarily disagree with it. This is Resurrection Man's story after all. I just happen to not care about it.

Next time, Impulse will make his first appearance in the pages of Superboy!