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!

Resurrection Man #26

Millennium Now!

Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning Story
Anthony Williams Pencils
Andy Lanning Inks
Carla Feeny Colors
Pat Prentice Letters
Frank Berrios Edits

Our cover shows Resurrection Man battling Vandal Savage in front of the robotic hand of the true villain of this story — although we don't really see said villain in this issue. The cover isn't particularly impressive, but it's not bad, either. In fact, it sort of has an old-fashioned charm to it.

So this issue is the penultimate issue of the series, which makes it a terrible jumping-on point. The story is epic and complex, but since Impulse's appearance is minimal, I'll just gloss over everything.

Apparently there is a massive reality warp in Antarctica, which has attracted the attention of Vandal Savage, Resurrection Man and a whole bunch of other heroes. We see the Ray with a group called the Forgotten Heroes, Arsenal and Jesse Quick with the Titans, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, and, of course, Young Justice.

Well, the boys of Young Justice, anyway. For some reason, there are still a bunch of creators at DC who haven't heard about the three girls joining the team. Anyway, Red Tornado flies in right behind the boys, hastily apologizing for their behavior. And that's all we see of any of these heroes because, in spite of their great powers, none of them are actually able to deal with this reality-warping event. The only ones who can are Resurrection Man and Vandal Savage.

So the two immortals strike up an uneasy alliance. Savage explains that the reality warps are being caused by a creature that crash-landed on Antarctica in a meteoroid. To help them battle this creature, Savage releases the only other person immune to the reality warps — the original Immortal Man, who has been Savage's prisoner for years.


And that's all I have to say about this issue. The story was alright, I guess, setting up an epic ending with tons of cameos and a crisis that can only be solved by the hero of the series. The art wasn't particularly good, but it didn't hinder the story. And it was refreshing to see a version of Vandal Savage that is much more interesting than the one in the current Legends of Tomorrow TV show.

Next time, Impulse and Young Justice will make their only appearance in the big Batman event No Man's Land, via a special one shot.