Welcome to the New Universe! We've visited this 80s imprint in the past with a look at D.P. 7 #1. Now, we're going to look at another one of the imprint's launch titles, Psi-Force.
Psi-Force told the tale of a group of teenagers given psychic abilities thanks to the "White Event", the mass-empowering event that created most of the superhuman characters in the New Universe. Psi-Force was one of the longer lasting and more popular series, lasting 32 issues and getting one Annual. It also debuted the work of writer Fabian Nicieza and artist Ron Lim.
The cover is a Mark Texiera piece, and it's pretty good. It's a bit basic, but it works for a first issue. You basically get to meet the members of the Psi-Force, and it also give a hint of their powers. High in the back is the Psi-Hawk itself. It looks neat, but it is a bit...stereotypical.
"Hour of the Wolf!"
Writer: Steve Perry
Penciler: Mark Texiera
Inker: Kyle Baker
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Bob Budiansky
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
The story begins on a dark night in Mendocino, California. A pair of agents are pursuing a man and a teenage girl.
Page 3, Full Page.
They are pursing a Native American CIA man named Emmett Proudhawk and a Soviet girl named Anastasia Inyushin. This is a comic from the 80s, after all. Why are they after these two? Well, you see, our little Miss Inyushin has...a gift.
Page 4, Panels 4-5
She has the power to heal with a touch. However, it can be draining on her to do it repeatedly. The two get cornered, and it's revealed that Proudhawk had smuggled Inyushin into the United States from her native USSR. And naturally, considering her powers, the USSR wants her back. The agents are presumably KGB men. The lead of this group, a Sergei Vladmiroff, implores Proudhawk to give Inyushin up. After all, the US has disavowed his actions, so it won't be like they'll help him.
Inyushin suggests that they surrender, but Proudhawk refuses. After all, if the cops get involved, the Soviets will have to use official channels to get Inyushin back. And bureaucracy being what it is, that could take years. They'd rather just snatch her up, as it would be quicker.
Proudhawk then reveals that like Inyushin, he himself has a gift. He takes a medallion he wore under his shirt. Using it to focus his own mental powers, he tries to get Vladmiroff to back off. But his powers are not at full strength, and Vladmiroff is able to shake it off. The two get caught under fire, and this is witnessed by what looks like a ghost who heads for a nearby boat.
Page 7, Panels 1-2
Meet Tyrone Jessup and Kathy Ling. Like Proudhawk and Inyushin, these two have psychic abilities of their own. Tyrone has astral projection, and Kathy has telekinesis. Ling has some issues with Tyrone's powers, calling them "gross". She uses her own telekinesis to break up the dock the KGB men are on, leaving them sputtering and hoping they were trained in the fine art of swimming.
(smirk)
It's here we get a bit of detail on Inyushin and Proudhawk's backstories. Growing up in the USSR, Inyushin was shown to have a bit of a "green thumb", an almost superhuman ability to tend plants. Fearing that she had an actual superpower, her parents sent her to live in Kansas with her Uncle Yakob and Aunt Masha. Things were fine for a while, until a car accident killed her aunt and uncle, forcing her to return home. There, she was met by Sergei Vladmiroff, who informed her that her parents are also dead.
(Coincidence? I think not)
Anyway, she ended up in a lab where her abilities were tested. Thanks to (presumably) the White Event, her powers grew to the point where she could heal, and Sergei felt she suddenly became a great asset to the state...
(shudder)
No wonder Proudhawk grabbed her. As for our man himself, well...growing up, his Apache grandmother was the first to notice his psychic gifts. She saw it as his being able to channel spirits, but he thought it was nonsense. His assignment at the CIA was to find and catalogue people with potential psychic abilities. One day, he discovered that someone had leaked his list of potential psychics...and was hunting them down. He went rogue to find them and gather the remaining ones, fearing for their lives. One he could not find, two were dead already.
He did manage to find four of them, though. And he brought them to this little house.
Page 13, Panel 2
This is Sanctuary, a little hostel and safe space for runaway teenagers. And considering that the psychics that Proudhawk found were teenagers...yeah. Inyushin is introduced to Colby Shaw, the woman who runs the place. Shaw is having a bit of trouble wrangling one of Proudhawk's psychics. And here he is now.
Page 14, Panel 3
Meet Wayne Tucker, the resident calm optimistic happy guy of this little Psi-Force. I kid, he's the resident angry kid of the bunch. He angrily rants and says he's leaving. We also meet Michael "Creepy" Crawley. The youngest of the bunch, he can make things explode with his mind.
(explosion)
Hawk gathers the five kids and explains why he brought them together. A year ago, he had a dream. The dream was of a bright white light, and then five rabbits being menaced by a pack of wolves. A hawk swooped down to protect the rabbits, but the wolves took down the hawk. The rabbits then seemingly merged into a larger, stronger, more powerful hawk, able to easily fight the wolves off. Proudhawk is convinced that the dream was a vision, especially when the White Event hit. The five teenagers can't survive on their own. There are powerful forces after them. But if they stay together, they can handle anything.
The kids...find it rather silly. That night, Stasia makes a phone call, fearing that she'll put the others in danger thanks to the KGB pursuing her. She calls Vladmiroff, saying she wants to meet with him. Proudhawk and the other psychics discover the meeting.
The Native American agent has a mental faceoff with Mindwolf, a psychic KGB agent. The battle does not end well for Proudhawk.
Page 22, Panel 1
Tucker grabs Proudhawk's medallion. He, Jessup, Ling, and Crawley put their hands on it...and a miracle seemingly occurs.
Page 24, Full Page.
The Psi-Hawk is the full totality of all the kids' psychic power. It engages Mindwolf, but the Russian is able to get the upper hand. The others realize that Inyushin is not grabbing the medallion with them. Remember, the dream had five rabbits making one hawk. The Russian girl puts her hand on the medallion. And like Popeye eating spinach, the Psi-Hawk suddenly gets a massive boost in power, and is able to wreck Mindwolf.
Tucker wants to split, but Crawley's like "No way! You gotta help us take Hawk's corpse back to Sanctuary!" And that's where our story ends.
I enjoyed the comic, but I admit something. I did think it dragged a bit at times. I also think it would have been nice to have Proudhawk stick around a little longer. I would have liked to have seen him play mentor to the kids, considering their situation. We do get some basic ideas of the kids' personalities. Like with the New Mutants, their characters at this point are a bit basic. Tucker's the angry kid, Inyushin is the shy girl, Ling is the bratty rich girl, Jessup is the team player, and Crawley is the little brother. However, it's only the first issue, and we can give them character development over time.
I
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