Ugh...this cover. It's a wraparound piece drawn by Tom Tenney (and inked by Rey Garcia), and...I'll outright say it, this is very likely the ugliest cover I have ever looked at here in the history of this blog. The cover itself is very basic, just showing the members of the team itself, but it just looks...terrible. Also, Spider-Woman? You're not doing a model shoot. I do have a theory on why the art turned out like this. More on that later.
"Day-Break"
Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Penciler: Tom Tenney
Inker: Rey Garcia
Colorist: Joe Rosas
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Editor: Nel Yomtov
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
The story begins with an alien spaceship assuming geosynchronous orbit over Palos Verdes, California.
The inhabitants of the vessel, members of the Kree, are a patient sort. They're waiting to capture two people, and they're willing to wait for the right moment. On Earth, Simon "Wonder Man" Williams and Tony "Iron Man" Stark arrive at the remains of the old West Coast Avengers compound, lamenting the ruin that it has become. The West Coast Avengers had disbanded in Avengers West Coast #102 (January 1994).
The two are joined by one Wanda Maximoff and Julia Carpenter, aka the Scarlet Witch and the second Spider-Woman. The four are next also joined by John Walker, aka USAgent. Tony Stark had gathered the five former West Coast Avengers here because he has plans for the future. You see, Stark wants to create a brand new team.
Stark pitches that this new team be more...proactive. That they take a more aggressive stance when it comes to Earth's defense and security. The 90s, everyone! Wanda, John, and Julia need some time to think this over, but Simon is on board. Confident that the unsure members will join up, Tony shows off a new facility he intends this new team to use as their HQ: The Works, located in Ventura, California.
The Works was a facility that Tony used this as an R&D facility for Stark Enterprises. Tony describes it as essentially a "smart building". It has self-repair systems, options for self-sufficiency, the perfect HQ for a team of superheroes. The building is also mostly completely automated, run by PLATO. PLATO stands for Piezo-Electrical Logistic Analytic Tactical Operator. It's an artificial intelligence that is "related" to an AI Stark himself was using at the time in Stark Industries' computers: HOMER.
No, not that Homer! If you ever watched the 1990s Iron Man animated series, you may be familiar with HOMER. Anyway, John is rather suspicious. Stark wants to form a new team and is giving them Stark Industries facility to use as their headquarters? It seems to him like the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist wants to form his own personal Avengers team. However, Tony insists that this is not about ego. In fact, he's not going to lead this new team. Wanda's got that job...if she wants it. She's flattered, but she needs to think it over.
Tony lets the Julia, Wanda, and John stay over in the Works's quarters while they make up their minds. He takes Julia to hers.
Julia is won over by Tony's thinking of everything. Tony goes to visit Wanda. He tells her that he needs her on board because...well, she has skills when it comes to working with people he doesn't. Wanda's like "Okay, okay, I'll do it!" Let's check in on John "USAgent" Walker, shall we?
Yup, Tony's made him a brand-new suit. I think it's kind of...meh. I get that it's trying to make USAgent look more unique and less like a Captain America palette swap/alternate costume and all that, but I feel it could have been done a bit better.
There's a reason why artists returned him to his old black costume with slight tweaks here and there. It's rather slick. Back to the comic! John is...reluctant to join up. He's had enough of the superhero business. He feels like a joke, like he's only seen as an imitation Captain America. Wanda points out that he helped train her during their time in the West Coast Avengers together. The team needs him...and that convinces him. USAgent, welcome to Force Works. And with that the team is seemingly assembled. But there still is some old business left over from the dissolution of the West Coast Avengers.
The group heads to the old WCA compound in Palos Verdes, where they discover it has some guests.
Yup, it's Vision and Black Widow of the east coast-based Avengers team. They're there to do a bit of cleanup, mainly collecting the information from the old base's computers. Simon gets really mad about this for some reason, comparing their actions to looters stealing from dead bodies. Simon, the headquarters is a wreck and it's not being used anymore. There may be sensitive data on those computers, so it makes sense Vision and Widow would want to make sure that it's secured.
However, the argument is interrupted by a rain of laser fire from above.
The Avengers have no idea why the Kree are here, but they want to fight, so the Avengers grant their request.
Wonder Man is especially aggressive, punching one Kree soldier so hard that the soldier ends up bringing down the transport that brought the soldiers to Earth. The leader orders the firing of the Ion Cannon, a weapon that seemingly has no effect on Widow or Wanda, but is hurting Simon and Vision. The synthezoid Vision is falling into convulsions, and Simon appears to be leaking ionic energy from his eyes and mouth.
Simon discovers that among the Kree is a Recorder. Recorders are Rigellian robots that basically...record. Literally, that's what they do. They're used to observe, record, and report what they see back to their masters. This particular one was on the Kree's planet Hala when it was destroyed, and it was damaged as a result.
That's when it all clicks together. You see, during the events of Operation: Galactic Storm (a very underrated Avengers story in my opinion), a weapon known as a Nega-Bomb was sent into the heart of Kree territory. In Wonder Man #9 (May 1992), the bomb was detonated despite the attempts of Wonder Man and Vision to defuse it. The bomb destroyed the planet Hala, killing billions instantly.
The Recorder is able to explain that he was tampered with by an unknown party. The purpose? To deliver a communique to the Kree that are attacking. Said message basically said "Wonder Man and Vision blew up your homeworld". Yeah. And since the Kree have likely held grudges against the Avengers for their past encounters...it was not hard to convince them to go pick a fight with Earth.
The weapon the Kree invaders are using here is specially designed to cause Vision's systems to melt down...and Simon's body to overload with ionic energy. And if Simon's body overloads...
Big time. In fact, big enough to kiss Earth goodbye. It's at this point that USAgent and Spider-Woman join the fray. They had to get into costume first. Simon heads up into orbit, the Recorder right behind him. After all, he has a recording job to do. The ionic powerhouse is easily able to smash his way into the orbiting Kree vessel and toss around the Kree warriors inside like they were horseshoes.
Wanda hits the Kree men on Earth with a massive hex, causing their power packs to explode. However, her hex also appears to have had a side effect.
Hey, look! The Avengers made a new friend! And he looks like he's screaming about being really constipated. This art, man... Funny enough, USAgent described him as a "jolly purple giant", even though he's actually gray. Maybe John is colorblind?
The Kree attack our mysterious new arrival, and he kicks their butts. Wanda asks for his name. He introduces himself as "Century", and otherwise that...he has no idea who he is. Despite the memory issues, he and a returning Iron Man return to help turn the tide of the battle. Back out in space, Wonder Man was able to defuse the ion cannon. However, a new problem shows up.
The strange pods seem to be on a collision course with the ship. A couple of the pods slam into the spacecraft, causing the ion cannon's power cells to rupture. Wonder Man grabs the cannon and flies it out into space, hoping he gets it far away enough from Earth to keep it from being harmed by the explosion. And then...it goes up!
The explosion is so big that the rest of the heroes can see it from Earth. And it's not likely Simon survived it. Our heroes have no time to mourn, as the pods land nearby them. Century realizes they contain something called the Scatter, and the heroes should destroy the pods now. Evidently their presence triggered a memory in the mysterious being.
The alien monsters grab USAgent, Spider-Woman, and Scarlet Witch. And then they vanish. A furious Iron Man demands that Century tell him where these "Scatter" have gone with his allies. The alien warrior admits that he does not know, but he does feel he somehow should. The Recorder lands and reports that Simon did not survive the Kree ship's explosion. The story ends with Iron Man lamenting how things have gotten so wrong so quickly.
This comic...yeah. Thing is, it's not quite as bad I would have expected. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning are actually pretty good writers. What I liked about the story was that we get characters dealing with the fallout of the end of the West Coast Avengers. I also liked seeing some fallout from Operation: Galactic Storm. I did feel that Wonder Man's death was a bit cheap, played only for shock value. At least he went out saving the world. The story is decent, it sets up what we need to set up for a new team, the roster, a bit of character stuff, and a mystery.
The art is the thing that really hurts this comic. With all the weird lines and cracks on the male characters' faces, they all looked desiccated. I felt like I was reading an issue of Marvel Zombies or something. Also, the way the women are drawn feels a bit...off to me. It was the 90s. I did say I had a theory with how the art turned out looking like...this. You see, I got most of the scans for this review from the 2016 trade paperback Avengers/Iron Man: Force Works. It collected the first 15 issues of the Force Works comic, as well as the Force Works Ashcan Edition. Here's a sample of some of the Ashcan Edition's art.
Tom Tenney drew this. He also drew this piece of promotional art.
What I noticed was that the Ashcan and the promotional art were inked by Michael Oeming (credited as "Avon"), whereas the comic was inked by Rey Garcia. Look how much cleaner the art looks with Oeming's inks. My theory is that Rey Garcia may have gotten a little crazy with the inks. I would like to see some of Tenney's original art for a comparison.
The original Force Works title would last 22 issues, being cancelled in 1996. The team would also appear in the 1990s Iron Man animated series, with Hawkeye taking the place of USAgent on the show. During the Fifty State Initiative, a new Force Works team would be revealed to be the state super-team of Iowa. And more recently, as part of the Iron Man 2020 event, a third Force Works team debuted, with veteran member USAgent joining forces with new members War Machine, Quake, and Mockingbird.
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! Take care of yourself, and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, and wash your hands often! Join me next time as we rejoin Wonder Woman as she undergoes her latest labor...
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