Marvel: The Lost Generation #11 (April 2000)

It's that time again! It's time to jump back into the past of the Marvel Universe, and unveil the tale of its Lost Generation of Marvel Super Heroes: The First Line. Last time, we saw the Line's final adventure, as they went out with a bang...quite literally. But the First Line have had many adventures beforehand. What was one of them like? Let's find out in Marvel: The Lost Generation #11!

The cover is a John Byrne and Al Milgrom piece. It gives me the vibe of a Silver Age comic with the word blurbs about how the First Line must fight to save a city while a man will make a discovery that threatens the world. It's fun.

"Fifth Column"
Writers: Roger Stern, John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Al Milgrom
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras

The story begins in New York City. The robotic Walkabout (well, the power suit known as Walkabout, but a Professor Carmody doesn't want that knowledge public) is falling, his thrusters failing to respond.

Thankfully, the orange power suit does not end up a pile of smashed parts and motor oil. The robot regrets that he fell into public view, which would not please Effigy. But that's not the priority right now. The robot has to return to the other First Line members, as it appears the Borg have come to Earth and started assimilating a building. Walkabout tries to attack the techno-mass, but it regenerates instantly...and it's starting to assimilate another building. 

Meanwhile, several hours earlier, and around 120 miles northwest of NYC, which according to my Google Fu, means somewhere around Hudson, New York... 

...a man named Jay Stevenson finds a crashed spaceship.

"Wait, Starfleet is REAL?!"

He makes his way into the ship, feeling like he's stepped into something straight out of Star Wars. Jay then finds a small PADD-like device that makes a Sony Watchman look primitive by comparison. The Watchman was introduced in Japan in 1982 and started being sold in America and Europe in 1984. So yes, we are in the mid-1980s here. The man figures out how to turn the gizmo on, and it shows a recording made by Imperial Skrull Captain Zankor. He's making this recording to show his loyalty to then-Skrull emperor Dorrek VII...in case his scouting of Earth uncovers any reason to cancel the coming invasion...which was the very invasion we saw in the last issue. 

The man runs for help.

Meanwhile, back to the present. Walkabout manages to rip his way into the Borg-like construct...and found a bunch of tubes.

"This is a very weird museum exhibit."

Walkabout moves to free the people inside, but tendrils then attack the robotic shell. However, he happens to be right near his teammate Firefall. It's here the scene shifts to Chicago, in particular, the campus at Northwestern University. Well, technically, it's actually located in the city of Evanston, which is near Chicago, to the north of the city. Yeah, I was a bit of a geography nerd as a kid. 

A Dr. Robert Paine is working there as a teacher of pre-Law. However, one of his students, a Ruth MacRae, is more interested in watching the First Line fight the techno-menace in New York City. Paine catches her and takes away her Watchman. She notes that outside of a "screw-up in Iran", the Line's hardly been seen since Nixon was in office. She also notes that this sounds like something the Black Fox would be interested in. Paine tells her the Fox hasn't been seen in years. He's either retired or dead. It's clearly the former as he is the Black Fox. MacRae mentally recalls that the Fox has retired before, only to return. Maybe she can find a reason to bring him back...

We then go back to Upstate New York. Jay gets a car to stop. He convinces the driver to take him to the next town over. There's an invasion coming, and he has to warn the authorities. He shows the PADD as proof. It plays footage of the Skrulls discussing Earth. The footage also shows the Emperor giving one Skrull a device to download information into his own mind to help with the infiltration...a device that looks similar to the one Bill has now.

The driver finds it incredible...and then boots Jay out of his car.

Back in NYC, Walkabout is losing power thanks to the techno-tentacles he's fighting, but there is still one chance left. He fires off a Mighty Rocket Punch...

"Go! Fist 'em good!" 

Succeeding in liberating the fiery lady, she then works to free Pixie. The perpetrator of this madness then reveals himself.

"You blasted superheroes never can understand art!"

It's the villainous Nocturne from the last issue. This Borg-like stuff here? It's his Alchem-Tech. He had been working on this stuff for years as his greatest weapon against the First Line. It's designed to constantly mutate, preventing the Line from finding something to counter it. With it, he will make NYC his own and he will have his revenge!

It's here that Mr. Justice arrives from his Caribbean adventure. He loses contact with Walkabout, and it leaves him wondering what "the Clipper" would do.

Over in New York, Jay managed to get to a judge. He shows the footage to him as proof. However, he also gets kicked out of the courthouse. Back to New York City! Yeah, if you feel like a ping-pong ball right now, you're not the only one. The Alchem-Tech captures the three First Liners and squeezes them like an orange. Pixie remarks this stuff acts like it's alive. Walkabout's scans confirm this. It's mutated to mimic biological functions. She then tries to use her petrifying pixie dust on it. The dust works, causing the Alchem-Tech to turn to stone and crumble to dust.

Mr. Justice notices this and heads inside, only to find his three First Line comrades helping evacuate civilians. Meanwhile, Jay has made it to a diner, lamenting his situation. It's here that he meets someone. 

"Hey, you got beer money?"

It's a young Ben Grimm, years before the fateful rocket flight that would make him into the heart of the Fantastic Four, the Idol of Millions, The Man of Stone with the Heart of Gold, the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing. This is a bit of a topical thing. You see, in 2000, with the sliding timescale at that time, it was possible for him to meet a young Ben in the mid-to-late 80s. 

Anyway, Ben gives him directions to State University, to a fellow student, his roommate. He's got a lab there, and the man can help him. An overjoyed Jay heads out, the other students chide him for tricking him, but Ben said he did this to give his roommate some distraction. Jay makes it to State U, and finds the man hard at work.

"Be careful, man! You nearly ruined my gun experiment!"

Yup, it's a pre-Mr. Fantastic Reed Richards. Makes sense, he and Ben were college roomies, after all. Jay shows him the device and footage it played, and Reed believes him, alright. And not only does he believe Jay, he knows exactly where the Skrull spy is...as he points a gun at the man.

Back in NYC, the First Line are continuing the cleanup from the battle with Nocturne and his Alchem-Tech. They've managed to get everyone out of the building. Walkabout's scanners confirm that there are no other living beings in the building. Not even Nocturne. Turns out he got caught by Pixie's petrifying dust, making him into a statue. Mr. Justice isn't particularly bothered by it, as Nocturne has been a thorn in the Line's side since he was a kid. He moves to pull off his mask out of curiosity when the statue shatters.

The Line clean Nocturne up and leave. He's come back from worse than this, according to Pixie. Yeah, the last issue showed that. It's then revealed that the building that was attacked...was the Baxter Building. As in the future headquarters of the Fantastic Four. It's actually kind of appropriate that one of the First Line's last adventures be set in the future home of the first of the Marvel Generation of heroes. I don't know if "poetic" is the right word to use here, but it's one I want to use.

Oh yeah, Reed Richards got Jay Stevenson at gunpoint, remember? We should look in on that. Jay thinks Reed is the alien, but that's far from the truth. He figured it all out from the recording. It's not gibberish, it's an alien language. Stevenson found it in a crashed ship. The pilot of the ship may have gotten a head injury that caused him some amnesia in the classic trope. As such, this infiltrator may have ended up thinking he was his cover story. He was watching his own mission briefing. Jay Stevenson...is a Skrull. 

This jiggles the man's memory, and he realizes that yup, he was an alien spy, and he just accidentally unmasked himself.

But he's not just any Skrull, he's Zankor, the Skrull in the recording. Zankor is then taken to the First Line's headquarters: the Carmody Institute in New England. Effigy (at this point, the Line is unaware he himself is a Skrull) tells the spy that he won't win. Their invasion will be foiled, and they are planning for it. As the last issue showed, they will, but at the cost of most of their lives. Still, there's one loose end. Skrulls don't spend spies without backup. So, where's the backup? We find her in the Himalayas, meeting the Yeti, who wants nothing more to do with the First Line.

Little did the Empire know, Korya had a...thing for monsters.

The lady's name is Korya. You may remember seeing her as a corpse in the last issue. Makes you wonder what she had planned for the Yeti. 

Like the last issue, I enjoyed this one. Jay Stevenson being a Skrull spy was a twist that was worthy of a 1950s sci-fi comic/episode of the Twilight Zone. It's even more fitting as a version of the series was airing in the 1980s. What I also like is that we get to see a little bit of characterization from each of the First Liners. It's very basic stuff, but it's still nice to see, like Rapunzel being a bit cocky. I also liked that we seemingly saw the origin of Gadfly, who cameoed (and died) in the last issue. It really helps give the feel that we're in the middle of a group of ongoing storylines in the soap opera that is the First Line.

I do wish we did get to see more of Ruth MacRae becoming Gadfly and what Korya was planning with the Yeti. They were the center of two scenes in the last issue, and it would have been a good way to help further connect them. It's also the problem with doing the series backwards. It does feel a bit disjointed as a result. 

John Byrne's artwork is, as I said about the last issue, a bit rougher-looking than his work on X-Men twenty years earlier. But again, you could attribute it to age, style evolution, and different inkers. It's still better than the 90s wannabe-Rob Liefeld imitators. 

Sadly, this miniseries has never been collected in a standalone trade. It was collected in the 2018 Omnibus Marvel Universe by John Byrne Vol. 2. If you can't afford and/or lack room for an Omnibus, you'll have to look online and on Marvel Unlimited. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!