THIS MORTAL EARTH

writer: Gerard Jones

penciler: Tim Hamilton

STORY: Out to prove to the world that he's no longer insane, Wonder Man goes to the small nation Kanem to stop a mysterious super human terrorist.

RECURRING CAST:

Jaime Flores

Ginger Beach

Alex Flores

Neal Sayroan

and special guest star, The Incredible Hulk

ANALYSIS:

The new and improved Wonder Man is determined to beat the whole "Savage Wonder Man" image by journeying to the Islamic nation of Kanem and defeating a mysterious superhuman terrorist who is destroying a prototype agriculteral experiment called Agrimax. Agrimax is a system that turns useless desert land into lush farmable soil thus enabling poor third world countries to farm and produce their own food.

Wonder Man, using his new flight ability takes off from LAX only to be confronted by fighter jets trying to stop him from going to Kanem. He disables one jet and out maneuvers the others and then hitches a ride on an outgoing flight to Kanem by hanging on to the top of the plane.

Arriving in Kanem a few hours later, Wonder Man ditches the plan and flies down to the Agrimax site and is shot at by soldiers while trying to get his passport from his new belt. After he clears up the misunderstanding, the soldiers show him the damage wrought by the unknown terrorist. Suddenly, the Hulk arrives and sucker punches Wondy to the ground.

Meanwhile back in Hollywood, Alex is watching the news reporting on Wonder Man being in Kanem in defiance of the State Departments orders that no super humans are to go there. The reporter also mentions that the Avengers have disavowed all responsibility for Simon and his actions.

Worrying about Simon, her near-death experience and a pending lawsuit from the owners of the old apartment she was renting that was destroyed by Goliath last issue, Alex gets a phone call from Neal. Neal says that Zygote Production Company wants her to write a screen play about the savage Wonder Man who tore up Los Angeles, fought demons and the Avengers. Alex tells him no, but when he tells her that the company will pay her two million dollars for it, Alex begins to think it over.

At the same time Spider and Jamie are riding on Spider's mortar cycle and looking at some of the spots where Simon fought. Arriving home, Spider finds two guys from the county with his sister and she is crying. When he asks her what's wrong, Ginger informs Spider that the courts have decided to put Spider in a foster home since Ginger is deemed an unfit guardian. She also mentions that she's been Spider's guardian since their mother ran away.

Back in Kanem, The Hulk and a General Bornu stand over Wonder Man and the General accuses Wonder Man of being the terrorist and a big fight ensues. Wonder Man and his new found powers are a match to the Hulk and the fight goes back and forth until a little boy gets between the Hulk and Wonder Man flying at him at full speed. Wondy manages to miss the boy and augers into the desert sand. When he looks up, the Hulk decides that Wonder Man is obviously not the terrorist, since he saved the boys life by dodging and making himself vulnerable to the Hulk.

The Hulk and Wonder Man decide to team up and find the terrorist. This seems to infuriate General Bornu, who after ranting bout the evils of America and during this rant he points out that the terrorist fled to a rock formation called Satan's Head. Wonder Man and the Hulk decide to investigate Satan's head and head off. As soon as their gone, General Bornu orders his men to leave the Agrimax site and go to Satan's Head, leaving the Agrimax workers and civilians unprotected. He then makes a call to the real terrorist and informs him that the Hulk is coming to him as planned, but he's been unexpectedly joined by Wonder Man. The terrorist gloats and says to let them come because they will be no match for Furor and the Plan Master.

Okay, here are my thoughts on this one:

The story so far is actually pretty good. There is plenty of action and a lot of good dialogue between the Hulk and Wonder Man. There are a few moments where I laughed out loud at some of the things that were said. I especially liked after the soldiers shot at him when he reached into his belt. Afterwards he says, " What did you think I kept in there, the Wonder-Rang?"

Wonder Man has regained not only his sanity, but his confidence is overwhelming. Wonder Man decides he's going to become the Earth's immortal protector and wants to help humanity in reaching it's potential.

Wondy also now has the ability to fly by surrounding his waist and legs in ionic energy. He looks almost like Cannon Ball from the New Mutants or Nova, the human rocket when using this ability.

Tim Hamilton does a really good job on the interior art. Wonder Man looks cool, the Hulk looks good and everything is really good looking.

The cover art, on the other hand, Sucks! The Hulk's face looks like he's ancient. He has the body of the Hulk, but has a Sixty year old man's head. And Wonder Man looks like he's the same size as the Hulk on the cover. I'm sorry, but Wonder Man is big, but not that big. The Hulk, at this point, was at least 8' tall and Wonder Man is only 6' 3."

All in all, I thought this was a really great issue, and I really thought this was the beginning of a whole new era of Wonder Man.

An interesting side note: In the Marvel Bullpen Bulletin, it says," On sale this week: Wonder Man 28: Wondy goes to Asgard!"

This is the image Mike wanted to post at the end of his review for issue 26

Looks like Wondy's visit to Asgard got pushed farther in schedule because issue 28 & 29 was a team-up with Spider-man. Man, I'm curious to know if there was ever artwork done for that story were Wonder Man goes to Asgard. That would have been a really intesresting storyarc. Maybe if they ever do another regular series we will get to see Wondy visit Asgard and see how the gods relate to a human with their same power levels. I'd love to see a Wonder Man/ Thor extended team-up like the Thor/Hercules team-ups.

I know what you mean, I was looking forward to the Asgard two-part story and the Hate-Monger one that was advertised in the Bullpen, but the sudden cancellation of the series pretty much blew that away.

I am going to try and find the other Bullpen Bulletins pages that featured the adds for the other two issues. I'll send them in as soon as I find them.

Went to my local comic book store and got my copy of Wonder Man 26 since I don't have my whole collection with me. Now its only Annual 2 and I will have recovered my complete Wonder Man collection.

I have to agree 100%, I loved this issue. The fact that Hulk is in it and they do battle makes it an important issue for Wondy fans. Now that Simon has got confidence in himself he is using his strength in full mode and he is more than a match for the Hulk. Since I already read next issue I want to comment that it is established here that just like Thor vs Hulk, we don't really know who is stronger and from this fight it looks like a fight between Wonder Man & Hulk could go either way. My favorite panel is that double spread showing Wonder Man being shot by the whole General Bornu's army and fighting the Hulk at the same time. These guys have got bazookas and everything, there are even tanks around and Wondy is taking these blows and Hulk's punches like the powerhouse he is. Another favorite is the panel where Simon intercepts a punch from the Hulk in mid air and sends Hulk crashing to the ground face first.

I like how Jones is making Wonder Man a global protector fighting for justice and protection of the weak no matter in which country. Fighting for the protection of a food plant like Agrimax seems like a great idea. I'd say if Jones and his editors would have been more careful about continuity we would have loved 95% of his work in this series.