A Dark and Deadly Place
Infinity Inc #10
Cover Date: January 1985
Released: 18th October1984
We start with a glorious splash page with a fourth world break, with Ultra-Humanite apparently addressing the reader. Instead, he’s addressing our water affected JSAers and offers them more of the water so that the effects won’t wear off again (maybe permanently, though it’s not made clear).
And whilst they consider whether to fight him of not the Infinity Inc began to gather around the mountain in ones and two’s. As they do they share information to get all of them, and the reader, up to speed on what has happened over the last few issues. And all together and up to speed, they decide to just crash into the place to finally, finally, face the Ultra-Humanite. This genius of a plan is obviously come to by our one and only Power Girl, who’s never been one to give up on a frontal assault!
She does however get take out straight away by Superman melting her lead scroll tube, meaning she’s taken out by her own supply of Kryptonite. This starts a series of fights where the older superheroes quickly and efficiently take down the younger members of Infinity Inc. The best moment of the fight, and you know how I feel about superhero fights, is Superman going to get a whole tree to take down Jade, who as the daughter of the Alan Scott Green Lantern has the weakness not to colour but instead wood!
The tree seems to be the turning point of the fight and with an army of raptors (the avian kind) summoned by Northwind they managed to defeat the affected JSAer’s. When they turn to face Ultra-Humanite he has one final trick up his simian sleeves banishing them all into Limbo! This includes himself, but he seems perfectly fine with this flaw in the plan.
As it happens in the vast infinite plane of Limbo they end up in the same spot as the two Brainwaves (oh and Star-spangled Kid), and being deadly enemies (and Junior being a hero), they start fighting Ultra-Humanite with their psychic assaults. Mortally wounded senior transferred his powers to Junior allowing the young hero to defeat Ultra-Humanite. And after that with his super-enhanced power, he opens a gateway from limbo back to where they’ve gone. Just to sum up after ten issues and all those fighting the solution comes down to a single hero who relatively quickly defeats the enemy. And not a simple go-to super-jail kind of defeat no (for now) Ultra-Humanite is reduced to the intelligence of an ape.
And after a round of apologies from the now cured JSAer’s, I guess the water was on the verge of running out anyway, we get a splash page of the hero and we’re done. Well not quite, we still have two issues wrapping up this mega-epic!
Whilst I might have snarked a little about the ending it’s a perfectly decent ending to the story, even if it doesn’t quite meet the almost year-long build-up to the final conflict between Infinity Inc and Ultra-Humanite. As a one or two issues a week book it’s fine, but if I read it monthly I’m not sure I’d be as pleased with the ending.
⋅ Writer: Roy Thomas / Dann Thomas ⋅ Penciler: Jerry Ordway ⋅
⋅ Inker: Mike Machlan / Tony DeZungia ⋅ Colourist: Anthony Tollin / Adrienne Roy ⋅
⋅ Letterer: David Cody Weiss ⋅ Editors: Roy Thomas ⋅
⋅ Writer: Roy Thomas / Dann Thomas ⋅ Penciler: Jerry Ordway ⋅
⋅ Inker: Mike Machlan / Tony DeZungia ⋅ Colourist: Anthony Tollin / Adrienne Roy ⋅
⋅ Letterer: David Cody Weiss ⋅ Editors: Roy Thomas ⋅