Ultraverse started into the trading card business almost immediately. Here are some of the Firearm related cards featured in the first set they produced.
Alec Swans former employers got their own entry as well.
Also, in case you wondered what happened to the Jerry Bingham design for Firearm…that design was reworked and became Requiem.
Here are the first series trading cards featuring the Freex. Art by the incredible Walt Simonson.
Cover Art: Howard Chaykin
Title: American Pastimes Part One
Writer: James Robinson
Penciler: Cully Hamner
Inker: John Lowe
Letterer: Tim Eldred
Color Designer: Paul Mounts
Editor: Chris Ulm
We open with Ernie Shadrack wanting to know where Alec Swan is with his bail jumper. That’s when Swan (Firearm – more on that later) comes crashing through the window with the O’Malley. A short fight ensues (continues) and O’Malley is taken out with a water cooler. Swan demands more money because Shadrack told him that O’Malley had limited Ultra Powers, not the full extent of those powers. Shadrack argues and calls him Firearm, a name which Swan apparently hates.
Alec goes home, gets himself cleaned up and goes to his office. He has an unmarked office because his last few had been attacked by Ultras. He gets an offer for some Hockey tickets, a message that some Japanese prints are in, and a lead on another case. See, he’s a P.I. type that specializes in Ultra work, although that’s not all he does.
He meets with a woman that was to be married to an former Marine that has gone missing. She had already filed a missing persons report, but decided to hire Alec Swan anyway.
He checks his normal informants and typical places (where Arnie worked, etc.) as well as checks in with Ben Travers. A cop that helps him when he can. In fact they are planning to see the Kings game that night.
Alec is driving to the game later, and is attacked by a vehicle full of gun waving madmen. After dispatching them, and losing his vehicle in the process, a police cruiser pulls up. Not a good thing for our man Swan, as the cruiser contains a lizard looking Ultra out to kill Swan as well. Seems there is more to the case of the missing groom than there first appeared to be.
A fight follows and Swan finally takes the thing out in a somewhat creative way.
Right off the bat you can see that this book is going to be different. There an inner monologue going on throughout the initial fight scene. Alec Swan introduces himself, as well as humoring us with a bit of self-deprecating humor. He’s not the pretty boy hero that most comics go for. He is a scarred, cranky ex English agent of an outfit called the Lodge. His code name there was Firearm, due to the gun he carries.
His inner monologue also is filled with old movie, book and other references. This is something that carries throughout the series, and even becomes a huge discussion piece for the letter columns (remember those?) I will be covering these in a separate entry here, as there are a lot of them.
I remember being told by a comic shop owner that saw some of the books I was buying at the time that I should check this book out. It was on the second or third issue at the time. I did, and I loved it.
Oh yeah, there is also a very loose tie in to his later book Starman within one of these issues. I’ll be sure to mention it when it happens. It’s just a minor thing, but cool if you bought and read both books.
Character design by Jerry Bingham.
While this particular design was not used in the final look for Alec Swan, it’s always interesting to me to see the genesis of a character.
Hello there Ultraverse fans. David Sopko here. I’ll be covering Firearm for you. Hope to branch out to some other titles, but got to keep my focus right now.
Why Firearm? Why the Ultraverse even? It all started back in 1993. That was not the beginning of my comic book fandom…that started with young Dave watching Spider-Man on The Electric Company…no, 1993 was when I discovered James Robinson, and in turn Firearm. Then, the rest of the Ultraverse.
Honestly, I had read some of James Robinsons Terminator comics without thinking too much about his name. Then I got hold of The Golden Age. A mini series from DC Comics, and I fell in love with his writing. I happened to be in a comic shop one day talking to the owner about James Robinson and how much I enjoyed his writing. He grabbed Firearm 1 – 4 off the shelf and told me to give these a try. He told me that the book was part of something called the Ultraverse. But I didn’t have to read any of that to get Firearm.
Well, my 23 year old self got home and quickly read through the books several times. The Break-Thru event had happened, and I was curious about it, even though it didn’t really effect Firearm. The fact that George Perez was involved was also a plus. I grabbed that the next day and soon was grabbing all of the issues of the Ultraverse that had come out up to that point. I mean, there were all kinds of writers and artists that I knew working on these titles and that really appealed to me. The cohesive universe they were putting together drew me in.
From that point on, I collected everything I could. Met several of the creators over the years and have a lot of signatures on many books. I missed a few issues here or there towards the end of the Marvel Ultraverse period, but have narrowed that down to one issue to go.
In my contributions here. plan on reviewing the issues of his series, but the movie that they produced as well. Showing off the trading cards associated with Firearm. As well as showcasing the heroes and villains that appear in the book, as well as running through the literary works that James Robinson threw in the book. There will also be crossover issues to talk about, featuring Prime and a slew of others that were affected by The Rafferty Saga.
So…got my comics. Got my movie. Got my binder full of Ultraverse trading cards. Have my Ultraforce figures ready (even though Firearm was never produced for the line…boo.) I’m all ready…hope you’re all ready to Jump In with me.
David
How does an average guy battle the world’s most dangerous ultrahumans? WITH A BIG GUN!
