«Enemy of the State II» - April to August 2002
Story : Priest
Pencils : Sal Velluto
Inks : Bob Almond, Steve Geiger, Justin Thyme
The story:
This is going to be a particularly tricky one to resume in only a few words.It all begins with the murder of Myron Mason, the owner of a rap record company that is in f
act a CIA front used to launder money for U.S. government black ops. To quote senator Rakim who comes to Stark's office seeking Iron Man and the Avengers' involvement: "A man THAT protected just shouldn't be dead. Unless of course, there'd been a sudden shift of power at the highest levels. A coup d'état."
This is going to be a particularly tricky one to resume in only a few words.It all begins with the murder of Myron Mason, the owner of a rap record company that is in f
act a CIA front used to launder money for U.S. government black ops. To quote senator Rakim who comes to Stark's office seeking Iron Man and the Avengers' involvement: "A man THAT protected just shouldn't be dead. Unless of course, there'd been a sudden shift of power at the highest levels. A coup d'état." Stark proceeds to contact the Wakandan consulate in New York, guessing that there is some sort of connection between what is happening in the U.S. and a previous Wakandan coup. That's where things get weird. You see, there is not only one Black Panther, but actually two! There is the modern Black Panther, and there is a Jack Kirby-looking 1960s Black Panther as well. The Panther that Stark speaks to simply brushes him off, so Stark turns to a man old Avengers fans will remember well, Henry Peter Gyrich.
As this meeting takes place, the Panther is in Sault-Sainte-Marie, Ontario, asking Wolverine for his help. Turns out that, according to T'Challa, Mason's death would be the result of a new joint venture among several intelligence agencies, calling themselves "XCON", to overthrow the government of the United States. They are the ones who staged the Wakandan coup and, according to Panther's sources, have already taken over Canada. To quote Wolverine's response: "The bad guys have got the Canadian government, the CIA, the LCL, the Russian mob and, for all we know, Alpha Flight, the Avengers and your sidekick. You've got me and the leggy chick. God, I love a good party."
What's cool:
This storyline delivers something I have been waiting to see since I was a kid: Iron Man versus Wolverine!Sadly, the fight doesn't last very long, but is still one heck of a tus
sle. Black Panther destroys the armor's force shields and IM finds himself quite defenceless and at the mercy of an enraged Wolverine. Ouch! But Tony's not dumb and in their following battle, he will be wearing a new suit of armor (the Stealth Armor III) that will be resistant to the Panther's attacks. To quote Iron Man: "This armor's primary layer is treated to react to vibranium, releasing a powerful plasma discharge- powerful enough to bring Thor to his knees."
This storyline delivers something I have been waiting to see since I was a kid: Iron Man versus Wolverine!Sadly, the fight doesn't last very long, but is still one heck of a tus
sle. Black Panther destroys the armor's force shields and IM finds himself quite defenceless and at the mercy of an enraged Wolverine. Ouch! But Tony's not dumb and in their following battle, he will be wearing a new suit of armor (the Stealth Armor III) that will be resistant to the Panther's attacks. To quote Iron Man: "This armor's primary layer is treated to react to vibranium, releasing a powerful plasma discharge- powerful enough to bring Thor to his knees." I've always liked stories about conspiracies and rogue secret agents who are out to secretly overthrow governments and stuff like that, so I did generally enjoy this story. Throw in guest-stars by Wolvie, the Avengers and Alpha Flight and you've got a really fun story.
What's baaad:
This has got to be the most confusing comic story I have ever read. Take the two Black Panthers for example. Which is the original? Where does the other one come from? No explanation of any kind is given about them. Maybe regular readers of this series know what's going on, but I sure as heck don't. All the parallel storylines involving the book's supporting characters are also very confusing and not very interesting. And instead of becoming clearer, things only get more and more confusing as the story progresses. I told you I liked rogue secret agents stories, and Priest writes a very interesting and intriguing one. The story remains fairly realistic and plausible... UNTIL... XCON's mysterious secret weapon is revealed. What incredible tool are they using in their attempt to overthrow the government? Believe it or not, it's a pair of frog statues from king Solomon's tomb. Yup, that's their big secret weapons. The said frogs allow their user to pluck someone from the future and then make them do whatever you want them to, yadda yadda yadda. That's why there are two Canadian prime ministers, two presidents of the U.S. and two Iron Men. That, to me, was just completely silly and made an otherwise fairly down to earth and intelligent story completely unbelievable. Talk about an anti-climax...
This has got to be the most confusing comic story I have ever read. Take the two Black Panthers for example. Which is the original? Where does the other one come from? No explanation of any kind is given about them. Maybe regular readers of this series know what's going on, but I sure as heck don't. All the parallel storylines involving the book's supporting characters are also very confusing and not very interesting. And instead of becoming clearer, things only get more and more confusing as the story progresses. I told you I liked rogue secret agents stories, and Priest writes a very interesting and intriguing one. The story remains fairly realistic and plausible... UNTIL... XCON's mysterious secret weapon is revealed. What incredible tool are they using in their attempt to overthrow the government? Believe it or not, it's a pair of frog statues from king Solomon's tomb. Yup, that's their big secret weapons. The said frogs allow their user to pluck someone from the future and then make them do whatever you want them to, yadda yadda yadda. That's why there are two Canadian prime ministers, two presidents of the U.S. and two Iron Men. That, to me, was just completely silly and made an otherwise fairly down to earth and intelligent story completely unbelievable. Talk about an anti-climax...
The entire last issue is dedicated to sorting the mess out and attempting to explain what the heck just happened… like why did Panther annex a Canadian island in Lake Superior to his realm and then made a hostile takeover of Stark Enterprises, who knew what from the start, who was mislead, who are the originals and who are XCON's puppets, etc.
As for the art, it is generally excellent, although it wasn't as good in issue #44, but that might be because it was a guest inker working on it.
Quote:
When Iron Man grabs Wolverine by the throat, the X-Man says: "urrrrkk… tickin' me off… golden boy… better… do some of that… hero crap… Panther… 'fore I hafta hurt 'im…"
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