November 1999
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artists: Oscar Jimenez, Micheal Ryan, Eduardo Alpuente, Livesay & Hayssing
Story:
To make a very long story short, a race of alien gamemasters calling themselves "The Coterie" beam all of Earth's heroes up to their ship to participate in "a great contest". In return for supplying them with entertainment, the winners of the contest are promised access to all the knowledge the Coteri have accumulated during their space travels. All the heroes are enthralled and happy to participate except one: the invincible Iron Man! Sealed inside his armor, our hero realizes that the very air is crawling with microscopic nanites that can penetrate the heroes' systems, modifying their behaviors and clouding their thoughts.
To make a very long story short, a race of alien gamemasters calling themselves "The Coterie" beam all of Earth's heroes up to their ship to participate in "a great contest". In return for supplying them with entertainment, the winners of the contest are promised access to all the knowledge the Coteri have accumulated during their space travels. All the heroes are enthralled and happy to participate except one: the invincible Iron Man! Sealed inside his armor, our hero realizes that the very air is crawling with microscopic nanites that can penetrate the heroes' systems, modifying their behaviors and clouding their thoughts.
The Coteri (who are in fact a holographic creation of the Brood - Badoon alliance) realize that Iron Man is unaffected by the nanites. He is therefore chosen to be the first to enter the arena. His opponent is none other than the beautiful and deadly Psylocke. A very cool battle ensues in which the X-Woman uses her connection to the Mandarin against her armored foe. In the end though, Iron Man wins, to the aliens' displeasure. He is then thrown in the arena again to face X-Force. This time, after a battle not worth describing, he is beaten in a most boring way by some kid I've never heard of before. The Coteri's promise is that all the defeated heroes will be returned, unhurt, to where they came from so Iron Man disappears.
But like everything else about the Coteri, that promise also turns out to be a lie. Instead of Earth, Iron Man finds himself in a strange alien jungle (inside one of the Brood's living ships) that just happens to be crawling with alien nasties waiting there to tear the defeated heroes apart. Psylocke is there too and the nanites have disabled her mutant powers. The brilliant Stark will eventually find a cure by reprogramming some nanites to restore all the heroes' powers. Then, along with Psylocke and the duo of Lockdown and Rosetta (two newcomers that literally came out of nowhere), he manages to escape the jungle with the intention to kick some serious alien butt. Before the story is done though, he will have to face a Rogue who possesses the powers of all the winners: Cap, Thor, Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Scarlet Witch and Phoenix. Ouch!
What's cool:
This series was written by one of the best, Chris Claremont and drawn by one of the most interesting new artists in the business, Oscar Jimenez. You can't really go wrong with that. On top of it, Iron Man plays a very important role in the story from start to finish so that's most excellent. Whoever your favorite heroes are in the Marvel Universe, you can be pretty sure you'll at least catch a glimpse of them in this series. That's enough to make it generally enjoyable.
What's cool:
This series was written by one of the best, Chris Claremont and drawn by one of the most interesting new artists in the business, Oscar Jimenez. You can't really go wrong with that. On top of it, Iron Man plays a very important role in the story from start to finish so that's most excellent. Whoever your favorite heroes are in the Marvel Universe, you can be pretty sure you'll at least catch a glimpse of them in this series. That's enough to make it generally enjoyable.
What's baaad:
Several things I'm afraid. I think the main problem is that Claremont is trying to do too many things at the same time. One of the coolest things about the first Contest of Champions limited series was that you got to see unfamiliar heroes interacting with each other and that was great fun. Interaction in this second installment is kept to a minimum and there are virtually no team-ups. That's very disappointing. As for the fights, although some of them are really cool and well done (such as Iron Man vs. Psylocke, Daredevil vs. Deadpool and Hawkeye vs. Gambit to name a few), many of them are actually very boring. Some potentially interesting duels only last one meager panel! Talk about dispatching the goods in a hurry! And some results are just absurd, like the Black Widow actually BEATING Wonder Man with her bare hands and then beating X-Force (the very ones who kicked Shellhead's metal behind) all by herself? Yeah right! Why not Thor or Galactus while we're at it?
Also, the two new very lame heroes, Rosetta and Lockdown, are totally superfluous and unnecessary (not to mention boring to tears). Aren't there enough cool characters in the Marvel universe that could have played their part? Then we might actually have seen some interesting interaction, some cool team-ups maybe even! But no, these two lame characters are just dumped on us in the middle of the story. And at the end, although they come from some other world, do they wonder how they'll get back home? Are they worried to be stuck on this strange planet they know nothing of? Nope, they simply sit in their red Batmobile, all smiles, and drive away. Is Claremont getting rusty?
Quote:
Quote:
Rogue, possessing all of the winner's powers, says: "I hope that hurt. And that this hurts more. Formidable as your armor appears, Iron Man… can it withstand Captain America's photonic shield, backed by the unmatchable strength of the rampaging Hulk?"
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