DCU Comic Book Reviews

FACES OF EVIL:  PROMETHEUS

The Man Who Murdered Prometheus

March 2009

Written by Sterling Gates

Pencils by Federico Dallocchio

Inks by Federico Dallocchio

Cover by Mauro Cascioli

Synopsis

Then…Batman and the Justice League of America defeat Prometheus.  Martian Manhunter then places a mental block on Prometheus, forcing him to relive old memories while locked in a prison cell.  However, when Libra kills the Martian Manhunter, Prometheus is freed from his mental prison.  He is then able to escape Blackgate Prison.  When he reaches a safehouse, he learns that someone has been impersonating him.  Days later, the fake Prometheus is fighting the Blood Pack, when the original Prometheus arrives to take the fake one to the Ghost Zone.  There, the original Prometheus expresses distaste that his protégé, his “Robin” had failed.  He kills the fake Prometheus and then promises revenge on the Justice League for what they had done to him.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

For those who may not know, Sterling Gates’ job at DC Comics (he is the current writer of Supergirl and wrote this story for Green Lantern Corps) is partially due to being acquainted with Geoff Johns.  So, I suppose, it should be no surprise that this comic invokes Johns’ work.  Not only in the way the story retcons Prometheus recent, pretty lame, appearances so that he becomes a major force in the DC universe once more, but also in the use of excessive violence as he kills and maims the Blood Pack.  But I think it is fairly easy to try to emulate Johns, it is quite another matter to create a decent comic.  And this is a decent comic.  It is not fantastic.  And I am not sure Johns could make it so; there is a lot of necessary exposition in the story in order for the reader to understand not only Prometheus but also what happened to him while he is incapacitated.  In that regard there is more telling than showing, but Gates seems to have a good handle on the character (although to be honest, I don’t quite remember the original stories), which is the key to the story.  This story is about Prometheus and Gates does a good job showing us a hardened, intelligent criminal with very little remorse and tons of vengeance and revenge on the brain.  And I think this issue doesn’t a decent enough job to make want to learn how that is going to work out. 

Comic Connection

Prometheus was created by Grant Morrison and first appeared in the one shot New Year’s Evil:  Prometheus (February 1998).  He was defeated by Batman (the opening page of this comic) occurred in JLA, issue #37. 

Based on what is revealed here, it was Chad Graham who appeared in the “Hush Returns” storyline that began in Gotham Knights, issue #60; who attacked Huntress in Birds of Prey, issue #94; who appeared under the control of Starro in the “Titans Tomorrow” storyline in issue #51 of Teen Titans; and who was shown re-joining the Society in the mini-series Villains United. 

The Blood Pack were originally created in DC’s company wide Bloodlines event several years ago.  Anima of the Blood Pack first appeared in New Titans Annual #9 and was recently killed in Titans East Special #1. 

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