John Byrne does what John Byrne does best; creates an engaging world in four issues that leaves you begging for more.
What They Say:
In December 1959, the Carson family meets explorer Mike Worley in South America to investigate an ancient spaceship that crashed in the Amazon jungle in the distant past. The ship’s systems trap the four and expose them to a mysterious substance called “Gunk,” intended to adapt the ship’s original crew to the new environment. After brief exposure to the Gunk they escape, but it gives each of them superpowers that they use to fight for good as the original Danger Unlimited. But the story only begins there. Set in the futuristic 2061, flashbacks tell the story of what happened on Earth after the discovery of the Gunk, and how exposure to its powers causes the manifestation of super powers. The “new” Danger Unlimited super group seeks to uncover the fate of their predecessors while fighting to rid the Earth of the alien invaders that have overrun the planet! Also included in this collection are Babe #1-4 and Babe 2 #1-2, bringing all of John Byrne’s Danger Unlimited action together for the first time ever!
The Review
The 90’s were a hard time for John Byrne and many other artists and writers who wanted to get out from under the DC and Marvel worlds to do something new. They had this huge new opportunity there in front of them and several publishers, new and old, who wanted to see if they could find new ground through them with different kinds of titles. Comics were supposedly growing up as the readers were getting older and involved in more communication with each other, even in these pre-Internet days for the most part, and there was a thirst for things not seen. One such line Legend imprint from Dark Horse Comics. The imprint certainly did well in launching titles from Mike Mignola and Frank Miller and Byrne had success there too with his 2112 and Next Men titles. After those finished, he set off to do something a bit more accessible and, well, fun with Danger Unlimited in which he tried to capture the spirit of the Fantastic Four while not replicating that experience itself.
Danger Unlimited is a tale that takes place in two worlds. The first is in mid twentieth century where we see the background story of the formation of Danger Unlimited. The group is made up of the Carson family and family friend Mike Worley after they gained powers discovering an alien ship in South America. A mysterious “Gunk” found there, meant to give the aliens powers to be warriors on the worlds the visit, gave those powers to the humans and they in turn decided to put them to good use by following up on the previous generation of heroes led by the Torch of Liberty (whose supplemental stories do not make it into this collection, nor does the ProtoTykes from the Babe issues). The family aspect is obvious familiar though the powers are different and the shape of the characters is definitely different as the father takes on a very strange design. These tales are told in flashbacks as young Calvin Carson has awoken in the year 2061.
In the seventy-five years since he was placed in a sleep capsule in the Danger Unlimited headquarters, the world has drastically changed. Super-heroes are no longer permitted by the managing overlords of the planet, an alien race named the Xlerii who essentially co-opted the population into subservience by making their lives so much easier. The old headquarters was sealed up decades ago and is now set for destruction, which is why a military team is investigating the sudden surge of power that results in Calvin’s awakening. That doesn’t go well for others in the group as over the first couple of issues, the Gunk infects a few others which slowly brings about the idea of a new Danger Unlimited being born to try and throw off the yoke of oppression by the Xlerii.
The four issue arc here, all that was ever written for Danger Unlimited proper before orders became unsustainable for future publication, is simply one of the more intriguing things I’ve seen from Byrne over the years that I’ve read his work. In four simple issues he’s teased out a lot of material for what is a layered and detailed world that’s barely scratching the surface. There are many moments that harken back to classic Fantastic Four stories in terms of world design and how it could go, but it completely has its own identity as the core characters are really introduced. The past and future come together well, each supporting each other in different ways, while adding more to the overall narrative because of how Calvin has to react to seeing the world as it is. And as the residents of 2061 view him as someone that can galvanize the population to free themselves.
IDW Publishing didn’t want to put out just a four issue trade paperback (though I think they would have gotten more sales of it at a lower price) and have included the four issue run of Babe and its follow-up two issue run of Babe 2. The first mini series is actually a good bit of fun as a mysterious Amazonian like redhead lands on the road in front of Ralph Rowan. Being a fairly down on his luck talent agent, he sees great use for this bombshell of few words who repeats his catchphrase of Babe for the most part. Unfortunately for Rowan, there are others who end up wanting her in the form of a Gideon Longshadow, a rival agent of massive power. Where it gets complicated, and really fun, is when aliens are thrown into the mix that are trying to find Babe while pursuing their own experimentation goals as we see the airliner they captured with its full complement of passengers and crew.
Babe is all about fun for the four issue run but it has a good story to it as well as it reveals itself. It’s not the most consistent work Byrne has put out though. While I found Danger Unlimited to be pretty consistent throughout, Babe has some serious issues towards the end of the first mini series where Sylvia looks younger and more cartoonish as it goes along and even Rowan suffers from this at times. There are instances where she’s with her son and she looks more like an older sister than anything else. The Babe 2 mini series ejects most of the cast in favor of a short Babe adventure but it’s pretty lifeless as it’s more a parody of sorts of old Fantastic Four material that doesn’t flow well and doesn’t have time to really build itself back up. There was no real need for a sequel at the end of the first mini, which was decent if forgettable, while the second comes across as something you want to forget.
In Summary:
Sadly, the market wasn’t in the best of conditions at this time and all sorts of controls caused Byrne to drop the book after four issues, though he has stated recently that he’s got another twenty or so in mind to tell the tale. There are few titles from nearly twenty years ago that I’d want to revisit from the glut that died then, but Danger Unlimited is most definitely one of them. While it has a sense of fun and fluidity about it, it’s also one that teased out a very intriguing and fascinating world in those first four issues. With the scope of his past works and where he’s gone with them, particularly in Next Men, Danger Unlimited had the world in front of it. Hopefully he’ll find a way to do it. This is good stuff, even if stunted because of what happened. Babe itself is alright for its main series while the follow-up was just un-fun in general. Though it’s worth checking out Byrne’s past work with Babe, the real draw here is the Danger Unlimited material that makes every penny worth it.
Grade: A-
