Back to the Former Future: Ravage 2099 #2

Ravage 2099 #2
“This Madness Unleashed”
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Paul Ryan
Inker: Keith Williams
Letterer: Phil Felix
Colorist: Paul Becton
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco
Released: Nov. 10, 1992

A while back, I corrected a mistake I'd made many years ago by not reading a comic written by Stan Lee while it was being published. And sure, Ravage 2099 #1 was no Fantastic Four or Avengers, but it was interesting enough – and subsequent issues cheap enough – that I decided to keep going. So while I'm still trying to figure out what direction to go now that Free Willy Fridays have wrapped up and I haven't decided another comic series or storyline to feature, I took another trip to the future of my past with Ravage 2099 #2.

We open on Hellrock, the prison... island? continent? time share? … populated by monstrous mutroids, like the one who helped Alchemax muckety muck Anderthorp Henton frame our title character in the first issue. There, a four-armed fellow named Stormer is preparing to challenge Dethstryk, the mysterious figure I forgot we met at the end of last issue, for leadership of the mutroids.

Dethstryk appears in his Doctor Doom cosplay, apparently unaware Doom may or may not have returned in a companion 2099 series or just too hardened by years of trying to survive with only one vowel to his name to care. He dispatches Stormer with ease and pledges to help the mutroids eradicate humanity.

Meanwhile, Ravage is cruising around in his century-old garbage truck, roughing up officers of the Public Eye, a quasi-governmental police force (I think) run by his former employer Alchemax. He's been raiding their facilities and employees for equipment like the cog he uses as a shuriken to disable one of the officers.

Ravage is still so upset over Alchemax trying to frame and kill him last issue that he's dropping G's off his words and speaking in slang that would make his English teacher blush. “I ain't worryin' about anyone's approval … ever again,” he says before stealing some experimental, non-government-approved Kevlar from a store because, hey, it's hard to find bulletproof vests in the garbage.

Dethstryk is reminded by his soothsaying associate, the Seeress, that Ravage is destined to be a pain in his posterior. So Dethstryk calls up everybody's favorite serial-killing executive, Anderthorp Henton, and tells him to bring the recycling renegade to him (and showing readers that Henton may be an asset for Hellrock instead of the other way around).

After another run-in with the Public Eye and some would-be thieves, Ravage checks in on Tiana, his executive assistant/ex-girlfriend, and Dack, the son of the man whose murder by agents of Eco led its commander, Ravage, to look into the truth about the organization, another quasi-public Alchemx venture. Tiana's stir crazy and goes for a walk, despite Ravage warning her it's dangerous since Alchemax is looking for both of them.

Sure enough, Alchemax's agents find them and attack. Dack is shot and Tiana, after getting in a good roundhouse kick, is abducted via tractor beam. It's part of Henton's plan to lure Ravage to Hellrock, though I'm not sure why they didn't just beam Ravage up.

The story mainly feels like setup for issue 3, which I assume will involve Ravage attacking Hellrock. The concept is still interesting, but the story was pretty pedestrian, despite some nice over-the-top turns of phrase by Lee. On the opening page, he describes Hellrock by saying, “Think of your most gut-wrenching nightmare! Add unending horror, a thousand times worse!” I could practically hear him delivering those lines.

We do get a look at the characters' new status quo, along with clarification of Ravage and Tiana's status and who wears the pants in the Dethstryk-Henton partnership. Overall, it's not as entertaining or absurd as the first issue, but I'm not going to throw in the towel. After all, I bought several more issues at my local comic shops.