Broken Frontier

There seems to be a prevailing theme amongst some people of the world that things are not what they seem. That all the major events in history—wars, assassinations, technological advancements—were all done and controlled by a secret society of wealthy and influential people around the world.

One of these societies is called the Illuminati. This real life organization was founded on May 1, 1776 in Bavaria by Adam Weishaupt. The collective was composed of freethinkers and attracted thousands of intellectuals and politicians from all over Europe to be its members. It differentiated itself from the other major secret society at the time, the Freemasons, by not holding its members to believe in a “Supreme Being”.

On the surface, the Illuminati seemed to be just a social group of like-minded individuals. However, its secretive nature caused suspicion amongst some people. Due to the powerful people who were members, the Illuminati—and other secret societies such as the Knights Templar, the Masons and the Jacobins—were blamed for conspiring to cause most of the upheaval in the world at the time, up to and including the French Revolution.

The real world Illuminati only lasted 10 years, its existence ended by Bavarian ruler Karl Theodor’s 1784 edict banning all secret societies. However, secret societies still exist in the world today. The Freemasons are still active and newer groups, such as Yale’s Skull and Bones society, have had some of the most powerful men in the world as members.

These secret societies have made their way into popular fiction as well. These shadowy cabals played a major role in movies such as National Treasure, books such as The Da Vinci Code, and even graphic novels such as Alan Moore’s From Hell. Marvel has taken the ideal of a powerful secret society and made it their own.

Marvel’s Illuminati is composed of some of the most powerful members of its superhero community. Its members include brilliant inventor Reed Richards, the king of Atlantis Namor, wealthy industrialist Tony Stark, king of the Inhumans Black Bolt, mutant rights activist and scholar Professor Charles Xavier, the sorcerer supreme Dr. Stephen Strange and, at one time, Wakandan king Black Panther.

The make up of Marvel’s Illuminati echoes that of the real world Illuminati—intellectuals and politicians. However, while the real world Illuminati’s influence on society is debated by conspiracy theorists everywhere, there is no doubt about the Marvel version’s influence on the company’s history. 

The story, as it is now known, is that this group has been working behind the scenes and in between the pages of all those crossover events in Marvel history. They were trying to either make sure an event of that type never happened again, that the threats they faced will no longer be a threat, and, in some cases, cover up the true facts of these conflicts from the rest of the superhero community.

New Avengers: Illuminati is a five-issue miniseries that sprung out of the one-shot special of the same name earlier this year. Each issue will focus on a specific event in Marvel history—the Kree/Skrull War (where the Illuminati were first formed), the battle for the Infinity Gauntlet, the Beyonder’s Secret Wars, the coming of Marvel Boy and a secret, unrevealed fifth event. We will get to see how these men actually worked to affect and change the Marvel Universe during these times of chaos. 

The concept is structurally strong. Sure, meddling retroactively with continuity can cause the internet message boards to light up with overwhelmingly snarky negativity if not done right. But I believe the idea behind the Illuminati makes sense. All of these events endangered lives and even universes. Who wouldn’t want to take any means necessary to insure that the people they have sworn to protect are safe?

Brian Michael Bendis has taken a part of real world history and used it as an inspiration for a controversial, yet intriguing look at the Marvel Universe. I look upon this series with great interest to see how well Bendis, joined this time by Brian Reed, interweaves this new story in with what has come before.

Also out this week:

• Bomb Queen Vol 2 #3: Jimmy Robinson’s second send up of comic book conventions has come to an end. Robinson recently generated a bit of controversy for himself on the Comics Should Be Good blog by saying to comics fans, “You are not doing enough.”  Namely, he is calling fans on the carpet for not being more proactive in recruiting new readers into the comic’s fandom.

While I don’t go along with his “in your face” approach, I tend to agree that it couldn’t hurt to get new readers into the hobby. And the holiday season is a perfect time to introduce your friends to comics. Not every comic is right for everyone, I’ll give you that. But if you haven’t gotten a gift for that rabid Buffy fan on your list, how about getting them one of Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men TPB’s? If a friend is raving about the Ghost Rider trailer, buy him the Essential Ghost Rider . I’ve given comics related holiday gifts to my non-comic reading friends, and they are still friends. What harm could it do? 

Jimmy Robinson (W/A), Image Comics, $3.50. Three-issue miniseries.

• Criminal Macabre: Two Red Eyes #1:  Cal McDonald is back in a miniseries which will be the first in a line of ongoing Criminal Macabre comics. This should please fans of Steve Niles’ blend of crime noir and horror. In this series, the bridges that Cal has burned have laced a beating on him which lands him in the hospital. When he gets out, he finds a new player on the monster scene—a cat by the name of Nosferatu.

If the cover of this series leaves you with a “Punisher”-like impression, you’re not crazy. The art is done by regular Punisher cover artist Tim Bradstreet and he used the Punisher actor Thomas Jane as a model. Niles is friends with the actor, who posed for the covers as a favor. 

Steve Niles (W), Kyle Hotz (A), Dark Horse Comics, $2.99. Four-issue miniseries.

• Testament #13: This series so far has featured the tales from an America of the near future. The characters have to deal with a country undergoing an unfair war overseas, having been implanted with tracking chips so the government knows exactly where they are when the need to be called to duty. The stories up to this point have been allegories of parables from various world religions, with deities from said religions acting as a Greek chorus. 

This is an interesting concept, but led to predictable stories. If you knew your Bible, you knew where Testament was going. However, last issue the modern day cast went “off-script”, breaking from the allegory and causing the deities to take a more active role in the proceedings. This added a bit of excitement to the series and renewed my interest in the book. If you have turned away from the comic, this issue might be one to get you started reading it again.   

Douglas Rushkoff (W), Peter Gross & Gary Erskine (A), DC Comics/Vertigo, $2.99. Ongoing series.

• Ultimate Spider-Man #103: This is where Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley set history. While they are not the team with the most consecutive issues done together on a Marvel book (*cough, cough* Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragones *cough, cough* Groo* cough, cough* 120 issues), they do become the longest running team on a Marvel superhero comic, surpassing the mark of 102 issues set by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby on the original Fantastic Four .

Not to make light of Mr. Bendis’ contribution to the tandem, but this is a great accomplishment for Mark Bagley. He has done great artwork for 103 issues straight. No fill-ins, no missed issues and sometimes with two issues coming out in a single month. 103 issues! This is impressive no matter what era you are talking about. Kudos go to Mr. Bagley for his endurance and professionalism. He should serve as an example for aspiring artists everywhere.   

Brian Michael Bendis (W), Mark Bagley (A), Marvel Comics, $2.99. Ongoing series.

• Dave Stewart’s Walk-In #1: Ian Dormhouse has problems. First, he’s an alien prisoner outsourced to planet Earth. Second, he doesn’t know he’s a prisoner or what crime he committed. Third, he’s in love with a stripper whose most remarkable feature is the octopus on her back. Fourth, he has started pretending to be a dreamreader in the club the stripper works at just to be close to her. Fifth, a gangster wants to kill him for dreams he supposedly saw. And finally, there is a German rock band whose music can alter your mind—literally.

This trippy concept comes to Virgin through the twisted imagination of rocker Dave Stewart (he of Eurythmics fame). It seems to have a stream-of-conscious wackiness about it that has a perfect home in comic books. Virgin has scored pretty highly with employing authors known for work in other media, and this might be their most intriguing series yet!

Jeff Parker (W), Ashish Padlekar (A), Virgin Comics, $2.99. Ongoing series.   

# # #

William Gatevackes is a professional writer living in Mamaroneck, NY with his wife Jennifer. Bill also writes periodic comic reviews for PopMatters and writes title descriptions for Human Computing’s Comicbase collection management software.