Broken Frontier

Bullets have altered history in more ways than one could imagine. One particular bullet, shot one day sooner could have catastrophic effects on the Marvel Universe.

Ben Erskine, creator of the super-soldier serum, backbone of Project Rebirth which would soon create the greatest soldier the world has ever seen in Captain America, has been shot and killed the day his concoction was supposed to be injected into Steve Rogers. With all super-soldier serum data lost along with Dr. Erskine’s life (he kept it in his head for security purposes) and US entry into World War II looming, another means of fighting the enemy must be found. Unfazed by Erskine’s untimely death, Steve Rogers, considered unfit to serve in the military for his rather unimpressive physical stature, takes the only offer left in the fight against evil: a new Iron Man technology. Meanwhile, a missing Ben Parker—dead at an early age due to a bullet—has a different result on his would-be nephew, Peter.

Straczynski lays out more than just an interesting premise with this issue. He takes us down a trip through memory lane, bookmarking all the high and low points of our history and injecting this "new" (alternate) history of the Marvel Universe. And while the issue is dense with narrative, it never feels that way. Each scene cuts to the next as this new timeline evolves in a quick and naturally flowing way. The characters also behave as one would expect them to based on what we the readers know about the "real" history of this Universe. Steve Rogers is still as patriotic and determined as ever, while Peter Parker is essentially a misguided punk without a father figure in his life.

I can see how some may not approve of Edwards’ art for an ambitious Marvel project like Bullet Points, but I see it as somewhat inspired. His is not the clean, crisp style you might see on a number of higher profiled books, but this really calls for something a little more "throwback" thematically. He does a great job with the WWII timeline and provides an especially impressive Iron Man prototype from back in the day. In short, the look of this book just feels right.

Bullet Points covers a lot of ground in this first issue. In a day were there are so many complaints of decompression and writing for the trade, this is a very welcome divergence. Straczynski and Edwards have crafted a well thought and compelling piece of alternate history for the Marvel Universe. I am very much looking forward to seeing where this goes next.