Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1994-11-01 01:06:36 |
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Marvel Comics Presents #174 (Nick Fury)
Issue(s): Marvel Comics Presents #174 (Nick Fury story only)
Cover Date: Feb 95
Title: "Breakthrough"
Credits:
Mariano Nicieza - Writer
Warren Martineck - Penciler
Rober Quijano - Inker
Michael Kraiger - Assistant Editor
Richard Ashford - Editor
Review/plot:
AIM has captured a Shi'ar scout ship.
Nick Fury is tipped off thanks to someone who claims or thinks that Alessandro Brannex is her brother.
I say "claims or thinks" because we know that Alessandro is really the Super-Adaptoid.
Nick and Solemne fight their way through AIM to get to the ship. Solemne is shot by Alessandro.
But she lives. They escape with the ship. Solemne ensures that it crashes on AIM island, the implication being that Allessandro is killed.
The Super-Adaptoid of course is not going to be killed off in a random Marvel Comics Presents story, and he'll continue to appear as Alessandro Brannex.
I don't know how the Alessandro Brannex identity came to be, but most likely he was a real person whose identity was stolen by the Super-Adaptoid. I'm curious if the sister, Solemne, always thought her brother was a tyrant or if she's only noticed a change in his behavior recently. Based on the "old feud" line, it seems like the former. I'm also curious how she wound up working for AIM.
It's also interesting that Mariano Nicieza writes Alessandro as if he really is Solemne's brother, including when he's monologing outside of her range of hearing. The revelation that Allessandro was the Super-Adaptoid came in Captain America #413, almost two years prior to this story's publication. So you'd think Nicieza would be aware of it when writing this, or at least that there would be enough time for an assistant editor to massage the script a bit.
It's a shame that this story doesn't acknowledge that Alessandro is the Super-Adaptoid, because delving a bit into where that identity came from, especially now knowing that he had a sister, would have been a lot more interesting. But of course that would be asking for something of (minor) consequence to come out of a Marvel Comics Presents story, and that's rare.
Quality Rating: D
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A
References:
- The Shi'ar ship is thought to have crashed during Galactic Storm, which began in Captain America #398.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
fnord, I remember at the time this story appeared attempting to reconcile it in my head with the revelation that Alessandro Brannex was actually the Super-Adaptoid. The solution I came up with was that in his initial appearances Brannex was a real person, and that at some point he was replaced by the Super-Adaptoid. This story could be set pretty soon after "Galactic Storm," which would mean that it could take place before Captain America #413. My idea was that the real Brannex died in this story, and either AIM immediately replaced him with the Super-Adaptoid to prevent any power struggles, or the Super-Adaptoid used Brannex's death as an opportunity to assume his identity and take over AIM.
