After a week and a day, I once more open the doors to the realm of insanity that was Image Comics' "Extreme Studios" imprint. The main difference from last Friday's "Funnies" Foolishness entry, and today's entry, is aside from sharing the same universe, we have a legit title-to-title CROSSOVER EVENT! Aside from dabbling in cross references between books, up until this event, I don't believe any branch of the company had designs for an inter-title crossover event. That includes Mark Silvestri's "Top Cow Studios", Erik Larsen's "Highbrow Studios", Jim Valentino's "Shadowline Studios", Jim Lee's "Homage Studios"... and Todd McFarlane's "Give Me All Your Money So I Can Buy Hockey Teams and Baseballs Studios". Nope, our master of questionable anatomy, Rob Liefeld, was the first to initiate a crossover event at Image! I bring you, "Extreme Prejudice"!
I also bring you an entry that may be VERY scattershot in summary, because there is ZILCH information in detail for "Extreme Prejudice" on the internet. Go figure; you can find funny cat videos in droves, but such a "stellar" event in the Image Universe gets barely a nod! But unless you possess fifty bucks to buy the single copy of the hardcover trade from Amazon... and yes, I checked that earlier today... your event crossover checklist goes as follows:
- Part 1- "Team Youngblood #7"
- Part 2- "Brigade #8"
- Part 3- "Bloodstrike #9"
- Part 4- "Supreme #11"
- Part 5- "Team Youngblood #8"
- Part 6- "Brigade #9"
- Part 7- "Bloodstrike #10"
(For an added note, if you're seeking these issues on an individual basis, good luck in finding a copy of "Supreme #11". Geez, even when the "impact" of the series had cooled off some, that issue was near IMPOSSIBLE to find!)
Before I begin, you may notice two key Extreme Studios titles are missing from the crossover listing: "Prophet" and the Image line launcher, "Youngblood". At this time, I believe "Prophet" was still just getting through his introductory storyline, and "Youngblood" as a book was inactive, and would remain thus until about 1994. (For the record, this event took place in 1993.) The crux of this storyline is VERY simple to describe, even without a detailed accounting to make reference from. The Extreme Studios superheroes have to band together after an accident at Quantum Base... under de sea... releases an infamous super-powered being named Quantum. Who is Quantum? To be fully honest, he was Magneto, without the magnetic powers, but still with the influence of the magnetic poles of the Earth to fuel his power. And yes... to continue the not-at-all subtle riffing on Magneto, he also had an axe to grind with us "normals", and made requests of the teams assembled to defeat him to become part of Quantum's quest of Earthly conquest.
One interesting thing to note is that ALL of the full-fledged teams in this crossover were the primary government-sponsored teams of the Extreme Studios universe. In a cute attempt to still play nice with the other corners of the Image Comics creations, there's also mentions of involving Jim Lee's "Stormwatch" team on the events, but as far as I can recall, they NEVER stepped foot in the Extreme Studios universe. (So in a way, trying to call on Stormwatch in any Image book would be like me trying to call up Rose McGowan for a date. Wishful thinking; not gonna happen.) The one solo operator, Supreme, has one issue dedicated to the crossover, but his impact is felt in the series, because he's one of the primary casualties. Yes! Quantum zaps Supreme of his powers! (This plays into Supreme later relying on Thor's hammer to substitute for his lost powers. ... And yes, the Extreme Studios universe had it's own Thor.)
If none of this is sounding terribly deep... It's because the storyline really ISN'T all that deep. Each issue can be summarized like this: Up until Supreme is power-neutered, each team assaults Quantum on their own. Upon realizing this isn't the best solution, each team puts aside their differences, and decide to unify their assault on Quantum. (Which is rather difficult for Brigade and Bloodstrike, who after the "Blood Brothers" crossover that launched the "ongoing" Brigade series, and Bloodstrike as a series period, the team leaders Battlestone and Cabbot have a nasty brotherly rift between them.) The one seed of "subtlety" laid for the book was introducing the characters to form a team that would launch after the defeat of Quantum: the New Men. Eh... I suppose I'll mention the members of this rather unforgettable team:
- Reign- Team leader who stole Adam Warlock's gimmick of a powered gem on his forehead.
- Bryd- Not Hawkman or Angel... at all.
- Dash- Also not Jessie Quick or any other generic super-speedster... at all.
- Exit- Not Nightcrawler, only without the sulphurous transportation gas cloud.
- Kodiak- Ugh... Can you also guess not Sasquatch, only if Sasquatch was an obnoxious teenager?
What's interesting about this crossover was how it was an exercise in false promises. Okay, for the most part, the Extreme Studios universe villains were forgettable. (If you can recall ANYTHING about Giger, Darkthorne, Birds of Prey or Genocide, I actually encourage you to leave a comment.) But we were promised these threats to the universe WOULD unite in "Extreme Prejudice", saying this would be THE Image event that would change everything. We were also promised some involvement by the proper Youngblood "Home" team, and Prophet. Both were no-shows. Instead, you could perceive this series was the parallel of the X-Men's "Fatal Attraction" event, only without nearly enough of the history.
In the end, what was the legacy of "Extreme Prejudice"? Supreme actually maintained his power loss for an extended period of his series run. (Another drastic event in not-Superman's life will be touched upon when I eventually write about the "Extreme Sacrifice" event.) Bloodstrike was destroyed... for REALS... for an extended period of that series' run. (And the sole surviving member of the Bloodstrike team was actually a transplant from Youngblood, in Chapel.) Brigade carried on until the team started falling apart from internal stresses, resulting in a rebirthed team of various pickings so disjointed, they should've just called themselves "The Champions: The Next Generation". Next Men had a mini-series launched after the event, then a regular series, and had at least two title restructurings before the concept faded into obscurity. Quantum apparently DID make some future reappearances, but I personally didn't encounter him in any of my latter Extreme Studios readings. As for Team Youngblood, they held the line until the "Youngblood" title could be relaunched. The two Youngblood teams shared narratives for a few issues, and then came "Extreme Sacrifice"... and the twain were no longer "besties". But that's another story for another time...
P.S. In case you were wondering why I didn't make specific notes about writers/artists/etc... It's because the story wasn't spectacularly written, and the artwork was Liefeld house style. Odd shaped feet... when they did appear... and all.
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