Kickin It Old School

The people have spoken and they want more old, wacky comics. This week's entry comes from DC's Mystery in Space #108 (1966) starring Ultra the Multi-Alien. The only credit on this one belongs to a Lee Elias who I am not familiar with. I did some research on the character though. The Unoffical Guide to the DC Universe says that Ultra was once Ace Arn, a planet pilot in the near future who, after accidentally coming across a faction of alien gangsters, gets "blessed" with their unique abilities. Click on the link to read a more detailed bio.

Here's the deal, Ultra here has four different abilities: the green side of his body and right arm have super strength, the blue side of his body and left arm have magnetic abilities, his left leg is made up of lightning energy, and the right one looks like a chicken leg, granting him the power of flight. In this issue Ultra finds himself trying to thwart two giant aliens named Kratum and Vaaro from wreaking havoc in Astro City (Busiek's secret is out). Astro City is an interesting place; it has all the futuristic standards like cops with ray guns and jet trains, but it also the intercontinental postal missile system, rockets that shoot mail over the continent. Anyway, the giants are on Earth to find the fastest vehicle in the solar system. Apparently, they are on a solar system spanning scavenger hunt (that one's for Stan). The colossal aliens then teleport to Mars for the hardest substance and Pluto for the greatest source of energy (I guess the sun doesn't count). So how does our hero save the day? He gets them in a bitch fight, they run out of time, and get teleported back to wherever giants come from. Oh, I almost forgot, those weird plant-looking creatures on the cover? Vaaro has a ray that makes monsters out of…well anything. Ultra uses his magnetic ability to drag himself away from them, and then gets hosed off by several Martians dressed as Spanish conquistadors. What was Elias on?

And that's it. Ultra spends most of the time zapping the giants with his lightning leg, even though he realizes it does absolutely nothing to stop them. Ugh. The next time you hear someone pining for the old days of comics, just have them check this out. Don't get me wrong, I understand that, without these books, modern comics wouldn't be where they are today and they have a certain charm, but I'd rather read an X-spin off than stuff like this (and I do not like the X-Men except in animated and live action forms).

But, as you know, I like to put a positive spin on these goofy characters. I believe Ultra appeared in an issue of Starman, which is very cool. Ohh...I don't know...maybe he and Metamorpho could start a club for guys with four-colored skin and kick the crap out of the Super-Skrull. Attention Marvel and DC, this could be the next Unlimited Access, let me know how many issues you’d like, I’ll have them in by January.