The Databank. Not many of the countless races of beings throughout the universe had cast their eyes upon this place. The information stored within its depths staggered the mind of the lone figure bowed upon one knee before the being that had summoned him. The entire history of the Skrull race, from the texts on the Kree/Skrull War, to the smallest schematics on a Skrull battle cruiser were contained within the Databank. Still, as awed as he was to be amidst all the glory of his empire, the Super Skrull was not pleased.

The Empress S'byl had ordered the Super Skrull here. He knew nothing of the details. All he knew was that it would be foolish not to follow orders, no matter how ridiculous. He had long been loyal to the empire and he wasn't about to change his suit now. Still, the Super Skrull was a man of action. His recent failure at the hands of the Fantastic Four still burned within him.* Tales of his battles with that infernal team were whispered in shameful voices throughout the Skrull Emperium... to think that the finest warrior of the Skrulls, blessed with all the powers of the Fantastic Four in one mighty body, could be continually humbled by that same band of Terran adventurers...

The Super Skrull wanted his revenge. This was simply a delay in his plans.

(* See upcoming issues of M2K's Fantastic Four -- Will)

"Ah, the Super Skrull," said a voice from all around him and he darted his head quickly around, scanning the room with his eyes, trying to place where specifically the sound had come from. It was a feminine voice and one the Super Skrull recognized well enough. He frowned deeply, the creases in his jaw line becoming more defined. The Super Skrull had hoped to meet with a high-ranking official with orders for his next mission. Not with her.

"The Empress S'byl has given me leave to grant you your next mission Captain Kl'rt. I feared that perhaps you would not be up to the task after your recent failure, but S'byl still blindly holds confidence that you are worthy of matters that require the utmost skill and dedication," said the voice, and Kl'rt began to fume within his body. This was ridiculous. He was of the highest order of the Skrull military. There was no creature throughout the cosmos that did not feel a prick of apprehension upon hearing his name. How dare this creature speak to him in such a way?

"I do my duty to the best of my ability," the Super Skrull started, but he was immediately cut off by the sharp tone of the voice ringing out from the high walls of the Databank.

"Silence. Super Skrull, your mission is to return to Earth and claim a being that is of Kree descent. The Kree is a young woman. We have located her and the transport for your departure is prepared," said the voice as the Super Skrull rose from his knee. He was not pleased with being interrupted and he was not pleased at having to go back to the mud-ball that was the planet Earth.

"What is the purpose of this mission? Why is one such as I being sent to claim some simple Kree girl?" asked the Super Skrull as a light cast itself towards the Super Skrull. It was coming from a far corner of the Databank and the Super Skrull recognized it as a transport beam.

"It is not for you to know the specifics of this mission Captain. It is enough that you know what you must do and that you do it post haste. The Skrull Emperium is relying on you. Do not fail it yet again." The Super Skrull scowled at the voice, anger seeping into every pore of his body.

"I am used to having the highest level of clearance in the Skrull military. It is ridiculous to send me on a mission where no information is to be had," growled the Super Skrull as he stepped into the brilliant light of the transport and crossed his arms, preparing his body for the jump.

"I will be with you Super Skrull, every step of the way," said the voice and the Super Skrull grimaced even more heavily. "If there is a need, I will update you with any information I feel is required as we progress through the mission."

The light became even brighter now and the Super Skrull closed his eyes. He could feel his body beginning to lightly tingle as the transport diffused the molecules of his powerful frame.

"Of course, being the guardian and most powerful physical specimen in the Skrull Emperium, I'm certain there will not be a problem," said the voice as the transport device began to sift the Super Skrull's body into the chamber that would send him rocketing to Earth. Was there sarcasm evident in her voice? The Super Skrull thought so, but he couldn't reply with anything but an annoyed grunt as his body was thrust away. With a flash of light, he was gone.

"You know I love you Bobby, but there's just so many things going on in my life. It's hard to put them on hold when all I hear all day from everyone I know is how hard I've got to work just to keep my head above water," said the young blond woman as she leaned against the wall of the Empire Club, a diner across campus from Empire State University.

"Chloe, this is ridiculous. Before you started college, you said we'd be together forever, and now you're just calling it off? Just like that?" pleaded the young man in front of her and Chloe looked away with a hurt expression etched on her face.

"I'm sorry Bobby, I guess things just got more comatose than I thought they would," said Chloe and immediately she winced. Bobby looked at her strangely and then started laughing as Chloe raised her hands to her face and an angry voice echoed through her head with one word that sent chills up and down her spine.

"CUT," yelled the director as he hopped up quickly from the chair where he'd been watching his two actors speak to each other in front of the Empire Club. He ambled over to where they were and immediately pointed towards his male actor.

"Shut the hell up Thomas. We've been here for about an hour over our scheduled time and I'm really not in the mood to play around with you anymore," yelled the director. 'Bobby' cringed and turned, walking away from the angry eyes of the director. He didn't want to be anywhere near the guy when he finally focused his attention on the real reason he was pissed.

The real reason was standing with slumped shoulders and hands still pressed to her face. The director turned towards her and frowned. She'd been doing so well up until the line about the break-up. The girl was beautiful. Perhaps she'd never been through a tough break-up before. Nevertheless, the director wasn't about to stay here all day. They really needed to get this shot.

"Suzy, look at me ok?" asked the director as he grabbed the hands of the actress who had been playing Chloe and pulled them from her face. Suzy Sherman looked up at the director and flashed a meek smile that the director tried really hard not to return. He had to remain firm or they'd be here all day.

"Now, I know that you know the lines Suzy. We've been over them hundreds of times. All I'm asking is that you let the character of Chloe take over here. Suzy Sherman can't do this. You have to become Chloe right now. Half of our trade of soap acting is improv anyway. If it helps you to keep your mind on your lines, try doing something with your body that keeps you in character ok?" The director spoke smoothly and evenly, but firmly. Suzy kept her eyes on him the entire time and nodded her head slightly, so he continued. "Good, then we're going to set-up for another go at this. Go ahead and get comfortable while I go fetch Thomas."

Suzy nodded her head again and the director turned and stalked away, heading in the direction Thomas had fled. Suzy blew out her breath in a sigh of frustration. She'd never believed acting would be such a pain in the butt. It was definitely a lot tougher than modeling. She'd been in Los Angeles up until three weeks ago. Her agent had called out of the blue and told her she'd landed a part on the soap opera, Secret Hospital. Suzy had been excited, who wouldn't be? Television was a big time break for her. She could really see her career taking off as she sat on the plane traveling from LA to New York.

But things weren't going as well as she'd hoped. She messed up her lines a lot in the beginning. She had to think that if it wasn't for her looks and her camera presence, that she'd have been scrapped a long time ago. Still, she wasn't about to give up. She'd known it wouldn't be ideal, she'd just hoped that it would be. Suzy wasn't about to quit. She leaned back against the wall of the Empire Club and ran her hands over her neck, trying to smooth away the chills that had hit her when the director had wigged out. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. When she opened them and looked out towards the Empire State campus, she saw someone looking at her.

The guy was pretty young, probably a college freshman or something. He and a bunch of others were milling past the cameras, checking out what was going on and probably wishing they were the ones doing the acting. Suzy kept her eyes on the guy for a few long moments. She didn't normally stare at people, but the guy was fairly cute, and his hair was white. Not gray, but the purest white she'd ever seen. In the sun it was a bit blinding to look at. Suzy smiled and the guy smiled back and then she turned to get back to work. The director had found Thomas and was coming back. It was almost time to do her thing.

Johnny Gallo smiled even wider when the blond chick turned away from him to do whatever it was she had to do. An actress on a movie set was actually interested in him. Johnny had caught quite a few eyes from the girls on campus at ESU, but this was the crowning achievement. He couldn't wait to catch up to Eddie and tell him all about it.

Suddenly all the breath was knocked from Johnny as he ran smack into another of the students rushing along the walkway. Johnny hadn't been carrying any books, but the student he slammed into had and they went flying all over the place, one hitting Johnny right on his forehead before it flipped away and hit the ground.

"Smooth one," came a voice from behind him and Johnny turned and looked directly toward where the girl he'd been looking at was standing earlier. She was still there, but beside her was another of the actors. He looked to be about Johnny's age and he was laughing at him. The girl had a grin on her face too, but at least she wasn't laughing at him. Johnny heard a groan and whipped back around, reaching for the person he'd knocked down.

"I'm so sorry, I totally wasn't looking where I was going," said Johnny as he reached down and took the hand of the Asian girl splayed out on the walkway. She took the hand and Johnny lifted her to his feet. She immediately went to get her books and Johnny helped her, gathering them up quickly. The girl wasn't smiling, if anything, she seemed annoyed and Johnny quickly handed her the books and moved on his way, hoping he wouldn't have anything like that happen to him again today. He looked back once at the girl he'd knocked over and she was walking away quickly as well. He admired her from behind for a few seconds before continuing on.

Suddenly a piercing screech erupted from above and Johnny was forced to press his hands to his ears to stifle it. He cast his eyes into the sky and saw what looked like a comet streaking out of the sky, directly for the ESU campus. The comet quickly descended and hit the ground with an earth-shaking tremor of sound. There was a flash of brilliant light and then Johnny could see just fine. What he saw, was not a good thing.

"I have come for the Kree-girl!" yelled the abomination in front of Johnny Gallo and Johnny immediately turned and began to run. There were some trees to his right where he could make the change. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to make a difference, but he had to try.

After a few months of inactivity -- ever since the Slingers had broken up, in fact* -- it looked like Ricochet was going to see some action.

(* See Marvel's Slingers #12 for the break-up -- Will)

"Something I can help you with son?" asked the police officer standing directly behind the young man. He stood there for a few seconds measuring the boy in the dirty trenchcoat that stunk of age, hoping he wasn't some drugged out punk, looking for trouble. When the kid didn't answer, the cop shrugged his shoulders and moved to enter the precinct. Kids these days had no respect for the law.

Chris Bradley had barely heard the voice of the police officer that had addressed him. He barely saw the officer walk around him and then slip into the police station. He wasn't really seeing or hearing things all that clearly lately. His only reason for standing outside of the police station right now was because he was seriously considering turning himself in.

He'd done things that he wasn't proud of -- hell, that he was ashamed and horrified of --while under the thrall of Apocalypse. He'd been one of the dark master's Pale Riders. He and the other Riders had killed a lot of people.* The rest of the Pale Riders seemed to have moved on from what their part had been in all that bloodshed, but he just couldn't ignore what had happened like them. He couldn't even picture it in his mind without breaking down and crying.

(* See M2K's Apocalypse: Ageless Fury maxi-series for all the gory details -- Will)

He was only sixteen years old. Life wasn't supposed to be this hard when you were sixteen years old. He hadn't seen his family or Maverick in months. Maverick had been his mentor for a while and they'd grown close. Maverick wasn't here now though. Chris needed a way to ease the running, ease the hunger, ease the pain. He wasn't sure if walking through the doors of this police precinct and admitting what he did would stop the pain, but it could be a start towards that. He needed that more than anything right now.

He put his foot on the steps leading towards the police station and started to climb when he paused. There was some kind of whistling in the air, as if something was coming at high velocity towards the area. Suddenly there was a deafening crash as a blond girl came hurtling through the air and crashed directly into the wall of a nearby building. She burst through and was out of sight immediately. Chris wasn't even sure what had happened, but suddenly he heard the deafening roar of something in the distance and the sound of something else. He knew the sound by now better than most, it was the sound of battle. Chris glanced once more at the police station, where the cop who had passed him by earlier was peering out of one of the windows. He turned then, and began running towards the sounds of the fight, the dirty trenchcoat that was his only possession flapping as he ran.

Moments before Chris saw her hurtle through the air and into the side of a building, Suzy Sherman had been standing next to her acting partner, Thomas Reynolds, when a comet came crashing into the ground not a hundred feet from her. When the blinding flash of light cleared and the creature within bellowed for the Kree-girl, Suzy knew she was in trouble. The entire film crew and cast were looking at the creature, so Suzy slipped away, quickly making the change to the tight-fitting outfit of Ultra-Girl.

She took to the air and flew quickly to separate the creature from the civilians who were gawking stupidly at it. When she landed, the creature's eyes immediately went to her and Suzy shivered as it seemed to measure her.

"You are the Kree-girl I have been sent to acquire," the creature said and Suzy shuddered. The creature was huge and looked powerful. She wasn't sure if she should just tackle it outright, especially since it seemed to know her when she didn't know a thing about it. Still, Ultra-Girl clenched her fists and tensed her body. The creature seemed to notice and chuckled deep within its throat.

"Pathetic fighting stance. You will be easily bested," said the creature and then suddenly it was on top of her, grabbing her by the throat with one massive, green hand. Suzy was lifted into the air and the creature began to squeeze. Ultra-Girl knew she'd pass out from the strain if the creature was allowed to keep it up, so she reared back her fist and aimed for the creatures rippled chin.

The shot was solid and the creature's head rocked back violently. It let Ultra-Girl go and staggered back. Ultra-Girl smiled and blew on her knuckles, but then the creature's head rose and it let loose a cry of rage. It was all Ultra-Girl could do to keep from wetting herself as the creature turned its hateful gaze upon her.

"That was a foolish mistake girl," said the creature as its hand began to morph right before Suzy's eyes. She watched as the hand grew in size and took on a rocky exterior. The creature reared back the tremendous fist and swung at Suzy, connecting with the side of her head and sending her hurtling into the air. The last thing she saw before she was out of sight was two other figures rushing at the creature from behind.

"Hey Ugly, chill out," said a voice from behind the Super Skrull as he watched the Kree-girl sail through the air. He turned towards the voice just as a projectile flying through the air struck him in the face. The Super Skrull grunted as the man who had thrown the disk rammed into him full force and then bounced away. The blow didn't hurt much, but the Super Skrull was not used to being struck, and he'd been struck three times in the space of a minute.

"Away, little rabbit," boomed the Super Skrull in a thunderous voice as he shot jets of fire from his hands. The man in front of him easily dodged out of the way and hurtled another disk at the Super Skrull, connecting with the side of his head.

"Rabbit? I know there's a big R on my chest buddy, but do you actually think I'd go out in public with a name like the Rabbit?" The man bounded and jumped through the air, trying to get close enough for another strike at the Super Skrull. The Super Skrull kept firing blasts of fire, and the man kept dodging easily. The Super Skrull was becoming very frustrated, very fast.

"Now so we're all friends here, my name is Ricochet. Even though you look like a reject monster from a Sesame Street episode, I'm not going to insult you by calling you Oscar or anything. Even though your personality seems to fit. What's your name?" said Ricochet as he finally found an opening where he could leap directly at the Super Skrull and lay into his pug ugly face. Ricochet reared back his fist, but suddenly, he hit something he couldn't see, something that not only stopped his progress, but slammed and pinned him to the ground as well. The Super Skrull's fist morphed into a rocky mass and raised over Ricochet's head.

"I am the Super Skrull, champion of the Skrull Emperium, and the bringer of your death," said the Super Skrull as he tensed his fist to come down on Ricochet's head. Johnny Gallo saw his life flash before his eyes in that instant, and wondered what his body would look like without a head.

"Stop this now," said a voice from behind the two combatants and the Super Skrull turned, shocked that anyone would dare tell him to stop. There in front of him was a demure woman with some sort of silver battle armor surrounding a black body suit, hugging her body. Her hair was long and of the deepest black, her fists were tensed and she seemed to be trembling slightly with obvious fear.

"Foolish Earth-girl. Do not attempt to show a sense of bravado with one such as I. I can see that you tremble in fear before me. Perhaps you are aware of my reputation throughout the universe," said the Super Skrull and the girl before him just smirked. Mickey Muashi wasn't in the best of moods. Bad enough some weirdo with white hair had run her down on the sidewalk minutes ago, now she was being forced to fight some freak who looked like a bad Hulk impersonator.

"Honestly, I have no clue who you are, I'm just wondering if interstellar travel really makes you that sick. You look a little green around the gills," said Mickey and the Super Skrull looked at her with a puzzled expression. Sharp laughter rang out from beneath the Super Skrull and he looked back down at Ricochet.

"She got you with that one Greeny. If I was you, I wouldn't take that one lying down," Ricochet said and the Super Skrull's brow etched into one of the purest fury as he raised his fist again. Mickey groaned. She'd hoped she would have been able to bait the Super Skrull into attacking her, but the punk beneath the alien had to open his big mouth.

Mickey was about to blast the alien from behind with her wind-jets, when suddenly a blast of electricity shot through the air and connected with the Super Skrull instead. The Super Skrull was tossed clear of Ricochet who was automatically on his feet. Both he and Mickey looked over to see a kid in an old dirty trenchcoat standing a few feet away, his fists crackling with electricity.

"Since when did the bums of New York get super-powers?" asked Ricochet as he stood looking at Chris Bradley in amazement.

"My name is Bolt, and I'm here to help," said the kid in the trenchcoat and Ricochet grinned and slapped his knee.

"Well if that's not the sweetest thing in the whole wide world. You're my new best friend, man. Eddie won't be happy, but give us a kiss," said Ricochet as Bolt eyed him warily.

"Maybe I should have waited until the green machine over there crushed you," said Bolt and Ricochet was about to reply when suddenly Bolt's expression turned to one of shock and horror. A giant shadow passed over Ricochet and he knew the Super Skrull was attacking. He turned around and saw a giant rock fist hurtling towards him. There was no time to move, Ricochet was done for.

Suddenly a thunderclap of sound went off and the Super Skrull wasn't there anymore. Ricochet watched as the Super Skrull went flying through the air and saw the chick with the long, dark hair standing in front of him. The turbines on her battle armor were humming with power and Ricochet smiled.

"Nice shot. What's your name, Blow-Girl?" he said and the girl turned towards him. Her look alone gave Ricochet a moment of pause and he suddenly wished he was facing off against the Super Skrull again.

"It's Turbo," said the girl but it was all she could get out as a bellow of purest rage rang out from the direction the Super Skrull had flown. The Skrull flew back into view, one of his fists blazing with fire and the other a mass of orange rock. The three figures below tensed their muscles and prepared to fight.

"You're all going to die for your impudence," roared the Super Skrull as he barreled down upon them.

Mattie Franklin, dressed in the attire of Spider-Woman saw the blond girl go hurtling through the office building just as well as Chris Bradley did. While he rushed off to the battle with the Super Skrull, she was more concerned with the recipient of the knockout blow. She dropped into the hole Ultra-Girl had flown into and looked at the wasted office within.

"Somebody must not have gotten that promotion at work," she said as she surveyed the wreckage. The blond girl was getting to her feet and Spider-Woman rushed over to help her up. The blond girl shook her head momentarily and then peered up at Mattie with annoyance on her face.

"Hero or villain?" Ultra-Girl snapped and Mattie looked at her, perplexed.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you a hero or a villain? You know, do I team up with you, or do I punch your lights out?" asked Ultra-Girl and Mattie took a step back and scowled.

"I'm a hero!" she said, anger starting to creep into her voice.

"Good, come on then," said Ultra-Girl as she grabbed Spider-Woman's arm with a grip like iron and flew into the air. The two streamed out of the hole in the office building and sped on their way back to the battle.

"I can't lay a hand on this guy," yelled Bolt at the top of his lungs. Every attack he used on the Super Skrull was being deflected right back at him. Not that he had much of a chance to fire anyway. The Super Skrull had so many powers, it was tough not to be knocked around by an invisible barrier, or scorched to death by a flame jet. Bolt glanced over at Turbo who was having about the same luck as he was. Every blast of wind she sent towards the Skrull was blocked towards either her, or the campus they were fighting on. They were doing a lot more damage to the surrounding area than they were to the Super Skrull.

"I got this," said Ricochet as he flipped, ducked and dodged his way to within range and cracked the Super Skrull with another of his weighted disks. Ricochet was the only one getting through the Skrull's defenses, but the attacks weren't even fazing the alien. If the three were going to beat him, they'd have to think of something fast.

"Damn, you are one ugly mother," said a voice from behind the Super Skrull, and both he and the three heroes he was fighting against turned to look. Spider-Woman came darting down from the sky and put both of her feet directly in the Super Skrull's face. The Skrull dropped to one knee and shook his head.

"Ewwwww, he's squishy," said Spider-Woman as she flipped out of the way.

"Really? Let me see," said Ultra-Girl as she came rocketing down out of the air from the same spot Spider-Woman had come. She reared back her fist and connected with an incredible blow to the Super Skrull. He was driven hard into the ground and lay there, dazed.

Turbo wasn't sure who the new combatants were exactly, but she was glad they were there. Still, even though the Super Skrull was dazed, he was far from out. They had to take the opportunity now to finish him off.

"Listen to me all of you. We have to beat the Super Skrull now. Hit him hard. Hit him with everything you've got," yelled Turbo as she began blasting the Super Skrull with tremendous amounts of wind from the turbines on her arms.

"What the heck is a Super Skrull?" asked Spider-Woman as she watched Turbo, and then Bolt and Ultra-Girl begin pounding on the Skrull with their respective powers.

"I'll explain it later babe. Just do whatever it is that you do to that big green guy," said Ricochet as he began flinging disks at the Super Skrull. The first one he threw caught the wind from Turbo's blasts and came rocketing back at him. Ricochet was barely able to move out of the way.

"Maybe you should sit this one out tough guy," said Spider-Woman with a chuckle as she stepped forward and began firing her venom blasts at the Super Skrull, adding to the force of the attack. The Super Skrull sagged to the ground and all the heroes could taste the victory.

Suddenly, a bellowing roar issued forth from the Super Skrull once more and he rose shakily to his feet. The heroes kept blasting him, but the alien gritted his teeth and withstood the tremendous attack. The Super Skrull's vision went red with rage as he vented his anger and frustration.

"I'll destroy all of you! None of you shall survive this encounter! This I swear by the Skrull Emperium!" The Super Skrull tensed his body and once again fire erupted from his hands as he prepared to roast the heroes. A shimmering face materialized before him just before he could fire his flame and the Super Skrull angrily cursed under his breath.

"Captain Kl'rt you will stand down now. I've let you turn what should have been a simple extraction into a farce. Prepare for immediate recall," said the psychic voice within the Super Skrull's mind and he glowered with even more rage at not having the opportunity to crush his enemies. A blinding light encompassed the Super Skrull and the heroes stopped their attack. The light spread to surround all the combatants, and the campus students and film crew looked away as the light intensified. When the light faded enough for them to look again, the heroes and the Super Skrull were gone.

The Super Skrull was furious as he rematerialized back in the Databank. All of the heroes he'd been fighting were caught in the transport beam and had been whisked away with him. These insects were not worthy to look upon the Databank, and the Super Skrull was not pleased that he had been summoned back before he'd accomplished his mission.

"There was no need for recall. I was firmly in control of the situation," yelled the Super Skrull in his booming voice at the walls of the Databank.

"Silence," echoed an equally powerful voice and the Super Skrull became even more enraged, but remained quiet. The heroes were looking around with puzzled expressions, but at the sound of the foreign voice, they all became alert.

A massive wall before the grouping went first opaque and then transparent. Coming into view behind it was a massive green head, similar to the Super Skrull's, but feminine. Two massive coils streamed out of each of its eyes, wrapping down around her cheekbones and extending out to four eyeballs that popped out of recesses in the wall and began searching the air around them. There was a strange bubbling effect behind the disembodied head, but it was impossible to tell whether they were looking at a liquid-filled tank containing this monstrosity, or simply a video projection of the same. Within the thing's four eyes was a vast intelligence that regarded the six figures before her with distaste.

"Man, we are so not in Kansas anymore," Ricochet breathed.

"Nor did you originate there, Terran. This is the Databank, and you are in the presence of the collective will and intellect of the Skrull people. You may call me... Intelligensia," said the apparition and they all looked up at her in wonder.

"Hold up, hold up. First of all, Intelli-what? And what's a Terran?" Ricochet asked and Turbo clasped a hand over his mouth.

"Shut up, Ricochet. What is it that you want with us?" Turbo said as Ricochet struggled to break free of her hold on him.

"How brazen of you. I want nothing with you girl. You were transported merely because you were within the transmat radius. No, the only one among you I wish to speak with is the Kree-human hybrid, the one who will provide the Skrull people with the means to reclaim their rightful status," said Intelligensia as she looked down upon the assemblage of young heroes. The kids looked around at each other with puzzled expressions, all except Ultra-Girl, who was standing a bit behind everyone, with a concerned look on her face.

"Who... me?"

Next Issue: The kids are captives of the Skrull Empire. What dire plans does the Intelligensia have for Ultra-Girl, and how can this ragtag assemblage stop them? Will this incarnation of the Warriors croak before they even start using the name?

DISPATCHES FROM THE WAR

I could use this space to bore you with details of this series' inception, or perhaps tell you what a class act Mike Exner is, how he made my plot sing and dance in script and how he's made my first time as strictly a plotter a joyous event (all those things should be evident after finishing the above issue). Or maybe I could try to justify why in the world I'd want to write anything starring the third Spider-Woman. But Instead, I think I'll just explain some of my thoughts on the New Warriors as a concept, and give you some hints as to where Mike and I might be going with this title. That's simple, after all. It can pretty much be summed up in one sentence:

"All they want to do is change the world."

This was one of the taglines Marvel used in advertisements for the first New Warriors series (yes, I remember that far back… shut up). I think the book started to stray when they lost sight of this goal. Somewhere after the trial of Marvel Boy and the death of Tai, the book became less about a bunch of kids wanting to change the world, and more about a bunch of kids. Period. And the fact that Marvel still ran that tagline on the cover of the book couldn't change that loss of focus.

Don't get me wrong… there were some good stories from #26 (when Justice went to the Vault) to #53 (Fabian Nicieza's last issue, after which I only read one or two issues... all horrid). Hell, the kids even did the "change the world" routine when they invaded Trans-Sabal around issue #30, but the feel of those early issues was gone, and that's when the book started to slide downhill.

So keep the tagline in mind when reading this title. "All they want to do is change the world." They're young. They're invincible. They know how things SHOULD be done. They are NOT, however, the Authority. They'll make mistakes and they'll pay for them, and eventually they'll find a middle ground between how the world is and how they want to make it.

But hopefully not for a good long while. :-)

I should also explain why Mike and I are avoiding using the original Warriors. If you're a fan of the old series, I'm sure you clicked on the link for this issue expecting to get a new dose of Justice, Thrash, Nova, and the like, but... in my opinion, Nicieza did so much with the original cast, made the characters grow in so many ways, that they evolved right out of the book. Most of these guys -- Nova, Namorita, Justice, and Thrash in particular -- are generally agreed to be in their early twenties (or very, very late teens I guess, since 'early 20's' is where Spider-Man's supposed to be). I don't want people that old on this team. Let 'em join the Avengers if they want to be on a super-team, they're too old to be Warriors.

Except Turbo, I'll make an exception for her. :-) And, truth to tell, Night Thrasher will be around for a little bit, tho with a much different look. I think it is important to create some kind of connection between the old book and the new, otherwise why bother calling it New Warriors? Thrash was the guts of the old team, and Turbo was probably the least explored, so they'll definitely do for now. Mike and I also aren't ruling out further appearances by the rest of the gang somewhere down the line.

But for now, this is what you're gonna get. Stick with us and hopefully we'll make it worth your while. We may not get the masks right, but we hope to get to the heart of what made the old team great. Let us know how we're doing.

- Russ Anderson
15 July 2001