The ninety-ninth comic: #400 Luther Arkwright
Sometimes, I feel like an awesome concept can really get wasted. Possibly because the author is too eager to copy another or because the appeal it has didn't transfer to the author. In the case of Luther Arkwright, I wonder whether the disappointment came, in part, because the outcome of the series - the main character moving to the next stage of human evolution - is one I've seen done since several times over. I suspect it might have been more novel in the late seventies, at least in comic form - or perhaps it was the done thing - but I felt it took away from the appeal the early series had to me, one of exploring parallel worlds and timelines. The way it's set up, with rolling news broadcasts from various areas and a threat for all of them, doesn't quite materialize in favour of a handwave to promote our hero. It's a shame, because parts of the latter half of the series lose steam with it when it was set up so well early on and really made me want to see this concept explored further instead.