Alternating Reality Books

Bringing the tragedy in Darfur to comic books, Squadron Supreme Hyperion Vs Nighthawk limited 4 part series is about a chunk of Hyperion’s ship that ends up in Darfur Africa, and let the mayhem and killing commence. While the killing in the comic book is about Nighthawk with his new super powers taking out the Janjaweed militia, the under plot of the story line really covers the horror that is happening in the Sudan right now. Since Hyperion is an alien, any chunk of his ship would be valuable in anyone’s hands. This is where the story really starts to get interesting in book two and book three of the series. Hyperion is surprised to find out that Nighthawk has the chunk of the ship, and while Nighthawk is killing militia, the goal is to get all the super heroes out of Africa.

Of course the idea that a chunk of Hyperion’s ship is responsible for Nighthawk’s new powers is pretty easy to guess (spoiler) but it is not to be. Rather the new source is a prototype device/system that was commissioned by the USA made by Emil Burbank. This also puts Hyperion face to face with three African Super Humans, and all of them are there to get Hyperion out of Africa, and allow time to heal the wounds of Darfur.

What is interesting about the series is the tie into current events; the comic books even have links and information on Darfur, and how to support/stop the war on terrorism. The story line does cover events, and even brings into place modern heads of state, state support systems like the African Union, and others to help bolster the story line. While still a super hero comic book, it is interesting to see the play into real world events rather than just the standard super hero crime fighting against equally viable anti-super heroes. This was a bold statement on the part of Marvel comics to support this series, and while limited in printing, it is totally worth getting your hands on and reading. It is very unusual to see a comic book take on real world events as a backdrop for a comic book, that is what makes this worthwhile to read, and worthwhile to understand those events. You might not be up on what happens in other parts of the world, but as you read this, check out the links in the back of the book, they are well worth getting familiar with.

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