Looks like it’s curtains for our heroes! They had a good run.
I like “R’Hojer.” Reed suddenly brings his ship in for a rough landing nearly on top of everyone. When pilot Ben gives him guff for it, he says he had the idea that breaking out of hyperspace like that would disrupt other time/space technology, and demonstrates that the Imperator is now vulnerable. Which is a nice way to bring him back into the story with some impact after sending him on a side quest the whole time.
The heroes fight the big monster things for a few action-packed pages, mostly just holding their own, until…
Hey, that’s nice for them. The conglomerate turns into a giant ray gun and zaps the Imperator, destroying most of his fancy armor. The gang worries about whether he can still be made to fix things in this state, but then learn they have a bigger problem: the conglomerate has decided they will no longer exist in a single entity, and now they want to take over the Earth, too. Then a SHIELD helicarrier shows up and start attacking the conglomerate. Meanwhile, the heroes discover the Imperator is still alive.
Pointing out the similarity to the Silver Surfer is… It is a pretty blatant rip, so why not, but it seems funny to be like “This is a Silver Surfer knock off, but, like, I know that.”
Man, there is a lot going on here with only a few pages left. Spider-Man asks the Imperator if his thingy can absorb other races, like the P’oppup’ians, and he says it can, and this will let him carry out his original mission. But Spider-Man says he has a different idea, and sends the Torch out to distract the green gang.
Not Ringo’s finest page, sadly. Solid enough finale, tho. I think, back in the day, I was just too caught up in the hypetrain. Stuff like this that didn’t fit in seemed lesser, less important. But it was actually fun. Meanwhile, Back In Black was happening in the main books. I’ll happily take this. Well, if you thought that was wacky, wait til you see what comes next.