An all-new hero is introduced into the Marvel Universe, but is the world ready for Freedom Ring? And what does all this have to do with a reality-altering ring crafted from broken shards of the cosmic cube? Featuring Wolverine, Cable, Captain America, Spider-Man and more Collects Marvel Team-Up #19-25.
Robert Kirkman is an American comic book writer best known for his work on The Walking Dead, Invincible for Image Comics, as well as Ultimate X-Men and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series Haunt. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of the original co-founders of that publisher.
Robert Kirkman's first comic books were self-published under his own Funk-o-Tron label. Along with childhood friend Tony Moore, Kirkman created Battle Pope which was published in late 2001. Battle Pope ran for over 2 years along with other Funk-o-Tron published books such as InkPunks and Double Take.
In July of 2002, Robert's first work for another company began, with a 4-part SuperPatriot series for Image, along with Battle Pope backup story artist Cory Walker. Robert's creator-owned projects followed shortly thereafter, including Tech Jacket, Invincible and Walking Dead.
I read this as individual issues when it was first being published and I was loving it. A new gay superhero - fantastic! Then Kirkman revealed his true plan all along - kill off the new queer superhero to show that some people (meaning queer people) do not have what it takes to be a superhero.
Kirkman tried to cram a little too much into this final arc: the introduction/origin of two brand new heroes (Freedom Ring and Crusader) along with the return of two villains from earlier in the series (Titannus and evil Tony Stark from another dimension). We also got a cameo from the heroes trapped in the future (from an earlier arc in the series).
Not the most concise, focused, or literary arc he's ever written. But still a whole lot of entertaining Marvel fun.
What would happen if a normal person picks up a cosmic ring that can make dreams come true? This is really that story, and how good intentions is not always enough. You go on a journey with Freedom Ring, and really get to know him. A good read.