Comics’ Greatest World—Steel Harbor

(Dark Horse, 1993)
Dark Horse

This title introduces us to the third major location in Dark Horse’s Comics’ Greatest World: the city of Steel Harbor. Apparently patterned after real-life Detroit, Steel Harbor was once a booming center of industry and manufacturing that has since fallen on hard times. Now its residents have lost hope, and the crime rate is out of control. Psychopaths, like the pyromaniacal Ignition, burn down buildings at will, and the police seem unable to stop them.

In this world, Barb Kopetski (a.k.a. Barb Wire) is a simple bar owner of the Hammerhead Bar and Grille. Well, maybe not all that simple. Barb also runs a side operation as a bounty hunter, using high-tech weapons developed by her and her colleagues (including The Machine) to take on criminals like Ignition. But Steel Harbor is so out of control that even when she succeeds in putting them behind bars, they don’t doesn’t stay there for long. Once freed, they inevitably seek revenge…

In week two, we meet another mysterious resident of Steel Harbor. His real name is Avram, but the world knows him as The Machine. He is perhaps the most important member of Barb Wire’s group, a cyborg tapped into the entire communications matrix of Steel Harbor. From there he feels the pulse of the city, hears its words, and perceives its thoughts. It was he who first knew of Ignition’s plan to join with Mace Blitzkrieg to take on the Wolf Gang. He was also one of the first to perceive the other beings who lurked within the matrix…

Week three features Wolf Gang. Wolf Gang is the one gang in Steel Harbor that can’t be controlled by Mace Blitzkrieg. So naturally, Mace decides to take them out. He won’t have an easy time of it, though, for the Wolf Gang is headed by five super-powered beings whose combined might is awesome: Burner, a virtual clone of The Human Torch; Bomber, who can throw bombs she seems to form out of thin air; Breaker, an incredibly strong bruiser; Cutter, whose energized blade can slice through anything; and their leader, the mysterious Wolf Ferrell.

Unfortunately, Mace and his Prime Movers are equally powerful. When they clash, the streets of Steel Harbor fairly explode in battle…

The series wraps up with week four, featuring Motorhead. Despite their valiant efforts, Barb and the Pack were steadily losing ground, forced to fall back to the Wolf Pack’s headquarters. Then just as all seemed lost, the cavalry arrived.

“The cavalry” was Motorhead, a.k.a. Frank Fletcher, former employee of Barb’s, and one of the most powerful men on the planet. His psychic abilities allowed him to see and hear the strangers who had been eavesdropping on the various characters in Comics’ Greatest World. He was also able to level entire city blocks with a thought, or to single-handedly put an end to Mace Blitzkrieg’s forces.

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