Underworld Unleashed (Underworld Unleashed

by Mark Waid, Paul Kupperberg, Alan Grant

In a classic tale of temptation and duplicity, Neron, a demon from Hell, assembles the villains of the universe and offers them their "heart's desire" in exchange for their souls. As each criminal individually accepts the damned bargain, the heroes of Earth are suddenly overpowered and easily defeated by their evil adversaries. But the augmented villains soon learn the horrible price they must pay as Neron uses his unwitting pawns in an attempt to take over the entire universe. Now with Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, the Flash and the rest of the heroes of the world helpless, the fate of all existence rests on the shoulders of the Trickster, the one man who might outdeal the devil.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Superheroes, Batman, Horror

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 1995

About the author

Mark Waid (born March 21, 1962 in Hueytown, Alabama) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Underworld Unleashed was a great idea. You have all these villains (and a few heroes) making faustian bargains with the devil. It was a fantastic way for DC to amp up their villains. Unfortunately, most of the best parts of this were in the individual DC titles which aren't included here. The 4 tie in books also collected here were pretty ancillary and didn't bring much to the miniseries itself.

[Jason Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of my Batman and Superman comic book reread project, but just barely. Superman isn't in it, but his absence is a plot point, and Batman has maybe one scene.

UNMARKED SPOILERS AHEAD! Proceed with caution.

This is just three limited series issues which cover the main story, but if you want the full flavor, you need to collect 56 comic books across about 40 titles. Getting all of those was an impossibility in 1995 when I was just a senior in high screwl in spite of my lucrative job as a part-time file clerk, but even back then I'm pretty sure I was like "Yeah, DC Comics, y'all can just suck my fat one; I ain't buying all that shit!" So, I have this collection and the issues that relate to Batman and Superman. I'll be getting to those in the next few weeks, and they must have some scenes I remember that evidently aren't in the main story, such as the Joker's and Lex Luthor's interactions while they're stuck in the snow globe.

As for this story, I loved it, but in the end it was kind of pointless since a lot goes back to the way it was before the start of the story.

Plot: Some dude named Neron shows up after some has-been never-have-been tool villains are tricked into bringing him up here from hell. He's supposed to be some kind of representation of Satan without being Satan himself, perhaps a mash-up of Mephistopheles and Leland Gaunt, but he's actually just Monty Hall with a fancy villain suit and a neon green aura, because all he wants to do is play...



Unfortunately most who take him up on this offer end up with the goat behind curtain number three, and Neron trots of with their souls. The super prison for super villains is busted open, and they start raising Cain until they get invited to Neron's meet and greet in Hell along with other DC villains who weren't already incarcerated.

The Trickster, who is pretty much Eddie Dean from the Dark Tower series stuck in a different where and when and different circumstances, is along for the ride and makes a pretty good narrator for the scenes in Hell. He's unimpressed with several of the other misfits who were invited to Neron's pre-chaos party, but changes his tune when he sees who's on the board of directors: Abra Kadabra, Dr. Polaris, Circe, Lex Luthor, and the Joker. He's rather unnerved by Joker's presence, as any sane person would be, and here's his take on that: "Oh, God. Good going Neron. Pick a guy no one wants to be in the room with. When villains want to scare each other, they tell Joker stories." I believe that's a fair assessment.

Some of villains are all like "This is more than I signed up for, and you're probably going to get my soul in the end anyway, but I'll just keep holding onto it for now, so thanks, but no thanks," and they vamoose. A few others trade for more powers, different bodies, etc., but the best deal of the lot is the one the Joker made.



I can always appreciate someone who enjoys the simple things.

All hell breaks loose on Earth, and our heroes are having a tough time keeping things in order... in fact, they can't keep anything in order at all because the villains they're fighting made deals for abilities beyond what the heroes can handle. On top of that, Neron is striking deals with every Tom, Dick and Shithead he can get a hold of, even some of the heroes. Some accept, others don't, but a miasma of blech has fallen over the world which is making everyone give in to the temptations of their ids, and you can see why nobody can enjoy his day. One rather prescient panel shows the Flash trying to quell riots and put out fires in St. Louis which had been burning for a couple of days. Where was he in 2014 and 2020?

Meanwhile back in Hell, Luther and Joker trick the other three bigwigs into getting sucked into Neron's soul Jar, so they're the only two left of the OGs, but the joke is on them. Turns out they're stuck in a snow globe that the Trickster is now watching, and we see no more of them in this story. I swear there was more to it, and I reckon I'll find out soon when I get to the related Batman or Superman issues. (Update: Yep, I was right. They escape in the Superman tie-in, and the few panels showing their time together is rather amusing. Lex gets hit with a snowball, and even though he tries to save the Joker when they start to get sucked out of the snow globe, the Joker reaches out to him with a fake hand which pops off, so it doesn't work out.)

It comes out that Neron really just wants the one superhero soul on Earth that is purer than all others, and once he gets that, everything else will fall to perdition. Everyone assumes this is Superman and that he must be held captive because he's been absent for the whole hootenanny. Little do they know it's actually Captain Marvel he wants, but Trickster gets hip to this. He figures it's probably not a good idea to let Neron burn the Earth to ashes, so he suggests a ploy to Captain Marvel which he accepts. Neron is defeated, souls go back to their original owners, everything on Earth returns to normal, and all is hunky-dory, morning glory.

This story has a lot of promise right from the start. I like the Trickster as the narrator for his parts. Superman being absent and not being the focal point is also great. Don't get me wrong, I love Superman, but he's always at the head of everything during a crossover crisis and it's nice to see others get their day in the sun. The artwork is great. The characters are good. The main villain is fun (I love "devil making a deal" tales). There are nods galore to other works that aren't even rooted in the DC universe (such as Dante's Inferno). However, the story jumps the shark in the third issue and gets just a little too ridiculous, but by that point I was fully invested in it and was going to enjoy the ride to the end. Oh, it's not at the level of the Zero Hour travesty, not even close, but DC always has trouble sticking the landing with their super-colossal events, and this one stayed true to form. It had such great bones that it's a shame they couldn't quite pull it off. I still love this story, but I recognize its shortcomings.

A memorable, but sad, note: This is the one where Mongul gets axed, though I discuss that in my Return of Superman review.

From our sponsors:



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[Christian Oliverio · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those cross-overs that attempts to "update" several characters into the 90s, which can be either really good or really bad; because... well, 90s.

The main story is separated by three tie-ins, one of which is important. The first involves a civil war on Apocalypse, which was interesting but not at all relevant. The second involved a madman trying to kill Dr. Arkham, so a Batman story, which are almost always very solid. Meanwhile, Oracle directly confronts the villain as he tries to steal the information she has on him. This was nice as Oracle is a GOAT, while we also get some exposition explaining some of the "permanent" changes to continuity. Exposition/lore merged with great character work? Yes, please! The third was essentially part of the main story, so I'll just talk about it with everything else.

Underworld Unleashed! You know Satan/The First of the Fallen from Hellblazer! You know Lucifer Morningstar from the Sandman! But do you know there is ANOTHER devil (good grief) known as Neron/666?! Well, he's back, baby! And he's here to make some deals! That's literally it. Neron makes a bunch of Faustian bargains with the goal of securing a "pure soul" through deals. Some of the character choices made sense, such as all the stuff with the Rogues and the still straight and happily married to a woman Alan Scott (RIP Molly and their great love story)). Some of it, the Specter and Blue Devil, did not. Essentially, the plot was a very loose collection of events tied to Neron's deals. Some were great, some were stupid. Both sides of the coin had very serious moments and incredibly goofy moments.

The best part of this whole story was easily Alan Scott trying to rescue his wife from Hell with a pre-Shadowpact/JLD team. Best use of the concept, despite some very odd creative decisions (looking at you Specter and Etrigan). I just love the magic characters of DC. Oracle's chapter was also great because she is also a great character. The most nuanced was easily Trickster and his arc. A joke villain wanting to be taken seriously, but finds heroism on his path to glory. Great theme and use of his character.

However, Neron's main group of baddies were a completely wasted subplot that literally didn't go anywhere. I also think the Specter making a deal with the devil was purely for shock factor and also was pointless.

In short, a wild ride that has both great and stupid character moments. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be. I just wish I knew how Neron fits into the hierarchy of Hell. Way too many Satans in DC!

[Doug Rusley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was Mark Waid's name that caught my eye when I found this in the $5 bin. I'd heard of this forgotten mid-90's crossover but never read it (I wasn't reading much at that time), so what the hell. (Heh, Hell indeed.) Underworld Unleashed is a standard boilerplate crossover that centers on Neron (basically DC's Satan, or Mephisto if we're doing Marvel comparisons), who's offering new powers and wishes come true to the baddest villains in DC in exchange for their souls, all as part of his complex plan to plunge the world into unending evil (y'know, standard stuff). Mark Waid is one of the most revered writers in the industry, especially for his DC work, and he does not disappoint, while Howard Porter's art makes for an excellent warm-up for when he took the reigns on the JLA book a couple years later.

This collection is three large issues, plus an extra one-shot 'Underworld Unleshed: Abyss' (set between part 2 and 3) centering on Alan Scott (formerly the Golden Age Green Lantern, then known as Sentinel) as he assembles a team of sorcerers to confront Neron in order to save his wife's soul. The 'Unleashed' storyline comprised many other crossover issues and one-shots that are not included, but don't detract from the story.

[Ryan Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only wish it had been longer. I love horror in my superhero comics and this story had plenty. Neron is one of DC's most underrated and underused villains. The concept of the heroes and villains being tempted to sell their souls in exchange for their innermost desires made for a captivating story. It's hard to really feel the weight of death in comics (especially in this day and age of endless reboots and multiverse corrections) but Underworld Unleashed's casualties felt like they had real emotional weight to them. I'm not much of a fan of Blue Devil, the Ray or Trickster but Waid's writing made me care about them. It was a lot of fun seeing which villains and heroes accepted Neron's offer and which turned him down. It's such a simple plot device but it does an excellent job of giving us readers a glimpse into the true nature of the characters and what motivates them. DC should make this story a priority for one of their animated movies in the future.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I continue my read of TPBs collecting DCU's event series I found myself liking the concept of Underworld Unleashed more than I remembered. While it still depends too much on the tie-in issues (all but one left out of this trade) the core concept of upgrading villains by having them make a deal with a devil works. True, it is not a wholly original idea but a good one. Mark Waid adds two small twists. One is that some heroes make a deal with the devil, and we all know how those turn out. The other is the pure soul the devil is searching for, and how that figures into the devil's defeat (withholding spoiler).

[Arianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

For event standards, this is great. Maybe one day I will read all the tie-ins, but I thought the stories included in this collection painted a pretty cohesive picture.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This series introduced Neron, the Mephisto of the DC Universe. This volume includes the main 3 issue series as well as the four one shots, but this series ran through dozens of other titles. It did feel like something was lacking here, as so much of the story took place in other places, but it would have been hard to read ever single crossover.

Overall, this was a cool story with many of the DC Villains (and some of the heroes) making a deal with the devil. As I said, it felt like we were only getting part of the story, but otherwise I enjoyed this one.

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

This doesn't hold up well at all. This is a good introduction to the character of Neron but the story was all over the map and this collection was a train wreck. Waid and Porter are comics heavyweights but this was not their best outing. The book also didn't seem finished. Entire panels were without color for no reason. Overall, there are quite a few better read involving a mass amount of villains.

[Shane]

Not bad, but not great

This story had more potential than anything else, but didn't really live up to it, BUT it did have lasting effects to several villains in the DC Universe as well as introducing Neron who seems to have stuck around. It's pretty par for the course at 90s DC which is perfectly acceptable superhero stories, but something is missing to push that into greatness.

[Sotofunkdamental · Rating 2 out of 5]

Es un evento bastante olvidable. Aunque por momentos entretiene, peca de muchos de los errores de los cómics de superhéroes de los años 90. Creo recordar que incluso Mark Waid pidió disculpas, señalando que la historia tenía un aire a las típicas obras de Image Comics de aquella época, tratando de hacer que los villanos de DC fueran superficialmente más geniales de lo que realmente eran.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this story. I might be slightly biased, I'm a big fan of Mark Waid's writing. Some of the tie-ins are a bit hit-or-miss; but Waid's core story is pretty awesome! (Bonus at how much of it's from Trickster's point of view.)

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

A "funner" version of DC Legends. You get to see some low-tier villians get some power upgrades. But unfortunately it reads like a pop-culture riff on Dante's Divine comdedy (and not as fun as say Gary Panter's Jimbo series).

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main title doesn't give you the full story. This is an event comic that requires all the tie-in issues, and that's a lot of comics, but when the devil makes a deal you kinda want to see how different heroes and villains react... This volume is only the set-up and knock down.

[Raymond Paquette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic story of an impossible choice. We often don't know what we have till it's gone. Then we'll do anything to get it back.

[Ribrarian Not · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro de historietas con ISBN propio. Primera edición en castellano.

[Mr. Stick · Rating 3 out of 5]

"GOOD GOING, NERON. PICK A GUY NO ONE WANTS TO BE IN THE ROOM WITH. WHEN VILLAINS WANT TO SCARE EACH OTHER, THEY TELL JOKER STORIES."
- Trickster upon learning that The Joker is working with Neron.

While the mid-to-late 90's was a major suck-fest for Marvel, it was still no Hawaiian vacation for DC. Prior to Grant Morrison's 1997 JLA run, many of DC's titles were sliding lazily into an burning dumpster. Batman was staying afloat, but the company in general was still recovering from that Zero Hour: Crisis In Time debacle (GAG!).
Underworld Unleashed, treading shark infested water (in futility?), gives us a greedy demon, Neron, who bargains with nearly everyone (but mostly villains) in the DC universe to grant selfish wishes in exchange for their paltry souls. And, in a very, "Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads" sort of sham, Neron, hoses 'em all brilliantly. Shocker! Anyway, Trickster, trapped in Neron's "domain" (aka, Doom 2) is privy to all the dirty details and thus is an ideal narrator (which was really well done). A bunch of well placed one-liners pepper the main issues as Trickster tries to find a way out, when the JLA arrives (in hell) to challenge Neron with all their pre-Grant Morrison shabbiness.

I could honestly do without ALL the tie-in's. They merely postponed the main story. Underworld Unleashed is certainly no Civil War or Flashpoint. While I found the viewpoint of Trickster to be an original approach... it was just so over-the-top that I stopped caring early on. Particularly with the extraneous tie-in's which drug it out longer than it needed to be (though I did enjoy the Apokolips story, in which the Hunger Dogs rise up against their feudal, squabbling overlords in Darkseid's presumably post-mortem absence).
So, is this one going back on the shelf for a future re-read? Not so much. This event wasn't a literary atrocity like Original Sin or Amazon's Attack, but it ain't winning any awards.

[Willie · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the middle of this graphic novel, and the items it collected, seemed a little too meandering to make for a cohesive read i've got to admit the beginning and middle of this classic collection were bold and interesting enough that i'm glad I read it. Underworld Unleashed is often remembered for the silly powerups it introduced to many DC Villains, but it's strength is definitely in its character moments instead. The afterword by the author is also a really interesting look into the mind of 90s comic writers.

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Mark Waid's writing, and the art here is mostly lovely, but the package just doesn't quite work. Besides the long middle piece, not written by Waid, which completely disrupts the flow of the rest of the story, this doesn't read like a mega crossover. Instead, it's a very personal story between the Trickster and Neron and everything else is simply breezed right past. Not bad, but a good example of why these crossovers don't usually work very well.

[Jimmy Briggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was nice to see that not only the villains had taken Neron up on his deal. I have always enjoyed Mark Waid's stories, and of course my love of comics doesn't hurt. It was nice to see our heros be offered there dreams by the (for a better word) devil, and then have to defeat him. I'm going to have to find this and read it again, does it come in kindle form? Comic hunting has begun.

[Josh Newhouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven. A solid core story with uneven surrounding stories. A 3.5

[Brent Corey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced. A little gimmicky but comics from the 90’s were and that’s part of the fun. Genuinely eerie at times. I liked it.