The most important thing that Jack Of Hearts did of note to me in maybe the last fifteen years was his explosion that was a catalyst for the events of Avengers: Disassembled. It turns out there is much more to this character as I found out in Jack Of Hearts #1-4.
You feel really bad for Jack; the miniseries reveals that everything in his life is a complete lie. He may of wound up with his energy powers through an accident in his father’s lab, but it turns out that his mother was an alien from the planet Contraxia. She was only on the planet to steal his father’s research on alternate energy sources in order to save her home world.
Fast forward to the current day, and Jack is a super hero whose super powers have grown wildly out of control. It also turns out that his longtime friend/girlfriend Marcy is a Contraxian herself and convinces him to follow her to the planet.
Jack enjoys this, feeling like he finally fits in and is accepted. Things get awkward as they learn the true reason the Contraxians were so interested in tracking him, as they wanted to detonate him in an effort to reignite their dying sun. And you thought you had problems! Jack is able to figure out how to rekindle the sun without sacrificing his life and decides that he should spend the rest of his days away from any other living things, as they will only choose to use him against his will or he will eventually hurt them, as his powers keep increasing beyond his control.
On the whole, this miniseries was a lot of fun. It worked because it was a self-contained story with a character that I wasn’t all that familiar with. There is a definite beginning, middle and end, all of which I enjoyed. It was written by Bill Mantlo, and I’ve really been enjoying his work of late.
Ridiculously Awesome 