Issue Description

Broken and beaten from the recent encounters with the Lizard King and the Joker, Aztek is forced to return to the place where he was raised and trained--the secret base of the Brotherhood of Quetzalcoatl. There he encounters Raptor, the woman chosen by the Brotherhood to be his mate!

A Vanity City teenager was hit by a truck while visiting Metropolis. Now back at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, the teenager’s mother is bemoaning her son’s condition to Julia Frostick. Her son was such a Superman fan, and she never thought accidents happened in Metrpolis; that Superman would save the day. Julia consoles her, saying they will do something.

In Aztek’s new apartment, Aztek get a wake-up call for his shift at the hospital. He is not used to this new sponsorship by Lexcorp, which has given him a chauffeur and a limousine. Aztek prefers to fly, and leaves the apartment to go to work. When he gets to work, Julia reveals her discovery of last issue: that no one remembers any discrepancies in Aztek’s origin. To prove her point, she should out to the staff that Aztek is really Curt Falconer. The staff does not even acknowledge Julia. Julia theorizes that the Q Foundation must have telepaths on staff to help hide Aztek’s secret identity. Julia tells Aztek of the teenager’s problems, and asks Aztek if he knows Superman.

At the Q Foundation, Lex Luthor addresses the assemblage. He tells them of his plan to “test” Aztek by having had released Doc Parasite. Luthor has arranged for Superman to be busy with global disasters, which will allow Aztek to come and save the day. Aztek, en route to recruit Superman’s help for the teenager, encounters Doc Parasite on a rampage. The battle rages, and when Doc Parasite tries to absorb the power of Aztek’s helmet, he cannot handle the power of its fourth-dimensional power source. Parasite is knocked unconscious, and Maggie Sawyer is on hand to lock Doc Parasite back up.

Sawyer puts Aztek in touch with Superman, and the two return to Vanity City, where Superman pays a visit to the teenager. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor is ecstatic: with allies including Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern, Aztek is sure to be invited to join the Justice League.

Aztek: The Ultimate Man (1996)

Publisher

DC Comics

Volume Description

Aztek: The Ultimate Man was the brainchild of writers Mark Millar and Grant Morrison and artist N. Steven Harris. The ongoing series was designed to debut a new hero of the DC universe. The series followed the anti-hero Aztek; a hero whose big picture mission meant he took unusual solutions to solving the small problems. Aztek: The Ultimate Man featured an unusual city, unusual villains, and the supporting cast of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.
 
Throughout its run, Aztek: The Ultimate Man had counted Millar and Morrison as its writers, and Harris and Keith Champagne as its artists. Famous DC cover artist Steve Lightle lent his pen to the majority of covers of the series.
 
While Aztek: The Ultimate Man was a critical success (it was rated one of the top 10 books of 1996 by Wizard Magazine), it was not a commercial one, and Aztek: The Ultimate Man was cancelled after ten issues. With its cancellation imminent, Aztek creator Morrison brought Aztek into one of the other comics he penned at the time: JLA. The final issue of Aztek has the titular hero joining the Justice League.
 
Over the years, we would never go back to get a glimpse of Vanity City, and Aztek would eventually die at the end of Grant Morrison’s run on JLA, in issue #41. 
  Collections and Reprints The entire series is collected in the JLA Presents: Aztek: The Ultimate Man trade paperback (2008)

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